Mystery Revealed

My surprise date was FINALLY last night! Here's how it unfolded...

Joe had been giving me hints all day. First he said, "It's south of our house." But my next hint an hour later was, "It's north of our house." What a brat.

We left the house headed south. He promised it wasn't a Jazz game, so I replied, "GOOOOD cause I really couldn't figure out why you would think I wanted to see a basketball game!"

Our first stop turned out to be Mikado for sushi. I guess the initial plan was Ahh Sushi (one of our favorite places) but Joe got off work late and we missed Happy Hour at Ahh. Luckily, Mikado has Happy Hour until 7. It was nice to try somewhere different!

Then came the main event. We headed north on I-15, got off downtown, and headed towards The Gateway/Energy Solutions Arena. Can you see where this is going? Yes, it was a Jazz game! Man, did I put my foot in my mouth!

But here's the tricky part. Joe knows I LOVE the Celtics. I go to the game every year, paint my hair green and get all crazy trying to piss off the Jazz fans. Apparently, tickets are only sold in 2-game packages, so last night's Bulls game was a extra bonus/preview to the Celtics game! Once I figured out WHY Joe would take me to the Bulls game, I could actually enjoy myself, knowing that he really does know me! And it was an edge-of-the-seat game. Unfortunately, we lost by 1 point in the last second.

The funny thing is Joe actually put "Special date with Joe" in my phone on February 19, but I never looked that far ahead after I found last night's date scheduled in my phone. He's a tricky one!

Now I gotta plan a suprise date to get even with him!

Blackberry Storm

Well, people, it's finally here! I've been waiting for this phone like, a whole week, haha! About once a year, I get these intense cravings to buy the latest electronic device, and this year it was the new touchscreen Blackberry. Other people have been waiting for this phone for months, so I knew there would be a line when Verizon opened at 7am this morning. I drove by last night around 8pm just to make sure the line hadn't started. Would I have waited? Probably. Luckily, there was no line, so I snuck in a few hours of sleep. My plan was to show up at 6am, but I kept hitting the snooze button, so I got there at about 6:55. I was person #30 in the line. The first guy in line apparently got there at 10pm last night and slept on the sidewalk. Most other people got there between 5am and 6am. Thank GOD there were exactly 30 phones. I got the last one! I only had to wait about 45 minutes in the cold, and then another 45 minutes to complete the purchase and have my data transferred. Overall, it was a very pleasant morning.

So far it's pretty cool. The touchscreen will be a big adjustement. It's similar to the iPhone's but you have to physically depress the entire screen to select, like a giant mouse button. It's pretty accurate and I'm getting faster at texting. The coolest part is that I can check my email! I've never had that feature in a phone, and man, is it nice. I just need to figure out how to sync my work email. My only complaint so far is that I can't rearrange or hide the icons on the mainpage. I'm sure there's a way; I just need to figure it out.

Overall it's pretty sweet!

Mystery Date

Joe's been planning this "surprise date" for me. I've known about it for over a month, and he refuses to give me any clues. All I know is that it's Monday, November 24, from about 5pm to 11pm. I need all your brilliant minds to help me figure it out, because it's driving me INSANE!

Top ten differences between grad school and Hell

10. It doesn't rain in Hell.
9. Everyone has heard of Hell.
8. It's a lot more fun getting into Hell.
7. You can't fail out of Hell.
6. At least you can sleep in Hell.
5. Hell is forever; grad school just seems like it.
4. People smile in Hell.
3. You only have to sell your soul to get into Hell.
2. There are hot men and women in Hell.
And the #1 difference between grad school and Hell...
1 . You would never tell a friend to go to grad school!

my inner demon

I was listening to this blog today about various people trying to "exorcise their inner demons". The first story was of a guy who built up all these prejudices against Arab people after serving in Iraq. In order to "therapize" himself, he voluntarily joined the Muslim Student Association on campus to become more empathetic and culturally aware. I have to say props to this guy. I CANNOT IMAGINE sitting through one meeting of the Young Republicans, let alone joining their Goddamn association. I would rather be stoned or dipped in a vat of boiling oil than listen their conservative retoric.

Cultural Competence

"Cultural responsiveness" is the new catch phrase in the social work field. It's one of 7 values in the DCFS Practice Model. I was required to take a Diversity course in grad school. The point is, culture is constantly on my mind.

So what is culture? Wikipedia says it is "all the ways of life including arts, beliefs, and institutions of a population that are passed down from generation to generation." Okay, that's pretty clear cut. But have you ever thought that the way one culture views another is part of the first culture's culture? For example, the way Americans view Muslims is part of the American culture, because it probably differs from the way the French view Muslims. I'm talking stereotypes here -- the stereotypes we adopt become ingrained in our culture.

Now, flip that idea around, and think how other cultures might view Americans. What stereotypes come to mind about our silly little country? My question was answered last week while I was getting my nails done at my little Vietnamese salon. They were playing this video (from Vietnam) of some popular variety show set in a huge auditorium. It was like an American awards show, except instead of giving awards, they had alternating acts of singing, dancing, drama, comedy skits, etc. I can honestly say it was the weirdest and most hilarious thing I have ever seen. I'm not sure if they were trying to imitate American culture or make fun of it.

Act 1: American Gangster rap (in English)
Act 2: Traditional Vietnamese opera
Act 3: A Britney Spears and/or stripper impersonator
Act 4: A comedy skit in Vietnamese
Act 5: More gangster rap and some Chris Brown-type dancing
Act 6: A female Vietnamese performer whose style of singing resembled Celine Dion
Act 7: Cowboys and indians, running all over the stage, fake-shooting each other. The dialogue was something like, "Lao tze dao de jing HE GOT ME yih jian tai hai tao tang!"

It's pretty embarrasing to realize that's how other cultures think of us, but I guess we're kind of asking for it.