Favorites of 2006...

I was bored last night so I came up with my favorites from this past year.

TV Shows of 2006:5
. Tie: The West Wing and Commander in Chief This was a hard one to decide-WW ended its run and CIC was cancelled Simply no justice in this world!
4. Project Runway By far PR is one of the best reality series on tv.
3. Nip/Tuck: By far the strangest show on tv. I am a fan of ridiculous story lines and N/T never disappoints --ever!
2. Weeds I was introduced to this show this year. Rented the first season onDVD and watched all 10 episodes in one day. It is brilliant.
1. ALIAS ALIAS finished its 5 year run this year and I felt as if a part of meended to. I doubt nothing will ever compare to the impact this show had onme. RIP ALIAS!

Movies of 2006:
5. The Sentinel I just love Michael Douglas
4. Tie: Thank You for Smoking and An Inconvenient Truth If you haven't seen these-shame on you! They both detail the badthings we are doing to our bodies and our planet. It details just howsneaky people really are. Al Gore, the former President of theUnited States, freakin' rocks!!
3. Casino Royale This is my favorite of the franchise. It was not campy or silly butdark and serious. Daniel Craig was brilliant. This was the first bondbook that Ian Fleming wrote and I am so pleased that they arestarting from Bond's beginning as 007. Can't wait for the next one.
2. Transamerica This movie was not what I thought it would be. It opened my eyes tothe fear, frustration, and diligence that transsexuals deal with on a dailybasis. Felicity Huffman did a unbelievable job and shedeserved every accolade she got!
1. The Devil Wears Prada I was not an Anne Hathaway fan until I saw Brokeback Mountain, guess I am still not a fan though.. She played Andrea very well and believable but whinny-I just wanted to slap her sometimes. But you don't see the movie for her. Meryl Streep made this movie the blockbuster it was. She gave me chills and I found myself just mesmerized by her performance of Miranda Priestly. That's All.

Music of 2006:I really was not impressed with what I heard this year. The only thingthat I really got into was the Scissor Sisters and that is about it.

Favorite things of 2006:
5. My DART pass I officially made it a year without a car in Dallas. Thanks to DARTand the places it takes me. I am looking forward to another year withoutthe burden of a vehicle!4. Urban Market The downtown grocery/bar/cafe. There isn't anything like living above a place like this.
3. MySpace I resisted MS for a very long time. Then, while at home sick, Ithought it would not hurt to check this out. The rest is history.Although I have considered taking my site down, I just can't do it. It is creative, personal, and sometimes crazy. Love it.
2. Diet Coke I always drank Coke or Dr. Pepper. However due to my ever increasing heartburn and acid reflux, the sugar content was just too much for me to handle. Devastated, I tuned to Diet Coke and not only is tasty, it contains no high fructose corn syrup--which makes me and my digestivesystem happy!
1. ALIAS Rambaldi Cube I received this fabulous gift for my 31st birthday last week. Only40,000 were made worldwide and I am very grateful to the friends whocontributed and went all over Dallas to find the only copy left. All5 seasons, a book, and other fab. stuff! in a beautiful gold box withvelvet lining! The perfect gift for the biggest ALIAS fan in the world.

Special thanks for 2006:
6. Stephen the Bartender at Urban Market
5. Thanks to DART for keeping me mobile
4. American Airlines for keeping me airborn
3. JPMorgan for my continued employment
2. Brittny and Chad, my new super cool friends
1. For being healthy, despite getting older, nerve damage in my leg,receding hairline, and ridiculous acid reflux disease

DART Crazies...

If there were no crazy people in this world then DART would be out ofbusiness. Lately I have been seeing my fare share of crazy and odd people.A few weeks ago I decided to take the 36 from downtown to Addison. Iusually take the 183 but I felt I needed new scenery. Everything was goingwell until we got to Highland Park. A fairly handsome black man boardedthe bus and sat down. He then put on a turquoise, terry-cloth turban. Hewas smiling from ear to ear and started telling everyone that "this is aspace ship and we are gonna take off! I can't wait to get to outer space!"He continued to chant to himself, never loosing his big smile. A few mileslater this very short woman boarded. She was bearing all her worldlypossessions in a suit case and a large Hefty bag. She was wearing flipflops, bright orange pants, pink gloves, and a black wool hooded cape-withthe hood up. She looked like some sort of wicked sorceress. She, too, was chanting to herself and then stood up to announce that she is willing tobuy, sell, or trade. Buy, sell, or trade what is beyond me. I wanted toask but then decided that it would be in my best interest to keep quiet.She kept picking her nose and mumbling to herself. She basically wasdigging every 30 seconds into her nose. Instead of using a tissue todispose of her boogers, she was using her orange pants. Maybe she wassaving them for a stew or something. The man in the turban looked at meand said "that bitch is crazy." At which point he got up and moved. Ijust started laughing. Then on Tuesday I needed to get to Baylor Hospitalso I took the 44. Wow! The bus was packed and I was certainly a minority. A man got on and asked a guy nicely if he would move over and when the guy refused all hell broke loose. Basically, he stepped over into the seat and pushed the other man out. He kept yelling "you can't take two fucking seats!" Then the prophet boarded. He was preaching that we all were going straight to hell! REPENT, REPENT. Then he said the Lord is talking through him. The woman sitting next to me said "mmhum, that ain't the Lord talkin'" At which point another woman said "m'kay, that's Jack Daniel talking!" That got all the ladies laughing and I kept hearing a lot of"mmmmm, I know that's right" and "ohhhhh, child!" I couldn't help butlaugh along with everyone else. Then today a woman got on. She had to be a good 400 pounds and was dressed in a bright yellow jump suit. You could have seen her from space! I am sure she is a nice lady but she was just so very yellow.

TSA...

I love to travel and do so quite often. I never checks bags. Lets justsay that I made it to England while my bag made a detour to Caracas. After that incident I decided that I would never check a bag again and I have held true to that. I just recently flew to Philadelphia to visit a friend. To make a long story short I was forced to take a large refill bottle ofPaul Mitchell hairspray. Now I know that hair products are important butnot "I need secret service for my hairspray" important. Phone calls wherebeing made to make sure that I was in possession of said hairspray.Anyway, I decided that I would transport the hairspray to Philly. Thismeant checking my bag because the bottle was to large (greater than 3 oz.)to carry on board as carry on. So I checked the bag and was paranoid theentire trip that while I was headed to Philly my bag would be dead-headingto Tokyo. I was also worried that the bottle would explode somewhere over Kentucky(or the Pacific), spilling the contents throughout mysuitcase-coating my clothes and permanently stiffening them like concrete.Luckily this did not happen. I opened the bag and found the bottle intactand next to it was a TSA note basically stating they went through my shit.I knew they would because the American Airlines lady told me that my name was on their security list but it "wasn't a big deal." WTF? I was leftwondering if they thought I was Hispanic because the note was inSpanish-"Notificacion Para Inspeccion De Equipaje"-(the English version was on the other side but this was my first reaction). I decided that since Iwas checking my bag that I would carry-on my toiletries. I packed them alllike I am supposed to in a large ziplock bag and all 3oz or less. Mydeodorant (of all things) was 4 oz. There was only 1/2 left-meaning 2 oz.The dumb ass checking the content of my ziplock said that my deodorant isnot "permitted to fly." This is getting be a bunch of shit. I threw itout and got on the plane. I am waiting for the day that we are issued ahospital type gown to wear as somehow, someway, someone will find a method of making cotton a weapon of mass destruction. Traveling just ain't what it used to be.

Friday Morning Perspective

Yesterday morning I was waiting for the bus at Trinity Mills and Westgrove when a man standing next to me had a heart attack. I tried to help him sit down when he went into convulsions and hit the ground-hard. He was speaking to me telling me that he had a pace maker. He was still breathing and coherent. I called 911 only to be placed on hold. A man sitting at a stop light witnessed these events and pulled into the parking lot where we were. He was already on the phone to 911. My first thought was that I would have to perform CPR but since he had a pace maker there was no need as long as he was still breathing. The pace maker was shocking his heart every 15-20 seconds. The shock were violent. His body would literally jump off the ground. But he, Timothy, was still coherent and talking to us. The other man was taking down his phone number, his wife's name, everything. I was just trying to keep him comfortable until the ambulance arrived. The paramedics arrived and loaded him into the ambulance. They told me that the pace maker was the only thing keeping him alive.
All day, I wondered about him. I did call the hospital later in the day to find out if he was okay. The nurse informed my that he was still in ICU but stable.
This was my friday morning. I feel good that I was able to help a total stranger. I am so happy that he had a pace maker otherwise I feel the outcome would not have been good. He obviously had heart problems in the past. Afterwards I took some stock in my own health. I don't always make the best decisions and I definatly could excersize more. Then I got to thinking about modern technology. How a small device, attached to a heart, can keep you alive when the heart fails. I simply find it amazing.

Dart Cops Suck...

I have lived Downtown for a while now-about 4 years and this is a first! I am a menace in a vehicle and apparently am no better on foot. Mondaymorning I received my very non-car related citation. Or what the looser DART cops call "Non-Traffic Citation." Yes folks I got a ticket forj-walking!! Did you you know that this is gonna cost me $300.00! WTF?According to my ticket: "Disregard of an Official Traffic Control Device at a Crosswalk." Basically I walked when the light told me not to. I would have probably been given a warning but I had to be a smart ass.

The Lunch Date...

I swear I hate dating. I just had a horrible lunch date with a guy. An old co-worker set me up on this blind date that I wanted no part of. But, dating is like the lottery-If you don't play, you can't win. So I went. Sigh. Whatever happened to manners and decorum? I knew this lunch date was going south when the man belched right in front of me. We went to a local establishment close to my office. First of all, we were in no hurry. I guess maybe he was when he proceeded to inhale his lunch in, and I am not kidding, less than 1 minute. I sat stunned. Stunned that someonecould actually do that. My first reaction was OMG it is like that 90 lb Asian woman who wins all those eating contests. He should apply!Seriously, he finished before I even started. I ate 1/2 my sandwich then he asked "gonna finish that?" I had planned on it but I was still grossed out so I let him have the rest--20 seconds it took him to finish. Isecretly timed him. After he finished, all he could do was talk about how much money he was making and that he just bought a new Benz. So effenwhat! I could go into further detail but I won't. At the end he asked if I wanted to do this again. This is when I called him out on his rudebehavior. I explained to him that he never let me say one word, that he was so obviously insecure that all he could do was talk about himself. Not to mention the belching in front of me at the table! Should I give him another chance? I know that first impressions are very importanthowever, I have come to learn that people sometimes have bad days or are not into the moment. Second chances are important as well. This is ahandsome guy. He said that he was smart. I was thinking more like smart as*. I too can be a smart as* and am relatively very good at it but I rarely show my colors-especially when I first meet someone. I wasn't in the mood for this today...maybe he wasn't either. He seemed really shocked that I called him out. He apologized and explained that he was nervous as he hadn't been out with someone in a long time. So we set another lunch date for later in the week. Maybe he will bring along that Asian woman!

Mocha Frapp...

My summer officially begins when I have my first Mocha Frappucinno from Starbucks. I am not much of a coffee fan but I LOVE my Mocha Frapps. That frozen goodness is all I need to make me happy. I had my first one of the season this morning and I savored every drop.

In Dreams...

I have never been afraid to fly. Every so often I have a very bad dream involving an airplane. They tend to be fairly intense as they always involve crashing. I always manage to wake myself up beforehitting the ground. Still, I wake up soaked in my own sweat and canusually barely catch my breath. Many people would probably stop flying but not me!! When it is your time, its your time. Anyway, last nights dream was very weird as it invloved a fellow BP (someone in my top 8). She and I have always talked about taking a trip together-now I'm not so sure! Ihave no idea where we were traveling but I know we were the only two in first class(of course) and the plane was huge (think 777 large). The planestarted to decend rapidly and hang to the right. We could see water (maybe we were going overseas somewhere) and it was dark. I remember the plane breaking apart. We grabbed each other and jumped out into the water. That is when I woke up. I felt like I had actually jumped in water when I woke up. I love to fly and do so often. I have had one really scary instance when I thought I was going to die but we didn't. We landed and the rest is history. But my dreams go back further than that episode. Trust me, for those who know me, I am much safer in the air than I am behind the wheel of a car! I mean people have sent me thank you cards for removing myself from the driving pool!! But that is a whole different blog. So far I have had many, many car accidents and many dreams about plane crashes. If I start having bad dreams about public transportation then I guess I will just lock myself in my apt. and rock back and forth. Apparently I haven't cursedDART, yet.