This news via LA Observed made me very sad. It seems the Westwood Farmer's market has been forced to leave as a result of the construction of an enormous new retail development (The Palazzo). This was (IMO) the last redeeming aspect to Westwood Village. You could get some tasty Brazilian food, fresh Thai basil, some good honey and bushels of fresh veggies. Not to mention the live, local music that was always around. It was the last authentic thing in Westwood. It was farmer's market without trying to be a "farmer's market."

I have a lot of fond memories wandering around the market on odd thursday afternoons. It was exceedingly pleasant and it will be missed.

OH the last one ever will be taking place this Thursday afternoon. If you'd like to voice your discontent with this decision, our City Councilman Jack Weiss has an office in West LA.

Here's that contact info:
Beverly Kenworth, Senior Field Deputy and Planner
Phone (310) 289-0353
Fax (310)289-0365
E-Mail councilmember.weiss@lacity.org

His City Hall Office:
Renee Shillaci, Dep. Chief of Staff - Community and Planning.
Phone (213) 473-7005
Fax (213) 978-2250
E-Mail councilmember.weiss@lacity.org

Who feels like a little direct action on a cloudy Tuesday afternoon? ;)

Current Mood: active
Current Music: Hit the Road To Dreamland-Betty Hutton-L.A. Confidential

I hate this time of the night/morning when I'm working on a paper. 2am on the day that a paper is due reminds me a lot of passing Coalinga on the 5 on your way up to the Bay Area. You know you've gotten somewhere, but where!? Everything is desolate and you just hope that if you keep driving onward you'll eventually reach your goal. There is no guarantee that you will, but what else are you going to do. You have just entered Coalinga, CA and it's hot and smells powerfully of cow.

This quarter has been exceedingly hectic for me. Out of the past 10 weekends, I have been out of town 8. San Francisco, Madison, WI, DC, Santa Barbara, Sacramento, Atlanta,GA, Riverside, CA and Santa Cruz, CA. Add on to this a blown transmission (it blew out in Lodi,CA on my way to Sacramento -- retrieving it was a whole other ordeal), a cancer scare, and my pursuit of post-graduation plans and you've got yourself (or myself) one hell of a quarter.

Something different happened this time. I DID NOT get depressed. Sure I was angry, stressed, listless, worn-out, and EXTREMELY frustrated, but those feelings didn't stick. I didn't crumble. I made an important realization that helped me out with this. See, it turns out I'm a perfectionist. But I'm also easily discouraged. I sink when things don't go exactly how I have decided they should go because I then decide that there's nothing I can do to ever remedy that horrifically botched situation.

Discipline is a decision, or rather, a series of consecutive decisions. Each new decision is an opportunity to change courses, to make adjustments. Now I won't see a situation as an avalanche tumbling towards my cozy, yet unreinforced chalet. In actuality, it's more like a runaway train and all I need to do is hit the right switches to get safely back to Petticoat Junction (or what have you).

Ok and one quick positive note, I've met a guy. He's great and gives new meaning to the phrase "Magic Fingers". Let me tell you dating a med student who needs to prepare for a practical test on how to administer a prostate exam is really win/win. He passes his test, and I...well...<3

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: Samba De Verão-Caetano Veloso-Noites Do Norte - Ao Vivo

and I decided to Google myself (don't hate! you know you all do it). At any rate, I came across some OOOOOLD pictures. Talk about blast from the past.



( The Weasles Reunited )

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: Loveboat-Kylie Minogue-Light Years

My birthday approaches. I'm 23 this Friday. This is always a very contemplative time for me. I feel like I've finally reached a stage in my life where I can look at where I've been and see chapters that have opened, and chapters that have closed. People and places. Trips and trip-ups.

I think back on where I've been, and the people I've known and it honestly feels like I'm looking back at time spent in a different country (time spent in other countries, notwithstanding). This post honestly serves no purpose other than to chronicle the fact that, standing here on the cusp of 23, I feel the final pages of another chapter turning. Who will I know? How will I know them? I live for experiences, and the prospect of another 365 days is both daunting and exhilerating.

I'm not scared of the future anymore. I'm ready for a leap of faith. I'm ready to trust my instincts. I'm ready to embrace my potential. I'm ready to land on my feet and keep running.

Let's go!


PS Kylie Minogue's version of "Dancing Queen" from the 2000 Sydney Olympics opening ceremony is so wonderfully fabulous. I just had to shar that. Thanks, Kylie!

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: Jump-Madonna-Confessions On a Dance Floor

My cell phones are cursed. They rarely last more than a year, and they often meet their ends quite violently. One got crushed by a Big Blue Bus. Another was mysteriously drowned on New Year's Eve a few years back.

Well the curse has struck again. My beloved black Motorola has vanished, taking my SIM card hostage. Consequently, I've lost all my numbers! It would be great if all you lovely individuals would help me out in rebuilding my phonebook.

You can send your digits to roy.samaan@gmail.com

Thanks a bundle.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: Badfish-Sublime-40 Oz. To Freedom

We got massacred by USC today. The final score was 66-19. It's only too fitting that this took place in a stadium called the Coliseum. I'm not a huge football fan, but it was just painful to watch a group of people get so royally crushed. Call me unspirited, but part of me took a little bit of pleasure in seeing the UCLA football guys get crushed. Score one for anyone that these macho assholes have ever pushed around.

Some USC fan was wearing a shirt that said UCLGay (so what if 30% of our campus is queer...only we get to call it that). A couple of people in my section asked him what was wrong with being gay. When his response was "UCLA is gay!" the entire section started chanting "Ho-Mo-Phob-ic!" over and over. You could tell the guy was overwhelmed and that no one had ever called him on his stupid shirt. He and his wife beat a hasty retreat. Score one for all the queer people in the stands who got to sit back and actually let their allies handle a homophobic turd. I say add one more on since the chanting was initiated by a straight white guy.

I got to ride to the game and back with the UCLA marching band. They're great! It's too bad the athletic department has abandoned all responsibility for them. They're really hurting. Banged up instruments, threadbare uniforms. They have to drive around the country whereas other bands for teams of equal caliber can fly. USC's band is at least double the size as well. It's funny. Millions of dollars are dumped into the football program at ucla, yet the band was the only point of redepmtion in UCLA's sorry repetoire today. Let's take a moment for band kids past and present everywhere.


Go, Band Kid, Go!

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Pretty Good Year-Tori Amos-Under the Pink

(via Wonkette)

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: California Love-Tupac f/ Dr. Dre-All Eyez on Me

Go, Sulu, Go!

Current Mood: touched
Current Music: Another Day in the Life-Toilet Boys

Current Mood: touched
Current Music: Another Day in the Life-Toilet Boys

Today I had my first 13+ hour day of this academic year. Of course, my time was not spent on academic endeavors (classes have not started yet), but rather I speny my day working on the various encumbrances that i've managed to tangle myself into over the last years here at UCLA.

Only one more conference call to go and I'm done for the day.

It's crazy going from the structureless malaise of the summer and right into the intense structure of a full day of meetings and planning. I like it. Structure is good. Direction is good. I feel this renewed energy to get/keep my shit together. It's a simple idea, but I realized that the best/only way to get out of doing something, is to go directly through it. Once I framed getting work done in terms of making procrastination easier, everything just seemed to come together.

Anyway...my call is starting. I'm off. :D

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Another Day in the Life-Toilet Boys