Thursday Thirteen #6

13 of My Favorite Books

1) Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
2) Wheel of Time (Series), Robert Jordan
3) Wizard in Glass, Stephen King
4) Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell
5) Watership Down, Richard Adams
6) Ronia, the Robber’s Daughter, Astrid Lindgren
7) Secret of Nimh, Robert C. O’Brien
Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri
9) A Song of Ice and Fire (Series), George R.R. Martin
10) Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice
11) Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
12) Harry Potter Books, J.K. Rowling
13) Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Bean Turns 24 !!

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y

BEAN

I LOVE YOU !!!!

Manatees Mate Through Gang-Rape?

One of the most popular New York Times stories today is about manatees, and debunking the perception that the slow-moving mammals lack intelligence. According to the article, scientists have long assumed that the manatee is a simpleton based on its brain size and shape. Manatees have the lowest brain-to-body ratio of any mammal. In addition, manatees’ brains have smooth surfaces and exhibit none of the folding found in other mammals. Only now are scientists coming to realize that manatees are quite clever, despite what has been perceived as a lack of complexity in their brain structure, and that their tactile sensory skills rival, and in some cases exceed, the skills of human beings.

I find articles like this – on the intelligence of animals that has gone undetected by human beings because of erroneous assumptions and biases – fascinating. Fascinating, because as a fan of the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy series (the books, not the movie), I’m partial to believing that the mice or the dolphins or some other sentient being – cats? – really have been running the show all along. Maybe it’s my predisposition to root for the underdog, but I love the idea of human beings getting shown up by animals. There’s so much we, as humans, have yet to discover about our world and its other inhabitants, it’s nice when we make some progress towards understanding nature; it gives me some faith in our humanity, that we can see the value in other beings.

But now to the point: In the midst of reading this interesting, feel-good article, focused as I mentioned on debunking preconceived notions, I came across this jarring section: “Their social world is relatively straightforward. Males mate with females in a violent affair that resembles a gang rape; manatee calves stick close to their mothers for about two years, then head off on their own.”

It’s remarkable – in addition to offensive and irresponsible – how even in the midst of critiquing how past misperceptions and assumptions regarding manatees have obscured an understanding of their true nature, the author exhibits no restraint in making, or repeating, gendered assumptions when it comes to describing the sex act of manatees.

A gang rape is a violent and brutal act. It is also an unwanted violation of the being – usually a female – being raped, and in our human society it has as much, or more, to do with male entitlement, gender, and male power, as it does with sex. And, with the exception of rape as an intentional tool of genocidal war, gang rapes, in the human context, have nothing to do with mating or a desire to reproduce.

How absurd, then, that the author of this piece, or scientists if this is the general perception, would liken manatee mating to a gang rape. In the same piece discussing how until recently scientists thought manatees were sluggish, gentle, simpletons, the author readily jumps to the conclusion that male manatees are engaged in a gang rape scenario when attempting to impregnate female manatees. When interpreting the sex act, biases and assumptions of the author based on gendered notions of human interaction come into play to depict the male manatee as a violent, sexual aggressor because that’s how many humans stereotype men during sex. For example, you may have heard the expression, “Men are the gas, women are the breaks” when describing human sexual interaction. Similarly, the female manatee becomes the sexual prey, a victim of a “gang rape,” instead of an equal engaged in the reproduction of her species.

Scientists don’t even understand the manatee brain. How can they understand the nuances of their sex act? How do scientists know that the manatee males are not performing an elaborate mating dance for the benefit of the female, as we see in other species? Manatees are large animals, and sex can be forceful, in humans and other mammals alike, but does forceful have to equal unwanted, sexual violence? Does sex between one female and multiple males have to be viewed as a non-consensual “gang rape”?

Remember for a moment, that we are talking about beings that have existed on this planet for approximately 50 million years. It’s nonsensical to assume that for 50 million years manatees have been reproducing, successfully, by violently gang raping the females among their group. Gentle and slow-moving they may be, but it doesn’t seem likely that any population of females would stand for that without some kind of revolt. Looking at it from a more big picture context, it doesn’t make any evolutionary sense, and I am unaware of any similar examples, that a species’ reproductive success would depend upon half of the species gang-raping the other half.

Creatures make infinitely more progress working with one another than they do working against one another, and I can’t think of a better example of working against one another than gang-rape as a method of reproduction. Perhaps the scientists and the author disagree with me, and see gang-rape as a viable reproductive institution. Maybe that explains their odd interpretation of manatee sexual interaction.

Regardless of the exact nature of the underlying gender biases, the description of the manatee sex act as a “gang-rape” tells us far more about the nature of the scientists and the author of the article than it does about manatees. And that’s unfortunate because I read the article to learn about manatees, not gender stereotyping. The New York Times should be ashamed.

Rainy Day

New York is having another rainy spell. It rained all day yesterday, and today looks like it won’t be much different. I don’t mind. In fact, I rather like it. Rainy days make me feel cozy and relaxed. They’re the perfect excuse to curl up on the sofa and watch a movie, or to stay in bed all day reading a great book.

Granted, they’re not as much fun when you have to get out of bed and slog to work in your flip-flops. Those spittle sprays that flip-flops leave on the back of your calves are so annoying. But, being cooped up in my office when it’s rainy and gray outside is far better than when it’s sunny and all I can think about is how much I wish I were at the Park.

Today, perhaps because the rain has put me in a good mood, I’m feeling oddly productive. I’m not going to question it. I’m just going to run with it and try to keep my blogging and celebrity site reading to a bare minimum.

The painting is by Monet, one of my favorite artists. I don’t like this painting so much from a distance, but at close range the movement in the waves is quite impressive. If you look carefully, you can imagine the sound of the wind whipping around you and the feel of the saltwater sprays hitting your face.

I love standing on beaches in the middle of storms watching the ocean. My ideal place to live would be on a cliff overlooking the ocean, similar to the one pictured in the painting but with trees and a house, and a narrow path leading down from the top of the cliff face to the beach below. How awesome would that be?

Bacchus In The House

My brother, Bacchus, was in town last night and he, Raj, and I went to dinner in Union Square and then met up with friends in the UWS. As it was a Thursday, I had expected a quiet dinner and chill after-dinner drinks. Dinner was lovely, but drinks got a bit rowdy. Somehow, instead of sipping wine in a low-key bar, my group ended up barhopping in Frat-land and doing shots at Jake’s dilemma surrounded by gyrating 20-somethings. There was even – unfortunately – some cookie tossing at the end of the night.

For the record, I was not involved in the shots, gyrating, or cookie tossing. Bravo to me!

This morning, after letting Bacchus sleep until 11:44 – how nice of a sister am I? – the two of us had brunch at the neighborhood creperie. We had nutella and banana crepes, chocolate croissants, and cafe au laits. So yummy! Raj introduced me to cafe au laits. I eat the creamy layer of foam first with a spoon, after sprinkling it with a layer of sugar, and then slowly sip the naked coffee-milk mixture.

My brother and I had a really good talk over brunch. Who knew he had become so mature and grown-up? He gave me some sound, honest advice, listened to my feelings, asked me about my feelings, was tactful and sensitive, and showed me that he was there for me and was looking out for me.

After brunch, we trekked up to the Empire State Building and took in the mist-shrouded views of the city. I pointed out the gaps in the skyline where the Twin Towers once stood, and we found the shadowy figure of the Statue of Liberty off in the distance.

Then it was off to Grand Central so that Bacchus could catch his train to Connecticut. I kissed him goodbye but didn’t feel sad because of the wonderful time we had had together.

Thursday Thirteen #5

13 Countries I’ve Visited

1) Sweden – I was born in Lund, Sweden, a relatively large city in the south of Sweden. In my junior year of college, I studied for one semester at Lund Universitet, the same college my uncle and my father went to before me.

2) United States – When I was six years old, my family (mom, dad, and younger brother, Frey) moved to Hohokus, New Jersey. We stayed there for only six months and all I remember is a plastic rocking horse that I used to play on in the yard. We later moved around New England.

3) Argentina – In high school, I went to Argentina for three weeks with my best friend Simone and her family. At her grandparents’ hacienda we sunned ourselves topless in the back yard, and I road a horse for the first time; the next day I couldn’t walk because my legs were so sore. In Buenas Aires, Simone, her cousin, and I went to a crazy club called “New York City.” They let us in, even though we were years underage, when they realized we were Americans. That night was my first and only experience dancing in the middle of a plastic enclosed room filled with sudsy bubbles and foam. It was a blast.

4) Uruguay – During the same trip, we drove in SUVs from Argentina to Punta del Este, Uruguay, one of the most gorgeous beaches I’ve ever seen. Simone and I were dazzled by all of the latin boys paying court to us. In one photograph, Simone and I are standing in our bikinis, towels around our waists, in the midst of a group of boys, some of whom were her very attractive cousins. All of the boys are smiling, along with Simone’s sister, who was also in the shot. I’m looking at the camera, torn between feeling shy and excited, trying to play cool. Simone has her mouth wide open and is looking straight into the camera as if to say, can you believe this?

5) Greece – The winter semester I spent in Sweden was the grayest, longest winter of my life. The first week the charter flights started flying out of Sweden in April, two friends and I flew down to Greece in search of sunshine and beaches. In Athens, I climbed the Acropolis and saw the Parthenon and the surrounding temples. That was awesome. Later, I was saddened to see bits of temples poking out of the earth in the city proper, surrounded by rusting chain link fences and debris. I also saw whole carcasses of skinned goats, with only their hairy tails left intact, hanging in butchers’ windows for the Greek Orthodox Easter celebration.

6) England – I spent the summer following my semester abroad traveling around Europe on a eurorail pass with a friend from college. We started the trip in London, England. While my friend wandered around Piccadilly Street, I went on a tour of the Tower of London and then on to Stonehenge. Walking across the stones in the Tower where queens and princes had met their sordid, scandalous deaths, was fascinating. At Stonehenge I felt like an intruder among the quiet stones, surrounded by crowds held back by only a thin rope. So many secrets that we will never know, perhaps lost forever.

7) Switzerland – While traveling through Europe, I stopped to visit an eclectic friend in Zurich. She took me on a tour of the city and showed me the apartments filled with squatters. She also showed me the corners of buildings where the government had installed fluorescent blue lights in a creative attempt to counter Zurich’s drug problem. The blue lights made it impossible to see the veins in arms, and thus, impossible to use needles.

Italy – On the same trip, my friend and I stayed with a family who 30 years earlier had hosted my friend’s mother as a foreign exchange student. My god, that woman could cook. We saw Milan, Florence, and Venice. I scuba dived for the first time, around Elba Island, the island where Napoleon was imprisoned and penned his memoirs. On my very first dive ever, I went down with the crazy Italian captain, who could speak no English. Many meters down, he communicated through vigorous finger jabbing that my oxygen had run out and that we would have to share his oxygen on the way up to the surface. Because I was insane at that time, I went on 5 more dives with him, including a night dive around a sunken ship. Italy was also the place where my love affair with Parmesan Reggiano cheese began.

9) France – I love France. The Louvre and it’s tiny Mona Lisa, the Musee de l’Orangerie with its wall-to-wall water lilies, the latin quarter with its fondue, wine, and romance, and towns like Lyon, where fresh-baked bread, markets, and savoring the sweetness of life is the norm. For any fans of the “freedom-fries” out there, please recall that France gave the US our Statue of Liberty. Without France and it’s revolutionary spirit, our history would have been very different.

10) Cambodia – During law school, I worked in Phnom Penh for a summer for a human rights NGO. It was an incredible experience, and my first exposure to South Asia. Sitting on the balcony of the F.C.C. (foreign correspondence club), looking out over the Mecon River, I could almost hear the faint sounds of helicopters; imprints left over in my mind from Vietnam-era movies that seemed to come alive in the mists hanging above the river. In Cambodia, I was surrounded by rubble-strewn streets, bombed out French colonial buildings, memories of the killing fields, and the bright smiles of the people, so many of them filled with warmth and generosity despite the atrocities they and their families have suffered. Angkor Wat was awe-inspiring.

11) Vietnam - Hanoi is a beautiful city, and, surprisingly, a shopping mecca. Literally every corner had a Vietnamese person trying to sell something. So much for communism, Ho Chi Minh. While riding a bus to Vietnam with a number of backbackers, one of the British travelers asked me how it felt to be visiting Vietnam as the United States had lost that war and been disgraced. I replied something along the lines of, probably similar to how it feels when you visit India, the United States, the Caribbean, and all of the other countries the British Empire no longer controls. I don’t like Bushie, I believe the Vietnam war was misguided, and I have serious problems with a host of our foreign policies; however, I do have pride in the United States – our history, our principles, and our potential.

12) Belize – On a two-week vacation, Raj and I snorkeled around Tobacco Caye, got bitten alive by sand flies on the beach in Placencia, saw the Mayan ruins around San Ignacio, and traveled to Tikal in Guatemala to see the tallest Mayan ruins, buried deep within the jungle. My favorite part of the trip, other than the Mayan ruins, was a caving trip that we went on. Raj and I, two guys, and a guide went on a two-hour hike underground through caves that Mayan priests used to use to make sacrifices to the Gods. Despite my fear of dark spaces, I climbed through small rock passages, waded and sometimes swam through the waist high water covering the cave floor, and at one point sat in the dark in silence with my head lamp turned off to hear the sounds of the Mayan spirits inhabiting the cave.

13) Thailand – Last October, when I was near my mental breaking point due to work, I went on a much-needed rejuvenating vacation to Thailand. I spent one week on my own in a small wellness resort on an island in the south of Thailand. At the resort, I slept in a simple wood bungalow, surrounded by trees and flowers, took yoga classes, had spa treatments, and fasted for three days! It was one of the best trips that I have ever taken. During the next week, I traveled with my brother, Bacchus, to Bangkok and Chang-Mai, where we road on elephants, drank too many Singhas, and became fascinated by Buddhism.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens! (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

1. Caledonia
2. Christine
3. Nikkie
4. Cindi
5. Gypsy
6. Pixieprincessmom
7. Ash
8. Ali
9. Jerseytjej
10. Amy
11. Jenny-Ryan
12. Sarah
13. Mar
14. Something Blue
15. Ka-rista
16. KarenW
17. Shandra
18. Southern Girl
19. Tink
20. Fisher Family
21. My Two Cents
22. April
23. Kailani
24. Raggedy
25. Margaret
26. You’re next!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Edible Din-Din

I woke up this morning to Raj, looking dashing at the end of the bed all dressed for work in a crisp white shirt and slacks, saying, in an exceedingly chipper sing-song voice, “Munchkin, wakey, wakey. Time to get up, Munchkin!!” As I struggled to hold my eye lids open, I slowly realized that it was already 9:15, Raj had woken, gone to the gym, showered and dressed, and I had slept through it all. How many hours did I get last night, with only one interruption at 3 am? Nine blissful hours. Now that’s the kind of sleep I’m talking about!

So much for getting in to work at a reasonable time.

Last night I made dinner for Leila and Zahra, two extraordinary teenagers I have befriended while working on their asylum case. We have not yet heard the results in their asylum case, so the girls continue to remain in legal limbo. They have been living in a domestic violence shelter since June. I see them about once a week, either visiting them at their shelter, or having them over to my apartment. I love spending time with them.

Though the girls often request “desi” (South Asian, including Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Sri Lankan) food, they decided yesterday that they were tired of desi food and wanted to have something non-desi for a change. The girls also wanted something healthy. I volunteered to cook dinner at my apartment, and this resulted in a flurry of conversations in which I tried to figure out what non-desi food they might like. During one conversation, Zahra told me that she liked eggplant “if cooked properly.” When I asked her what she meant by “properly,” she said, “with the right spices.” I cautioned her that non-desi food does not use the same spices as desi food, to which Zahra replied, “Oh…” In another conversation, Leila told me that she did not like sweet potatoes. When I asked if she had ever had sweet potatoes, she admitted that she wasn’t sure.

It was challenging to come up with a healthy, tasty, easy meal – one that I could make, and one that I could teach the girls how to make in the future. How do moms do it every night?? I’m forever looking for ideas, so if you have any, send them my way.

I ended up making poached salmon, corn, sweet potatoes, a salad, and antioxidant-packed blueberries with yogurt and brown sugar for dessert. To my great delight, it was a success!! Both girls had seconds, they loved the sweet potatoes, and the also really liked the dessert. Raj came home just in time for dinner and he said, after complimenting my cooking very sweetly, “Why aren’t you always like this?” Ha ha.

Personally, I wasn’t thrilled with the salmon. I’m partial to grilled, as opposed to poached, fish. The sweet potatoes, however, were brilliant. I was short on time so all I did was microwave one giant sweet potato for 6 minutes, after peeling the skin off, pricking it with a fork several times, and wrapping it tightly in saran wrap. After removing it from the microwave, I carefully removed the saran wrap (watch out for steam), put it in a dish and mashed it up with a fork. I topped it off with a few pats of butter, and voila! No unhealthy additives and it was delicious. Of course I didn’t tell Leila, Zahra, or Raj that; he’s worse than them, always wanting butter, salt, and the ubiquitous hot sauce.

Easy Blueberry Dessert:

Fresh blueberries
1 tbsp plain Greek yogurt
1 tbsp brown sugar

Rinse blueberries, put in bowl. Place a dollop of yogurt on top of the blueberries. Sprinkle with tbsp of brown sugar.

Tips: When eating this dessert, I love to mix the blueberries, yogurt, and brown sugar together until each berry is coated with a delectable brown sugar infused yogurt coating. This satisfies my cravings for creaminess and sweetness.

On yogurt: My mom used to make this dessert when I was younger by using sour cream instead of yogurt. Recently, I discovered Fage’s greek yogurt. It’s thick and creamy and has a similar consistency to sour cream, yet it has all the health benefits of yogurt. I buy the plain 2% yogurt because it is low fat, and still delicious. Occasionally, I eat it with honey and cinnamon as a snack, or dip strawberries into the honey yogurt mixture. Yummy.

Weekend Update and Vacation Day Dreaming

Another semi-quiet day at the office when I’m supposed to be doing a number of things, none of which are due today and Dragon Lady isn’t calling, so I’m feeling relatively at peace with the world, waiting patiently for the hours to pass.

The weekend was fun and productive. I was a social butterfly and saw not one, but two girl friends for brunch and dinner, respectively. I completed my third treatment of laser hair removal on my nether regions, and instead of doing shots of bourbon beforehand as my brother had advised, I opted to ask the technician to turn down the strength of the laser. Excellent move on my part. Freaking brilliant! Because this time, instead of feeling as if I was being stabbed repeatedly with red hot knitting needles, it felt more like I was getting an intricate tattoo etched into my clitoris. Not pleasant, mind you, but a huge improvement over the last two torturous experiences.

I also cut and colored my hair, which I had been wanting to do for months. I had reached that stage of growing out my hair when all the icky layers had finally been eliminated and I was liking it, but was also noticing split ends and feeling as if I needed a little more body. A little more va-voom and bounce. That’s a terrible, misguided thing, this desire for body. It leads, inevitably, straight down the miserable path back to layers. Sure enough, that’s basically what happened.

I tried to explain to the new stylist that I wanted some more volume around my face and therefore wanted angles starting from an inch below my chin. I was picturing something sleek and smooth, with a nice curling under effect at the bottom of my tresses ala Charlotte of Sex and the City. The hairstylist however, despite my repeated requests for “angles” somehow heard “face -framing layers.”

Thus, I know have a large chunk of layered hair that stops just passed my chin, and then longer hair extending down past my shoulders. I feel floppy and messy, and like the longer thinner hair looks like a sea of rat tails poking out from under the layered mess. The back, thankfully, is not layered, but I feel weirdly like I have some type of elongated mullet going on. This is absurd and all in my head, but still discombobulating. I liked my long one-length hair. Why, oh why, do I always get caught in the layers trap? It’s going to take months to grow it out!

I’m also not sure I’m wild about the color. The greys are gone – a fact Raj innocently pointed out immediately upon seeing the new ‘do for the first time – as are the sun-tinted glints of brassiness, but the color is dark. I’m afraid it might look as if I’m wearing a dark, opaque, hair helmet. I know I’m painting a ghastly picture. I think I just need to get used to it. As I was telling my mom the other day when she was bemoaning a too-short cut, it’s only hair and it will grow back, eventually. But, even knowing that intellectually, I still can’t stop myself from feeling the urge to cut off all the long pieces and make everything even-ish again.

Now, for the really exciting news: I have two vacations coming up. The first is a trip Raj and I will be taking in September, one week to British Columbia. At this point we are tentatively planning to fly into Vancouver and then drive up to Calgary to go hiking, river rafting, and perhaps climbing in BANFF. I am so excited for nature, camping, tents, smores, cards, and snuggling with Raj that I can barely stand it!! I’ve never been to B.C., so you if you have ideas, please let me know. Don’t be shy.

The second vacation is the present I’m going to give myself after I quit this god-forsaken, but well-paying job. I am going to travel for 2-3 months, clear my head, see more of the world, and just enjoy myself away from the stress of work. I also want to use the time to connect with myself and think about what I want out of the future in terms of a career. But have no fear, I’m not going to put any pressure on myself to figure it out while I’m away. I’m just going to let things percolate.

Ideally, I would like to travel with someone (ideally Raj), because I feel like travelling is the best when you can share the experience with someone else. Some of my fondest memories of my friends and family are of times that we’ve travelled together. I’m really excited right now because I just persuaded my brother, Frey, to travel for the first month with me. Coincidentally, he’ll be quitting his job right around the time that I do, so it’s perfect timing to travel together. Raj will join me in the middle for at least two weeks, and hopefully I’ll work something out for the remaining 6 weeks.

So, the thrilling question that I’m going to have to figure out during the next few months is where shall I travel? I’m in love with Asia, so will be in the eastern hemisphere. I think I’ll definitely go through China, and maybe New Zealand. What do you think internet?

What are the top 3 places you would like to visit in the eastern hemisphere?

Booty-licious

You know you’ve been reading too many celebrity internet sites when, while waiting in line in Starbuck’s, you hear:

Girl 1: The movie was good. I was surprised to see Jessica Biel in it. I love her.

Girl 2: Yeah, I really like her too. She hasn’t been in something for a while.

Girl 1: But she’s been getting a lot of press lately. I don’t know why…

Girl 2: Yeah, she has been getting press. I’m not sure why all of a sudden…

And you can barely restrain yourself from leaning over and explaining to the little simpletons: It’s because of her ass! She’s been getting so much press lately because of her recently “discovered” booty, which has been featured in a gazillion photos during the past two weeks. Which is sort of ridiculous because she’s always been a babe, and on top of that she’s been working out for months – I know because I’ve seen tons of pictures – and I’ve been noticing, approvingly, how buff and non-anorexic she was becoming.

Bravo to Jessica for demonstrating that actresses who eat are way hotter than those who don’t!

Elated

Here are some of the reasons why this Friday kicks ass:

1) I went climbing last night and I had a great time. I went with a small group of summers and associates for a firm event that included climbing for 2 hours in a climbing gym and then pub food and beers afterwards. This was unusual for me because (a) I hate my firm, (b) I hate summers, with a few exceptions, and (c) I’m usually too drained during the week from work to do anything more active than going to the gym or snuggling with Raj on the couch.

This was the second time I have gone climbing in a gym. I’ve been bouldering outside and loved it but I’ve never done anything requiring equipment before. The aspects I enjoy about climbing are that you need to problem solve as you go, it’s a great work out, and you feel such a sense of accomplishment when you make a move you’ve been struggling to get, or you complete a climb. I’m up to 5.7s, which I feel pretty good about, and learned how to belay yesterday so should now be able to go with a partner more regularly. I want to become awesome at it and then go for climbs outside. How awesome would that be?

2) I got nineteen visitors (who commented) to my blog yesterday for Thursday Thirteen! Bu-yah!! I love visitors and comments. I started blogging in February and this experience has been so rewarding and fun for me. I love the writing, the self-reflection, the bonding with my little sister, communicating with friends, and the sense of community and female empowerment that are all part of blogging for me. It’s something that makes me happy each day to do, and I look forward to it. Keep coming with the comments and visiting. For those of you who visit but don’t comment, say hi sometime!

3) Dragon Lady is not here today!! Fabulous! I had a meeting with her yesterday, and shocker of shockers, it actually went well. Meaning, she didn’t glare or yell at me once! We even made half-way pleasant non-awkward small talk for a minute. It was like she was human. I walked out of her office feeling better than I did when I went in. That never happens.

4) This weekend is going to be fun-filled and productive. I’m going for a haircut and potential coloring to get rid of this damn grey. I hate grey hairs and I’m sick to death of peering at them in my mirror. I’m also having my third laser hair removal appointment. I wish I could drink beforehand but then I might be buzzed for my haircut and I need to be dead sober for that to keep the hairstylist in line. Thankfully, the pain from the laser goes away quickly. I have a bookclub meeting on Sunday, and Raj and I are going on a dinner/movie date tonight, and tomorrow we’ll probably see some friends.

5) For once I completed the book I was supposed to read for my book club, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” the book that Bladerunner is based on. Though I didn’t love the movie, and have yet to finish it, I really enjoyed the book. It questions what it is to be human (maybe Dragon Lady is an android????) and, like the Terminator movies (my all time favorite being T2), made me feel compassion for androids (but not Dragon Lady).

6) If you scroll down to the end of my blog, you’ll see that I added a countdown until the day I’m going to give my two-weeks notice. Pretty awesome. I’m supremely impressed with myself that I figured out – through much trial and error – how to add that to my blog. Now if only I could figure out that auto-link thing I’d be all set.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!