elias.

GRAAAAVE DIGGGGA

This week seemed monstrous, i was running around the city trying to get things done, i got a scratch on my car, and i realized i had midterm mayhem + work + internship. But, this weekend was a much needed reality check.

First off, i was 2 mins late to my internship which i guess at a regular job its no big deal. At my internship the doors are locked at exactly the time the meetings start, i got in trouble and the only thing i could say to one of the directors (who lectures daily about personal accountability) was 'It was my fault because I'm lazy i got out of bed late' after some pleading i was let into the meeting. It was worth it, i got to hear a lot of interesting stories, and i got some new tips written down.

This weekend i realized i had an extra $30 dollars in my bank account for some weird reason i still havent figured out.i found out i my internship director is pleased with my work, and i got compliments from the participants in my classes. i finished all my weekend reading early. i realized that some people, well really one particular boy, is really fucked up and not worth worrying over anymore, drank some grade A beer, listened to music reaaaaally loudly, had long talks with ari, ghost hunted a little,bought my grandma a big bouquet of flowers, went to church, bought a bad ass tshirt for a little kid, got to work a really good show at The Percolator...

BUT MOST EXCITING THING OF ALL I got surprised with monster truck tickets!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, let me just say, I have never in my life been to a Monster Truck show, I've always thought about going, even begged a few people to go with me... but no dice. And let me just say- this show was worth the wait. I didnt realize how fun it would be to just act a fool, and scream and throw your arms up over vehicles driving recklessly. IT WAS AMAZING. And i fell in love with this bad boy "monster mutt" mainly because i thought if my dog Jasper was a monster truck he would be a fucking bad ass like this monster truck.


I mean, i guess i can see how this show might not seeeeem appealing to the average person- but, oh my God, it was. the sound of the trucks racing around and crunching cars, and the big dust clouds when they did crazy spins, holy shit i felt like a little white kid. i even got to take home a huge MONSTER MUTT flag. other than that, i got to see two women truck drivers bask in the glory of being fucking amazing at their jobs, and i got to see some dude get escorted out violently by security guards.

Apparently some men in El Paso get so excited when trucks flip over that they throw their beers into the crowd below and smack little kids with their cups.


very very good weekend.

Better late than never

US military chief to offer help to Mexico in violent drug war

1 day ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — America's top military officer heads to Mexico this week to offer help to a government battling powerful drug cartels, amid alarm in Washington over escalating violence across the border.

With the death toll at 5,300 last year and Mexican cartels armed with automatic weapons and billions in cash, the crisis has become a full-blown national security concern for the United States.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was due in Mexico later this week as the United States signalled it was ready to step up military and other assistance to tackle the heavily armed drug rings ravaging the country's north.

"The cartels are retaliating," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told NBC on Sunday. "It clearly is a serious problem."

But he said Mexico has dropped its traditional reluctance to cultivate ties with the US military.

"I think we are beginning to be in a position to help the Mexicans more than we have in the past," Gates said. "Some of the old biases against cooperation between our militaries and so on, I think, are being satisfied."

The United States started sharing intelligence with Mexico in November and under a new program plans to provide helicopters, maritime surveillance aircraft and other equipment, Pentagon spokesman Commander Jeffrey Gordon said.

Mullen, who visited Brazil on Monday as part of a week-long Latin American tour that includes stops in Chile, Peru and Colombia, said last week the United States was "looking for ways to assist" the Mexican government.

"Clearly one of the things he expects to talk to his counterparts in Mexico and other officials about is the growing violence and growing threat with regard to narco-trafficking and the drug cartels," Captain John Kirby, spokesman for Mullen, told AFP.

"We would welcome the opportunity to increase and enhance our military-to-military cooperation," Kirby said by phone after Mullen's visit to Brazil. "There's clearly room to do more."

The two countries have been cooperating for some time, but last year the effort intensified with the US Merida Initiative that gives Mexico 1.4 billion dollars over three years and 200 million to Central America and the Caribbean.

The initiative has nabbed some top drug barons and shipments, but the cartels remain defiant. In Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, they have threatened to decapitate the mayor and his entire family.

Experts say military cooperation will not be enough and that corruption in Mexico as well as growing demand for drugs on the US side of the border feed the scourge.

Both governments have blamed the other for failing to take action.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon took offense at a State Department report last week that said pervasive corruption was hampering the drug war. He said it was time Washington stopped the flow of guns and drug money into Mexico.

"I think that weapons and cash cross from there to here, and that both countries should strive to make their border safe and open to trade and workers, but closed to illegal drugs, weapons and money trafficking," he said.

Mexican and US authorities have traced over 90 percent of the guns used by the cartels to American gun shops and shows, even though US laws forbid foreign nationals from buying fire arms.

And an estimated 15 to 20 billion dollars passes across the US border to the drug barons each year, US analysts say.

Mullen in a speech last month cited years of US assistance to Colombia, with military aid only one element, as a successful model for tackling drug cartels.

"I think the Colombian example is a great example of a very broad program that was not just military to support a friend at a time when, effectively, they were very close to a failed state," Mullen said at Princeton on February 5.

The admiral said similar support could help Mexico.

"We?ve offered that," he said. "It takes engagement -- not high-end military activity."

Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.

babies?

first of all, i fucking hate the new burger king commercial thats airing on tv right now...



wtf. not every female wants a baby so badly that she oohs and awws over little itty bitty burgers. I dont want a baby right now- in fact i dont even really like babies ever. I can count the babies i've liked on 1 hand, and i dont even OOH and AWW over them.

thats not even my point, even if i DID want a baby right now, i would be smart enough to know the different between baby and burger. why did these women even agree to be in such a horrible commercial?

boy oh boy.

So i finally got to do some hands on work at my internship- it was pretty awesome.

Basically my internship consists of me working at a non profit that helps men and women (who are convicted of domestic abuse, or are on probation, or who think they need help) learn accountability, and about healthy relationships. Its a 26 week intervention and prevention program. I love it, its probably one of the most interesting thing i've ever been a part of.

I've been very consistently thinking a lot about what i've learned in these 'Accountability Groups' at work, entire sections on Respect among partners in relationships. but unfortunately i realized that I've only had ONE healthy relationship in my entire life. Other than that, my relationships have consisted of revengeful actions, name calling, rough play, lying, disrespectful conversations. I thought a lot of things i have said, and that have been said to me... i dunno. i had a long talk this past weekend with a boy i had dated (3 years) about my feelings in regards to things we've said - all i got was a blank stare.

"There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self."- Aldous Huxley

shwag.

http://newspapertree.com/opinion/3442-michael-phelps-and-the-violence-in-mexico-connect-the-dots

TWILIGHT ZONE.

so apparently el paso runs on one piece of electrical wire, i found this fact out because while i was dancing like a fool to 'let me clear my throat' by the musical genius DJ KOOL the entire city of el paso had a massive black out. . . luckily i was in the company of about 500 people and i was safe with my best friend Ari, Jackie, and of course Ray. And since we were seated at some Special KINGS table upstairs (due to Jackie being a fucking pimp and buying a large bottle of vodka) we had a splendid view of everyone downstairs freaking out.

I spent about 10 mins texting everyone i knew, and drinking cranberry juice, gray goose and sprite until finally i left. I drove around with Ray exploring the city and despite the wonderful time we had prior to the black out, it felt like a twilight zone episode. I started to imagine the absolute worst, and movies kept popping into my head, 28 days later, Night of the Living Dead, anyway I have never in my life seen my entire city pitch black. I got to see stars i had never even known existed, the glow of Juarez lights hovering over the mountains, the very defined Mexico/USA border,a sole McDonald's sign glowing next to the burning smoke stack of the refinery, long stretched out streets of darkness, a pretty bad accident, blaring sounds of sirens, flashing lights of emergency vehicles. It was one of the strangest sights of my life.

when i finally got home my parents house was the only block in the east side to have power. And my mom made us hot dogs and ramen and we all talked about how creepy the night was. i went to bed thinking about all the radiation poisoning i could of endured, and how my organs were probably glowing green. but by the time i woke up this morning everything was its normal self. nothing happened, i wasn't glowing, and my ideas of a zombie apocalypse was flushed out by reading the comics on the news paper.

Weirdly enough i have an idea what happened... but the news channels havent even covered in on their websites- no mention of the massive El Paso black out of 2009. wtf is going on?

Also... black history month ended with a black out. which is kind of funny.