Vogue

"The richness of life lies in the memories we have forgotten."- Cesare Pavese

The election is a day away. I still haven't figured out where my polling place is, but I'm going to vote either before or after work. I'm voting strictly democratic and am hoping that they can take control over Congress. I don't think they fight strong enough or call Republican's on their bullshit, but maybe some control will embolden them. Democrats will raise your taxes they say....I mean I can't believe people really buy these 1980s talking points. Today in class our professor told us that voting is irrational (probably tongue in cheek). Your vote can't change the election, so why vote? I need to read more about that economic argument, but I still buy the voting is important propaganda.

It was great seeing Erika this weekend. It sucks not getting to see your girlfriend daily, but I feel like we talk a lot more than if we did live close. She flew in on Thursday and I picked her up at Reagan airport. We had lunch and then went to my place. I had set up a poker night, and it ended up with a good turnout. We played poker for hours, but I didn't do too well. I am not very patient when it comes to live games. We finally called it quits at 11, but the game went on past midnight without Erika and me. I packed for NYC and then tried to get a few hours of sleep. We never really got a moment where we could relax for a long period of time.

Friday, we woke up at 5am and got ready. We got to the bus station for our 7am bus. My ticket was $35 roundtrip. Such a deal. The taxi cost me more than the bus. We were tired, so we both slept most of the trip, which made it go by faster. I'm still not a big fan of the bus, but you just can't beat it.

We arrived in NYC and met with Erika's sister Lana for lunch. She works at Teen Vogue. In that building, there is GQ, Vogue, and a lot of other magazines I can't remember right now. We had lunch in a cafeteria that Lana said comes out in the devil wears prada. The first thing I noticed there was the fashion. Everyone there was dressed fashionably and though some people looked nice, some people just looked silly. There they just looked unique because everyone was dressed differently, but you put them in the normal world and people would think they were weird. I do admit, some stuff was nice but it was like some sort of fashion contest. After lunch, Lana gave us a quick tour of Teen Vogue and Erika got to see the closet. I don't know much about the fashion magazine business, but it was still interesting. Erika really enjoyed it and it was probably nice to have a visual of where her sister has been working.

After lunch, Erika and I went to see the movie Borat. I enjoyed the movie very much. It is definately worth seeing. Once we were done laughing, we headed down to Chinatown to purchase some purses for Erika's mom's friends. That went well and didn't take too long. We then made our way to the Bronx to meet up with Juan Carlos. I was proud of our ability to get there on our own. He let us stay at his house for the weekend. For dinner Juan took us to a Dominican restaurant which had really good food. At night, I didn't have any plans, and we met up with Lana to go out with and her friends. Well some not very efficient decisions were made, and I didn't get my hands on a beer until 1:20am. It was fustrating, but the night did get better.

Saturday morning, we had plans to go to the Bronx zoo. Erika met up with her sister (the reason she came to NYC) to go shopping and spend some time together. I hung out with Juan, though I probably should of joined them. By the time we all met up again, it was too late for the zoo, so now we have something to do next time. I haven't been to the zoo since I was in elemetary. Juan's brother arrived from out of town and drove us to visit Jorge's new apartment. We hung out and then went to dinner at Dallas BBQ. It was very good food, of course not Texas. We then headed to a house party thrown by one of Jorge's friends. The party had a lot of alcohol, but being NYC, it was just too small to make for a really good party. It had a hallway feeling to it and there was nowhere to sit. There was a funny moment when Jorge mixed up everyone's shoes. We left the party early to meet up with Erika's sister at a bar. The place looked really nice, but just wasn't my type of place. It had a lounge feel to it, but was more of a bar. The music was too loud so you couldn't talk and there was no dance floor, so it wasn't a dance place. All you can do is drink, but I don't know, I did not like the place. My friends didn't seem too excited about it either. After a while, my friends called it a night and we headed home, which was probably good since we had to be awake so early.

Erika had an early flight, so we got up at about 5am, or I at least tried to. All I remember is that she packed, and Juan drove her to the airport and left me at the subway. I found my way from the Bronx to Port Authority and then on to a bus. I was like a zombie, but at some point I ended up in DC, so it all worked out. Once I was home, I just slept and missed the Dallas v. DC game where the Cowboys lost.

There was a funny screen saver I read today. "God is Santa Clause for Adults." I'm not anti-God, which I seem to come off, but I am anti-people that express their belief in stupid ways. God is not an excuse for ignorance, faith not a substitute for thinking and rethoric a substitute for actions.

good friends