7th Book

I finished the seventh and final book of the Harry Potter series. J.K. Rowlings did a nice job wrapping up lots of loose ends. Only four notable "good" characters die, one in the escape and three during the shoot-out. Spoiler alert: the very last chapter takes place 19 years later.

Yet another step back

After finding a good parking spot two blocks from the subway entrance, I made my way to the station with a small umbrella as the regular large one was already in the office. With music pumping and my heart rate jumping, it was wonderful to soak in the cool humidity. Yes, I do dig this humidity because it's cool. A bit cooler would be nicer.

The R train comes in and there are plenty of seats but I choose to stand as I'm engrossed with the news. As we pull into 59th Street, there's an N train waiting for us. Nice! I make my way across the platform and into the train. As always, I make my way to the middle so as to not block the area by the doors. Plus, there's usually room and, if the air con is on, it's cooler. As I turn to my right, this young man gets up from his seat as it seems he just realized that he needed the R train that I just got off. I stop my advance to let him out.

Immediately, a young Asian (I hate this word as chances are he was Chinese) boy makes for the seat and get seated. Just then this older Mongolian-looking thrusts herself into the seat and with a right hip-check nudges the boy between her and the woman sitting at the end. I didn't think much of it and I made my way to the roomy middle. Mongola (as I shall call the older woman) completes the bum-rush and the kid is forced out of the seat. Damn!

Other folks were shaking their heads but did nothing. I think the woman at the end said something but Mongola didn't respond as she probably didn't speak English. Mongola seemed to possess a combination of "I'm older, respect me", "fight for it and it's yours" and "I don't give a rat's ass". For the next three stops, she held her position at Queen Toad on the lilypad which included leaning against the guy next to her (he fell asleep after shaking his head at her).

What's a witness to do?

P.S., where credit is due

Armin Van Buuren came to town last Friday. He spun at McCarren Pool Park in Brooklyn and did a fantabulous job. Jennifer Rene, Susanna and Rank 1 were his guest performers. Unlike his set at the Tobacco Warehouse last year, he only spun for 4 hours (6PM - 10PM) this time around. Nevertheless, it great.

Photos were taken by my friend Pimpcess (aspiring future wife of AVB). Thanks!

Credit doesn't deserve credit

It's frightening when the answer to this question "Are people really that stupid?" is an emphatic "Yes!". This is probably the worst week at work in the 4.5 years I've been here. Multiple closings happened almost simultaneously and the folks in Credit are claiming ignorance, wielding their ugly wrenches to stall the closing engines and whining about semantics. I especially laugh at the last part given how poor their English is. (Side note: bad and funny as Ebonics may be, at least it's understandable.)

The general manager is going to have a massive conniption when he gets back on Monday. A part of me is worried that he might fire me because he's a chickenshit punk-ass who believes that we should be safe rather than sorry. Unfortunately, this strategy doesn't really work in today's banking industry as the bank is now sorry for being safe. Furthermore, he's given Credit too much power/oversight to cripple the sales folks from growing the bank.

Six months of not having to work could be fun. Actually, three months as I would need to get a gig by the end of the fifth month.

Still deluded...

Does our President realize he is a Lame-Ass Duck? For all of his gut-advised-by-God-feelings to lead this great nation of ours, why are we so disliked by the rest of the world and our own citizens are clashing with each other? Surely, he will have a lasting legacy as being among the worst leaders of this country rather than the delusions of grandeur when took over the Oval.

If I called for a revolution, I will surely be monitored by the government for subversive activities despite my guaranteed right to voice my disagreements and grievances of how my government is being run. The near-mockery that is Washington clearly cannot continue as I am sure I am not among the few who seeks drastic evolution of mindset in our leaders.

Frankly, I'm hoping Bloomberg will change his mind, throw $500 million into a campaign and win the 2008 presidency. He's done a pretty good job with New York City. I like his shun-the-lobbyists and his we-need-to-fix-this-mess mentality.

Run Mike Run.

Harry Potter

I was invited to a private viewing of the fifth episode of Harry Potter tonight. I brought along my nephew as he grew fond of the books I had given him to read. Like him, I wasn't crazy about the movie but did like the direction it was going. Definitely darker.

The director did a wonderful job with Dolores Umbridge. I hated her so much as it brought back a few uncomfortable memories. I do relate somewhat with Harry's plight and was quite annoyed with his constant whining and selfish acts. I suppose I was the same at that age but I can't quite recall the memories to nullify the current bitching of those bitching days.

It seemed like the children and teens in the audience enjoyed the movie. Hopefully, the next installment will be much better, in my eyes. I am looking forward to receiving the last book a few days after its release. I already read the spoiler which many have disavowed.

I don't recommend reading any reviews of the movie or book as the power of suggestion is much too great and will likely swing your opinion.

Enjoy the movie. And book.

Spoiler: Voldemort kills someone. As if you didn't already know.

Kudos!

Mika Brzezinski chose NOT to do the story on Paris Hilton which MSNBC's producer had as the lead. She took shit from her colleagues but I'm very proud of her for standing her ground on trying to relay real news. She tried to burn the story but was stopped. Later, she got up and shredded the story.

You go girl!

To see it on YouTube, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VdNcCcweL0

So tired........

Public Service Notice: Always check to see if your flight is on time or delayed.

My friends and I learned the hard way last night after we got to the airport. Our flight was delayed from a scheduled 1030PM until an actual 200AM. Had we known, we would have gone into San Francisco for additional eats instead of lounging on the gate's uncomfortable seats.

Coffee is not helping and I'm so ready to pass out. Tired enough to not even have dinner and just sleep.................

h3h, I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I would have liked because the batteries died. But I did get some. We'll talk about it when we get together.

For now, I'm out of this friggin office and go home to bed.

Prison Envy?

Lindsay Lohan crashes her car at 530AM and an usable amount of what appears to be cocaine is found. She isn't arrested as she is taken to the hospital to treat minor injuries. The authorities will be charging her with DUI with the arraignment date of August 24th. Think she's miffed or even jealous that former BFF Paris is going to joint and getting lots of attention?

Perhaps. Maybe she's just 20, stupid and the blond dye is affecting her neural connections. Then again, I'm older and know better, sometimes.

Satan made me do it

Eva Maudlin claims that Satan made her husband, Joshua, put their recently arrived two-month daughter in the microwave for 10 to 20 seconds. For reasons unknown but for the Maudlins, Satan did not like Joshua becoming a preacher. Seems the Horned One felt threatened.

How dare they blame their cowardly problems on a man-made fantasy that is Satan? If I were Satan, I'd probably whisper in God's ear: "Dude, that's fucked up. You gave him Free Will. I don't want him in Hell."

Horrible...

I'm reading "God Is Not Great" right now. The essential premise of the book is that God is man-made. Thus, religion was created in the heady days to conveniently serve those purveyors of the revelations while keeping the masses under control. As such, religion is a psychological poison.

This is so clearly demonstrated in the atrocity known as "honor killing" whereby a 17-year old Kurdish female was beaten, kicked and stoned to death while others (including the police) looked on because some relatives believed she shamed the family. You can read it on cnn.com's main page.

Such brutality based on outdated stupidity is still tolerated. I once read that a woman was ordered gang-raped by the village elders for a supposed shame by her brother. Just fucking gruesome!

Filthy pigs! Yes, it's a double-entendre on those fucks!

The Crazies

Coincidences are just coincidences, not the flicks of some deity's finger.

As I came to highly respect Gene Simmons for his monogamous devotion to the mother of his two children for 23+ years, the season finales of Scrubs and Grey's Anatomy dealt with the the crazies of relationships, marriage and parenthood. Surely, a coincidence.

This leads me to want to believe that if there was a God its greatest feature is humor regardless of the situation's severity.

Crazy huh?

Incredulous!

Paris' sentence was halved to 23 days because of good behavior, which was showing up at court on time. GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One is supposed to be at court on time.

Newsworthy? Like, OMG!

The latest bullshit report from Hollywood is that Paris is emotionally distraught over her being sentenced to 45 days in jail. It seems that a psychiatrist has recommended that the judge be more lenient since Paris cannot fathom the "cruel and unwarranted" punishment of her violating her DUI probation. It's so bad that she cannot take the witness stand in a $10 million defamation lawsuit against her.

*cough*BULLSHIT*cough*

It would be great if Penn & Teller, who have a show on Showtime called "Bullshit!", would devote a show on her blatant stupidity and arrogance to be treated any more special than the regular Jane.

I can understand leniency if she had reported to the alcohol or consultation meeting(s) as required during her probation. But she didn't. Furthermore, she showed up late to her hearing; thus, costing the state time and money as if being fashionably late was a cool thing in court.

I think it's unfair that she will get special treatment in jail by being away from the general population. Unless, she is put in solitary confinement to work on her emotional duress and to put the little hamster between her ears to work. She's probably going to get her ass kicked but life is cruel.

Paris, grow up. Stop being a spoiled brat. Take these knocks as the nothing you bring to society. It's only 45 days.

Arnold, don't pardon her. Save it for someone who really deserves it.

On the way home...

Two young ladies were talking behind before they gradually passed me and I turned right into my building....

Girl 1: Yeah
Girl 2: Yeah, *giggles*
Girl 1: Okay
Girl 2: You know it gets better
Girl 1: Yeah?
(they're walking besides me now)
Girl 2 (short blond): Yeah, it gets interesting
Girl 1 (tall blond): How so?
Girl 2: *giggles*, he took my bra off with my shirt on while we were watching the movie
Girl 1: Really? In the theater?
Girl 2: Yeah. *giggles*
Girl 1: Sounds like you had fun.

Girl 2's date has skills.

Batting .500

My car is due for maintenance, especially the suspension, as it's been riding a bit rough and I've been uneasy. So I ordered the shocks and 2 tires last weekend and the presumption that my mechanic would be able to work on them during the week and next. But he has a 735i sitting in his driveway that's waiting a special part from Germany, which hasn't arrived as of this morning.

So I went to his place to get the 2 tires and then off to the guy who referred me to him to swap out the front tires and place the others on the rear and the spare. Turns out the two I'm changing were near toast. DOH! Now I have to order another 2 tires and go back to the guy. However, the ride home felt really nice and I'm regaining the confidence of my tank.

I needed to do laundry this weekend. I left the office early on Friday and was going to get it done that night but the DVR was threatening to delete recorded programs soon. I figured I had a few more days of backup and pushed it to Saturday.

Saturday came and went just like that! Poof! So I decided that I would wake up early Sunday, do laundry and then head to my mechanic's place.

HA! I was watching the Latin Divas of Comedy until 3AM. Here are some choice lines from the show:

1. When a woman is over 30, dating is really interviewing
2. Women should understand that men cannot be changed; men like to be petted and cuddled because they're babies
3. The stocky diva said losing 10 pounds means taking a really good shit
4. Mami, papi, I'm a lesbian, pass the salt
5. Ay, his body hair was so thick that when he took his shirt off, it was like velcro

Laundry is done but I haven't put them away yet. They're folded however. I'm listening to Tiesto's "In The Dark". Nice rock/trance tune. The singer has an Alyson Moyet-like voice but her name is Christian Burns. I'm going to buy the CD from Amazon.

Neato!

My friend gave me the link to her blog here and I'm blown away by it. It's wonderful to get a glimpse inside her head even though I've nary a clue about some of the subplots. Thanks h3h!

Holy Bananas!

First, we should mourn those unfortunates who were killed on the Virginia Tech campus yesterday.

Second, we need to alleviate grief and to soothe simmering anger, especially that which will be directed at the "Asian" folks.

Inevitably, there will be a big racial backlash from this tragic event. It should be clear that the shooter was a South Korean resident alien majoring in English at the school. He was probably depressed and homesick. I hope folks won't start looking at "Asians" with a particular opinion as it won't bode well for harmonic relations.

I'm betting that there's a high possibility that the killings weren't racially motivated. As such, people need to realize that each race has their bad apples who don't represent the population. Having said that, I hope everyone can chill and collect their thoughts.

Aging

I sense and feel a need to get at least three hours of sleep once I get home tonight as I'm sure I can't hack the party til dawn anymore. I was quite exhausted when I saw Above & Beyond last fall sans the chemical support.

I would certainly like to see Armin until he wraps up in the morning. Hopefully, Mother Nature will be kind and dump more than a forecasted 6 inches of powder. It would an awesome scene as I trek home in the morning.

Three Must-Sees

1. Can't Buy Me Love

2. Powder

3. The American President

If it's on, it getting watched until the credits come on. No. 3 was on the other night.