Mai

what's my personality/
Help a sister out! Tell me what my personality is.

FOR THE GOOD go here:
http://kevan.org/johari?name=miss maispace

FOR THE BAD go here:
http://kevan.org/nohari?name=miss maispace

Hello, Washington.

I got a playstation 2. Why? For the sole purpose of playing Dance Dance Revolution anytime I want. And to get good exercise. Really it's just fun. But when Liz told me she did better climing a 14,000 ft mountain because she played hours of DDR, I caved.

I got it used, so it didn't set me back too much. The mat/game only cost $30. So there you have it.

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want, either good or bad. I promise not to come after you with a HIGH-HEELED SHOE either way.

When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your LJ and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you.

Also, if you don't know me well, or haven't long enough to have a 'memory,' then why not make something up?

No complaints here.
Foxhole tonight, Stellar Kin saturday. Plus my return to twice told since it moved to La Grange.

My worth is not in my job (or lack in one) or how I look. Yeah, that's right. You want to fight?! (Uh....)

I had a fantastic weekend. In one weekend I saw about 10 bands. I easily could've seen more. But I was in the front for pretty much all these bands and they were the ones I really wanted to see.

Let's start with Friday.



Sufjan Stevens. It was my second time to see him (this time he brought the crew; the Illinoisemakers did not disappoint.) They played all my favorite songs not only from Illinoise, but also Seven Swans. :)

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There are more photos and stuff. I'll probably put it on Yahoo or something. So yeah a rockin' weekend. Now I'm back to the unemployed life that is my reality. It's not really bad, though. It's given me a lot of time to think. Job hunting still bites though. :)

So I FINALLY got an e-mail from Zacchaeus. And though it took forever, he cracked me up so much that I could not be mad at him anymore.

here's a little of it...
What the hell?! Doen't anyone know I never check this damned account.

Where am I?? When I move, you move. Just like that, woman. Back that arse up, be-actch, and get with the program: send correspondences to, like, my hotmail account that ive', like,been using for a piece, you know.

Oh Z, you're great. That's why we all miss you.

Three days until Sufjan Stevens. Four until the big crazy trip to Austin. And I hope after that, some good news on the job hunting front.

So this weekend is turning out pretty well!

First off, my friend Blythe has happily agreed to let Amber and I crash at her new pad. Seriously the girl deserves a couple of beers from us. She just moved in like two weeks ago. I'm excited to see her too. It's been years!

Second, we have a GREAT show to go to on Saturday night. There is an Austin City Limits aftershow at this Tex-Mex place call La Zona Rosa. It's a concert with Built to Spil, The Decemberists and Sons and Daughters. It only cost $20. So that means we'll be going to shows all weekend! YAY. It also means that we'll get to see the Decemberists TWICE in one weekend. Double yeah!

So we're going to get to see a whole lot of bands in one weekend for $87 bucks. That's so awesome. There are times where you have to pay more than that to see ONE band.

Can you tell I'm excited? ;)

I'm a crazy girl. Well I already knew that. But anyway I just did the most spontaneous thing ever.

So Ken Ma calls me up today and we talk about my job interview, hurricane coverage etc. Then he says:

"Hey, I'm going to Texas in two weeks."

"You are? For what?"

"I'm going to Austin for this music festival."

"Wait...you mean to the AUSTIN CITY LIMITS FESTIVAL?!"

Yep, he's going to that festival. He was going to see all my favorite bands live. I told him that he had to listen to all the Wilco CDs because well I love them..

Then I got off the phone, intending to continue with working on job applications. But something in me got me to do something else.

I called Amber instead. I tell her about my conversation. "So my friend Ken's going to Austin in two weeks. Do you happen to know what's going on?"

"Yes, I sure fucking do!" she shouts.

Then I say, "Do you know where I'm going with this?"

Amber and I have been friends for so long, she knew exactly what I was getting at.

So instead of cover letters, I spend about two and a half hours on the phone with her tyring to figure out the logistics of going to Austin. Plane tickets? too expensive. Rent a car? Can't go that far west. Driving my car? Hell, no.

So we settled on greyhound. Shady and long, but we're going to be together so that's okay. And you can't really beat the price. And the prospect of roughing it on a bus with backpacks and trail mix, sounds really cool. Sometihng out of "On the Road" or something.

So we bought one-day tickets for Sunday. On that day, Wilco, Coldplay, The Arcade Fire, Rilo Kiley, Doves, M83, The Bravery, The Decemberists and Tortoise are playing. YEAH!

I'm cashing in the college savings bond. It's going to be one great weekend. Sufjan Stevens on Friday night, then Austin for the weekend!

God bless that phone call from Ken Ma! What a great way to kill the time I have to wait to hear about job stuff!

I come to kinkos to update my resume on Quark, and it turns out they got rid of all their macs! What a bunch of punks.

So now I'm stuck designing on a PC which totally blows.

Yeah.

hey, friends. I've decided to simplify my summer (and focus on my last two months here) and not blog for a while nor read them. This is hard to do, as I LOVE to blog. However, it's taking up time that I can be doing other things.

I'm sure that if you want me to know what's going on with your life, you'll get in touch with me by e-mail, phone or snail mail. It's likely that I'm not going to use my cell phone as much either. BUt feel free to call.

And don't worry about not knowing what's going on with my life, if it matters, you'll know somehow. But for everything else I'll tell you all about it on August 9.

If you want my e-mail, address and phone, comment with your e-mail. I'll give it to you. So for you who like to keep up with me via live journal, you'll have to try harder to keep up.

have a great summer, kids!

in response to Tammia...

FIVE TOP SONGS at the moment:
1. Army- Ben Folds Five
2. Chicago - Sufjan Stevens
3. Root Down- Beatie Boys
4. The Boy is Exhausted- The Wrens
5. Que Onda Guero- Beck

So now I tag the following for their lists
badapplebrandon
dereksteller
needleinthehayy
spacemanspiff04
eternaldreamer

thank you.
***
five thoughts:

1. my future is full of possible things...but the answer has not yet been revealed. I can say however, that there are possiblities.
2. the kids drive me crazy, but somehow I can still get up on love them anyway.
3. free meal tonight at casa ruth, yummy.
4. only THREE days until SPOON!!
5. in the words/paraphrase of Shelley Shepherd, formerlly Reitmeyer: "I love my sister(s), but I want to kill them right now."

***
It's 91 degrees right now. I don't get it. If I wanted the weather here to be this hot, I would freakin' come back to Orlando.
Speaking of Orlando, there's some major small world stuff going with this year's intern class. Wiqan Ang, who was a photog for the Herald and is notorious in my mind for breaking my visor mirror in my car, is the photo intern. I knew Blythe, the copy desk intern, from a society of professional journalists convention project we did in Texas in 2002. Not only that she's currently living in my old room at the Mariano/McKay household. And Steve Collins, the U of Texas professor who was our advisor for that SPJ convetion newspaper, is a professor intern at for the business desk, where I was a year ago.
Crazy, weird.
I seriously want to make a map sometime, I think it would be fun.

***
A year ago today, I wrote the following.
I been buying too many CD's to begin with, but that didn't stop me from going to Park Ave CD's last night (or this morning,rather) w/ Shan to get the new PJ Harvey. I got a sweet poster and import singles CD with it. woot. He got Sonic Youth. I bet that was good. We plan to burn and trade....Willoughby also wants my PJ harvey, in trade, she's burning Belle and Sebastian's Tigermilk. (which I actually already owned, but lost).
Ohhh that means I got two cds of two artists playing at lollypalooza!!
Yay for the waffle house, where we want afterwards. It was weird going to a different waffle house. It was purple....and tried too hard to be clean. The hash browns were okay, but could've been better. Oh well. Oh, how much I long for the waffle house of mel browing road....

This entry prompted a intense discussion by Shruti and Amber about late-night grease spoons. I'm sad that Amber and I didn't go to Lollypaloza, at least we're going to Spoon on Saturday night though.

I'll be in Chicago until at least August 7, as I have officially register for the Chicago Distance Classic Half-Marathon. That means I can not slack off on training. I'm at 8 miles now, so I think I can get my act together in 2 months.

So I can say I fufilled half of my New Year's resolution. I would like to run a marathon too, but we'll see how I'll do with the half. Hey it's good that I'm still working on my resolutions.
***
bad news and super awesome news about next weekend. the bad news is that Shan's not coming due to a lack of finanaces. But the super awesome news is that my gal Amber is coming! This is three years in a row that we've had some bonding in Chicago. It's like our place. We'll be all over the city and I hope we'll get to see the band Spoon on Saturday night at the Vic.

I love being here. I'm still trying to figure out if I can somehow stay here.

I decided to chill with the job search for a while. It's stressing me out too much, and I have stuff here to do. I mean what's the worst that could happen if I only send one or two packets a week as opposed to 20 or 30 all at once? I might have to be in Louisville for a month or so, but it's free rent, free food, and I have money to have a little fun (road trip, perhaps?).

***
Now that summer's almost here my work at the school age program is going to change. I now get to help out by supervising all the field trips (twice a week) and weekly trips to the pool (once a week). And I want a job?! Sometimes I just need to get real.

Washington Post Confirms Felt Was 'Deep Throat'
Woodward, Bernstein and Bradlee Reveal Former FBI Official as Secret Watergate Source

By William Branigin and David Von Drehle
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, May 31, 2005; 6:33 PM

The Washington Post today confirmed that W. Mark Felt, a former number-two official at the FBI, was "Deep Throat," the secretive source who provided information that helped unravel the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s and contributed to the resignation of president Richard M. Nixon.

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EDIT: my apologies for the lack of copy editing in this entry.
***
For inner-city mothers there's no such thing as a day off. Unless that is, you get sick. But that makes things worse cause you have to pay for it. And they don't know where the heck they're going to get the money.

***
I realize that it's great that I'm not job hunting while working at a newspaper. I can freely work on my cover letters during lunch break and as long as I bring my own paper, I can use the copy machine in the mailroom. yeah! And what am I in such a hurry for? I'm in Chicago, for heaven's sakes. The city I wanted to live in! I've had a fun year.
**
Life is beautiful.

so yeah, upon rumors that the album leaked last week, I went on a crusade yesterday to find it. And I did! So if any of you guys want the tracks let me know.

it's pretty good so far!

and of course I'll buy it in july. :)

"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land..." (Exodus 20:12)


As discussion about Social Security reform begins in the Senate Finance Committee, beware of those who tell you that God spoke to them and they have the "fix" for Social Security. To guarantee the solvency of this bedrock institution in American life will not be easy; it will require our best bipartisan thinking and collaboration. But one aspect of this debate does indeed raise some fundamental moral - and even religious - issues that we ought to consider.


The Judeo-Christian faith tradition has much to say about intergenerational commitments. The Old and New Testaments could not testify more clearly that we must "honor thy father and thy mother" - and care for widows and orphans, the ill, and the disabled. And there is no trust more sacred to biblical faith than the injunctions to care not only for our immediate families but also the larger family of all humanity, especially the least, the last, and the lost. In Jesus' words from Matthew 25, "As you have done to the least of these, you have done to me."

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***
I ran eight miles today. Now I can eat my italian beef. yummy.

Tommorrow is the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon which ended almost 20 years of war in Vietnam. How time flies. This year would also mark 30 years since my parents arrived to America.

It's so ironic how people will have a memorial for the war, and its vets, but then it would only become a memory, if that, to most people by Sunday. Where are such reflections when we've decided to go to war since then? Did Bush consider Vietnam when he decided to invade Iraq? Did any of our presidents think about Vietnam when they decided to attact defenseless countries for our own personal self interests?

It's sad really.

***

I'm thankful that God was with my parents any my brother. They barely made it alive.

At the end of the war, my dad was separated from my mom and brother when they were sent to this island called Con Son. They were there for days with little to eat or drink.

My dad, who was a pilot for the South Vietnamese air force at the time, decided he would fly and get them. There was little time. He had stuff packed, but he was detained at the base and had no time. He didn't even have time to say goodbye to the family. So he's at the base trying to get to his plane when he encounters a group of people shooting at him. He barely made it through when he said. "Well, you can kill me now, but you might die eventually. However, if you go with me, we might have a chance at living." And by the miracle of God they agreed, dropped their guns and followed him.

They went on the plane, which wasn't in the most ideal of conditions, but alas it was the only thing they could use. They ran several risks flying the plane, but my dad knew he had to go. So they left, taking the long route around to the island, because it was a complete risk to go through communist Cambodia. Things weren't lookkng good. The plane was too heavy, a wing was about to fall apart. And then the worst happened: they ran out of gas.

The lack of gas required my dad to make a pit stop to Thailand. And there was no way the plane could fly anymore. My dad was worried that he wouldn't see my mom and brother again. He had heard about the decrepit conditions at Con Son and things didn't sound so good. But my dad just kept praying.

And a couple of days later when things seemed hopeless, my dad saw my mom and brother! At Con Son, conditions were bad. The guards mistreated everyone. It was not good for my brother, he was only four at the time. Planes would leave for the mainland, but they made strict orders not to transport children or women. People didn't care and attempted to get on the planes. My mother and brother tried too. The guards were abusive trying to get them away even to the point of hitting them.

But somehow, they got on a plane. And alas, it was the last plane that went from Con Son. And by God's grace, my parents found each other in Thailand.

And they escaped with nothing to a refugee camp and to their final destination, Columbus, Ohio, where a nice group of church people took care of them in the first few months of their life in their new home.

In 1980, my parents became U.S. Citizens. Two years later....I was born!

This story for me just says so much about God's soveringty. I mean really, if this story turned out differently, I wouldn't have existed in the way I am.

So tomorrow, I'll think about my personal war heros: my parents. I'm grateful that my mother had the foresight to take English in high school, so when she came into America, she could easily adjust. I'm thankful that my dad, even when he was scared, went to get my mom and brother. I'm so grateful that my parents could raise my brother and I in freedom in America. I'm grateful that my parents worked hard for so long just so I could graduate college.

***
two good things on the 30th anniversary.

From Daily Dig: http://www.bruderhof.com/articles/vietnam-30th-anniversary.htm?source=DailyDig
From the Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0504290167apr29,0,1775005.story?coll=chi-newsopinioncommentary-hed

In a couple of months, when Mission Year is over, I'm going back to the familar world of journalism. I'm really excited to come back, I miss having a job where my sole purpose is to find truth and to have the opportunity to write everyday.

I think however, I will come back as a different person. For one thing, I think I will approach people differently. After dealing with all types of people or rather learning to deal with them, I think I will see people differently.

PR people before were the bain of my existance--always a mean group people who didn't seem to have any ethnics what so ever and always on purpose trying to make my job difficult. But as much as I still believe that the PR profession lack quite a bit of ethics, I wonder sometimes if brought such hostility on our own. It's amazing the lack of humility in a profession that is supposed to be a public service for others. We act like we're better than everyone else, that we deserve the information. Now I'm not saying that they are right in withholding information. The information they hold back is public information that we are entitled to have.

I'm not questioning so much the act, but our attitudes and heart in doing it. Do we have to assume that even the most bitchy of PR people have no good in them whatsoever? I think after becoming friends with the lowest of the low-- the rough kid nobody likes, the drunken neighbor that has no friends. I know there has to be some, maybe just a little good in a PR person. And for me, that good is where I want to approach them.

It's a matter of choice. I can choose to aggressively try to get information and be a complete bitch about it. Or I can treat PR people as people, people who have families to support, people who want to be loved, like everyone else. I think about Rich McKay and how he got information from people. You never really heard him yell. He talked about raising cats with hospitial spokespeople. I've always admired that approach.

Humility is really not a bad idea. My old editor wrote me today, "When in doubt, play fair." Good advice.