when i move to denver and become a superhero, this is all i'm ever going to wear.

11:00 am: two hours after actually waking up, going for a run and stopping by the mount pleasant farmer's market, i came home and had blue ridge dairy honey "yo-fresh" with kashi honey sunshine cereal and a just-purchased peach with cinnamon.  there is an iced coffee from heller's on the sidelines.  and yes, i ♥ eating in front of the computer.

3:00 pm: late lunch of mashed avocado and sea salt, shredded carrots, broccoli sprouts, mache and dijon mustard on a big chunk of breadline whole wheat baguette, also from the mount p farmer's market.  plus grapes, on my dorky vintage franciscan starburst dinnerware (a minor ebay item obsession).

5:30 pm: an apple a day keeps the doctor away.  especially when you have to work at an animal rights conference in northern virginia on a saturday evening.  this apple was very small.  so is my hand.

7:30 pm: talking to activists made me thirsty.  i had a venti unsweetened passion iced tea with a splash of skim milk when i was released.  i slurped it down on the long walk to the metro and of course had to pee, badly.  i was very proud of myself for not ordering another iced coffee, though.

10:00 pm: after arriving back in d.c., i wandered around shaw taking pictures... because i'd never done that before?  i headed toward whole foods with the intention of obtaining a garbage salad from the salad bar for dinner, but it was getting late and the selections didn't look very fresh.  instead, i grabbed an herb-smothered rotisserie chicken, some fruit and some other bullshit, then finally headed home to assemble a giant salad of baby lettuce and mache, the last of my shredded carrots, little farmer's market tomatoes, blueberries, chicken, goat cheese and delicious woodstock dressing.  plus a sprinkle of herbes de provence.

10:30 pm: then there was twig tea, and i called it a night.

lessons in love, by way of economics 

and from the yahoo start page, written by a dude in the class ahead of me at ensworth (will most likely receive this article in an email from my father the next time i check my inbox):

best cities for young professionals

spoiler alert: denver ranks number 20 

Another U.S. job and growth center, especially in the energy sector, Denver boasts the 13th highest rate of young professionals tracked by our graduate metric. But it lags behind for the number of companies on Forbes' 400 best big firms and 200 best small firms lists: Based on its population size, the Mile High City rates 27th. Denver's low cost of living and above-median salaries help make up for a very low never-married rate among young people.

not surprisingly, d.c. ranks much higher at number 6.  glad i'm done being a yuppie!  (realization: i am now on the fast track to become an aric-inspired "yuffie" -- a young urban failure.  weee!)

The city fell one position in this year's list, but remains one of the country's best destinations for young professionals. Jobs in politics and government-related consultancies have attracted young professionals, leading to the seventh-highest rate in the country. D.C. rated 15th for its concentration of Forbes-measured companies and in the top quartile for both salaries and never-married young residents.

san fran is number 1.  perhaps i'll join my sis there once the big quake hits (and i'm too old to be considered a young professional anyway).  nashville, by the way, is at number 16.  i'll pass, thanks!

FiLm terBaru Yang aKoe puNya:

1. The Eye

2. Hancock

3. What Happen in Vegas

4. Kungfu Panda

5. FooL's goLd

6. Knight Rider

7. ShuttEr

8. Dan maSih Banyak Lagi

Ada yang berMinat, hUbungi akOE Aja. GRatis Kok.....

incidentally, jonathan's life goals as told to jenny several months ago: "you know, succeeding in my art and staying skinny"

i laughed then, but...

i am at home with the me.  i am rooted in me, who is on this adventure.  and i am feeling more calm and relaxed now.

2. Drink at least 4-6 pints of liquid per day, either through pure water, smoothies or fresh juices. (This will depend on how much high water content food you are eating as well as cooked food). (check)

3. Drink away from your meal time - no closer then 30 minutes before eating, and no sooner than 3 hours after eating. (fail)

4. Only eat when hungry - yes, even breakfast. (fail)

5. Aim for one vegetable juice or superfood smoothie per day, minimum. (fail)

6. Fruit, when eaten, should be eaten before a main meal, never after. (check for today, usually fail)

7. Eat something green and organic at every main meal. (check)

8. Eat at least one large leafy green salad per day OR drink one large green juice OR make one green smoothie. (check)

9. Eat sprouted foods every day. (check)

10. If you're eating more-raw, eat a large fresh organic salad with each cooked meal. (check, usually)

11. If you're eating all-raw, eat at least one high density food in adequate amounts with your large fresh organic salad per meal (examples: flax crackers, sprouted wheat bread, nuts, seeds, olives, avocado, pâté, sprouted beans) (daily avocado: check)

12. Avoid desserts wherever possible - eat them as a snack 3 or more hours after dinner. Desserts clog you up! (check, usually)

13. Try to go for savoury snacks over sweet ones. The sweeter ones, such as dried fruits and snack bars, are more likely to knock you off balance, and can exacerbate cravings and mood swings. Try a handful of sprouted sunflower seeds or some dehydrated crackers for something a bit more interesting and satisfying. (fail)

14. Make sure you have adequate time to prepare, eat and digest before getting back to business. (check)

15. Try to eat no later than 7pm every night. If the sky is dark, your body is also shutting down for the day and digestion will be more difficult. (FAIL.  eating dinner before 9pm is basically impossible for me, even when i'm doing nothing.  maybe that's the source of all my problems heh.)

BONUS 16) Remember that you need to love what you do, love what you eat and love the way you feel - this above all must be true : ) (work in progress??)

Tuesday afternoon we made the long trek back home (6+ hours) and woke up Wednesday morning refreshed and ready to have a day of "staycation" - that is, vacation at home.  Since I've been doing so much traveling lately, both for work and pleasure, it felt wonderful to just stay at home and get some much needed work done.  For 10 hours or so Ross and I mulched, weeded, trimmed, chopped, and bagged everything that could be mulched, weeded, trimmed, chopped and bagged.  And although no one may notice our handiwork but us, we feel like we've made a little progress on making this house our own.  That's still something I struggle with sometimes:  believing that our house is ours and not just something we're borrowing from someone else.  It's pretty cool to think about.

speaking of simple pleasures, here are a few recent ones of mine:

I cut some pink, blue, and purply hydrangeas from our backyard and put them in a vase on our dining room table  

Yesterday for lunch I took a leftover slice of tomato, slathered a little mayo, and snipped a leaf off the basil growing on our windowsill to add to the top.  Delicious 

We feasted on the first zucchini from the garden last night for dinner. next up: zucchini bread

Armed with two big bowls, I harvested the first of our swiss chard and spinach from the garden, and i thought:  we grew this.  ourselves.  and then i just walked out to my backyard and picked some.  how cool is that?

1. 3 August 2008 : Achied & Arifin

Pacarannya udah berapa lama ya? 3 atau 4 tahun gitu mungkin *maap agak lupa* tapi yang jelas seh udah tunangan 2 tahun lebih. Achied adalah sohib kentel sekentel ingus *slurpp..maap jorok* :) pas masa2 kuliah dulu. Sebenernya seh tanggal diatas adalah acara resepsinya, sedangkan akadnya sendiri dilakukan pas hari libur tanggal berapa tuh ya...masih bulan Juli pokoknya dan liburnya dalam rangka memperinagti Isro' Mi'roj Nabi Muhammad SAW. Orangnya agak suka ga pedean dengan bodynya sendiri, padahal cantik lho... sekarang lagi sibuk fitness untuk persiapan menghadapi hari H.

2. 10 Agustus 2008: Agnes & Penta

Lokasinya acara pernikahan mereka ada di Kediri, mereka berdua pun sering putus sambung tapi seperti kata pepatah 'kalo jodoh takkan lari kemana' jadinya ya mereka balikan lagi dan sedang menanti detik2 bersatunya jiwa dan raga mereka dalam sebuah ikatan pernikahan *halah..bahasanya rek, ya pokoknya gitu deh*

3. 17 Agustus 2008 : Lia & Ulum

Sebenernya akad nikahnya tanggal 14 Agustus, sedangkan tanggal diatas adalah acara resepsinya daann...yang paling tragis lokasi acaranya sam dengan pasangan nomer 2 yaitu Agnes & Penta di yup..bener banget Kediri, pusing bener aku memikirkannya *tuing..tuing..cenut..cenut..*

4. 17 Agustus 2008 : Reti & Bayu

Teman milis yang satu ini bener2 mengagumkan karena menurutku acara pernikahannya sangat terkonsep *mau ga Reti jadi EO pas acara kondanganku nanti?...ngarep.com* bahkan sampe ada acara menghitung hari di website pribadi mereka ^_^

See...adakah yang mau jadi kembaranku untuk mengatasi masalah di atas? Untuk keempat pasangan di atas selamat deg2 an menjelang detik2 pernikahan kalian ya. Aku turut berbahagia *nulisnya dengan muka mupeng pengen nyusul married juga...wakakakkkz tapi amieen...* Doaku teriring untuk kalian semua, meskipun pada akhirnya nanti mungkin aku berhalangan hadir, maafkan aku ya ;)

Some believe Palestine will be back only if we destroyed Israel, how original.

some believe that the one-state solution is the only solution that would guarantee Palestinians' rights, oh that's me by the way.

some dont approve of the right of return, and they happen to be non-palestinians who have a say on that matter only because they're "pro-palestinian" or "academics".

and some are pro-palestinian and anti-hezbolla. please madam, define hezbolla?

and who are these people? they are the lebanese diaspora. diaspora doesnt mean that you should be living in another continent, you can be living 300 meters away and be foreign to a one single moral adopted by Hezbolla which speaks a lot about the ethics of Hezbolla as a community: a promise is a promise.

here in Achrafiyeh, in Hamra, and other "liberal" and "open minded" areas in Beirut and in lebanon where they're proud of their French and English, but not their Arabic, five Lebanese who fought for self-determination were considered criminals. they are considered criminals in a segregated society in lebanon, and in a segregated world. what do i mean by segregation?

in a sexually segregated society, a male becomes exotic to a female, and vice versa. but thanks to a world where sex is sexualized, they will always try to reach each other, via healthy means? nop, not at all.

unlike syria, beirut's society is not sexually segregated, it is rather ideologically segregated, and i did not use the word "sectarian" alongside "segregated" 'cause i think sectarianism is an outcome and not a cause to the lebanese problem. and it is an outcome in the sense that it is constructed by politicians and Europeans to be used to control the masses, and damn well they're controled.

back to segregation, in an ideologically segregated society a group will only meet, live, process itself apart from the potentiality of being exposed to a total foreign thought and a foreign idea, and that's how racism, sectarianism emerge in a materialstic, economically controled world.

living for 3 years and a half in achrafieh, i meet amazing people everyday, who despise hezbolla and the people in hezbolla just like people in other continents who never been to the south do.

it's all about our spacial context.

its easy for southern lebanese to hate achrafieh people, and it is easy for the latter to hate the former, but for me, i cannot hate anyone who i've shared good memories with.

because i am living on my own, meeting everyone, i had the chance to process a lot of systems i was brought up with.

i am no longer syrian, i no longer believe in these nations, nor in any belief systems, including atheism, not in bombastic slogans Arabists go on baffle me with, seriously, humans are pathetic creatures struggling to belong to an idea they constructed it themselves. to a system they want to be forever comfortable with.

justice is not an idea, it is a meaning.

hezbolla is an idea, Kuntar is an idea, neither are heroes, nor evils.

so far i can't see no justice in the air.