Monday, December 31, 2007

Set in 1 Hour: Private Party

If you received an e-mail about a party wishing me Happy Birthday... I'll be there in an hour or so with records....

So

Happy Freaking New YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that is all.

Come Celebrate My B-day With Me!

Happy New Year's Folks! It's my b-day! To Those of You Who have been asking what my plans are:

NYE I will be between two private parties and a couple of clubs. You'll have to text/call me if you want to know what/when/where/with whom...

New Year's Day we'll all be converging upon a fantastic San Francisco tradition: Sunset Stompy. Sometime after 4 PM. Text me before your heading over just to be sure we're there already...

-xoxoxo

Happy New Year!

Friday, December 28, 2007

vindication

a friend once told me that it's a trick to find the appropriate place to vent and to vent in an appropriate manner. i had such an opportunity today.

as i was walking down the 6 flights of stairs to the basement doing laundry cuz someone had held open the elevator due to moving i was annoyed. i held up the elevator to move, too; and i don't mind people using the elevator in this manner when they are actively moving. what i *do* mind is when they aren't there, haven't been there in some time and the elevator is blocked.

on my way up after switching laundry from washer/dryer i passed an elderly woman on the 4th floor asking me about the elevator being out of order. i informed her of the move situation...

as luck would have it, i was short one quarter and had to traverse the stairs an additional time. that's when the guy who had left both his clothes in the dryer and blocked the elevator comes down. i witnessed him apologizing to said elderly woman saying he's moving and telling her that there's nothing he could do.

then he proceeds to tell me, "i wasn't done yet with the dryer".

and here was my appropriate moment to vent.

my reply, "it's a shared resource. you weren't using it. you were merely blocking it. just like the elevator up stairs."

he said, "it's not your concern. stay out of things that don't concern you."

me. "it doesn't concern me? i've been walking up and down six flights of stairs three times now while you block the elevator. i did laundry around you in the dryer. i'd say it concerns me."

him, "there's nothing i can do."

me, "there IS something you can do. plan better. you got the elevator blocked while you're doing laundry. i moved in here and somehow managed to not hold up the elevator as long as you're doing. you're blocking two shared resources, not just one."

him, "you're an as*hole."

me, "but i'm not selfish. you're selfish. you got an elderly woman schlepping four flights of stairs. there's handicapped people living on the second floor who i hope don't come home. and i'm walking up and down six flights of stairs. you're selfish."

him. speechless.

i was shaking when i got home, just from the angst of a confrontation making me nervous. i hate confrontation, even when i'm in the right... i just hate it. it's not that i was yelling... i wasn't. i have a hard time saying something unpleasant to someone, even politely, even knowing i'm right. i don't like saying things unpleasant.

but i'm glad that for once i had the opportunity to enlighten a selfish person about the impact of their behaviour on other human beings.

martin luther king, jr talked about the opposite of self-centered being other-centered behaviour.

as this world becomes more and more densely packed this concept is vital. other-centeredness.

we should all aspire to conduct our affairs in such a manner that it doesn't impact other people. this applies to (but is not limited to):

  • walking on the sidewalk making room for people to pass us from both behind and in front of us,


  • not blocking a street,


  • not blocking the only entrance/exit to a restaurant.


  • start to finish. we should always aspire to conduct our affairs to not inconvenience others. this is basic human consideration. it's not ALL about us!

    if we could all achieve this, the world would be a much, much, much better place.

    Thursday, December 27, 2007

    Benazir Bhutto assassinated

    I don't know what to say about Benazir Bhutto's assassination so I will refrain and post this article on Washington Post.com

    what a tragic world we live in... as if we needed more proof.

    Friday, December 21, 2007

    too stoked for words -- but i'll try...

    so 4 years ago (almost exactly) i went to a Debian Christmas party @ DNA lounge. At the time Ipods were new and I was an officer at the local chapter of the American Computer Society and ended up being invited for free.

    My friend had told me to enter the contest. Well I was the first name out of the hat and won this 20 GB Ipod! It was pretty awesome but unfortunately it broke early.... It was part of that original batch they had the recall on :-( I somehow didn't end up turning mine in for a new one... I think I didn't get the warranty information in time due to a move.

    Well last night I ended up winning an 4 GB Ipod Nano! and therefore i'm too stoked for words!

    Tuesday, December 18, 2007

    special thanks to Kara

    thanks so much for calling me to tell me you liked my CD!

    and also, special thanks to everyone who's been calling and e-mailing.

    big things coming in 08!

    Monday, December 17, 2007

    tigerdirect.com (DON'T)

    if you are thinking about ordering from them, don't. they screwed up my order royally and four phone calls have yet to yield a full refund.... and this is going on from 30 November.

    i gauge a company on how they handle a screwed up order cuz they happen. tigerdirect.com gets an F.

    Friday, December 14, 2007

    Hamster in the Wheel (not a dj-post)

    i'm reading Doris Lessing's the Golden Notebook right now. Doris recently received the Nobel Prize for literature and this work is considered to be her premier work and largely autobiographical. It was way ahead of it's time... It's still super-pertinent to women of all ages.

    Her protagonist is a 23-24 year-old at this point (i'm not done yet) and discusses her fears of being trapped by marriage and children against the backdrop of living years ago as a white communist in Rhodesia in a group trying to breed revolution. It speaks to racism and the inherent racism in colonial africa. I'm not going to discuss the racism in this post....

    This book has me thinking about my own life... I bring her fears forward to my times where I'm over 30 and trying to balance an IT career and DJing and dating. This fear of being trapped seems really "real" to me. Once you get married and have a kid; then the kid comes first.

    And you end up becoming a hamster in the wheel. You're constantly working to pay your mortgage, to keep yourself and your family fed, the kids off to school, soccer practice, etc.

    All of the married w/kids lady engineers I know end up not only having their career, but still do a majority of the housework and most of the taking care of the kids. And this seems like a really unfair scenario to me. Especially considering that I've made at least twice as much money as almost every single guy that I have dated.

    Why should I be saddled with both a full-time job and housework for myself and others???

    When your partner isn't cleaning the house you live in together you have two choices: a) nag him or b) do it yourself. I can't stand nagging (my mum was a horrible nag) so when this happened to me previously I chose answer b) and it made me angry that I had to do this. Of course I tried asking him to pitch in first but he kept promising to do it and had 5000 excuses as to why he never did. And we broke up and I moved out.

    If I were to get married and have a kid, I'd have to forget any DJing, screw my 20-miles/week of running, forget my art projects, my hiking, my writing, and anything else I do for myself that I love... Forget BSing with my buddies, forget all the travel I like to do to other countries... I'd basically have to put myself last... 100% of the time.

    I wonder how/why many people submit to this so freely? Why do so many people do this? Do they not have any dreams/joys of their own?? Or do they do it because that's what everyone else does and they didn't realize the implications going in?

    I say people because I realize that a lot of men get this "hamster in the wheel" feeling also and I know that all men aren't like my ex-boyfriend.

    Why? Why are so many people in such a rush to get hitched?!!!! Am I missing something?

    Enquiring minds want to know....

    Wednesday, December 12, 2007

    sorry folks!

    i recently backed out on my NYE engagement. Why? I no longer want to be a part of engagements which will ultimately end up with crappy music through no fault of my own. When people come out to hear you... they don't know about all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes... all they know is whether or not you sound good and whether or not there are other people are there.

    They don't know that that mixer is a piece of poo. They don't know that the DJ before you was in a wrong place in the lineup and ran out everyone that was there. All they know is whether or not there are other folks there and how you sound.

    I believe strongly in my own abilities and am willing to hold out for what I deserve. So no NYE... But... I am lining things up for the New Year.

    Saturday, December 01, 2007