paz

Well holy crap

2009-06-26T04:14:45Z

My LJ account is still here, almost four years since my last post.

Catch me more frequently on FB.

xo Paz

badbonjour @ 2005-07-02T10:42:00

2005-07-02T17:42:38Z

Blowing out that inferno.
Posted by: lepaz on Buzznet

I can't believe my girl is four years old. She is totally amazing, even if she is a lot of work and worry. Yay to my baby girl....

the kids...

2005-05-05T03:28:39Z

***diego***

***uma len***

Sigh.

2005-05-01T03:18:11Z

It's been a hard and exhausting week. Monday was Joe's birthday and I attempted to go to the cemetery to bring him flowers, but alas, trying to get out of bed after hourly feedings of Diego the night before -- and then get him dressed while he was crying made me give up in tears. I miss that guy a lot. I realize that without him I only really have one other person to call for pick-me-up conversations, awkward teen year reminiscing, what music I should buy, and my latest crush. I keep thinking and thinking of him -- and wish I knew his friends better to hang out with them so I can keep him in my life, if even just a little bit. Diego is two weeks old today and I feel like I've probably aged at least five years in these past fourteen days.

Anyhow -- on a lighter note -- I'm attempting to switch my LJ to the friendster blog. We'll see if that actually works out.

Oh, I've posted pics of Joe at lepaz.buzznet.com

The new kid...

2005-04-21T02:37:38Z

Diego Federico Navarro
born Sat. April 16, 2005 at 2:05am
6lbs 7oz

Pictures eventually.....

xo paz

It's raining...

2005-02-16T05:55:42Z

but my valentine's day (or shall I say weekend) was lovely. Scott took Uma and I to the zoo on Saturday...then we dropped her off at my brother's house. Uma got to spend the night w/ her cousins -- and I got to spend the night with Scott -- without our kid wedged in between us!!! It was rad. Then we went to the MOMA and had good Thai food. I got flowers and treats too. On Monday, he took me and Uma to Benihana's in the city. That was fun too.

Um, what else. Not a whole lot. Hoping to see Joe again next week. Oh! And I'm quitting my job, eventually...but at least I've committed to a time. That's kinda exciting. Only ten more weeks till baby's here.

hi there...

2005-02-09T05:48:56Z

just got back from my pregnancy massage. i'm getting them every-other-week now, so that's swell. i've just been working, dealing with uma, and being pregnant. i'm finally into my third trimester, so there's an end in sight. albeit a very painful end. i've also started taking an online biochemistry course; which is great, as i was thinking i would have to take it in the fall -- which means now, i can work in the fall. gosh, i really don't have anything else to say. joe's dad called me last night and said his surgery went well (according to the surgeon) -- but at that time, joe still hadn't come out of it. i've been a bit on pins and needles waiting to hear more details. good thoughts to joe...

the most wonderful time of the year...

2004-12-21T03:33:41Z

thank god school is over -- i got As in microbiology and statistics, and a B in physiology. i had a horrible bout with the stomach flu, this coinciding with the baby kicking me. tons of fun. tomorrow i'm back at work at berkeley high, which i'm looking forward to. today, i braved the throngs of target shoppers, to finally find uma's big xmas present -- a pink bicycle. it's the fouth target i've visited in two days, arrrgh.

any who. hope everyone is well.

xo paz

get a FREE photo iPOD. seriously....

2004-11-15T00:13:56Z

Hey all-
Check out this great site that is giving away totally
free photo iPods ($499 value!)! I've joined and I
think you should as well. It's a completely legitimate
offer, and this company has already given away $4 million
in free stuff!

All you have to do is join, complete an online offer
(then you can cancel... so no cost to you--I signed up
for free 2 week trial of Blockbuster rentals), and
refer friends to do the same. That's it!

Here is my referral link. To help me get my photo
iPod, click this exact link to join, or copy and paste it
into a browser:
http://www.freephotoiPods.com/?r=11869150

If you are going to join, please use the link above,
so I get credit for a referral... Thanks.
Paz

In case you're skeptical, here's an article from WIRED
magazine... explaining how this works:
http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,64614,00.html?tw=wn_2culthead

It's not as desperate as you think...

2004-11-07T22:20:35Z

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-oe-wilentz7nov07,1,893828.story?coll=la-sunday-commentary

(LA TIMES) COMMENTARY
Hicks Nixed Slicks' Pick
By Sean Wilentz
Sean Wilentz is a professor of history at Princeton
University.

November 7, 2004

"It's the secular coasts versus the religious
heartland," CNN's Tucker
Carlson says of this year's election results. That
sums up the
conventional wisdom that right-wing Republicans would
prefer that you
believe and that too many of the rest of us do
believe. The effete liberal
coasts against the Real America. Situational morality
against real
morality. Relativism against Standards. Metrosexuals
against the
God-fearing.

Wrong.

The real electoral division isn't between the coasts
and the heartland.
It's between cities all over the United States and the
rest of the
country.

In every state in the Union, red states included, Sen.
John F. Kerry
performed disproportionately well in urban areas.
Kerry actually carried,
sometimes convincingly, cities in some of the
deepest-red red states that
are about as far from coastal secularism as you can
imagine.

Missouri, for example, broke 54% to 46% for Bush —
except the city of St.
Louis, which voted overwhelmingly for Kerry.

Nobody ever really took seriously Kerry's chances of
carrying Texas. But
in El Paso, he won 56% of the vote. What is so
"secular," so bicoastal, so
effete about El Paso?

Alabama is supposed to be the buckle of the pro-GOP
Bible Belt. But don't
say that too loudly in Montgomery County, eponymous
home to the state
capital, which came in with a Kerry majority, as did
Dallas County, home
to the city of Selma, which voted for Kerry by a 60%
to 40% margin.

From Richmond, Va., to Jackson, Miss., from Salt Lake
City, Utah, to
Columbia, S.C., the Democratic ticket either won
outright or ran well
ahead of statewide totals.

Now let us reverse the terms. New York is a huge blue
state. On Tuesday,
though, it was a sea of red, except for some tiny blue
dots around New
York City, Albany, bits of Long Island and a few other
places. California,
the quintessence of Carlson's secular coast, was also
pretty solidly red,
except for L.A., San Francisco and San Diego.

The California pattern may seem, at first glance, to
suit the stereotype.
Everybody knows about "San Francisco Democrats" and
the fleshpots of L.A.
But Memphis, Tenn.? Selma, Ala.?

The reasons for the city-country divide are obvious.
Cities are home,
disproportionately, to wage earners, civil service
employees, racial
minorities and immigrants — and those people are
overwhelmingly Democrats.
The cities are where those who are still hoping to
cash in on the American
dream pray and work — except for those domestic
servants who commute to
the suburbs to clean the houses of those who have
already cashed in on the
American dream.

The cities are also, of course, the homes to all of
those artsy
intellectuals, entertainment industry elitists and
limousine liberals whom
the GOP and its backers like to demonize. But these
liberal elite enclaves
are tiny even within the cities where they are
located. The minority and
immigrant vote in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and
Harlem dwarfs the
numbers on Manhattan's Upper West Side and Greenwich
Village. The same
holds true, to say the least, of the secular liberal
elite's grip on
Montgomery, Ala.

The urban-rural split has been a perennial feature our
political history.
In 1896, the last time the national election map
closely resembled that of
today — with the Northeast and the West Coast seeming
to go one way, and
most of the rest of the country another — the
Democrats were the party of
the countryside and the Republicans the party of the
city. Unlike today,
the clash was explicit, pitting the agrarian values of
populist Democrat
William Jennings Bryan against the pro-business
industrialism of
Republican, William McKinley.

"Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your
cities will spring up
again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the
grass will grow in the
streets of every city in the country," Bryan
proclaimed in the famous
speech that gained him the nomination.

In 2004, there is a harder and even more inflammatory
aspect to the split,
usually mentioned only in code: divisions of race.
Although most black
Americans live in the South, and in non-metropolitan
regions, the fact
remains that our cities, in every area of the country,
are as a rule more
heavily African American than they were in Bryan's and
McKinley's time.
Not surprisingly, because blacks vote overwhelmingly
Democratic, many of
the bluest cities in the red states are those with the
largest black
voting presence. Richmond (58.1%), Memphis (61.4%) and
Jackson (71.1%)
rank among the top 10 cities with large and
concentrated black
populations.

By perpetuating the easy impression of a nation
divided into coastal
liberals and heartland conservatives, reporters and
commentators are
misleading themselves and their audiences about the
actual political state
of the Union. Without realizing it, they are also
advancing the picture of
the nation advanced by the GOP culture warriors,
feeding the despair and
paranoia of coastal liberals and writing off millions
of Americans in
every part of the country.

another gloomy day..

2004-11-03T22:33:50Z

it's overcast and a bit gloomy hear, with chances of showers. i'm a bit disappointed by the election results, but not a bit surprised. at least it was the most exciting election i've participated in in the past ten years. hopefully this enthusiasm will last another four years until the next election. the only thing i really regret is that i'll be having two children born under bush. but then again, scott and i were both born under carter -- and we're both okay -- granted he wasn't so contreversial a president. anyhow, ryan is in town and i no longer want to talk about presidencies!

this is how it always happens...

2004-09-17T23:59:11Z

i get drunk at a party -- and two weeks later i'm knocked up! heh, another little bundle o' joy coming our way -- may 9th!

for those with money to burn, we're registered at potterybarnkids.com -- but you'll seriously need lots of money, that posh furniture is exxxppeeennnsive!

luv paz

hulllo.

2004-08-31T00:25:44Z

another school year has started! i love the very beginning of school, when i get to get school supplies and be excited about class syllabi. summer went by quickly -- and i spent most of it working and sleeping. woooohoo. um, yup, that's it!!!!

just like joe...

2004-07-09T04:50:07Z

create your own personalized map of the USA

i ride the bus...

2004-04-30T04:13:05Z

over the past week, my hair has gone from the middle of my back to chin length. that's probably eight or nine inches chopped off. amazingly, not a single person has noticed -- in class or at the clinic. sarah noticed, but i wonder if it's because i told her i cut it. i'm convinced i'm invisible to many people. for instance, last weekend, sarah and i smoked weed and walked around the telegraph area. we were standing in line for this chinese food place -- and they took the order of the person in front of us -- then skipped us and moved to the person behind us. we didn't know what to do, being stoned and all, so we left. then we went to top dog, where sarah was too freaked out by all the college kids to properly order her veggie dog -- so i did, but it took like ten minutes before the guy asked my order, despite the fact that i was standing directly in front of him. maybe it's because we're short. today i ran into andy on bart. i haven't seen him close enough to talk to him in years. it was a very awkward conversation. i hate those awkward conversations where you desperately try and think of what friends or things you have in common, and when you run out of that -- you start talking about bart. how lame am i? any who. our backyard is looking very pretty. j.w. finally put down mulch for uma's playground and it looks superb. all my plants are doing really well, and i just planted some impatiens and some zinnias. i've been feeling this overwhelming need to have another baby. however, i'm trying to overcome it -- as it's a really crappy time, financially, to have a baby. and plus, the thought of gaining weight (albeit for a good cause) is just plain depressing. i ride the 5 fulton bus five times a week at approximately the same times. isn't it weird how you start to have "bus mates". meaning, people you see everyday, but don't really talk to. there's not really anyone cute or interesting on my bus ride. i am intrigued by these two young girls, maybe 12 and 14 -- who appear to be sisters. the older one has writing all over her backpack and was wearing an ozzy shirt today. there is another pair of girls, probably both 16 who are really into pop punk. i like it because they're filipino and when i was in high school, i didn't know any asian punks -- except for maybe that guy from j.church and the skankin' pickle guy. and i guess skankin' pickle isn't really punk. more ska. joe likes ska. i just wanted to let you all know that this friday is USF's freshman dance. i wasn't invited. like i apparently wasn't invited to my high school reunion. too freakin' bad. a bit of a james joyce-ian entry, i know.

back home...

2004-03-21T20:04:19Z

london was...

cold and rainy
crowded
full of great clothes shopping
beautiful and old
joey!!!
donuts with sprinkles
cheese and onion sandwiches
too noisy for uma
smallest bathroom ever
more joey!!!
coats and more coats
broken umbrellas
cigarette smoke smelling
make-out sessions with scott
tessco
planes, coaches, and trains
minding the gap (i always forgot to)
just lovely.

scott makes me happy

2004-02-17T00:47:22Z

here's to love and long weekends.

It's been a long time..

2004-02-03T21:22:12Z

I've become decidedly worse at writing in this thing, which of course, I attribute to too little time and not enough going on. But, here are my updates...

The Philippines
1. Uma and I had a good time overall, although I never did get used to the heat (low 90's F)
2. 17 hour journeys with a toddler are very challenging to one's rage factor. I like to think of it as road rage in baby form, aka baby rage.
3. If you stay at the Westin in Manila and are so-looking forward to their Heavenly Bed and Shower. Don't. They don't have them. There was nothing Heavenly in the room, except for a stuffed Heavenly bear you could purchase for $9. The hotel did have a fabulous pool and even more fabulous views of Manila Bay.
4. The markets in Quiapo were fabulous and I stocked up on all my "Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Ferragamo, and Burberry" accessories.
5. Uma got attacked by mosquitoes while we were in Pampanga -- I think she was emotionally scarred, as she now looks at any minor bump on her arm and asks for medicine.
6. I vow to never again travel on "vacation" without Scott. It's just not the same.

School
1. I hate it.
2. I am lonely and tired of being the boring old person in all my classes.
3. I hate it and maybe will go to CCSF next semester.

Uma
1. Uma pees in her potty!
2. Uma talks non-stop about everything -- and if can't think of what to talk about, she will sing a number of meshed together songs -- including "Otso otso" and "Chitty chitty bang bang".

Miscellaneous
1. Only 40 days till I get to see Joey!
2. I actually miss working.
3. I am sick of the rain, already.

Copy and Paste

2004-01-02T08:22:25Z

1. What did you do in 2003 that you'd never done before?
work, school, volunteer, mom, talk therapy -- all at the same time

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
my new year's resolutions have been approximately the same for the past five years. and i guess i technically failed again, but i don't mind so much. i made pretty much the same new year's resolutions again. yup, this is the year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
no, apparently no one around me dares to breed

4. Did anyone close to you die?
myles died. he wasn't the close but it made me immensely sad.

5. What countries did you visit?
um, does the rainforest cafe count?

6. What would you like to have in 2004 that you lacked in 2003?
a clear mind and foresight

7. What date from 2003 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
july 5th -- i always remember uma's birthday parties well

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
finishing a semester of school, despite the fact i just wanted to give up and get a mindless job.

9. What was your biggest failure?
not taking in-law antics too personally

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
i have not been this sick for a really long time -- since september, my life has been flu, cold, cold, flu again!, viral bronchitis, bacterial sinusitis. ugh.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
dolce jacket and scott's purchase of my pink flats

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
i really like scott a lot.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
bush? that's too easy an answer...

14. Where did most of your money go?
credit card bills, rent, and daycare

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
we're going on vacation in 2004 -- that's pretty freakin' exciting.

16. What song will always remind you of 2003?
probably the faint -- a band i overkilled on and now cringe when i hear

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? happier -- i think life just gets happier the older i get
ii. thinner or fatter? slightly thinner
iii. richer or poorer? about the same, if we're talking "our" money

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
gone out more, traveled more...

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
procrastinate, worry, cry

20. How will you be spending New Years?
i spent it watching the iron chef battle of 1999

22. Did you fall in love in 2003?
always in love

23. How many one-night stands?
zero, although at a party a very cute boy called me hot.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
um, i think it was america's next top model

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
i try hard not to hate -- but i do get annoyed with many coworkers.

26. What was the best book you read?
i dunno -- i really just read magazines...

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
jo jo gunne

28. What did you want and get?
clothes

29. What did you want and not get?
i wanted this faux fur coat -- really badly -- and then it went on sale and i tried it on and it made me look like a marshmallow

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
thirteen

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
i forget, 27

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
more money

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2003?
eclectic vintage meets vogue. seriously.

34. What kept you sane?
scott always keeps me sane

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
i dunno

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
recall, sf mayorial race

37. Who did you miss?
joey (which may be all in my head) and my brother john (we don't see each other enough nor in any quality capacity)

38. Who was the best new person you met?
geo and abbey

happy freaking new year.

2004-01-01T01:22:21Z

my new years resolutions are typed and in an email to joey. i feel safe knowing that someone knows i promised to work on something -- but they are so boring, i won't write them here.

i flipped out because i couldn't find my passport. i couldn't sleep an entire night - just had anxiety dreams about uma getting on the plane and me waving bye and crying. but it is now found and living in the very unsafe region of my purse.

holidays were fine. scott got me a bunch of clothes. and i got uma a bunch of clothes. it was clothes giving time. however, scott did splurge several days after christmas to surprise me with some spring 04 mj pink flats. sigh. i am in heaven.

i can't freaking wait to stop working. it is such a freaking blessing. i like to say freaking. only two more weeks -- then no more freaking health clinic and off to the freaking philippines. i'm going with my parents and that's starting to make me nervous. the last time i traveled with just my parents was on a mexican cruise when i was 14 and they vowed to never travel with me again because i got drunk everynight. not that they could tell, i blamed my red eyes on my contacts. of course they did roll their eyes an awful lot.

oh, speaking of contacts. soon, very soon, my eyes will turn from just brown to *PURE HAZEL*. the wonders of science. i am sure you are all enraptured.

luv paz

i hate moving.

2003-11-22T07:47:57Z

i've decided that moving is far worse and uncomfortable than child birth. i know this for a fact.

but we have moved and the house is nice and cozy with its little black wood burning oven.

i am excited for the holidays and seeing people i've missed -- greg and amy, ryan and heather! yay!

uma is cute. i am crocheting another afghan i will not finish. school is hard. i am taking a leave of absence from working beginning in january -- hopefully right before uma and i head off to the philippines. and then soon after we get to see joey! finally!

we're moving we're moving.

2003-11-10T07:47:06Z

slowly, we are migrating the twelve blocks west. i am soooo excited. uma will have her own room (finally!) and we'll have a washer and dryer!

yesterday, sara and i walked across the newly built albert zampa memorial bridge. that's "bridging the strait" between crockett and vallejo. it was fun. we got up early and bought mesh caps that say "i walked the albert zamBa memorial bridge". yup, they misspelled the damn hats. fab collectors items. then we met up with scott at hilltop and watched the matrix movie. fun fun.

this week is moving and studying week. i can not wait to move!

Good band, good songs, good times.

2003-10-19T02:48:13Z

I keep making these weird reference to Led Zeppelin in my life. Not getting into that, but rather, today I saw Michael Moore. Fucking great and inspiring and fabulous. Again, I am not great at articulating important things -- like political viewpoints and "where do you work?" questions -- so I'll just leave it at -- It was super and a very nice experience. We had Bongo Burger afterwards. That was good too...mmmm, falafel.

Tomorrow is our garage sale (come buy our stuff!) and Scott's birthday party. We are sort of bummed to be moving, because we love our neighborhood and love even more our new neighbors who moved in a mere six weeks ago. They are so rad and they just moved here from Cambridge England and they're married!!!!! But, our new place rocks. We're moving thirteen blocks away, but still in the same block (Between Cedar and Virginia). Our new place has two bedrooms and a washer and dryer and a big ol' yard. I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!

OOoh! And I started going to therapy. Which is very exciting...time to get all the demons out of me.

LOVE LOVE LOVE SUPER PAZ!

suddenly, i miss grey davis.

2003-10-08T06:33:46Z

egads. not that i loved grey, but ugh for arnold. only 9 states in this nation are rated "the best in a woman's right to choose". and california being one of them. and i just don't trust arnold's groping republican non-political background to support that.

alright i give up. i'm not the best at articulating myself in states of annoyance. it's just where i work and where i volunteer are both reliant on government money. and well, maybe i won't be working or volunteering there much longer.

abundance as a fraction.

2003-09-24T04:01:31Z

i love scott. and i love my new tattoo. it's been too long since i've gotten one. and so exciting to have it all out in the open, naked and awaiting comment. it's weird. anyhow. everything is okay. the heat was killer at the browns vs 49ers game -- but joe and i sweated it through, despite super hot seats, no breeze, and the beating sun (yay, browns won!). sarah's bday weekend was fucking awesome. it went like this: breakfast with sarah, party for sam/elly/karen, tattoo for me, dinner at ambrosia, happy bday to corrie at radio, party w/ bands (including some hott boy calling me sexy, or so i'm letting myself believe), very drunk sarah and nic, no party at cloyne, weird ultimate fighter friend of nic, very drunk sarah and nic, peeing at my house, dropping off very drunk sarah and nic with cake, snuggling with my scottie, foooootball! looking forward to the next time i can do all that again.

*paz*