[url=http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=816&e=1&u=/ap/20040923/ap_on_re_us/stripper_pole]it’s story likes these[/url] that i think are just completely ridiculous. i think that i’m a fairly enlightened individual and when it comes to equality, i think it is paramount that all people should be given the same opportunity regardless of age, race, sexual orientation, or gender. i don’t think it makes any sense that a woman in the same position of that of a man should make any less. that’s ridiculous.

but in the same vein, i also think it’s ridiculous that people start to cry bloody murder when they say that women are being exploited at institutions like hooters. nobody forced the women to apply to the job. nobody tricked the women into indentured servitude. if they don’t like the conditions in which they are working at, they are completely free to leave. they should know what kind of people frequent these establishments and what they may have to deal with on a daily basis. i mean, come on, folks, it’s not degrading to women, they are volunteering to be put into this place. i would have no problem with some restaurant chain called schlongs where barely-clad men will be serving you food. if that’s your thing, go have fun. i may not want to go there and it may not really excite me, but will i cry out that these men are being exploited for their bodies? uhhh…sorry. they choose to work there.

in the same vein, these university folks are being a little ridiculous when they claim that the party degraded women. the women didn’t have to go to the party. the women didn’t have to dance on the stripper pole. the women didn’t even strip.

now, i agree with the university that they are well within their rights to order the students to remove the pole from the housing because you cannot bolt things in housing that is university property. i can also see how they can punish the students for violating alcohol policies. indecent behavior is sort of a fine line for me…i’m not really sure what they can call indecent behavior…that’s sort of a moral judgement call.

i mean, it’s not like these women were being led into a prostitution ring. it’s not like these girls were being coerced to do something that they didn’t want to do. there was no nudity. i mean, what is indecent behavior, really? what if there’s a couple who’s getting it on in their dorm room? can they be punished for that because it’s indecent behavior?

i also think it’s ridiculous that the winner of the pole dancing contest was disciplined, but not any of the other contestants. why should the winner be the only one penalized? i think that’s ridiculously unfair. if you are going to go and punish people, punish all those involved. or is it just more convenient to make an example out of her? maybe it is. but why should she be disciplined again? because of indecent behavior? i guess that just rubs me the wrong way.

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man, i don’t know what’s been going on but the past week has been a really bad commute. apparently, [url=http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/9677252.htm]i’m not the only one[/url] who feels this way as the san jose mercury news just had a story on their front page reporting that traffic has gotten noticeably worse recently.

today was another bad day, i am not pleased.

but it is nosh thursday at the office so i ate a noah’s everything bagel with jalapeno salsa shmear, a chocolate old fashioned donut, and half of a cinnamon bun. to make me feel better. i do feel more at ease now, however, i also am starting to feel a little sick. =P

played a really bad game of volleyball yesterday. i couldn’t hit, couldn’t block, couldn’t do much of anything. was actually one of the worst nights i’ve had in a long time. not sure what it was that was causing such foul play, but man…it was bad.

i’m feeling totally exhausted now.

today was ANOTHER 1+ hour commute that really should have been like 30 minutes. there was a 9 car accident on 880 causing backups from oakland to newark. that’s like 15 miles of bumper to bumper traffic today. grrrrrr.

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it’s thursday. last night’s launch went miserable. everything that could go wrong went wrong and everything that i wanted just didn’t seem to go my way. on top of that was the pressure to make it to volleyball.

i ended up working from 6pm to 9pm last night trying to finish up a baby software launch. i anticipated that this task would take me about 30 minutes. little did i know that it would become one of the most unnerving experiences i’ve had in a long while.

after finishing up with that, i was waffling about going to volleyball or not. i just wasn’t in a very good mood, flustered, really. and it takes a lot to fluster me. so i was thinking about calling and telling my teammates that i couldn’t make it, but after some consideration (and the fact that i ditched out on them last week) i decided to go and play.

i am happy that i went, though. the play was good and i did have a chance to work off that frustration.

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i took the car into the shop yesterday to have them fix the brakes and the air conditioning. i just got the quote for how much it would cost and i am quite unhappy to hear how much it would cost. but i told the guy to go ahead and fix it because i really do need air conditioning. living without air conditioning is just not worth living at all.

so i must forego any dreams of the canon 20D that the rumormongers are all talking about and instead be happy that i will have a nice air conditioned ride once again.

i did, however, ever so briefly, consider buying a new car. but i just don’t think that it is in the cards for me, so i decided not to think anymore about it and instead to fix my car.

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earlier today i heard a name that reminded me of a bad work memory. back in the day i worked for a company when i was still fairly junior. there was a point where we were developing a product and then we were in this meeting where the CEO said to me, “you should be happy that you have the opportunity to be paid to learn this new technology.”

i sat there in shock. i was a junior software engineer. EVERYTHING i did was a new technology to me. that’s why you get paid the junior salary! because you are junior! you aren’t expected to know everything!

man, i was so upset.

it was only a few weeks after that incident that i left the company. it’s surprising to see that such a small comment had affected me so profoundly. but it did. and it really changed my every day experience.

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my sister’s birthday is today. she finally turns 21.

things you do not want to hear your baby sister say, but did:

“i’m on my period now. i’m running like a waterfall.”

“is snowballing where you suck a guy’s dick and he cums into your mouth and then you spit it back into his?”

“what is muff diving?”

i don’t think i am ready to see her grow up like this. it’s very disturbing.

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Agony!
Beyond power of speech,
When the one thing you want
Is the only thing out of your reach.

last night was playoffs for my citybeach team. we were coming into playoffs ranked 3rd and had a pretty decent shot at taking the title. when it came to playing our first game, we had a roster check and to my horror my name was not on the roster. as a result i was disqualified from playing, so the team had to play without me. apparently there was a mix up in the roster and we never put my name back on the roster after it was taken off due to my injury last season.

so i couldn’t play. *sigh* it was a pretty big disappointment…i was looking forward to playing this season. so sad.

i left citybeach and got some pearl tea therapy and that helped, but it still stung. then i realized that i misplaced my driver’s license so i went back to citybeach retracing my steps to finally find it on the ground next to where i had parked my car earlier that evening. apparently it had fallen out of my bag as i had stormed out earlier.

i heard that the team made it to semis, but got eliminated and didn’t make it to finals. man…that sucks.

another season gone by and i *STILL* haven’t earned a playoff shirt. next season will be better!

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is it rude to ask someone for a ride and then while they are driving you to the destination to whip out your cell phone and start calling people and talking to them?

i’m glad that today is rapidly approaching an end. it’s been a long, bad day punctuated with moments of happiness, but mostly it’s just been rough.

this morning started with me waiting around at home while the SBC technician came and troubleshot my DSL and phone line not working. in the past i’ve had some pretty bad experiences with pacbell, but the SBC tech was quite knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful. the problem ended up being inside the apartment and i fear that i’m going to be charged for the tech’s visit. oh well.

but i felt bad because i had to stick around at home and so i missed a meeting that was scheduled for today…but the company decided to reschedule the meeting so that i could attend. i feel bad for that, i didn’t want to hold up any big meetings.

and i couldn’t find my copy of serendipity!

i also went to pick up the mail at the post office because they stopped delivering mail to us because our mailbox got full. grrrrrr. i was pretty unhappy about that. and then when i got to the post office there was a huge, long line that i had to wait in. i should know by now that i shouldn’t let stuff like that just go because it’ll hurt me more in the end. i think that i just ended up being frustrated with myself a lot or being upset at myself a lot today.

after being in the office, i realized that i was a little backlogged with work so i was trying to punch through as much of it as i could. someone came to me to check up on me, but i was able to finish up the stuff just as they had come so they were pleasantly surprised that all was done.

i had some trouble trying to code some stuff later in the day though and it started to frustrate me. but i just chugged away trying not to let it get to me. i think that i was still frazzled so it didn’t help me so much. and my ankle hurt was smarting from this weekend…i think i may have hurt it just a little bit, so i was concerned about volleyball tonight.

i went to hang out with mike, leeya, and paul today. i wanted to check out leeya’s haircut so i met up with them at ariake to check it out. i like the haircut…much cleaner. i wasn’t hungry, though so i just hung out. we got some pearl tea at q-cup in cupertino, which i think delivers consistently better pearl tea than the milpitas location, but it wasn’t quite enough to pick up my spirits.

when i got to volleyball i realized that i forgot to bring shoes. so i called up mike to see what size shoes he wore, but they were too small. i called john and he let me borrow some shoes that i was able to borrow. the play wasn’t that great, i was just off my game, so i felt a little flustered.

after i got home, i was taking my contacts out and my right contact got torn while i was removing it. lovely!

but now i’m at home. the DSL is up, my phone works, and i’ve got some movies here waiting for me. i guess it isn’t so bad. i’m not sleepy right now, but i know i really should go to bed. *sigh* i wonder if there’s any good tv that i recorded tonight.

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