I am going here today! I can't wait! I am feeling very deserving, too. Ahhh.

It is now my turn to experience the pleasures of home.

I just made myself a smoothie, in my $3 garage sale find blender. It is delicious, and it is a wonderful thing to enjoy a smoothie made by me in my very own kitchen.

The white plates I got are a fresh start to my new space.

And, I began my investment in textiles through 2 fun cushions.

(Sources: garage sales, Ikea).

xoxoxox
Avi

So now I'm getting headhunted! All I needed was a job.

First, though, I have to show some major results for our client. That is v impt to me! If you know me, just email me since I have no idea who is reading this anymore. Then we'll talk and I'll tell you all about everything.

Hey world,

So in case you don't know, I got a job in advertising! So far I love it.

Today, I saw some amazing creative print work. I will not bore everyone with the details here but the quality of what our teams produce is really incredible and I feel skilled in evaluating it. I work with great, smart and fun people with interesting personalities and great color sense (outfits!) and in some cases, major shoe/bag fetishes, which may not be the best influence on me...

Highlights of the week included a team lunch (we always eat at Kokkari...mmmmm!!), a rooftop party with a diverse ad/media/recruiting crowd (media people are often quite interesting, outgoing, eccentric people), getting my hands into some real projects, finally speaking with the client directly, and a touching gesture from a colleague. I have an amazing boss. I have rarely seen someone so capable up close. I want to be like her and I have a feeling I will be. I go to 3-6 meetings a day. I work with lots of different people in the agency. I work for a very large agency with extensive resources and developed processes. I am still looking for housing and once that is settled I will have everything I need.

I'm so excited to be a part of Liza and Jesse's wedding next weekend! Here are some words from them to their guests regarding the reception:

"Wear absolutely anything. You can wear a humble cotton diaper like Ghandi or a $20,000 kimono that takes three hours to put on. Uncle John Hall may show up dressed as the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland; you can wear jeans, a tuxedo, jazzy-looking party clothes, whatever you want."

(I'll be wearing my "bridesmaid dress", chosen by me, in orange flowing silk to represent the element of fire.)

I'm excited!!

I am no longer grumbling the name of the woman who totaled my 1990 Accord. Because I now have this. It's smaller than it looks in the pictures, great for parking, somewhat inconspicuous yet upon closer inspection, STYLIN'. And now I am in the shiny black car club.









It even smells good. The thing was garaged its whole life, the paint is in great shape, the car was practically rebuilt this afternoon at the mechanic's and overall I'll have put $3K into it. Just a little more than I received for my salvaged Honda, and it has a renewed engine, rear axle, ball joint, transmission lines in n out, locks all fixed up! It's hot to trot!

You can call me a yuppie, but I argue that no yuppie would drive anything made in 1987 with 235K miles on it.

I got wheels!!!!!!

“At that moment a voice came over me and said, ‘Look up, get up, and don’t ever give up. You tell everyone or anyone that has ever doubted, thought they did not measure up or wanted to quit, you tell them to look up, get up and don’t ever give up.’” -- Michael Irvin

World, I'm doing great. I am shopping for a new used car, I'm interviewing, I'm happy. That is how I am.

So, I'm still reflecting on what it all means, I mean, my car was smashed. Why? I swear to the good lord above (who i don't really think is above) that this is totally insane. My life is insane! It's SO ridiculous! Is this normal? What is normal? There is no normal. Yet life has never ever been so interesting and rich and wonderful, having zero routine, having no rut to get into, having to constantly adapt to changing circumstances. It's wonderful and scary and depressing and exhilerating and I laugh all the time. I am so free, and once I do get that job and land in that cubicle and get some new car payments I will truly miss this time of having, holding onto, nothing.

So NOW I understand what it means when your car is "totalled". Why? BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO MY CAR! Last night a crazy lady turned into oncoming traffic that had the right of way, me, and I couldn't avoid hitting her. Everyone, including her, agreed she is at fault. Repairs are more than the value of the car, so I am now carless. Wish me luck finding a new car for $2600. My back and neck are sore but I think it'll subside and be fine. I had just done a killer work out so maybe my muscles were all pumped up and they protected me.

la de da!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had SUCH a fabulous time in L.A. Just what I needed. All I can say now is my legs are cold!

I have things to post, but for now, in brief:

Hot in L.A. by day: Girls wearing giant trucker hats with wife beaters. Why? I don't know.
Hot in L.A. by night: Cleavage and perfect coiffs.

My bed was pitching, back and forth, fast, left and right motions within one second. At least a few inches of displacement of things moving from one place to another, so that everything in the room rattled. For about 2-3 seconds. I enjoy earthquakes when I'm awake. This time I was hoping I wouldn't have to be ready for a major catastrophe. I sat up in bed, and it stopped. I looked at the clock: 4:42. (Or was it 4:14? The news says 4:42.)

When I was a kid, going to elementary school in Berkeley, we had earthquake drills. We'd get under the desks and put our arms over our heads. Later, in Michigan, they were fire drills and we'd go stand outside.

Some earthquakes are slower, slower pitches back and forth. Gentle rocking, like someone you know trying to wake you up. This one was so fast. I wonder if it will happen, The Big One, and bad things will happen. I am not afraid to die, but I am usually so unaware of intense human suffering that I think it would break my heart to see what such a thing would do to people. I think that in catastrophes or accidents the options are rarely death or full intact survival. Little things happen, pets die, infections grow, the poor who have been relying on no failure of major systems suddenly can't function or have to compromise their health and safety. What binds everyone together is caring for one another. Every time you hear about someone dying they always discover that life is really all about love. I do believe that is the most important thing... but there is so much else to worry about - where to work, where to live, what to DO during the productive time when we can contribute to society.

It's time for an update. So, I'm still looking around for a (cheap) place to live. Here is my assessment of Craigslist ads vs. reality, mostly based on personal experience and some guessing.

"Must be animal lover" = smells like cat pee (this is for real)
"chill" = we don't like to do dishes
"420 friendly" = daily drug use
"no haters" = Do not piss me off.
"partially furnished" = There is a big pile of broken, old furniture in the room that I am too lazy to clean out. I hope you will do it.
"carpeted" = nasty, dirty carpet that we all think is normal
"we use a chore wheel" = because 8 people in one household is enough names to fill up a wheel.
"kitchen privileges" = Using the kitchen is a privilege, not a right. We will be happy if you never use our kitchen.
"furnished with hot plate" = I'm comfortable with the concept that one hot plate is adequate for a human being that wants to cook. Also, I just escaped from the insane asylum.

Ok, that's it for now. I'll update this thing when I find another place to live. Don't you envy my lifestyle? I'm definitely not bored!

So, I'm on the apt hunt again. I spent about 30 seconds inside one place today. It was on Oxford st. Rent was cheap, share with one woman. A bit of social awkwardness on the phone, but living with a socially at ease roommate is not at the top of my list of priorities -- I have no idea where I will be living in 3 weeks. Anyhoo, I get there, she asks me to remove my shoes and put my bare feet on her dirty floor! Gross! Then the girl who's there takes off some dingy sandals, puts her own shoes back on and leaves. The woman whose apt it is says, "If you're not comfortable you can wear those." I'm thinking the dirty floor is cleaner than those shoes. First she shows me a closet filled with junk. Then she says "this is the room." There is a divider in the middle of a living room. No walls. If you are familiar with the challenges of the last place I lived, or anything about your average respectable woman (me), you will understand why this is not cool, man. I was like "so this is it?" She says "Yes, I use a divider." Clearly. I was outta there in time to chase down the girl who had just left and collaborate with her on housing. She alerted me to some "nice rooms" nearby; I called, got in there, they were not remotely nice and the place smelled awful. But at least the older Indian woman who lived there was sweet. I'm looking hard.

Later, I might see Transformers. And I'm excited!!!

Now here's a story. Tee hee.

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/07/hackers-descend.html

Why is this a story?
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/06/BAGR1PJ166105.DTL

The Black Widow? I am annoyed someone thought to perpetuate the nightmare/fantasy of the woman who uses men for their power and money. How many men use women? How many people use people? Women do not have an advantage over men in society; it is the other way around, so we don't need to be projecting negative images of women all over the place. There are thousands of people in prison today. I'd do a story on someone who went to jail for trying to hack Citibank and free everyone from consumer debt, like in Fight Club. Now that would be cool.




*Name that movie

Pardon my French, but today F***ING ROCKED. It was a such a good day that by 6pm I could not get a smile off my face. Happiness is MINE! Of course it's my own doing. I won't kill the magic by listing every #1 hit I performed by being a total rock star, but this record is going platinum. I have some follow up to do, some strategy, have a fun weekend developing, with planned down time (I have been SO busy). I had a nice 4th and one more odd day of work then... who knows. I really don't know! But it doesn't matter.

Cool, some free publicity for GOOD Magazine, courtesy of Al Gore III driving at 100 MPH with a bunch of illegal Rxs:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/07/05/state/n060046D24.DTL

I won a free subscription to GOOD at the Net Impact conference a couple years ago. It took them awhile to finally launch, but it's a really pleasant read, and educational too. It's about doing good in the world, and among other things, every month they profile a country and give you the historical background you probably don't have if you are a young person in a "you are smart" way. There, now they have even more free publicity!