January 2002 Archives

Did you know that you can call escort services here in Las Vegas and have a tantalizing honey delivered to your room twenty-four hours a day? Did you know that even though prostitution is illegal in Clark County (which includes Las Vegas) you can drive to Pahrump and pay for all the ass you want without having to worry about police?

I just like to bring you the parts of Las Vegas the travel brochures don't show. The only strip club in Las Vegas with full nudity is the Palomino which is located in North Las Vegas on Las Vegas Blvd across the street from Jerry's Nugget. Tell them Sunsh-- I mean Monique sent you.

I’ve felt my inner conspiracy theorist yelling at me ever since this events of September 11th transpired. Things just don’t add up. Too many picture perfect hero stories coming to light. While listening to the State of the Union address the other evening I heard President Bush say that we have a new motto now, “let’s roll.” These, of course, being the last words of Todd Beamer before the passengers overtook the terrorists on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. I’m sorry. I know it made people feel good to hear these stories but we still haven’t heard any voice recorders from any of the planes and some things told in certain stories still don’t add up, even to this day. So finally someone puts into words what I have been thinking all along. Even if you believe everything that government has told you up to this point, this article is still worth a read.

Before I start with the list of questions regarding Tuesday, September 11, 2001, let me begin by going over a few of the most obvious points. First, the top 2 cities where terrorists would most likely strike in the United States were and still are New York City and Washington D.C. The top terrorist targets in New York City were the World Trade Center, and still are the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and the United Nations. In Washington D.C. the top targets are the Capital building, the White House, the Pentagon and the Supreme Court. One thing is for certain, by going after the capitalistic, political and military centers you can surely and quickly evoke a very strong sense of patriotism.

my mother is a travel agent specializing in guilt trips.

my young friend arthur che turned 18 years old on saturday and although i wished him happy birthday personally, i neglected to post it on my site for all the world to see. So, all you people out there please wish arthur a happy birthday with me. Albeit belated.

The International Bible Society said Monday that America's best-selling modern Bible is about to get an update using gender-neutral wording, despite past criticism of that idea from conservative Christians.

The revision will be called "Today's New International Version," or TNIV. The original "New International Version," which has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide since 1978, will remain on the market.

The New Testament of the latest version goes on sale in April with the full Bible including Old Testament books expected by 2005.

The bible is supposed to be the word of God right? Do you think God needs copy editors? Do you think God cares about being politically correct? Only we humans have a need for such things and this goes to show that in an effort to customize religion to fit whatever point we are trying to prove we are willing to do anything.

When the 2002 Olympic Winter Games open in Utah next month, the world will be greeted by a young, well-scrubbed, and ingratiating religion. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has its headquarters in Salt Lake City, and although its leaders have taken pains to keep the event from being called the Mormon Olympics, they view this as an unprecedented opportunity to make the acquaintance of billions of prospective converts.

This New Yorker article takes an in depth look at the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints or Mormons as they are commonly called. I found it to be very interesting and learned quite a few things that I was not told when the Missionaries made their visit to my home trying to convert me. Very worth the read.

[link via a conversation with adam]

i just watched it for the first time ever. what an awesome movie.

I don't have a link for this but I was just watching HBO and they showed an advertisement saying that they were going to start having The Vagina Monologues on there beginning February 14. It was in a big heart. How cute.

The carpets get cleaned today. Now I have an excuse to spend 3 hours in Barnes and Noble.

If you were coming to Las Vegas in 1977 you would definitely be heading to casinos in the downtown area to play. There wasn’t much on the strip for the working man who was coming to Vegas to play. If you were the superstitious type, you might insist on trying your hand in the casino called 4 Queens. That would be a winning hand in poker wouldn’t it?

The 4 Queens is representative of old Las Vegas. The Las Vegas before big corporate conglomerates took over and started building overpriced rooms in glitzy casinos with fancy sounding Italian names and buildings shaped like pyramids. In the heyday of the 4 Queens if you cheated at the tables they didn’t call the cops on you. This was old Vegas baby. They took you out back and beat the crap out of you and let you know that if they ever saw you again it was going to be worse.

These days the 4 Queens is forever enshrined in the part of downtown Las Vegas that has become known as the Fremont Street Experience. The streets have been closed in under a dome and casinos like 4 Queens, Binion’s Horseshoe, Fitzgerald’s and others are forever locked in time underneath a laser light show that reminds you of all the reasons you came to Vegas in the first place. When you walk through the Fremont Street experience it’s like a combination of New Orleans Mardi Gras and the Museum of Casino and Las Vegas history. There are so many things to see and do. I highly recommend it to anyone coming here for the first time or the hundredth time.

I took this picture in August of 2001 when my mother and I decided to go down and experience Fremont street for ourselves. We didn’t see any whores (which Fremont street is also famous for) but we saw a lot of old Las Vegas casinos and stores that have been there for a long time. I enjoyed it and I think you will to.

I took this picture at the intersection of Normandie Avenue and the 10 Freeway. It reminds me of being at home in L.A. every single time I look at it. I can almost feel the warmth from the sun on my skin and I want to squint from the brightness of it in my eye.

There is nothing like growing up in Southern California. All sunshine all the time and 85 degrees on Christmas are the things that sun-filled dreams are made of. I am truly a California native.

I used to hear people make disparaging remarks about Californians and Los Angelenos in particular and it would bother me. I’m very defensive of my hometown and my home state. California is in my blood.

There is such a diverse mix of culture and it’s waiting for you around every single corner.

When I think of growing up in Southern California I think of:

The ice cream man never coming down our street and me thinking it was because we didn’t live in a “black” neighborhood.

Drop drills in school in preparation for the “big one”. When the “big one” finally hit, it was at 4am in the morning, everyone was in bed and nothing could have prepared our city for the devastation that followed.

LA County school teachers went on strike at least three times when I was in high school. We would go periods of three weeks with substitute teachers and no one learning anything.

My dad taking us for rides up PCH.

Playing in the waves at Santa Monica beach, Lifeguard Station 25.

Sundays spent walking around Venice Beach during the day and traveling down Crenshaw at night.

Getting chili fries from The Brolly Hut or Fabulous.

When Friday’s in the Marina used to be the spot.

When Westwood used to be the hang out spot of all hang out spots.

The dollar movie at the Hawthorne Mall with my cousins and sister.

Riding the Santa Monica Bus Lines to school.

When MTA was called RTD and we said it stood for the “rough, tough and dirty” - an homage to the conditions on the buses.

Sometimes I’m really homesick for Los Angeles. Then I will go and spend just one day in that traffic and become suddenly grateful that I don’t live there anymore. Still, I love L.A.

i'm self diagnosed
attention deficit dis-
hey, what's that right there?

For all the ranting and raving I have done about “The Cookie Man” and “Leroy Brown” and “Boy Toy” I’ve never written a post dedicated to the one man that has been a constant in my life since we met. He’s the only man that has never let me down. “Bob“.

Bob has been there for me through thick and thin. Bob doesn’t complain. He doesn’t expect me to cook him breakfast in the morning. He likes me just as I am. He always makes sure I have an orgasm and is especially thrilled when he gives me multiple ones. Bob is what you want.

Bob won’t try to f--k my homegirls. He won’t come over drunk in the middle of the night and expect me to not only wake up and let his drunk, stankin’ (yeah stankin’) ass in but give up the ass too. Bob doesn’t put up a front. He knows I only use him for sex and he respects that. Bob doesn’t mind that I smoke weed. In fact, he has more fun (and so do i!) when I do.

Bob knows what I like. He hits me in the right places and makes sure I’m quivering and shaking when he is done with me. Bob is a pro.

I think I will stick with Bob. We will probably continue to fool around even if I get married. We’re close like that. I think he would understand being the side dish. I don’t think it would bother him.

I know I don’t express it enough for him to know that I really appreciate everything he does for me so I am going to do it right here and right now.

To my Battery Operated Boyfriend (Bob), I love you.

Now that Surgeon General David Satcher has declared obesity America's soon-to-be-number one killer, class-action lawyers and others may be eyeing legal action against everyone from fast-food chains to the nation's leading snack food companies.

Some see precedent for such action in the slew of lawsuits that have been successfully brought against the nation's cigarette makers.

This is probably the most ridiculous thing I have read today. Now we are going to sue fast food and snack companies because we eat too much?

"Your honor, I feel that the Hostess Cupcake company is responsible for my obesity even though no one told me to eat three packs of those scrumptious powdered donette gems a day. I couldn't resist their sugary sweetness and it's all the Hostess Company's fault for making them taste so good."

"In summation, we feel that if McDonald's hadn't made their fries so good, my client wouldn't be the overweight man that he is today. Nevermind that he ate at McDonalds every single day when he could have made healthier food choices. The fact of the matter is, if he hadn't passed a McDonald's on his way to work every single day he never would have eaten there."

I could go on forever but you get the point. At which point does personal responsibility come into play? Unless some "Insider" is going to come forth and say that McDonald's puts harmful chemicals in the fries to get you hooked on them this is not the same thing as what happened to Big Tobacco and it's only going to open the door for abuse.

I'm a big girl. I'm big because, among other reasons, I like to eat. I acknowledge it and accept it. I will lose weight when I put the Ding Dongs down. Until then I have no one to blame but myself. Am I alone in this way of thinking?

I just don't think suing Hostess cause your ass is too fat is going to prove anything. Just my opinion.

Through the cloud in my sick head I heard someone first ring my doorbell and then bang on the door like the damn police. Annoyed and clad in only a tee shirt and a pair of boxer shorts I went to the door and snatched it open, ready to give the person on the other side of it a piece of my mind. There stood the UPS man with a box in his hand and that little mechanical deal they have you sign your name on now.

“I have a package for McQeen?” He said it like it was a question. He obviously knew he wasn’t saying my name right.

“Who?”

Instead of trying to pronounce it again, he thrust the package at me so I could read the name myself. It was addressed to me and it was from Amazon.com. Funny, I didn’t remember ordering anything.

I tore open the box and inside was “The Portable Beat Reader” edited by Ann Charters. A good friend hooked me up.

This made my day. I was sad and feeling sorry for myself earlier. Now I have a book to curl up with. Makes it much better.

Thanks friend. Not just for the book, but for being a friend.

Whenever I go home for a visit, I always drive down Crenshaw Boulevard. It brings back many memories of being young and cruising “the Shaw” with my friends. The Crenshaw Hand Car Wash and the Jack N the Box have been there since I was a young girl. They will probably never go away. At this point they are icons on the Crenshaw Landscape.

Crenshaw Boulevard stretches far south into Gardena which is in the South Bay area of Los Angeles. Traveling north it cuts off on Wilshire Boulevard leading into the Miracle Mile district. No matter what neighborhood you pick it up in, there are plenty of historic things to see on Crenshaw. The Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza has been around for years and has transformed from a strip of trendy shops to an entire mall complete with Magic Johnson’s Magic Theaters cineplex. The strip itself is filled with black owned businesses and wig shops. Of course there is the famous Crenshaw Wall which has been around since my mother was a young girl. That wall has been painted and repainted by black artists depicting different black heroes and figures from history. Presently there is a picture of Mumia on it. I’ll have to snap a photo of it when I go back to L.A.

When I think of Crenshaw I think of being in my late teens and early twenties, hanging with my friends, driving up and down the strip checking out guys and seeing people we know. I remember gathering spots where people would stop and pull over to talk, flex their new outfits or even fight with someone they had been itching to rumble with for a long time. Things never really got out of hand because the police presence is always so thick it’s hard for anything to get out of control. Don’t let that scene in Boys In The Hood fool you.

If you are ever in L.A., drive down Crenshaw and see what’s up. Stop at the Jamaican store and get some meat patties. Stop in Leimert Park and visit one of the many black owned art galleries or bookstores. Go to EPS one hour photo and have your picture taken. Go to the Liquor Bank and buy a forty. Go to Annette’s and get your hair braided. Drive past Crenshaw Ford Motors and take pictures. Visit the wall.

So, according to Fox News, Harrison Ford is making a new Indiana Jones movie with Steven Spielberg.

At the end of a wild night of partying and celebrating for the 2002 Golden Globes, I had the rare opportunity of talking with Steven Spielberg, Kate Capshaw and Harrison Ford. They were sitting together in a small booth in the basement of Trader Vic's at the Beverly Hilton Hotel at the combined party thrown by DreamWorks, USA Films and Universal Pictures.

This threesome is pretty much it in Hollywood. After all, between Spielberg and Ford they've made some of the highest grossing and best loved films of all time. Capshaw, who's Mrs. Spielberg, co-starred with Ford in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

So what's the story, I wanted to know — with this trio finally in one place, and relaxed enough to talk, will we ever see Indiana Jones 4?

"Yes," they all said, and confirmed that once Spielberg films Catch Me If You Can with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, IJ4 will be his priority.

"We have a title, but we're not ready to announce it," Spielberg said. "I will give you one clue, though. Kate is in it." I asked if he meant that Capshaw's character would appear via flashbacks, and he replied: "No. She'll be in the present."

When I started blogging again last week, the theme behind me reopening my blog was soul food because to me writing is food for my soul. I used this picture and everyone talked about how it made them hungry.

This picture was taken in a restaurant here in town called Simply Southern. The focus of Simply Southern is down home southern cooking. Everything on the menu is a feast for the eyes and the stomach. The presentation is great; they serve your drinks in a jar which is reminiscent of southern living way back when (although some people still drink out of jars).

When you walk into Simply Southern a giant display on one wall shows you that this restaurant is a Rock Newman venture and there are lots of pictures of him on the walls. I became aware of it being his venture the first time I dined there. On Saturday afternoon, when I went in to get some carryout for dinner, I saw him sitting in the restaurant enjoying a meal.

That blew my mind. Sure, lots of famous people open up or invest in restaurants, but how many of them do you actually see chowing down enjoying the food?

So I had to bring the picture back for a new reason. Seeing him in his own business eating was food for my soul.

BUSH USED HIS weekly radio address to link the federal King holiday to his efforts to improve education, saying the “institutionalized bigotry” that King fought has been vanquished, and it is now time to take on less tangible struggles, such as ensuring equal education. “Our challenge is to make sure that every child has a fair chance to succeed in life,” Bush said. “That is why education is the great civil rights issue of our time. “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would accept no less than an equal concern for every child in America, and neither will my administration,” Bush said.

Much like a preacher in church, Bush takes the words of a great leader and twists them to work towards his own advantage. I suppose if we are going to make sure our children get a proper education (it's really an edited dictation like huny says) we could start with making sure they are taught all of history and not just the parts that make this country look good hm? Maybe we could go into more detail explaining why a person like Dr. King was needed in order to make sure that blacks had basic civil rights and liberties?

As long as they continue to tell only half the story, there still is institutionalized bigotry as far as I am concerned.

Today is the observance of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. His birthday was actually last week on the 15th, but in order to fit in with being a national holiday, they had to designate a day to celebrate his coming into this world so here we are on January 21, 2002.

Hope it means more to some people than just a day off from work or school.

I was disgusted to find out that there was a “Unity Celebration” at the House of Blues in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King on Saturday. It was being thrown by some guy who was also celebrating his 40th birthday. It was going to be handled by the best deejays you can get on the ones and twos. Ladies in free before 11pm with Nevada ID.

Yeah. We really went rushing off to that. It’s funny how he could consider throwing that dance in Dr. King’s name and it was nothing more than a rump shaking fest and an excuse for girls to put on skimpy clothes and walk around Mandalay Bay looking for some guy to buy them drinks.

Brothers and Sisters, I don’t know what this world is coming to.

Ever since I discovered Heather’s Mirror Project earlier last summer I have been fascinated with snapping photos of myself in reflective surfaces. Mind you I haven’t submitted one single photo to the mirror project yet, but that has not stopped me from snapping a picture when I catch my reflection in the rear view mirror, the side of the car or the reflective glass of an office building.

I snapped this picture on Saturday, January 19, 2002. I was riding down Decatur Boulevard in Las Vegas on my way home from the barbershop. Aside from the Las Vegas strip, Decatur is probably one of the busiest streets in Vegas. No matter what time of day you drive down Decatur, the traffic is always bumper to bumper. I like this picture because not only can you see me in the mirror, but you can see all the traffic in front of me and behind me. There are always people in the streets in Vegas.

As you can see, Saturday was no exception. On a bright, sunny day with the temperature at a cool 51 degrees (which is semi-cold to us desert dwellers) everyone had somewhere to go. Before you all panic, by the brake lights you are able to tell that I snapped this picture at a red light. The looks I was getting from people in cars around me were priceless. They probably wondered why I was taking pictures of myself in the rearview mirror.

This weekend flew by. it’s probably because I had to work yesterday. I can’t believe I have to get up and go to work tomorrow. The coffee machine is already loaded with beans and water and waiting to begin brewing at the designated time so that I can receive my daily caffeine boost. For my part I am going to go to bed somewhat early tonight.

We went to Cosmic bowling today. I had a good time. The new bowling center at Texas Station (a “locals” casino not located on the strip) is really nice. It’s set up a lot differently than any other bowling alley I’ve been to. I think I’m hooked. I bowled a 99 today. That’s my all time high score. I’m looking to improve each time I bowl and so far it seems to be working. A twelve pound ball works better for me than an eleven pound ball. The fourteen pound ball was hard for me to control.

I’m sleepy.

Goodnight

I don't even think I have words for this link. Blame Anil for showing it to me. Well ladies, here is what 4 years of corset training can get you.

It says she has a 15 inch waist. What the hell is that about?

i love how people call your house and go, "You know how slow you are monique. you better be ready when I call. I'm leaving in 20 minutes. You know it won't take me long to get ready. I'm going to call when i get by your house."

Then you rush, get ready and sit around your house for an hour waiting on THEM.

Sanchez Brown was leaning forward on his desk, the telephone receiver cradled to his ear. A smile full of love played across his face and he occasionally doodled something on a sheet of paper that in front of him. His voice when speaking to his caller was soft; his words sweet and melodic. They tumbled out of his mouth one after another as if he had a never ending supply of beautiful and endearing things to say. Occasionally he chuckled, and then sat quietly and listened with that same sweet smile on his face and his eyes half closed as if he were a million miles away.

Typically a conversation like this could go on for thirty minutes or more. He would alternate between delivering syrupy sweet words and listening. Eventually he would look at his watch, look at the pile of work on his desk, and decide that it was time to cut it short. This would be followed by fifteen more minutes of saying goodbye. When it was finally over, he would spend an additional two to three minutes quietly reflecting on what had been said and writing in a small leather bound journal that he kept in his desk.

This morning’s conversation had started somewhere around 8:15 am, shortly after he had arrived for work. He’d just sat down with a breakfast sandwich from the deli on the corner and was about to lose himself into egg and pork oblivion when the phone rang. His company’s overpriced phone system came complete with a caller ID system that allowed him to see the phone numbers of his callers. He recognized the ten digits immediately and snatched the phone up after the first ring.

“Hello?”

Even though he knew it would be her voice that responded to his, he still held his breath after he answered. He held his breath and he could hear hers on the other end of the phone. She took a slow one before she answered.

“I wanted to hear your voice.”

She didn’t exactly say it. It came out sounding more like a contented sigh. Then she chuckled. He grinned in silence. He felt his heart begin to beat faster. How can her voice make me react like this? He felt the urge to be near her so he could hug her. Leaning forward and placing his elbows onto the surface of the desk he felt a slow warmth start to spread over his body. It was comforting. It was pleasurable.

“It‘s good to hear your voice. How‘s work so far?”

“I have a meeting at nine. I discovered a run in my stocking shortly after getting here so I have to run out and get a new pair. But I wanted to hear your voice. Thinking about you will get me through the day today. You were really sweet last night.”

He felt as if the grin was plastered on his face like Joker in Batman and he’d never be able to remove it. Still, he could live off the dalliance of her words for a lifetime and never grow tired of hearing them.

“Will you be around tonight?”

“I don’t know,” she began. “There’s this thing over my mother’s house ...”
“You can call my cell if you get bored.”
“I will probably do that,” she said and he could hear the smile in her voice. “I better get going so I can come back in time for the meeting.”
“Well, I’m glad you called me.”
“I’m glad I called too.”

They sat in silence for a moment, both of them unsure of what to say next. He could hear her breathing again. It felt like hours when it was only seconds and then she spoke.

“I will probably call you before the day is up to let you know what’s going on for sure.”
“Okay.”
“Bye Sanchez.”
“Goodbye sweetheart.”

He hung the phone up and sat there for a moment, the grin still on his lips. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper that had been folded so many times it threatened to rip where the creases were. He unfolded it carefully and looked at it, studying the contents. After several minutes, he pulled the paper close to his lips and kissed it. He folded it and put it back in his pocket and leaned forward to do some work. His email client notified him that there was new mail in his box. Clicking on it, he saw a piece from her and immediately clicked to open it.

Sanchez,

I don’t think words would do justice to the things that I am feeling right now. Sometimes I am afraid that what I’m feeling is not real or cannot exist. And you say something to make me know that not only are the feelings very real, but I am not the only one feeling them. I hope this feeling never goes away.

Closing his email client, he tried hard to push thoughts of her out of his head for at least an hour so that he could get some work done. That is what they were paying him to do.

I have decided to start my own novel writing project since a new idea popped into my head. I’ve written a teaser for the story already which I am going to share with the audience shortly. My goal is to write at least 2.000 words a day for the novel each day this month. I will share bits and pieces of it as it goes along but the real goal is for me to be able to get the entire story out within the next 30 days. We’ll see how this goes. I’ve called this project Monowrimo (Monique’s Novel Writing Month).

Is there a such thing as sleeping too much? I took the world’s longest nap yesterday. I came home at five in the afternoon after running many errands that included getting my hair cut and my eyebrows arched. I ate dinner (carry out from Simply Southern) and watched a little television. Nothing was on and my eyes were heavy so I went in my room to lie down thinking I’d get up in two hours or so. The first time I woke up it was ten and I couldn’t make myself get up. The next time I woke up was two in the morning. I did get up then and played around on the computer a little bit before finding my way back into bed at four for another quick nap from which I just awoke.

Now I am standing around waiting for the coffee maker to brew the coffee so I can clean the cobwebs out of my head.

a full-time job is just like a long-term relationship, and i don't know if i'm ready for that level of commitment. you have be there for them consistently, and when you're not, you need good excuses, and when you want to avoid the confrontation of a break-up, you can just become cold and distant until you get fired.

because sometimes he says the funniest things.

Why do people come to the personal journals and weblogs of others and read the thoughts that the writer is kind enough to share with us and then feel that they are qualified to pass judgment? I am not referring to the type of political thoughts that Oliver shares with us; those are opinions and he is placing them there and encouraging others to challenge his views. I’m not referring to the media links and snippets that George posts for us; these are meant to make us think and share our thoughts and opinions. What I am talking about are the experiences and stories that people share from their personal lives.

If someone were to write on their site that they were planning a murder I would understand the desire to tell that person off or give them a piece of your mind. But if someone is sharing with you a decision that they have made which affects their life and their life only, who the hell are you to tell them that decision is stupid? It’s their life!

I was reading another site today, and the author mentioned that he had made a decision to do something that will most likely get him an education and change the course of his life forever. He gave his reasoning behind the idea and someone commented that his reason for making the decision was “sad”.

I think that the comment was rude. No matter what drove him to make his decision, the end result is he’s going to get an education one way or another. It may not be the education he thinks it will be, but it will be an education nonetheless. Whether he succeeds or fails in his mission is not for us to worry about. Again, it is his life. Let him live it. Life is about experiences and learning. We learn every single day that we are alive, and not just what is taught to us from a book. We all get our signs and messages from somewhere in the universe. They don’t occur for every single person in the same place. As individuals we make our own decisions to direct our lives in the way that we see fit. Although the next person may choose a path that is different from our own, it is not for us to question why. We need to question our own lives, build our own paths, and stop working so hard to make everyone else conform to what has been rammed down our throats as “the norm”. Don’t be afraid to color outside of the lines. Think out of the box.

I am happy that he made the decision he made because it shows personal growth. He’s looking to move forward in another direction. And the reason behind it is beautiful all by itself. Love is a beautiful inspiration.

If you ever have the time during your next vacation to Las Vegas, you have to go and check out the Venetian even if you don’t stay there. They have taken the city of Venice, Italy and put it right in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip. There are canals with real gondola rides, cobblestone streets and plenty of shops to keep you occupied. There is so much to see. Just looking at it from the street makes you want to take a trip there.

I’ve lived here in Vegas for almost three years now and I still haven’t been through all the casinos and hotels on the strip. Most Las Vegas residents avoid the strip like the plague unless they live there, myself included. After snapping the pictures that I did, I have vowed to visit each one of them at least once.

everyone go now and look at my poochacha's page. she has the cutest picture of herself when she was a little girl on there.

and i have to go to work for four hours. you know i'm stopping at starbucks.

she wants to know who.
i am not telling a thing.
i have my secrets.

she knows who she is.

So I found the happy medium between words and pictures and blogging. :o)

Can you tell I am thoroughly enjoying Greymatter?

can you tell i'm in love with that font called "thug"? i found it on fontalicious.

I need a replacement word for mother f----r. I know I say that word entirely too much. I refer to everyone and everything as mother f----r. I don’t pronounce it like that though. When I say it, it rolls off my tongue sounding like “mufugga”.

Before I discovered comfortable shoes, my idea of casual was skin-tight jeans with needle-nosed stilettos. I just assumed every girl needed Demerol to walk across a parking lot.

Blu touches on a subject I found myself thinking about this very morning. I will be 31 this year. The way time has been flying, I guess it won't be long before I'm forty. Where has my youth gone?

I get tired so easily now. I used to be able to stay out until three in the morning and still get up to go to work the next day. Where I was once firm and tight, I am now soft and mushy.

Where did it go?

i'm sitting here, at 10:00 at night, contemplating making a pot of coffee. I have a serious problem. Maybe I'll go make some chai instead.

I like Greymatter so far. I like the way it allows me to have extended entries in case I have more to say than I want to appear on the front page. I like the individual pages for each entry. I like the commenting function. I like that it is on my own server because if I can’t post I can just get mad at Dreamhost and not someone else like say ... blogger. It feels good to be on top and in control.

I think I’m bad because I installed Greymatter all by myself with no help. A lot of people suggested Movable Type, but since I had already started working with Greymatter, I figured I’d stick with it for the time being. I may change eventually.

Kevin has a post up discussing links on his site. Specifically he asks the question, what happens when you don’t want to link someone anymore? My answer? Remove the damn link.

I’ll say this here and now. My links are not a popularity contest. They are not a list of friends although I am friends with some of the people I link. I don’t link people just so they can link me back. I don’t believe in that. If I don’t read your site I’m not going to link you, period. It’s nothing personal and it has nothing to do with the way I feel about you as a person. My links are my starting point for my travels around the world on a daily basis and I’m not going to link sites that I really don’t want to or don’t like to visit. I have links to people that I know don’t link to me. It doesn’t bother me in the least. I like to read their pages. I think begging for links on someone’s page is beyond pathetic. We should each be free to choose who we do and don’t want to link.

That being said, I forgot some of my favorite links because I didn’t save any of my old pages before I redesigned the site. I am continuing to add them as I think of them.

You had to know I wasn’t going to be able to stay away from constantly running my mouth for long. So here I am, back in effect with Greymatter running my entries for me. I have to be honest and say that updating my site the other way was time consuming and I’m lazy. I prefer ease of use.

So yeah, I know I said I was tired of blogging but guess what? I missed it. Maybe I was tired of the formula. Or maybe I was just tired of saying the same old thing all the time. I made a vow to myself that when I set this up again it was going to be about me, me, me. So here we go.

for twenty dollars
you can get a gram which is
two blunts rolled nicely

Going blonde is something I have wanted to do since high school. When I was in 10th grade I used 2 boxes of Dark ‘N Lovely Honey blonde to try and lighten my hair. The end result was a very vibrant red that I got a lot of compliments on. It wasn’t the blonde that I was looking for but it was a nice substitute. It was a lighter shade than just plain ordinary dark brown and that’s all I cared about.

As I learned more about hair care, I found out that if you use relaxer in your hair it is generally not a good idea to go around putting bleach on top of it. Things like that can cause your hair to become brittle and break off. Coming into this knowledge made me put off the idea of bleaching my hair all the way up, at least until I was bold enough to cut it all off.

In August of 2001 I finally took the plunge and cut all the relaxer out of my hair. I was left with a quarter of an inch of hair all the way around. I was ready to try the blonde but my hairdresser told me that I should wait until I’d had a second haircut since there was a chance that there was still some relaxer left on the tips of my hair. So I waited. I waited a full three months.

At the end of November my hair was about 5 inches long. It was getting wooly and out of control and I was ready to cut it all off again. I was having a hard time getting in touch with my hairdresser so Yolanda suggested that I try the barber that she went to. I was skeptical about letting anyone other than Elenora do my hair. Elenora knows my hair, knows that I have stress points on the side of my head where my hair breaks off easier than anywhere else on my hair. Elenora knows that I don’t like to cut my hair too low on the sides. Elenora knows that I like my back faded in.

I’ll admit I was nervous. When I saw big chunks of my hair falling onto the floor I became paranoid that Larry might be using the wrong size clippers and I was going to end up looking very rough, which is not the look I was going for. He managed to give me the cut I wanted though without any mishaps. Looking in the mirror at my chopped off hair I was convinced that it was time to go blonde.

The first time I attempted to dye my hair blonde I used Dark ‘N Lovely Honey Blonde hair dye. My hair only got up to a reddish brown. I figured that was going to happen so I wasn’t surprised by the results. Knowing that my hair was very dark to begin with, I figured it would take a couple of tries before I achieved the color result that I was looking for.

Upon seeing my hair, Yolanda suggested I use her method of hair lightening. My initial reaction was "hell no!" That girl’s hair is platinum blonde. I didn’t want my hair to be that light. I didn’t think I’d be able to pull it off. Yolanda told me to quit worrying about it and hustled me to Sally’s where I bought a bottle of Clairol 40 Volume activating liquid and a packet of Clairol Seven Shades blonde bleach. I let Yolanda mix the concoction up since she had done it before.

She had a bowl and a brush just like the hair stylists in the salon use so that made me feel a little bit better. I watched her mix the two chemicals and when she did the consistency was not unlike that of hair relaxer. I sat on the floor between her legs and she began applying it. I could hear her making comments the entire time she was doing it. "Wow, your hair lifts fast!" "I didn’t think it was going to get this light." I was paranoid. I kept wanting to get up and look in the mirror to see what she was doing but she made me wait until she had applied the chemical over my entire head before she let me stand up.

When I went into her bathroom, I saw orange. My hair looked orange. I immediately became paranoid. I didn’t want orange hair! She told me to keep working the bleach in my hair with my fingers and let it do its thing. I listened to her and continued smoothing the bleach over my entire skull with my fingers. The entire time I am watching my reflection in the mirror looking for signs that my hair is going to be a shade other than orange.

Eventually the chemical started burning me around my edges (just like a relaxer) and I knew it was time to rinse it out. We went to the sink in her kitchen and I leaned over it as best I could (I have huge breasts; they make it hard to lean over anything) while she rinsed the bleach out of my hair. She shampooed and applied a conditioner and told me to go look in the mirror again.

I couldn’t believe it was the same me. I looked totally different. She told me that when she first starting bleaching her hair, my color was the first color she was able to achieve. She said it was the color that got her hooked. I kept looking at my self in the mirror, running my fingers through my tight, kinky curls and marveling at how Clairol had managed to totally change my look in a matter of 30 minutes. Around my edges, where the chemical had started burning first, I was able to see a faint line of black but there was so much blonde that no one would really be paying attention to it. Yolanda said that it could be fixed the next time I bleached my hair up. I put a hot oil treatment on my hair and that was all there was to changing me from a brunette to a blonde.

The reaction when I went to work the next week with that blonde hair was astonishing. I had everyone in my face complimenting me on my hair and telling me how good it looked. Even Yolanda complimented me repeatedly on my hair and she was the one who had bleached it for me. I walked around for that first week like I was Miss America. You couldn’t wipe that grin off my face for anything in the world. You know that old saying blondes have more fun? I used to think it was so cliche and untrue but I saw the truth in it after I bleached my hair. Blondes definitely do have a lot more fun. At least I do with my new blonde hair. There is something about the reaction I get when I walk into a room with this hair color. It’s bright and it frames my face and I feel like it’s my mane. I’m a leo and even though female lions don’t have manes I have always considered my hair to be my mane. My mane calls attention to me now. Mrrow.

Yesterday I went to the barbershop and got my hair cut. I had asked Yolanda earlier in the week if she would bleach my hair for me again and she said yes but I think she drove to L.A. yesterday so I was left to do it on my own. I went to Sally’s after I left the barbershop and bought the Seven Shades blonde. I still have a big bottle of 40 volume activator so I didn’t need to buy a new one. I bought the brush, bowl and hot oil treatment. I brought all of these supplies home.

I go into the bathroom this morning with all my supplies spread out on the bathroom counter. I put my shampoo and conditioner near the sink. When I mixed all the ingredients in my bowl the consistency doesn’t come out the same way it did when Yolanda mixed it. Hers was thick and creamy. Mine looked like hair dye soup. Still, I was able to get the brush saturated in it so I figured it would be ok to try and use it. If I ran into any problems I could always dash out to Sally’s and buy more bleach. Worse case scenario? There’s a wig store around the corner. I was prepared.

Remembering the problem Yolanda and I had run into last time (my edges started burning before we could get them blonde so it was like I had a little ring of black around my hair), I decided to start around my edges first. I brushed thick layers of it around my temple and the base of my fade line in the back. Once those areas were completely saturated I moved on to the rest of my head. I put everything in that mixing bowl in my hair and then I worked it in with my fingers.

After about five minutes I walk into the other room and ask my mother to tell me if I have any dark patches in the back. My mother, in her usual melodramatic way (it’s all good), says, "Oh my god. Your hair is platinum blonde." Freaked, I rush to the mirror in the living room to inspect. It doesn’t look platinum blonde to me although it does look lighter than it did when Yolanda bleached it. I’m nervous now because there are parts that I can see which still have dark patches so this means I have to leave it on longer. I’m thinking to myself that if it doesn’t work out I will go to Sally’s and buy a bottle of semi-permanent color (Jazzing) to rinse over my hair.

When it was time to rinse the bleach out I did it in the sink and immediately looked in the mirror to see how my hair looked. I was pleased with the results. In spite of my fear of messing up my hair, I had lightened it to a shade that looked even better than the first shade of blonde I had. I suppose it will only get better from here. I think know I am going to enjoy being a blonde. My hair is more of a blonde now than an orange. I’m liking that too. And now I am curious about what shade it’s going to be the next time I do it. I don’t think I’m afraid to go platinum now. In fact I think I’m ready to try various different colors, not just blondes.

Stay tuned.

I took this picture over the summer while driving down Hollywood Blvd, a street that runs parallel to Sunrise Mountain in a part of Las Vegas known as Sunrise Manor. Jamie Foxx has a house on Hollywood Blvd. I take Hollywood Blvd each morning as part of my commute to work. It offers, in my opinion, the best view of the Las Vegas valley that there is.

Initially I would only pay attention to the view on Hollywood at night when the view of the lights on the strip was spectacular. I could actually see and point out each individual hotel. One morning while driving, I notice a thick layer of ... something hanging over the strip. Being born and raised in Los Angeles, you become used to seeing thick layers of smog in the air and I initially thought it was just that, smog. After a little bit of investigating, I discovered that it’s not actually smog but a thick cloud of dust that tends to hang over Las Vegas every single day. I realized that I was breathing in this dust every single day.

My cousin blames it on the constant construction that goes on in this town. Our population is growing steadily and the number of new housing developments being built rises each day. Add to this the construction that is always happening on or around the strip and you have constant dust in the air. And we are breathing this in every single day.

The view of the strip that we have from up here is actually pretty spectacular. You’d never know it from this picture.

That tall tower in the background is the Stratosphere. Working your way left from there you have the Stardust, Circus Circus, the Excalibur, the Luxor, the Bellagio, New York New York, the MGM, the Monte Carlo and Mandalay Bay(that big gold thing) but as I said you can't see them during the day because of all the dust.

blueberry hill makes
the best pancakes in the world
in my opinion

new year's eve dinner
juan carlos prepared a feast
i ate way too much

I took this picture the day my Uncle David died, November 8, 2001. My mom and I were driving to my grandmother’s house and I leaned out the window in an attempt to capture a picture of the Santa Monica Freeway sign. When I looked at the picture in preview mode all I saw was sunlight and initially I was disappointed. When I got home and uploaded it I was pleasantly surprised. I actually like this picture, it’s one of my favorites.

you grew up so fast
before my very eyes
i'll still kick your ass

EDIT: This was written in January of 2002 during a time when i experimented with the site's design and set up. I got too lazy to continue posting in this manner and began using a CMS again.

Ever since I got my digital camera earlier this year, I have been a picture taking fanatic. Up until now, they have lived a rather boring life, taking up space on my hard drive. I have wanted to share them on the web but basically I procrastinate and I’m lazy. Love me.

Before the end of the year I had been toying with the idea of reformatting my website. I wanted to re-launch it in 2002 with a new theme and new ideas. Basically, I was bored with the weblog format. I wanted something a little more freeform. I want to exercise my expository writing skills a little more. We are our own worst critics, and I felt that I could be doing a lot more writing.

I’ve always loved the art of storytelling. Perhaps I was a griot in my past life. I love telling old stories during family functions at my grandmother’s house. I like sharing experiences I’ve had with other people. I like making people feel as if they are a part of the moment.

So my intention is to do that with pictures and stories and essays and poetry and haiku and whatever else I see fit to post up here. The site will be updated daily. Sometimes there may be five or more entries posted during a day and sometimes only one. Depends on how inspired I am. As I am not using Greymatter, Movable Type, Blogger or any other journal-type software, I will attempt to keep the entries as organized as possible so that you are able to navigate between them easily.

On the actual entry pages there are back/forth buttons. These buttons will move you through the entries in chronological order. On the archives page you will be able to look at the archives sorted by subject as well as by date and entry number. Sounds easy enough I think.

As for comments ... in the interest of maintaining total control of my site (i have an ego like that) I am not going to have comments on all entries. It’s not really necessary. Besides, I like getting email a whole lot better and I feel like anyone who is that intent on sending me a message won’t object to sending it through email, right?

Oh, my email has changed to monique at hideouskinky dot net. I had people deleting mail coming from kinky at hideouskinky dot net due to confusion which is understandable. I might think it was a p-o-r-n site too if I got mail in my box from an address like that. I will still get any and all mail sent to kinky at hideouskinky dot net so if you love that email address feel free to continue using it.

Let me know if you find any problems with navigating the site.

At seventy-three years old she is still the same firecracker she was thirty or forty years ago. Her tongue is still just as sharp, her wit is still enough to leave us in stitches all night. My grandmother has defied time and adversity.

I can talk to my grandmother about everything, and I do because I know that my grandmother will give me the straight up right back. I especially like talking to her about men. My granny is from the old school and she’s quick to let you know. She puts me up on game all the time. I love it.

She has way too many grandchildren for me to name here. She’s the mother of eleven children including one set of twins. Today she became a grandmother again with the birth of my cousin MJ.

Congratulations Granny.