OCT 29 :: [least favorite] Yes, Halloween is one of my least favorite holidays. You'd think the whole concept of dressing up and being somebody else for one night would appeal to someone like me. But I'm so not enamored by the concept of dressing up. Not to mention I really dislike putting on a hat, hairpiece or anything that will mess up my well-gelled hair (stop laughing).

But, one must do his/her best to celebrate. So we're off to a drag pageant tonight called Miss Adams Morgan at the Washington (Hinckley) Hilton. We are supporting Miss Iphelia Payne. Cute, huh? :) Also, tomorrow we're headed to NYC for a fun-filled Halloween weekend complete with dinner parties, cocktail parties, costume parties, bars, clubs, shopping, food, etc. New York, baby! Yea!

4 more days till Election Day. Vote (Kerry) or die!

OCT 28 :: [yet another] Another intellectual conservative entity - The Economist - has endorsed John Kerry for President. I like The Economist. It is my one pre-requisite buy off the magazine rack when I'm about to get on a plane. Socially tolerant and fiscally conservative (although sometimes a bit uncompassionate) are two of the many reasons why I find myself reading The Economist regularly. The annual subscription is a little costly (which is why I don't subscribe) plus sometimes, the opinion pages go on a pro-war tirade which makes me puke.

Tony comes home tomorrow from New Orleans, yay! I'm feeling a little icky around the throat area but I should be fine for our trip to NYC this Halloween weekend. It'll be a welcome break from politics and polls. I can't wait to go shopping.

5 more days till Election Day. Vote!!

OCT 27 :: [they did it!] Boston Red Sox wins the World Series! After 86 years of waiting...

[so cool] I was reminded by CNN to walk outside around 10pm or so and lemme say that the lunar eclipse is SO cool. No matter how jaded you are about life on earth, the dimming of the brightness of the full moon during an eclipse is definitely something else. It's hard not to be impressed. I stood on my front porch, staring straight up in the southerly direction and my mouth was agape when I saw only a sliver of the moon's brightness left; the rest was covered by the Earth's shadow. Very stunning. I am cosmologically impressed :)

[a different race] The attention turned to the High Heel Drag Race on 17th St and away from the nasty Presidential Election for a few hours last night. The weather was nice, the night was not too chilly and the drag queens were out in force! Very fierce. As usual, the anticipation and build-up before the event is far more entertaining than the race itself. The race lasted for, oh, 10 seconds. We stood at the finishing line and had a marginal view of the drag queens. After that, we all adjourned to JR's (of course) for their outdoor tent party. And again, the tent closed down before 11pm. Groan. Neighborhood activists, be damned. Nonetheless, we were all sufficiently liquored up for the evening.

The night started out at Mikko's for a little cocktail and yummy food party. I ate lots of chicken and beef. The marinade was to die for. I think it was kaffir lime leaves and ginger. I had no idea the Finnish used kaffir lime leaves. But it was delicious. I drank one too many vodka shots and the night went downhill from there. How fetch :)

Oh wait, I forgot about Monday night. Another Monday, another slumber party. Rick and Ryan came over to watch the Radio Music Awards. When Beyonce performed the opening act (Lose My Breath), I thought the three of us were going to pass out. She looked totally fierce and fetch! Hot, hot, hot.

A total eclipse of the moon is scheduled at 11pm tonight. The moon is so full and so bright when we were out and about last night. The eclipse should be quite a sight to behold.

No party tonight (I need a breather...) but party tomorrow night, Friday night (Ms Adams Morgan), Saturday night (NYC) and perhaps even Sunday night (I think not). "Can you keep up, baby boy? Make me lose my breath". Oh my Beyonce :)

OCT 26 :: [one more week] The autumn sky is crystal clear blue today and the sun is shining warmly. I took the top down today; the first time in a month, I think. Oct has been a tad chilly. And it's only gonna get chillier... and uglier.

We are now one week from THE most important elections of our lifetimes. Of course that's an exaggeration. The next one will be just as important. And the next. And the one after that and so on and so forth. It's almost like a part of the growing up process. Almost. We make mistakes growing up but they are our own mistakes and we learn from it. If the country makes a mistake electing the wrong guy, you didn't make that mistake, somebody else did. And you have no control over that someone else. And pardon my French but that fucking blows.

The world is not going to end if either Kerry or Bush wins next week. Life goes on. I'll still be looking for a winter coat that looks good and fits me. I'll still be going to yoga once a week. I'll still have to work to pay the bills. And I'll still be partying and drinking with my friends, living it up like the queens that we are :)

That's not to say I'm not anxious about the election results. I am anxious enough to check polls on a daily basis and sometimes I feel resigned and other times I feel hopeful. But I think I've gotten to a point whereby no matter what happens, I will always have a choice. If Bush gets re-elected and makes it intolerable to live in the United States, I'll just move (with Tony, of course). I'll vote with my feet. If Kerry gets elected, I'll still have to fight for the rights I want during his Presidency. Either way, it'll be a fight. And if I can't fight it, I'll just choose another alternative. In any case, I'll always have a choice. An out, if you will.

But for now, you are damn right I'll continue fighting. My #1 beef with the past four ruinous years under President George W. Bush is his fight against my very existence. The Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) was my breaking point. His fight to deny me equal rights under the law is bad enough. But his endorsement to change the Constitution to deny me those rights is the final straw. No matter what you feel about same-sex marriage, you should feel strongly against amending the Constitution to achieve your desired result. I was, and still am, furiously angry at this President for backing this Amendment and I can say right now with absolutely no exceptions that if you share the President's view on the FMA, you are ignorant, hateful and undeserved of my compassion, just like our President. I have no time for stupid people. Period.

My (very distant) #2 beef is the war on Iraq. We can agree to disagree on this but my conscience and my presence on this planet as a fellow human being enforces my belief that fighting for peace will always trump fighting in a war. Wars are sometimes necessary, especially if provoked, but to start a war based on lies, deception and false pretenses is unforgivable in my eyes. Anyone who inflicts that much pain and suffering on another person or population with absolutely no justification at all should be punished severely and relegated to the ashes of history. War is so horrible that I don't have to live through one to know what one is like. I cannot understand how people can be pro-war. But I can hear another point of view on this issue. For the gay rights issue? Definitely no compromise.

Of course I have other beefs as well. I can barely list them all. They range from environmental issues to gun control, judicial appointments to abortion rights, fiscal issues to the Patriot Act. This Administration has been a miserable failure in all the issues I care about. But more importantly, we cannot re-elect a man who fucked up over and over again when it mattered the most. How can we re-elect a President that let the perpetrators of 9/11 get away? How can we re-elect a President that started a murderous war on false pretenses? How can we re-elect a President that mortgaged our entire future on tax cuts that are tilted towards the wealthy? How can we re-elect a President who would alter the Constitution to deny rights to a group of minority in this country?

We cannot. And we mustn't. If you believe in truth, vote for John Kerry. If you believe in accountability, vote for John Kerry. If you believe in choice, vote for John Kerry. If you believe in our security, our rights, our freedoms and our liberty as one people, vote for John Kerry. If you believe in hope over fear, vote for John Kerry.

[frozen over] No, it's not winter yet. But hell has certainly frozen over what with Andrew Sullivan endorsing John Kerry for President. I never thought I'd see this but he's been quite angry at Bush for some time now because of the FMA attack. Here's the link to his endorsement. Yes, *GASP* quelle horreur, it's a link to The New Republic. Stranger things have happened on this blog, believe you me ;)

Even conservatives (well, the intelligent ones) are tilting towards Kerry to bring back fiscal sanity and a credible post-war plan in Iraq. As Gwen Stefani says in her new single: "What are you waiting for?"

OCT 25 :: [restraining order] So what on earth did I do this weekend to warrant a "restraining order"? :)

Last Thursday was gurls' night out: Chris, Rick, Tony and I started with mojitos at Lauriol Plaza (there's a pattern here; either that or their mojitos are just so irresistible), followed by dinner at Rice (again, irresistible Thai food) and then drinks at Halo (irresistible bartenders? *GRIN* We're so predictable). Everything was fine and dandy until Chris decides we should all cab to Secrets (!!!). On a Thursday night?! So... we went :) How tawdry of us. It was one of those school nights that went on too late. Too many tawdry things happened there to write about; I'm not into incriminating other people ;)

Friday was even more tawdry. We started the evening with a party at Tom/G's to meet her mom, followed by dinner at Buca di Beppo (with the usual suspects) and, as usual, what ensues involves shots of limoncello. Lots of it. It was riotous. Of course, we decide after dinner that we haven't had enough so off we (Rick, Ryan and I) went to Duplex for more drinks and, unbelievably, more shots. We were there so long we closed the place down. Tawdry, tawdry, tawdry.

And yes, I worked on Thursday and Friday regardless of how much partying I did that night or the night before :D

Saturday was like the apex. We didn't make it to yoga (a hangover may have had something to do with it), we shopped for a winter coat for me at Pentagon all day (although as with almost all my shopping expeditions, I buy everything but), and then the Halloween party of the year at Ski's. I bought a new outfit and put on my mask from Cirque du Soleil. The mask had to come off, though, coz it gave me allergies (yes, I'm such a delicate flower) but the whole party was super fetch. There was a costume contest and some witch won (as they usually do). Then Ryan got plastered and we had to take him home. Lots more happened in between but I cannot elaborate. Too tawdry.

We finally made it to yoga on Sunday which was quite detoxifying, thank God. Went shopping some more in Georgetown and, again, found everything but a winter coat for me. I am desperately in need of one. None of my existing ones fit me anymore and it's getting colder outside. Sigh.

Other than that, we're off to NYC this weekend for Halloween (yea, baby!). And hopefully, this week will be less inebriated than the last. Tony being away all week doesn't help (I've gotta find company at night, y'know) but I promise I'll be good. I have to. My liver is already filing the papers for a temporary restraining order as I type this.

Giggle.

OCT 24 :: [redemption] Finally, the WP editorial gets it. Should I end my boycott? Yea, probably...

Not feeling so fetch this morning. Will write more later.

OCT 21 :: [conservatism] This resonated with me. It probably won't with you but whatever :)

"If Bush loses, serious conservatives, with the possible exception of extreme social conservatives, will have to ask themselves what they gained from four years of unfettered power, and ten years of domination of American politics. Government is "bigger" by every measure, and more intrusive. A pet idea, Social Security privatization, was actually discredited by their president's incompetence. Younger voters are increasingly turned off by the social conservatism, so the movement is not expanding its base. A huge new entitlement was created. The federal role in education expanded. And poor planning and dishonesty over Iraq weakened our defense, our credibility, and made it impossible to set a clear standard for when we would intervene and when not. All the tax cuts have done is to postpone the day we pay for these things. And if Bush wins, all this will still be true."

I have no doubt that social progress will render the radical christian right pointless at some point in the near future. Social conservatism is on the way out the door. They can fight for all the rollbacks-to-a-time-when-the-Bible-was-the-law-of-the-land all they want but human rights and civil rights and all our hard-earned freedoms and cherished liberties will withstand all their attacks.

But above all, the far-right social conservative agenda has made America wince at the fiscal conservative agenda which is what we should all be fighting for. Tax increases are bad but tax cuts when we cannot afford it (or pretend to find a way to afford it) is even worse, IMHO. Pay-as-you-go, lowering the national debt, wiping out the deficit, a stable and caring government (i.e. not bigger or smaller but better run), and a foreign policy based on strengthening our position in the world, not selfish gain and domination - these are the things we should all be fighting for.

And Bush just couldn't care less. He only cares about one thing - winning the next election at all costs. Up to and including pandering to the christian right, doling out massive pork projects to favored constituents while cutting taxes and creating a huge debt hole, and launching a war of choice, a war on women, minorities, gays, lesbians, the disadvantaged, the poor, our Consitution, etc.

John Kerry can do better. Vote!!

[incompetent] John Edwards is getting feisty! I love it:

"The truth of the matter is, Iraq is a mess because this president and this vice president were incompetent."

"They were incompetent in building a coalition. They were incompetent in having a plan. If you want to know how successful this president and vice president will be on the war on terror, all you gotta do is look at their incompetence on Iraq."

I love it!! Hope is on the way. Vote!!

[republican for kerry] Marlow W. Cook was Kentucky's Republican Senator from 1968-75. He speaks out on Bush's moral standards:

"[Bush] went after Sen. Max Cleland from Georgia, a Democrat seeking re-election. Bush henchmen said he wasn't patriotic because Cleland did not agree 100 percent on how to handle homeland security. They published his picture along with Cuba's Castro, questioning Cleland's patriotism and commitment to America's security. Never mind that his Republican challenger was a Vietnam deferment case and Cleland, who had served in Vietnam, came home in a wheel chair having lost three limbs fighting for his country. Anyone who wants to win an election and control of the legislative body that badly has no moral character at all."

On the war in Iraq:

"I have just turned 78. During my lifetime, we have sent 31,377,741 Americans to war, not including whatever will be the final figures for the Iraq fiasco. Of those, 502,722 died and 928,980 came home without legs, arms or what have you."

"Those wars were to defend freedom throughout the free world from communism, dictators and tyrants. Now Americans are the aggressors we start the wars, we blow up all the infrastructure in those countries, and then turn around and spend tax dollars denying our nation an excellent education system, medical and drug programs, and the list goes on."

On the Bush Administration's lack of accomplishments:

"I hope you all have noticed the Bush administration's style in the campaign so far. All negative, trashing Sen. John Kerry, Sen. John Edwards and Democrats in general. Not once have they said what they have done right, what they have done wrong or what they have not done at all."

On borrow-and-spend Republicans:

"We in this nation have a serious problem. Its almost worse than terrorism: We are broke. Our government is borrowing a billion dollars a day. They are now borrowing from the government pension program, for apparently they have gotten as much out of the Social Security Trust as it can take. Our House and Senate announce weekly grants for every kind of favorite local programs to save legislative seats, and it's all borrowed money."

On this Administration's zealous pursuit of secrecy:

"I am frightened to death of George Bush. I fear a secret government. I abhor a government that refuses to supply the Congress with requested information. I am against a government that refuses to tell the country with whom the leaders of our country sat down and determined our energy policy, and to prove how much they want to keep that secret, they took it all the way to the Supreme Court."

There is a clear choice in 12 days: a morally and financially bankrupt government who declares wars at will and pushes the nation deeper into debt, or a better future for our children, and the world's children. W stands for Wrong - The Wrong Choice for America. Vote!!

OCT 20 :: [political security] Here's what John Edwards had to say about Condi Rice (yes, our dear National Security Adviser) giving political speeches on behalf of her boss:

"For all its fearmongering on the war on terror, this White House has a greater commitment to its political security than to our national security. The fact is that the violence in Iraq is spiraling out of control, Osama bin Laden remains at large and North Korea and Iran have increased their nuclear capabilities. With all this going on, Condi Rice shouldn't take the time to go on a campaign trip for George Bush."

"George Bush will go to any length to cling to power, even if it means diverting his national security adviser from doing her job. It's time for a fresh start with a White House whose priority will be to focus on doing everything to make our country safer -- period."

It's sickening to witness the lengths people will go to to defend their power in government. The people of AZ, AR, CO, FL, NH, NV, NC, OH, VA, and WV oughta tell Dubya to stuff their electoral votes up his ass... and then give them to John Kerry. Yes, I'm secretly hoping for a wipe-out, landslide election against Bush where he loses big in the electoral college. How sweet would that be?

The next best thing would be Kerry holding on to all of Gore's states in 2000 and pick up one (or two) big states (FL, OH) and a few small ones (NH, for sure... maybe NV? or CO?). I still prefer to see Bush get creamed. Election 2004 is 13 days away! Vote, people!!

OCT 19 :: [slumber party] Of course, after partying five nights in a row, you didn't think I was gonna stop, didcha? :) After my blissful one-night break on Sunday, Monday night was party-central all over again. Amazing how I can make Monday night a party night.

I was up till 5am last night (or, shall I say, this morning?) watching Mean Girls among other things. It was awesome. It all started with mojitos at Lauriol Plaza (like it usually does) with Rick and Allen followed by Cosmos at Duplex (like it usually does) where Ryan joined us. The four of us had dinner at The Regent and everything went downhill from there - more Cosmos at Duplex (at this point, I was already in la-la land) followed by drinks at JR's and then we settled at home for a slumber party. How fetch. I had a bed in the living room and we all cuddled and watched Lindsay Lohan sturt her stuff to Pass That Dutch and Milkshake. It was awesome.

Waking up a few hours later was extremely difficult. I think I must've gotten 5 hours of sleep. Allen and Ryan were downstairs doing god-knows-what :) Rick had disappeaered. Ryan had to go to work but not in his existing clothes so we raided my closet for a shirt/pants/belt/jacket for him to wear. Amazing how we were a perfect fit. He is almost too gay to function - his #1 priority when he woke up was hair products, not toothbrush. And then he tried to squeeze his enormous feet into my size 9 shoes and he ended up with blisters all day, giggle. Yea, I have small feet.

Allen and I had a fun lunch at Sushi Taro before I drove him around DC for drive-by picture-taking and then off to National for his flight home.

Anyway, I'm totally beat. My eyes are shutting and I'm picturing myself crawling into bed as I type this. Today is the 17th anniversary of the 1987 stock market crash. In 2 weeks, America decides her future (and the world's future) for the next four years. I'm too tired to think about the multitude of parties we have lined up this weekend. Tony's home, yay! Tired, tired, tired. I'm ready to slumber... Zzz.

[bills, bills, bills] So what do I do with an overtime-induced fat paycheck from putting in crazy hours for my project at work? I spend it all... My credit card bill this month has hit an insane level and my billing cycle still has 11 days to go! And then I get my cellphone bill and all that talking and texting I do on my cellphone has finally caught up with me - I was slammed with $40 in overage charges. So I call up T-Mobile and up my plan to $40 (ugh) plus another $7 for text messages (ugh!!!). It's quite tawdry, really. I'm a cellphone whore, and a slave to my credit card and new clothes. Hey, at least I'm only addicted to my cellphone and clothes. It could be worse :) La ti da. Need to stop spending.

OCT 18 :: [five in a row] Where do I even begin. You've heard about Varekai on Tues, the Lauriol Plaza/Cobalt-debate-watching-party on Wed, and Margaret Cho in Baltimore on Thurs. So let's pick it up at Friday night. It started with a Stonewall Democrats fundraiser on Capitol Hill with Chrissy Gephardt (she's so fetch; her partner, Amy, is even fetcher!). Then we (Rick, Ryan and I) meandered over to Bistro du Coin to meet up with Gen and Tony for some champagne and mussels. Yum. We devoured three bottles of champagne en route to a Cosmo-binge at Bar Rouge. The mussels at Bistro du Coin are oh-so-good esp. the cream sauce and the white wine sauce. To die for. Bar Rouge was also quite happening on a Friday night past midnight. But I think it's too far south of the bar scene to be worth a weekly diversion. Now if they relocated to a spot next to Halo... Giggle.

Saturday was much of the same: yoga, Starbucks with M2/Rick, shopping at H&M (I can't wait for their new collection on 11/16), etc. Yoga is getting much easier for me which means it's also boring. I don't get tired at the end of a session anymore. Maybe it's time to move up.

Anyways, Chuck was in town so we met him and Mikko, Barry/Jimmy at Peppers for some early-afternoon drinks. Later on, we met Chris/Dave at Duplex for some killer Cosmos and dinner. After that, we met Allen - who's in town from Portland, OR - and walked to a house party at Simon/John's where we met Chuck, Rob/Mikko, Barry/Jimmy again. Gosh, did we like meet up with EVERYbody on Saturday night or what? :) Anyway, John/Simon's cat started to trigger my allergies so we left but not before I had 3 more Cosmos (and there might have been some pot involved but who's talking?). We made our way to Halo where I had two mojitos and then to Cobalt. Halo, btw, is so much fetcher than JR's. The no smoking thing makes my lungs so happy. But the lines are terrible and the waits are horrendous. So not fetch.

Anywho, I somewhat remember that I had another Cosmo at Cobalt but at this point, I was so past the point of drunk I don't really remember. I do remember spilling some of it down my T-shirt which was soaked in vodka all night thereafter. I think we were also dancing on the podium and Cobalt was unbelievably packed at 3:30am but I guess I must've fallen asleep at some point and walked home incoherently. I really don't know which came first :D

So there ya have it - my five crazy party nights in a row. Yesterday was blissfully relaxing - I didn't even leave the house! Lord knows what's gonna happen tonight. Tony left for SF last night. He naively left for Dulles at 3:45pm for a 5:45pm flight. Needless to say, he missed his flight coz the security line was phenomenally long. So he caught a flight at 7 arriving at 1am ET! Yikes. Anyway, he's due home tomorrow (yay!).

Working from home today, putting the final touches on my crazy design document. The weather is getting chilly which I dislike. It was so cold on Saturday night I was shivering (I did have a light jacket on). I especially dislike the shorter days and even shorter daylight hours when daylight-saving time ends. Daylight-saving should be abolished. Why on earth would anyone want to have less daylight is soooo beyond me.

OK, back to work.

[fear and freedom] Sebastian Mallaby has a powerful article in the WP today as he writes about the war in Iraq and the war on terror:

"Iraq generates one awful image after another. The grisly home-video beheadings. The tortured prisoners of Abu Ghraib. The Arab journalist dying after a U.S. helicopter strafing. And then there is Michael Moore's footage of Marine recruiters sweet-talking poor kids into a war -- a war chosen by privileged and comfortable people; by people, in other words, like me."

"War, especially morally ambiguous war, breeds guilt and recrimination. This was true in Vietnam, as Americans remember well, but it was equally true for the French during their war in Algeria. Inevitably, guilt and recrimination are in plentiful supply today, and journalists deserve their fair share of it. I supported the war out of the mistaken belief that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction; I continue to be hawkish today, out of a belief (perhaps again mistaken) that withdrawing in defeat would be a terrible disaster. But a friend once asked me whether I'd be willing to see my own son enlist. I could not find the words to answer."

This reinforces my point of view that the war on Iraq was a war of choice and a huge distraction to the war on terror. But he continues to write about why the war on terror is more important than ever before:

"The fanaticism of suicide-ready terrorists, coupled with the proliferation of horrible weapons, causes the analogy with European terrorism to break down: The threat we confront is on a different scale, and the response needs to be different. If we were faced with the prospect of a few hotel bombings, we could afford to be restrained: We could put values such as freedom before physical security. But today we face the possibility that someone wants to nuke New York. I am not willing to rely on the Statue of Liberty for protection."

That's a great other point of view. I have always thought that the war on terror was a nuisance. Europe has lived with it for centuries, why are we reacting so forcefully and stupidly now? The Patriot Act was, still is and will always be awful. But freedom is meaningless without physical security.

"The battles against terrorism is really a battle of ideas. Our values are our sharpest weapons."

Mallaby writes to contradict himself. Our values are what we're fighting for so why should we give it up? Freedom stands above all. Compromising it will be like compromising our air supply. I know, I know... I shouldn't preach on freedom considering that I support China's right to progress towards democracy at its own pace. But still, freedom is not only addictive, it's something you can't live without once you've had a taste of it. It's all or nothing. And fear is just a constant assault on freedom that needs to be beaten down. We need to overcome fear before we can be free.

OCT 15 :: [cheap and tawdry] No, not Margaret Cho :) Dick and Lynne (Cheney) are such stupid bitches for whining about Kerry's mentioning of their daughter. Kevin Arnovitz from the Slate:

"The only "cheap and tawdry political trick" performed Wednesday night was the one turned by the Cheney parental units. It was they who used their daughter's sexuality as a weapon against John Kerry's sympathetic (and very general) remark. If only Dick and Lynne were so indignant when their daughter was legitimately under attack by an administration willing to write gays and lesbians out of the nation's founding document. Selective indignation has never been so crass."

The Republican Party is implicitly, clearly and shamelessly an intolerant and exclusive party. How can the vice-president not see that his own party is attacking his daughter and his family? How much more ignorant can you get? The party's platform is the most anti-gay ever and the only reason for that is to cater to bigots and homophobes. This party depends on bigots to win elections, pandering to them at any chance and revving them up by demonizing minorities - women, gays, blacks, etc. It's disgusting, it's stupid, and they should be held accountable on Nov 2nd.

[how many?] How many wars is the Bush-Cheney Administration fighting today? Really, how many? The war on terror, the war in Iraq, the war on women, the war on gays, the war on our Constitution, the war on the poor, the war on all minorities and the disadvantaged. When will this war-mongering Administration end?

Margaret Cho was very funny last night at the Hippodrome in Baltimore. But more than just being funny, her message was thought-provoking and rage-inducing; not at her but at the most ignorant and intolerant Administration in our nation's history - Bush-Cheney.

It only took us an hour to get to Baltimore in heavy Thursday evening rush-hour traffic which was quite a surprise. We got liquored up and fed before going into the show with 4 champagne flutes (so fetch). The show never felt like it was going on too long. In fact, we were disappointed that there was no encore. But no matter. The after-party was quite a disappointment. I understand the need for Ms. Cho to rest her body and voice but autographing a DVD for the meet and greet session? Com'on, I totally expected more than that. I did take a really fetch picture with her and told her she was my Asian Queen and I loved her.

The four of us went to The Hippo after that but Ryan, who is so under 21, could not get in so we went to Central Station instead. Yawn. Baltimore is just not that exciting. Period. We were home by 1. Tired. Sleepy. And ready to continue writing my &^%*$-ing design document today. Woe is me.

OCT 14 :: [cho-tastic] We're going to Margaret Cho's show tonight!!! I'm so excited I can barely breathe. I have a long day at work today plus a fetch sushi lunch with Nicole in an hour or so but other than that, I am so psyched for tonight it's not even funny. It's gonna be a long and painful rush-hour drive to Baltimore though but it'll so be worth it. I just hope that her swing-state "State of Emergency" tour won't be entirely political. I'm sure she'll find a way to make it all funny. You'll find out tomorrow! :)

[stupid debate] I don't know why I even bothered. Oh wait, I know why... coz there were drinks involved, giggle! Tony, Rick, Ryan and I ventured into the rain last night for some mojitos and margarita swirls and Lauriol and then debate-watching at Cobalt. Before I go on, we met Rob/Mikko, Barry/Jimmy the night before at Cirque du Soleil: Varekai which was underwhelming but not too bad. The best act of the evening was (d'oh) the gorgeous twins on ropes. You have to see it to believe it. Anyway, here I was thinking that Cirque at RFK was gonna make it easier for us to get to than Tysons II. Well, yea it's easier in the sense that we didn't have to drive but boy, the metro there and the walk from the station to the Cirque tent took forever and a day. And talk about dodgy neighborhood. Yuck. But ooh, I bought a mask :)

Anyways, back to the debates. The debate last night was so dumb I don't even know where to begin. I'm not even gonna comment about our President since he is abysmal as usual. But wtf about Kerry?! Maybe his calm, steady demeanor was supposed to look presidential but it looked tiring and unenthusiastic to me. He almost put me to sleep droning on and on about policy. Yes, policy is important. And some of them were good (pay-as-you-go); and some were really good like when he talked about the ban on assault weapons - "If Tom DeLay or someone in the House said to me, "Sorry, we don't have the votes," I'd have said, "Then we're going to have a fight."". YEA! But some of Kerry's domestic policy ideas made me wince.

I am all for privatizing Social Security. I am so against affirmative action (see below). I don't give a crap about minimum wage (although, I support increasing it). And I don't give a flying *beep* about healthcare. Well, I do actually. I think government should offer universal healthcare ONLY to those who are ineligible to get them through work. And in order to encourage more businesses to offer healthcare, the government should dole out tax breaks for businesses who subsidize the cost of healthcare for their employees. Sounds like a good idea no? But I heard almost no good ideas last night.

And worse, I almost choked at Kerry's immigration plan. His answers were REALLY, really bad. Amnesty for illegal immigrants is just an awful idea. I can see how on the one side, these ppl have earned the right to live legally in this country and they are mostly doing jobs that Americans don't want to do anyway. But on the other side, the US should follow Canada and Australia's example: immigration based on merit and the ability to pay into the national coffers, not drain it. And rewarding illegal immigration is an invitation to more illegal immigration.

But when the President disgustingly said he didn't know if homosexuality was a choice, that did it for me. Here's a little snippet from Andrew Sullivan:

"I keep getting emails asserting that Kerry's mentioning of Mary Cheney is somehow offensive or gratuitous or a "low blow". Huh? Mary Cheney is out of the closet and a member, with her partner, of the vice-president's family. That's a public fact. No one's privacy is being invaded by mentioning this. When Kerry cites Bush's wife or daughters, no one says it's a "low blow." The double standards are entirely a function of people's lingering prejudice against gay people. And by mentioning it, Kerry showed something important. This issue is not an abstract one. It's a concrete, human and real one. It affects many families, and Bush has decided to use this cynically as a divisive weapon in an election campaign. He deserves to be held to account for this - and how much more effective than showing a real person whose relationship and dignity he has attacked and minimized? Does this makes Bush's base uncomfortable? Well, good. It's about time they were made uncomfortable in their acquiescence to discrimination. Does it make Bush uncomfortable? Even better. His decision to bar gay couples from having any protections for their relationships in the constitution is not just a direct attack on the family member of the vice-president. It's an attack on all families with gay members - and on the family as an institution. That's a central issue in this campaign, a key indictment of Bush's record and more than relevant to any debate. For four years, this president has tried to make gay people invisible, to avoid any mention of us, to pretend we don't exist. Well, we do. Right in front of him."

Mr. President, your "acquiescence to discrimination" is abhorrent, disgusting and despicable.

But I do have to say that Senator Kerry had my favorite answer of the evening when asked about Roe v Wade:

"I'll answer it straight to America. I'm not going to appoint a judge to the Court who's going to undo a constitutional right, whether it's the First Amendment, or the Fifth Amendment, or some other right that's given under our courts today -- under the Constitution. And I believe that the right of choice is a constitutional right."

Senator Kerry protects rights, President Bush takes them away. You be the judge.

OCT 12 :: [unfair and unjust] Well, I have nothing to write about today but I'm sitting at home after making an early call this morning and doing some work for some folks in the UK who are now out drinking at a pub somewhere so I'm pretty free. And watching re-runs of The West Wing :)

So let's talk about something I consider unfair and unjust: Affirmative Action. I imagine that anyone who has been on the receiving end of affirmative action (good or bad) has some really strong feelings about this subject. I, for one, feel strongly against affirmative action. Not as strong as before but still pretty strong. I imagine that anyone who has benefited from affirmative action will strongly disagree with me.

Anyway, I was on the receiving end of affirmative action in Malaysia when I was growing up whereby students of the majority race got preferential treatment (i.e. lower admission standards) to almost every level of education but particularly the all-important tertiary education. Not that I had any desire to do my degree in Malaysia but I would've liked to have had that option (plus millions more who are not of the majority race and who were not able to afford an overseas education deserved it more). I was fortunate enough that my parents valued education so highly that they spent an enormous amount of money to send me to the UK for my degree. And I am forever grateful.

And this is what's wrong with affirmative action: it provides preference to a particular race even as this practice in any other area of modern society is equated to discrimination. The quotas that come with affirmative action always works out in favor for one race over another. How is that fair or just? My number one problem with affirmative action is that it is not based on merit. And any system that is not remotely meritocratic (or tries to be) in my mind is a horrible injustice that needs to be corrected.

More glaringly, affirmative action in this country has resulted in increased opportunities for Hispanic- and Africa-American students. That is all fine and dandy. Except that it has taken those opportunities away from Asian- and Caucasian-American students. The latter group is essentially penalized for their values on academic excellence by being required to have a higher level of academic achievement than any other demographic group in order to be admitted to the same university as the former group in this zero-sum game called admissions based on racial preferences.

Yes, there is nothing wrong with going to another university where they will perform and achieve just the same. And yes, test scores are subjective so universities should be allowed to take into consideration other factors such as income levels, alumni children, athletes, musicians, etc. But not on race alone. Skin color and racial identity should never be used as a yardstick for anything in modern society, in my humble opinion. It is both intolerant and intolerable.

So here's my take: affirmative action is akin to discrimination and discrimination, no matter what form it takes, only serves to poison race relations and is therefore, unfair and unjust.

Can you tell I'm bored? :D Ooh, and we're going to Varekai tonight. Yay!

OCT 11 :: [three mistakes] Question at the Presidential Candidate's 2nd debate in St Louis 10/8:

"President Bush, during the last four years, you have made thousands of decisions that have affected millions of lives. Please give three instances in which you came to realize you had made a wrong decision and what you did to correct it. Thank you."

The President couldn't name one, much less three mistakes. He can't correct his mistakes because he can't even recognize them even if they slapped him in the face (or splashed across the media by his own weapons inspectors). Leadership is about acknowledging mistakes and shortcomings and fixing 'em. This President remains steadfastly arrogant even when he's dead wrong. And he wasn't just wrong on some simple facts. He was wrong on a matter of war and peace. He was wrong on a matter that killed thousands of innocent lives. That was a catastrophic mistake. And he can't even admit to have made a mistake in retrospect?

There's nothing we can do to change him. He must be replaced. "W" is for wrong. Wrong on the war on terror, wrong on the war on Iraq, and wrong for the American economy. Truly a disgrace to the American people, our rich history and the world's citizens.

[columbus?] Autumn is definitely here. I drove to work today in the brilliant sunshine but with the top up. It was just way too cold. And it's gonna get colder. And darker. I don't like winter :( My lunchtime trip to H&M helped warm the wallet up though :) The H&M in Dulles Town Center is not only on the moon, it's also quite scarcely stocked with men's stuff. Never again.

I'm on a massive shopping spree to reinvent my wardrobe. This was borne out of necessity because most of my pants, jeans, shirts, etc don't fit anymore. I'm wearing size S for Kenneth Cole shirts now and M for H&M ones, not to mention size 30 pants and jeans (!!). I'm afraid if my waist shrinks any further coz most places don't stock anything under size 30. Plus I had a scare the other day when I weighed in at 149lbs which is SO not good. I am so eating more to make sure I stay at or about 150.

The remainder of my weekend was very fetch indeed. Saturday yoga (we did partner yoga which was really fun) spilled into shopping at the downtown H&M followed by a fun-filled evening starting with killer cosmos at Duplex and then a fabulous dinner at Heritage in Dupont with Tom/G, Rob/Mikko, Chris/Dave plus some miscellaneous sordid characters *GRIN*. And it all culminated with a super-fetch time at Secrets/Ziegfelds. There's something about watching naked go-go boys with porn in the background that caps off a riotous Saturday night outing. Not to mention the outrageous drag performances (actually it wasn't so unique that night). So sad that the naughty clubs in SE are closing soon due to the new baseball stadium. I hope they relocate somewhere else (closer).

After three back-to-back days of partying, I took a breather on Sunday. We drove to Arundel Mills for some more shopping and I had my first sober night's sleep in 4 nights. Needed it. Speaking of Arundel Mills, I hereby declare it to be officially on the moon. The drive there takes about, oh, forever. Plus traffic sucked due to the Ravens-Redskins game that night. Ugh. But the stores have so many bargains though. Sigh. Why do all the rednecks in the country get good outlet malls with great bargains?

Back to Sunday - of course I would've much rather partied at Lizard Lounge for Columbus Day weekend but I was a good boy instead. Who knew Columbus Day weekend was such a big deal? I guess in a government town like DC, almost everyone takes off to the beach or something. The yoga class was almost empty and the city was hopping all weekend. All of us poor mizzies in the private sector have to work today.

Who the hell cares about Columbus Day anyway? I would, actually, if I had the day off. But I don't. So I don't really care. It would've been nice to have a day off between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. As it is, 3 whole months without a single holiday is cruel and unusual punishment, if you ask me.

Oh well, back to work.. as I sit here and ponder about my next shopping trip...

[$80 oil?] What is with the title-as-questions today? :) Anywho, oil is closing in on $54/barrel. Yay! All's I have to say is I hope it hits $80/barrel equalling the all-time, inflation-adjusted high set during the 1980 oil shock. I can't wait for all the SUVs from the road to disappear when the gas pump starts charging $4/gallon which is what they should be charging (augmented by gas taxes) to begin with. Cars are dirty, roads are expensive, and if one wants to gas-guzzle, he/she should be taxed accordingly. It's only fair.

OCT 9 :: [rallying the faithful] Last night at the HRC National Dinner at the Convention Center was awesome! The surprise guest was, in fact, Elizabeth Edwards. Good on the Kerry-Edwards campaign to send at least one rep (and it couldn't have been Mr or Mrs Kerry coz, d'oh, they were at the town hall debate last night). The glow of her presence was undermined by the fact that her speech was way too early in the evening i.e. before all the other rousing speeches that got the crowd going. But it was a good thing because she deadpanned her entire speech. It's like it was her first time reading the speech (and off a teleprompter, no less) and she had no clue what the next sentence was going to be. It was almost too painful to watch. I winced at her unemotional delivery and disappointed that she didn't bring more energy with her to rally a crowd that was tilting heavily towards Kerry-Edwards but needed a little nudge to convince the undecideds amongst us (yes, there were some... and I think they are stupid).

I do have to give credit to her speechwriters. The speech was brilliant. It flowed very well (better if not for her awful delivery). One of my favorite lines of the evening was when she said "Your America is my America". That one sentence conveyed so much about how Mrs Edwards (and, no doubt, her husband and Mr & Mrs Kerry) share our causes, care about our community and will fight for us if they get to the White House. But somehow she managed to say it with ZERO emotion *groan*.

Anyway, enough of that. The rest of the evening was fabulous. I shudder to think that the HRC Annual Dinner has, once again, outgrown the space of the current venue. Just last year, the dinner moved from the ultra-cramped Hilton (north of Dupont) to the spanking new and super-fetch Convention Center. Well, this year, every table was packed, every sq foot was taken up and it was just uncomfortably crowded in the lobby for the silent auction before the dinner. The tables of 12 were also very crowded. Yes, the event was sold out and they also had a waitlist of hundreds!! I cannot think of anywhere else that they can host this event without curtailing its size.

Kudos to the organization of the event although the funniest part of the evening was when Rosie jumped on stage (slightly inebriated, I think) and brought the house down with her one-line zings: "This is the LONGEST party ever!" (it was close to 11 before she spoke), "I've been staring at the tart for NINE hours!" (dessert and salad were served prior to seating but dinner didn't come until close to 9:30!). It was a long night but Rosie made it better. She's very funny.

Y'know, I never quite warmed up to Cheryl Jacques simply because Elizabeth was so warm and so lovable and I was crushed to see her go. But last night, Cheryl demonstrated why she's at the helm of HRC: she is pumped, she is angry and she is going to be ruthless against our political enemies in the days, months and years to come. Her speech was fiery and poignant, touching and explosive. It brought tears to my eyes to hear her grab hold of all the issues that are important to the GLBT community and implored us to vote with our dollars and with our hearts because if we didn't, the consequences are unimaginable. When she talked about how no mother should ever have to go through what Judy Shepard went through, I almost lost it. A great, wonderful speech (although she kinda lagged at the end).

I almost forgot to mention something else about Cheryl's speech (and this is a nod to all those who are boycotting HRC for some bizarre reason or another). Her speech immediately followed Elizabeth's. But Cheryl stood at the podium and blasted and completely tore apart the separate but equal status civil unions will provide and she did so with all due respect to the Kerry-Edwards stance on gay marriage. Bravo to her. She made it crystal clear that HRC's mission is FULL equality; anything less is discrimination. But she also made it clear that HRC is pouring 100% of its effort to electing Kerry-Edwards because regardless of where they stand on the gay marriage issue, they are on our side for ALL the other issues. Yes, it's not enough. But Cheryl was convincing in her argument that you can't win the war if you don't win the battles in between. HRC is trying to grow up from a civil rights organization to a political organization with congressional clout. I don't blame them one bit for trying. It's pointless to fight for votes on equality and gay rights issue if the votes aren't there to begin with. I firmly believe HRC needs to divide and conquer Congress with the friends and foe mentality: shower pink money to the politicians who support our causes and punish the unsupportive ones with an avalanche of attack ads come election time. I will settle for nothing less from them and I'm glad they're trying.

Ooh, I love ranting :) Anywho, what else... no, I didn't win anything at the silent auction (I tried, really). Did I mention that the fish entree was absolutely delicious? Amazing how it can come out yummy, flakey and piping hot when mass produced for 3000 people. Anywho, the after-party across the street at the Renaissance was pretty fetch (but $10 for mass produced cosmos is robbery). Speaking of alcohol, whoever thought of a one-free-drink rule for Fed Club members? (yes, it was a cash bar ALL night) Don't they know if they liquor us up, our wallets open bigger and we can bid more? D'oh. Chris and I headed to Halo and JR's post-after-party (kinda like a repeat of the night before, giggle). All in all, a pretty fetch evening.

I was all worried about my outfit and stuff but it turned out great. Everyone commented about my perfect tie and I loved my cufflinks. The tux was a little big but oh well, lesson learnt: get them altered ahead of time, not at the last minute!

The HRC National Dinner is truly just a rally for the faithful. But we all need to be rallied once in awhile. Complacency leads to another asshole in the White House. I'll be back for next year's dinner! :)

[disappointing] Why on earth did Australians re-elect the lying sonofabitch Howard is beyond me. I'm almost disgusted that at least one of the major players that dragged the world into an unnecessary war in Iraq is still in power. Every indication points to the domestic issues taking center stage and since Australia's economy is booming, there was no reason for change. All 7 of Australia's states are ruled by Labor. Yet, the Liberals (who are NOT liberal) has won a fourth consecutive term in Federal office. Sigh.

OCT 7 :: [bitchy] Yea, I feel bitchy today. It's because I'm worried that my tuxedo has not been altered correctly although I'll find out in about an hour or so when I get to my dry cleaners (some Korean lady, naturally). Other than that, I'm just excited about the weekend. Particularly the HRC Annual Dinner and the 3,000-odd gorgeous men and women that will be in attendance. It's gonna be a wild night!! The special guest better be somebody important and someone good. I would settle for either of the Clintons but one of the Democratic presidential candidates (or their spouses) would be better. Nothing less will make me happy. See? I *am* bitchy today :D

[the indefensible] After the war started, this despicable Administration started to change the subject of the debate from the actual presence of WMDs, to WMD programs, then to WMD-related programs, and now their assertion is about their intentions on WMD programs. INTENTIONS!?! We fucking bombed the hell out of another country - killing thousands of people in the process - because of intentions?! How this President can spin the murders of countless of innocent lives to his political advantage and then go to sleep at night is beyond me. This man is despicable and he should be charged for war crimes.

Senator Carl Levin (D) of Michigan:

"It is important to emphasize that central fact [about the Administration's constantly change reasons for going to war] because the administration's case for going to war against Iraq rested on the twin arguments that Saddam Hussein had existing stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and that he might give weapons of mass destruction to al Qaeda to attack us -- as al Qaeda had attacked us on 9/11."

He's much nicer than I would ever be in his condemnation of this Administration's mistakes.

Our VP candidate, Senator John Edwards (D) of NC said today:

"...you can't fix a mess unless you recognize there is a mess. You can't fix a mistake unless you recognize there is a mistake."

This mistake is unforgivable, however, regardless of how much sunshine you pour on it. Who gives a fuck if this Administration recognizes its mistakes now or not. They went to war for reasons that have now been proven absolutely and completely false. War, not trade sanctions or diplomatic battles. That alone is reason enough that they should all be thrown out of office; if not dragged to The Hague on war crimes charges. Sickening. Despicable. Words cannot describe how evil these people are for waging a war based on lies. Doesn't anybody comprehend the magnitude of starting a war based on lies? Why is America so stupid?

OCT 6 :: [war crimes] From the main page of CNN today (17:45 EDT):

"Contradicting the main argument for a war that has cost more than 1,000 American lives, the top U.S. arms inspector reported Wednesday that he found no evidence that Iraq produced any weapons of mass destruction after 1991. The report also says Saddam Hussein's weapons capability weakened during a dozen years of U.N. sanctions before the U.S. invasion last year."

So... President Bush's justification for invading a sovereign nation has now been completely eviscerated not only by international inspectors, but by our own inspectors as well. The death of innocent Iraqi civilians - not to mention the needless loss of lives of American soldiers - is no longer a casualty of war or collateral damage. It is murder, plain and simple. Doesn't that make George W. Bush a war criminal?

[edwards - ra!] It was FREEZING this morning (40s?). Frost in the suburbs. It was almost as chilly during the debate last night between Cheney and Edwards. William Saletan of the Slate:

"[Last night], you heard an avalanche of reasons to vote for Kerry. You heard 23 times that Kerry has a "plan" for some big problem or that Bush doesn't. You heard 10 references to Halliburton, with multiple allegations of bribes, no-bid contracts, and overcharges. You heard 13 associations of Bush with drug or insurance companies. You heard four attacks on him for outsourcing. You heard again and again that he opposed the 9/11 commission and the Department of Homeland Security, that he "diverted" resources from the fight against al-Qaida to the invasion of Iraq, and that while our troops "were on the ground fighting, [the administration] lobbied the Congress to cut their combat pay." You heard that Kerry served in Vietnam and would "double the special forces." You heard that Bush is coddling the Saudis, that Cheney "cut over 80 weapons systems," and that the administration has no air-cargo screening or unified terrorist watch list."

"As the debate turned to domestic policy, you heard that we've lost 1.6 million net jobs and 2.7 million net manufacturing jobs under Bush. You heard that he's the first president in 70 years to lose jobs. You heard that 4 million more people live in poverty, and 5 million have lost their health insurance. You heard that the average annual premium has risen by $3,500. You heard that we've gone from a $5 trillion surplus to a $3 trillion debt. You heard that a multimillionaire sitting by his swimming pool pays a lower tax rate than a soldier in Iraq. You heard that Bush has underfunded No Child Left Behind by $27 billion. You heard that Kerry, unlike Bush, would let the government negotiate "to get discounts for seniors" and would let "prescription drugs into this country from Canada." You heard that at home and abroad, Bush offers "four more years of the same.""

And Saletan describes the zinger of the evening:

"My favorite moment came when Cheney impugned Edwards' voting record. Edwards replied that Cheney had voted against Head Start, Meals on Wheels, the Department of Education, and the Martin Luther King holiday. It was such a devastating flurry of kidney punches, so blandly and shamelessly delivered, that my wife and I burst into sobs of weeping laughter. At the skill or the gall, I'm not sure which."

Cheney only had personal attacks ("you didn't show up for votes") to throw at Edwards. And I think Edwards responded with policy attacks ("your Iraq, economic, and war on terror plan is a failure") that were far more effective than baseless, mildly-false, high-school like attacks. And if Cheney can assume that Edwards' lack of attendance in Senate votes is a sign that he's lazy, one can also assume that Cheney's time at the bunker, out of sight of most Americans, is a holiday too. What a load of crap.

The crux of the matter is, there are a few unanswered questions that Cheney (and this Administration) didn't even begin to address last night: Why is Osama bin Laden - murderer #1 - still at large? Why did we invade Iraq? Why has the Iraq occupation turned into such a bloody mess? Why has your economic policy not brought about the creation of jobs? Why is the budget deficit so large with no end in sight?

These are the important questions America is asking today in the test of who's fit to be President. And the current Administration is constantly getting a failing grade.

More of the same? I think not. "Four more weeks!"

OCT 5 :: [wardrobe refresh] The first in a series of wardrobe refresh trips to the mall occurred at lunchtime today - I picked myself up a black french-cuffed shirt from Pink (don't ask me how much - for some reason, the "slim fit" is pricier than the "standard fit"... doesn't the slim fit use less material?!) and a pair of size 30 black pants (cotton) from Kenneth Cole. I now have two pairs of work pants again, yay! I was getting tired of wearing the stone-colored one to work everyday. Still working on the jeans... waiting on Gap. Need shirts. Maybe even new winter jackets. Thank goodness for the fat paycheck (LOTS of overtime) last Friday :)

Ooohhh, I saw the coolest electronic device at Bose today - a speaker system for the iPod with phenomenal sound and the cutest little remote. And the size/weight of this thing was miniscule. It was so delicious and drool-worthy but I cannot think of any use for it (I already stream music from my iTunes to the living room speakers). That's when you know it's just pure lust ;)

[431,403] That was the number of Asians in the DC area as of 2003. It was interesting to see this number because that's close to half a million of us :) Overall, the DC area (excluding the Baltimore metropolitan area) recorded a 5.7% growth in population between 2000 and 2003. The total population grew from 5.42 to 5.73 million (the DC-Baltimore MSA has 7.6mn ppl, ranked 4th in the country in 2000). The region is 56.8% white, 24.4% black, 9.3% hispanic and 7.5% asian. The Asian population grew by 17.4% between 2000 and 2003; second only to the Hispanic's 19.4% growth. Pretty interesting stuff.

Interestingly enough, with the Expos moving to DC next year, the Washington-Baltimore MSA will join the other 4 of the top 5 most populated MSAs in the country that already have 2 baseball teams (the others being NYC, LA, Chicago and SF-Oakland). It's about time :)

OCT 4 :: [cutting it close] One of my major worries for this week has dissipated somewhat: I found a tailor to alter my tux by Thursday evening! That'll give me at least a day to do additional alterations before the HRC Annual Dinner on Friday night. Nice little Asian lady at the dry cleaners around the corner from my house. We were both horrified at how much material she's having to remove (I bet she regrets saying it'll only cost me $50 to do the entire tux).

The last prep thing to do before the Dinner is to get myself a French-cuffed shirt from Pink. I already have my matching tie and cufflinks from there (they are super-fetch! I'm not revealing anymore details until I actually wear them). That was all part of Saturday's shopping spree at Pink, Gap and Kenneth Cole. Speaking of Gap, I had to exchange a pair of jeans I bought there last week and to my dismay, they didn't have the size I wanted at the store. Cashier dude proceeds to do a swap from the store purchase to an online purchase and the new pair of jeans will be shipped to my house for free from their online store! How fetch. Great customer service.

Not much else is going on this week. Work is slow, thank God. I used up most of my UA miles for my parents to fly here in style for CNY 2005 (Feb). The weather is awesome today: clear blue skies with crisp autumn air. My body is aching from yoga yesterday (from the yoga assistant's push to take the poses one step further). I'm wearing my new pair of pants from Kenneth Cole today - size 30! Time for a whole new wardrobe...

[everywhere but here] Last Friday, something important happened in Europe. Spain legalized same-sex marriage. One might say, so what? Europe is far more tolerant, liberal and progressive and Spain is not the first country to do so in Europe. Netherlands and Belgium before it have already legalized same-sex marriage and almost every civilized country on the planet has granted equal rights for gay couples. Everywhere but the United States, that is.

Quote from Andrew Sullivan:

"But Spain's adoption of marriage itself strikes me as a big deal. Spain is an historically Catholic country, however secular it has become. For gay equality to have arrived in the land of Franco is a sign of how profound the social revolution has become. And how irreversible."

Social progress cannot be stopped. Humans change. Humans evolve. We strive to be better. And equality is the ultimate goal.

OCT 3 :: [whirlwind] My whirlwind week of work has ended, thank God. I can't really dwell on a whole week's worth of events but here's a sampler:

Last weekend was the eye of the hurricane; sandwiched by two miserably long work weeks. Friday: Happy hour at 18th St Lounge with Rick, Tom/G, Rob, Alyssa/Dave. We all stumbled into Buca di Beppo for a fabulous dinner topped off with enough limoncello shots to replace all the blood in my body. After that we met Chris/Dave/Gustavo at Halo. And then Chaos for some Latin night dancing. How fetch. Saturday was (hungover) yoga - substitute teacher kicked our asses - followed by a small party at Chris/Dave's. Sunday was just a relaxing day; a quiet day before the tsunami of work hit the next day.

Monday: 9am - 8pm. Drinks with the Brits who were visiting us this week. Tuesday: 9am - 8pm. Long day, groan. Wednesday: 9am - 11pm! Took the Brits out to dinner @ PF Chang's. Very fetch. Thursday: 9am - 3:30am!!?! Not pretty. Shit hit the fan and splattered all over. Very, very tired. Friday: Noon - 2am. It wasn't that bad. It was only one hour at work and the rest was play time. But I had all these Brits in tow that it felt like work. I took them around the Mall, memorials and monuments. Lunch at Zaytinya. Drinks at 18th St Lounge. Dinner at Lauriol Plaza where we bumped into Rick and started another riot. It was quite a crazy night.

Last night was our gang of eight affair at Joe/Craig's beautiful new suburban home in Gaithersburg (aka "the Moon"). And today, I'm sitting here feeling great that the next week will be very mellow and I'll have lots of time to recuperate and run errands (dentist, tailor, etc.) before next weekend's big bang of festivities kicking off with the HRC Annual Dinner on Fri night.

The leaves are falling, the air is crisp, the morning's are cool (freezing) and fog is not uncommon. The afternoons are delightful - clear, blue skies under a hot sun but surrounded by a cool breeze. Wearing a jacket is almost necessary for a night out. Ahh, October.

Lots going on in October. Parties and work galore. October is usually one of the craziest and busiest months in DC social life. Nov is usually quieter but Dec ushers it a whole new set of Christmas parties and drunken weekends. The last quarter of the year is gonna be quite hectic. Stay tuned for more!

[wrong course, failed policy] Richard Cohen in today's WP:

"To this backdrop of grim reality [in Iraq], Bush could only utter sayings from his White House sampler. To the unrebuttable charge that he initiated a foolish war and then mismanaged it, Bush could only say that being president was tough work and, oh yeah, stay the course. To the accusation that the war in Iraq diverted troops and much else from the effort to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, Bush could only say stay the course, the presidency is no gambol among the tulips and, yeah, his opponent was inconsistent and had seen the same intelligence data -- a kind of so's-your-mother rebuttal that was just plain silly. Bush, not Kerry, was the president."

"What we saw the other night was one man's pitiful attempt to defend a failed policy. Nothing George Bush could say alters the facts on the ground. No repeated recitation of a fable changes the fact that Saddam Hussein was not in cahoots with Osama bin Laden and that weapons of mass destruction did not exist. These facts -- hard, awful facts -- are what emboldened Kerry and undermined Bush. The president stayed on message -- lashed to it like Ahab on the whale. It's what sank him."

Staying the wrong course, defending a failed policy. Lies, mismanagement and the manipulation of the truth. Democracy will change all that in 30 days. Vote!

OCT 1 :: [it's not my fault] I finally came home at 3:30am. Slept till 11. And now I think I'm headed back to the office for final review. Groan. The end is in sight. Yay!

I saw this little juicy qoute that I had to share. It's from Joe Lockhart, a senior adviser to the Kerry campaign:

"This is a president who has almost shirked the responsibility for anything that's gone wrong and he's spent four years saying, `it's not my fault.'"

Bush II - the "It's Not My Fault" President. You go. And stay there.

[wee hours] It's 2:30am Thursday night/Friday morning and I'm still at work, performing a final review on a bid document that's due to the customer in 4 hours. Fun. This is my life. October started just as September ended - work. I did catch a snippet of the debate last night over streaming video (how 21st century). John Kerry was amazing, thank God. Bush was miserable, as expected. Life is good :)

Now the only question is: How much longer am I going to be here??!

More >>

29 :: least favorite
28 :: yet another
27 :: they did it!
27 :: so cool
27 :: a different race
26 :: one more week
26 :: frozen over
25 :: restraining order
24 :: redemption
21 :: incompetent
21 :: republican for kerry
20 :: political security
19 :: slumber party
19 :: bills, bills, bills
18 :: five in a row
18 :: fear and freedom
15 :: cheap and tawdry
15 :: how many?
14 :: cho-tastic
14 :: stupid debate
12 :: unfair and unjust
11 :: three mistakes
11 :: columbus?
11 :: $80 oil?
09 :: rallying the faithful
07 :: the indefensible
06 :: edwards - ra!
05 :: wardrobe refresh
05 :: 431,403
04 :: cutting it close
04 :: everywhere but here
02 :: whirlwind
02 :: wrong course, failed policy
01 :: it's not my fault
01 :: wee hours