DAY 68

Milwaukee, Wisconsin
June 21, 2009
Sun 7:07 PM

quite an early blog today... i'm making up for missing one yesterday. but what can i say, i was tired yesterday and didn't want to really blog. tired and kinda buzzed. yes, i was bad, i gave into temptation, and a small bit of peer pressure, but mostly temptation and had a few drinks. a few. if it's possible to have a few while playing drinking games and going on a fiesta-all-you-can-drink-margaritas-and-all-you-can-eat-tacos boat cruise. but to be fair, i only had one margarita cause it was terrible, and i don't know what i was thinking cause i don't really even like good margaritas. i was so thirsty at that point after seven hours of being on my feet at work that i would've drank motor oil if you put it in a plastic cup. my brain wanted lemonade or gatorade, or even just water, and the margarita looked like a combination of these things. but then i would put the cup to my lips and recoil... way too much cheap tequila. but that's what you'll have with all-you-can-drink margaritas. my good friend kept looking at me and laughing, and then went and got me a glass of water. such a sweet friend.

anyway, the boat cruise was but one part of a number of bachlorette party activities. then we went back to the bride-to-be's sisters house and played drinking games. and i just want it to be known that i own at the "never have i ever" segment of the drinking game because i've never done anything. well, almost not done anything. i used to be able to play the "never kissed anyone" line but then i made out with an annonymous boy in a Mandalay Bay club on my 21st birthday in Las Vegas... but i was sober enough to get his name afterward- it was Casey and he was from California but had recently moved to Utah for the snowboarding. later in the night he passed out on a slot machine. magical, isn't it? anyway, making out in las vegas nightclubs aside, i am pure. as pure as you can be when your 21st birthday party is held in las vegas. anyway, i'm getting sidetracked here, but i'm good at this game. except one of the bride's (bride to be, technically) friends knew that i used to live in DC (she had just gottan back from a trip there). we were talking about it, and it was her turn and i was bragging about how great i was at this game and she says, "Never have I ever lived in Washington, DC." guess who was the only one to drink on that one. but, i proudly stood up and proclaimed that i would gladly drink the rest of my beer on that one. and i did, even though i didn't have to. man, i miss dc. we also played the game where you have to speak in questions only. and the same person got me by saying, "Why did you leave DC?" and I replied "Because I was stupid." Eeeee, wrong response, not a question. But, somewhat accurate nonetheless. It was the smart move though, despite what i think now, it's only because I've been watching so much of The West Wing lately.

hopefully there wasn't a lot of sex talk... i mean, it is a bachelorette party. there was some, but i was too busy reading playboy. the talk was making me, the pure one, turn red. and get rather uncomfortable. so i proclaimed that the dirty talk was distracting me from reading playboy and i dismissed myself from the kitchen table to the couch. and as a confident, straight woman i can safely say that i did read it for the articles. no red-blooded man can say that, try as they might, but i can. i read an interview with chris tucker, and an article about the male... erm, unit. sex unit. it is playboy after all, and i became thoroughly educated in all aspects regarding the mechanism of the human penis. can't believe i just typed that in my blog. but, i did, and i've hit the point of no return.

i think i'm more than making up for my lack of post yesterday. and i'm doing my best to focus my efforts on this post and not the excellent west wing episode on just four feet in front of my laptop. it's the one about president bartlet's third state of the union address. the third lady is pissed right now, and josh is freaking out about the coming results of the poll being conducted by joey lucas. and toby just gave a good stat regarding gun violence and gun control... if you add up the populations of the uk, switzerland, australia... and a few other first world countries you get a population equal to the u.s. and just over 100 gun deaths, versus over 30,000 in the u.s. he then questions if it is because americans are more homicidal by nature, or because the formerly mentioned countries have reasonable gun control laws. i'm gonna go with the gun control laws.

anyway, west wing aside i had a nice short shift at work today. and that's why i'm here at the moment. my sister and i just watched a special on tv titled "How Bruce Lee Changed the World." Bruce Lee was the man. the phrase "ahead of his time" never applied to anyone quite so well. he influenced modern philosophy, "be water, my friend," film, athletes' physical regime (working out), and all other aspects of culture. oh yeah, and martial arts. he was truly a renaissance man. he lifted weights at a time that only hardcore bodybuilders did. he recognized the benefit to athletes to lift weights and do strength training, and he had nothing to go on. he used varying techniques and, to reword his own quote, used what worked and scrapped what didn't. he designed his own workout equipment. and his strength to his size ratio was staggering. all you have to do is see his two-finger pushups or one-inch punch. they showed a clip of him kicking a heavy bag, i looked at my sister and said, "can you imagine being hit with that!" she said no way, and i said that i think it would knock your head off. i believe that mortal kombat fatality finishing moves are really just moves that bruce lee could do if given the chance. he also did supplementation with vitamins and made protein shakes, and there weren't gnc's on every corner to buy these kind of things. he was an asian face in television and movies when, in the U.S. at least, asian roles were played by white people and were always terrible caricatures of villains or clumsy people. everyone could look up to him, and he was so quick that he had to slow down his moves for film. he made sure his fight scenes were realistic, no wires. he took an active role in his lines and fight choreography. he's one of the few, and rare, action stars where the action is believable because you know in real life that bruce lee could back up all those flashy kicks and punches. if anything, you can tell he's holding back. dana white, the president of the ufc, calls him the first mixed martial artist. and he certainly is, he combined the best moves from various martial arts and created his own movements. his influence can be felt all over the world. he did all this while only staring in four films and dying tragically at the age of 32. 32, only ten years older than me. and he accomplished all this and so much more.

i think that's why i look up to guys like bruce lee and arnold schwarzenegger. they're so much more than movie stars, they excel in many different things, politics, athletics... they rewrote the rules in their respective fields. before arnold, action stars were puney, arnold was one of the few believable action stars. he was huge, and everything he did, you bought it. after arnold, action stars became big. bruce lee made martial arts movies respectable and put them on the map in the west. and arnold went on to become governor of the largest state in the most powerful country in the world. not bad for an immigrant from a small village in austria. bruce changed not only the landscape of films, but created buzz about martial arts, physical fitness, and so much more. i admire that about people, not being content in focusing on one thing, or being the best in one field. always evolving, always improving. always looking for that next thing. being ahead of the curve. that's how i am. now, i'm not comparing myself to arnold or bruce, but saying that i have broad interests. i'm all over the place, i'm into lots of varying things. i think it makes life more interesting that way. i enjoy things that are mainstream, and things that aren't. i can go with the flow, and create my own path. i hope in the future i can excel not only in one thing, but many. i want to be like arnold and bruce. and i like how i've put myself on a first-name basis with both of them. maybe it's telling that next to my bed on my wall i have pictures of bruce lee, muhammad ali, and kurt cobain. not because i think they're cute or hot or anything like that, well, bruce lee is cute, even my sister agrees. but because they're important people. back home in appleton i even have a picture of fdr on my bookcase. or at least i used to, i don't really remember now. fdr, the greatest president. or greatest modern president, not sure if anyone can hold a candle to george washington. he was perhaps just a great man, not sure what he did as president compared to being general. but just being the first, the first president of the most powerful country ever. he must've done something well, he set things in motion. and i'm certainly biased, having attended his namesake university for two years. and lived in his namesake city for two years. and used to use his monument as a guiding light whenever lost with friends navigating said city by car, which rarely happend... thanks again metro. but fdr, he's the president i always chose to him when we had to do school papers on presidents. i think i also admired the fact that he was elected to four terms. and to think, he was a cripple! we elected a cripple! never could in the television age, heck, we could never even elect a short guy. that's too bad, how many good, qualified people are excluded from politics because of their cosmetic issues? although, i suppose the same could be said about a minority president, and yet, here we are. president obama truly does give hope to all americans. hopefully in the future it won't matter if you're disabled, or short, or a woman. it already doesn't matter if you're black. good to know this country continues to move ahead. sometimes slower than we'd wish it, but it is moving. despite continued efforts from republicans. ha, had to get that jab in there before i ended this subject.

yes, this blog more than made up for my lack of one yesterday. i don't know if i mentioned this, but a few days ago i chatted with my best friend who's currently in china. she comes back in a few weeks, but it was great to chat with her. and i think she was as excited as i was when her reply to my query "what's up" was "SALBRENT!" she's the one who gave me that nickname. and having your friends give you a nickname is the ultimate vindication of complete acceptance. and it makes you feel good. having a nickname makes you feel all warm inside. i got this nickname not too long after moving to dc and starting college. and it felt great. first time i was ever given a nickname by my peers... not peers, friends. my friends. i never had a lot of friends in high school, now don't be sad for me, i'm not saying this for sympathy thoughts or anything, i just say it cause its the truth. i had a handful of very, very good friends, which was great. and they continue to be great friends. and i'd like to say that i was liked by everyone, everyone in my class would probably count me as an aquaintance. i could mingle with everyone, but i didn't have that large group of friends to do things with on weekends. which is fine, i'm an introvert by nature, big parties don't appeal to me. but then i got to college, and i had two groups of great friends to do things with. i never fit in in high school, amongst a group of people who were overwhelmingly white, and predominantly catholic, i didn't fit in. i had the wrong last name, and went to the wrong church. i lived there my whole life, and yet, i was eternally the outsider. which is fine, i enjoy being an individual. but then i get to gw, where people aren't just christian, they're muslim, and jewish, and atheist, and whatever else, and they're not all white, they're asian, and black, and everything else... and suddenly i, the white girl from the midwest, fit in. because in a diverse climate, everyone fits in. and it's great, i loved it. with my midwest roots, i was in ways a novelty. most everyone else was from the east coast, and i had a special attribute by being from the midwest. and everyone had unique, individual attributes. and everyone "fit in." and you learn so much just by hanging out with your friends and sharing experiences. and its great. i know i talk about this a lot, the difference between my social life in high school and college, but it was just such a turning point in my life. i knew as soon as i got there, that i couldn't remain in the non-diverse midwest for the rest of my life. and i credit my parents for preparing me, nah, conditioning me for gw and dc. we traveled each summer, to different states, different countries, diverse cities. so, and i know saying this will sound archaic, but i don't do a double take when i see an african-american or a minority, which is more than i can say for many of my peers from high school. a person's religion is not the most important thing to me, i value it like i hope they value mine, but i don't judge them if they don't share the same views as me. it makes the world a more interesting place to live by having differing views and different people. and that's a lot more than i can say for people in my hometown. and i think i surprised people when i got to gw and i was the open-minded and accepting midwestern kid. i'm glad i was able to dispel some stereotypes as people from the midwest being closed-minded, and, like many stereotypes, there is truth to it. because some people are, and some people are on the east and west coasts too, but not as much. so, that's the end of that. in conclusion, i thank my parents for giving me great experiences as a kid. this created an adventurous and couragous adult. and as a sidenote, i just remember one conversation i had with a classmate from high school about college. i talked about how much i loved living in dc, and my friend, who attended a midwest school (like everyone else) said, "well, at least when i leave my campus it isn't scary." scary, you know, because all cities are just decrepid, crime-ridden, hell holes. i was just stunned, i said, "do you know where i live? i walk two blocks from my dorm and i'm in front of the white house. i have university police, metro police, and secret service all overlapping on my campus. and i leave campus and it's scary?" it amazed me the thoughts people back home had about dc... isn't full of crime?, they'd say. "no, it's not." i'd reply. "isn't it the murder capital of the u.s.?" maybe in the eighties, i'd reply. dc is an amazing and beautiful city, a city that i'm not afraid to walk around at night downtown. mostly because nobody lives downtown, you walk past a bunch of empty office buildings and security officers. and that's more than i can say about milwaukee. i don't like walking around after 8 pm by myself.

anyway, back to what i wanted to talk about, we chatted until 2:30 am, which was something like 2:30 pm in china. she told me she's seen a lot of knockoff vans (my footwear of choice) in china and everytime she thought of me. i told her we'd have to do a long weekend in dc sometime in the future. she said we had to. i consider it a done deal, all to do now is pick a weekend and book a flight. and i'm an expert at that.

just took a break to play dance dance revolution with my sister. i sucked, but not because i suck (on the contrary, i rock at the game) but because her new hdtv isn't synced right as far as the sound goes. this is one downside to hdtvs, and i'm familiar with it as a gamer and hdtv owner. anyway, a small price to pay for a gorgeous picture. and a lit-up sony logo. she really likes that feature of the tv, moreso i think than the picture quality. man, my apartment is so hot... so hot indeed. and having a tv and lights on, not to mention a hot laptop on my lap, certainly doesn't help. and on that note, i think i've squeezed my brain clean of any new thoughts. all this while watching two and a half episodes of the west wing. and on that note.

salbrent