Ok, Paul's last post just reminded me of this...

This is a quote from the story "six to eight black men" by David Sedaris. The whole thing is here:
and I swear to god it is worth reading. It's a story about traveling, and talking to people in other countries about their traditions, and this time he got a Dutch guy talking about Santa. It is piss-your-pants funny. Really. Go read it.

The words silly and unrealistic were redefined when I learned that
Saint Nicholas travels with what was consistently described as "six
to eight black men." I asked several Dutch people to narrow it
down, but none of them could give me an exact number. It was always
"six to eight," which seems strange, seeing as they've had hundreds
of years to get a decent count.

The six to eight black men were characterized as personal slaves
until the mid-fifties, when the political climate changed and it
was decided that instead of being slaves they were just good
friends. I think history has proven that something usually comes
between slavery and friendship, a period of time marked not by
cookies and quiet times beside the fire but by bloodshed and
mutual hostility. They have such violence in Holland, but rather
than duking it out among themselves, Santa and his former slaves
decided to take it out on the public. In the early years, if a
child was naughty, Saint Nicholas and the six to eight black men
would beat him with what Oscar described as "the small branch of
a tree."

"A switch?"

"Yes," he said. "That's it. They'd kick him and beat him with a
switch. Then, if the youngster was really bad, they'd put him in
a sack and take him back to Spain."

"Saint Nicholas would kick you?"

"Well, not anymore," Oscar said. "Now he just pretends to kick
you."

"And the six to eight black men?"

"Them, too."

The first time I read this story, I was beside myself laughing. But the crazy part is- a couple weeks later I was playing Trivial Pursuit, and got the question: "What country thinks Santa rides on a white horse and travels with 6 to 8 black men?" I shit you not.

And finally- wikipedia backs it all up, so you know it must be true.

so...
I know of a pair of ice bowl tickets for sale.
Not sure how much they're going for.
And I think they've been posted on Craigslist.
But I figured I'd throw it out there, since apparently they're not easy to come by....

Anyone?

Watch out Bart Simpson... here's a new level of prank call phone names.

Ahhhhh, juvenile humor!

[the thing is, I saw a bunch of these listed on myspace as "who I want to meet" and I thought they were hockey players at first.]

Rod Gazinya
Shea Verpuzzi
Woody Pfeiler
Hugh Jardon
Ray Pugh
Betty Humpter
Wilma Fingerdoo
Herbie Verstinks
Julie Vastaine
Dixie Normus
Phillip McCann
Benjamin Earhardt
Eileen Ulich

Ok, so a girl from work just found me on facebook. And she has this picture up.
And, well, it's not a bad picture of me.
But I had never seen it before.
It's from graduation this spring. The Boy (aka The Asshole- i.e. the guy I was all upset about this summer, and last summer, and posted/deleted about non-stop) was my date that night. He was kind of a jerk, and we were totally late and I barely even got to talk to my friends. But we did snap this one pic.

And one guy from work told me I looked nice. And it was a little funny and awkward- I think he was a little embarrassed saying something like that to his 'superior'. In any case, I thought it was kind of cute and funny. So, I told my 'boyfriend'. And he said "eh... I don't see what the big deal is. It's just a dress."

Stupid fucker.

Whatever.

Good riddance.





p.s. how are you guys? I am way behind on journal-reading. need to catch up.

Wait a second, no potluck posts yet?
I want pix...

Sorry I (we) didn't make it.

We went to Left Bank instead.
In a LIMO.

hahaha.

It was D's birthday yesterday. So I had made reservations at Left Bank. But still thought maybe we'd be able to swing by before/after for a few minutes...

During the day he talked to his friend, whose wife's birthday was saturday. And in chatting it came up that they also had reservations, at the same time. And this guy had a limo lined up. (way to one-up me, dude. Actually, he about 10-upped me. He had the limo take her to the spa, then to Macy's for a day with a personal shopper. Then to dinner. How awesome.)

So, the limo picked us all up, and we had a delicious dinner at Left Bank.

still, sorry I couldn't make it last night.

So where are the pix??

Just realized my 2 year estrip-iversary was 12/6.

Thanks for everything, peeps.

Through good times and bad times, I can count on you guys for some smartass comments to make me laugh.

And that's as sentimental as I'll get.

But a (hopefully final) note on an overly drawn out saga involving a certain boy and a certain rescue and a certain rescue forum-

Apparently the shit is hitting the fan. This is all second/third hand info (since I am banned for life)- but it sounds like his little empire is crumbling.

And finally (FINALLY) I don't care.
I tried and tried to be supportive. He couldn't care less.
But now I've moved on. The torch I've been carrying has been put out.

And it's paying off in spades.

Karma's a bitch, E, ain't it?

So I behaved like a normal girl the other day, and went shopping. And found a fantastic silver dress, and some fantastic shoes, which I post here for the hell of it. Because I like 'em. They're hot.



Then last night went to the UB grad student xmas party. I am not technically a grad student at UB, but my post-grad training is through UB, so I have an ID, blah blah. And a bunch of my friends in different programs were going. Much to my surprise, ran into (e:terry) (e:matthew) and (e:brit). Woohoo!
Which is exactly why I decided to tell this boy about my journal. So if I'm out and someone yells 'Jenks!' I don't have any explaining to do. But so you are the first estrippers to meet him. And for the record, he liked you guys. :) He and matthew even went to the same high school- just 11 years apart. haha.
But it was a fun night. Good to see you guys. :) Wish I took more pix.


It's too bad I'm such a midget. Even in monster heels.

Not to make you all jealous (or sick), but-

I decided to take today off. There might be a special, romantic dinner in your future.

!! Lucky me...

That's funny. I was just thinking of how lucky I am.

And on a totally unrelated note-
This is fantastic. My kind of therapy. $5 for 5 min.

Ok, so I finally uploaded my pix. So here they are. A little view into my week off. :)

First, a little tribute to my mom and her Martha-ness. I really wish I had inherited more of her sense of style. And it's not about breaking the bank- just putting stuff together well.





And here's her Thanksgiving table. I think setting the table is Mom's favorite part of thanksgiving- she does it about 3 days in advance, and then keeps changing the centerpiece etc for the next 3 days.



This one is for Paul. I am not even going to try to defend it.



And the bird- it was especially delicious this year-




Then on friday, I went to "Holiday Cocktails" at this snooty old club at home... It was not especially fun.

But this letter cracks me up. They have it framed on the wall.



And since I doubt anyone can read it, it says:

Dear Mr. President,
With great regret I must tender my resignation from the Board of Governors. Time and distance do not permit my regular attendance at meetings and I should free up a slot for another young traditionalist.

I have enjoyed my tenure and hope that one may say of it that I have done what I can to thwart change, impede progress, and enshrine the status quo. I pray that under your heroically unenlightened leadership the governors will continue to follow the path of unrighteousness, outrageousness, elitism and exclusivity, stopping just shy of outright bigotry. Remember: the best way to prepare for the 21st century is to embrace the 19th.

Then I got back into town on saturday, just in time for the disco- which really was a blast. It's like Halloween all over again. The special guest was Erik Estrada, and he announced that all 7,000 tickets sold out in TWENTY MINUTES. Whoa!

This is a friend's co-worker. He grows his hair out all year long, for the disco. His afro was WAY cooler than all the afro wigs there.




And this was another friend's date, wearing her jacket and her glasses.



Ok, I am all pictured out.

Later, peeps.