Here’s the deal for tomorrow (Saturday):
1. Lunch at 12:30 at the Skylight Diner on 34th Street just west of 9th Avenue.
2. Public Enemies at 3:55 at the AMC Loews 34th Street 14
3. Dinner & drinks at Donnybrook on Clinton Street (corner of Stanton).
Email me to let me know if you’d like to join for any part. :)
Looking in a mirror when I’m alone, I think I’m a pretty girl. I’ve got a china doll complexion, rosy cheeks, bright blue eyes, and full pink lips. Not only am I pretty, I have a good personality: I’m funny, sweet and smart. I balance a sharp wit with warmth and kindness. All of these are great attributes. All of these add up to a woman I would totally hit on in a bar (if I ever had the cojones to do that).
I don’t think of myself as desirable, because I don’t wear a size 8; I don’t even wear a 14. And society tells me that this is a problem.
This is the same society that tells me that Paris Hilton (infamous for her ditziness and tiny frame) is more desirable than Jennifer Hudson (who is all curves and talent). When I go out in the world, I don’t see the pretty, warm and desirable young woman. I see the flaws; I see my belly that sticks out, my thighs that touch, a derriere that more than fills my jeans.
Sometimes, I can build myself up and convince myself that I look good. And if I’m lucky, this won’t falter and fade the moment I hit the front stoop. Some days, I can go through an entire day feeling generally good about myself. I’ll laugh and make jokes, cock my hips at someone and tilt my head in traditionally flirty postures, and not feel as though these are parodies of what pretty girls do. Some days, I can be my own confidence booster, and listen only to myself. But some days are like last Friday.
Some days, I walk down the street in my denim skirt and my tshirt, smiling and strutting to the music in my head, when some asshole looks up and says, “Hey sweetheart, don’t you know your ass is too big to dress like that?” Sometimes there’s a dickhead that comments, “Hey fattie, why you dressing like you think you’re hot?”
And the rational, angry part of me wants to tell them to go fuck themselves. That part of me wants to wonder out loud whether they think that deafness is a side effect of being overweight. Or if they think I can’t actually read the label on my clothing. Most of the time, lately, I’m able to act like it doesn’t bother me. I’m able to throw a comment back at them.
But the fact of the matter is that a little part of me, a little and very strong part of me, hears what they say and agrees. It asks me who I think I’m kidding, it tells me that I should’ve known better, should have remembered that girls like me aren’t attractive: I am hopeless and worthless. It doesn’t make me want to go to the gym. It doesn’t motivate me to change. It just makes me hurt.
It is my own problem that I let them define me in any way.
So what does this have to do with you? Nothing, I hope. I hope that you’re confident and considerate. But if you’re one of the people I talked about, I hope that next time you see someone on the street that you think is too big for a shirt that tight, or too skinny for a skirt that short, keep it to yourself. Ask yourself why that’s your problem, or why you should have anything to say about it.
I propose that we take it a step further, even: withhold only the negative commentary, and go out of your way to say something nice. Does the woman sitting across from you have great shoes on? Tell her so. Does the guy in front of the bodega look really nice in his shirt? Say so. Maybe if we all start paying it forward, as dorky as that sounds, we’ll feel a little better about ourselves. What can it hurt?
Because, in all sincerity, the next motherfucker who comments, unsolicited, about the size of my ass as though it were a negative is getting my boot in theirs.
*cough* What?
This arrived in my work email this morning. I’m posting it without comment, for those who asked. AHEM.
Respected Father
I am Ashwanee Kumar Tiwary, 26 year old well educated and literate person. I have an article “LIMITS OF YOGA” which I am sending to you (as attachment with this e-mail). Please watch it once. It was published in “sarita” with the name “Yog ki Kshamata” with some variation.
My motive to send it to you is to promote this and beware people with the harm of yoga. English is not my native langue therefore I haven’t expressed all subjects in this. If you have any advice to modify this article please send it to me.
Again I am sorry to take your time.
With lots of regards
Ashwanee Kumar Tiwary.
LIMITS OF YOGA
As same as other epics of our/all religious, there is lots of adverse and advance talking in the “Yogshastra”. And like all other religious books there are several hypothecate topics init. Here are some examples-
First of all let’s talk about the first and beginning of “Yogshutra “. For your kind information let me tell that the Yogshastra has been written on “shutra” form. Shutra is a little and meaningful phrase in Sanskrit language. All the words of the shutra have bears a number of meanings, and there is controversy arises. Through these controversies it is very difficult to find any decision. And only because of this weakness there were a lots of hypothecations and myths (an unreal story) arises. These myths develop a new superstition and superstition also produces another myths and vice-versa. Let’s talk bout the first and origin shutra of “Yogshastra” -
YOGASCHITTAAVRITI NIRODHA.
Yogshutra, Samadhipaad, Shutra-2.
Chitta and vrities are the two aspects of humankind. But Yoga calls us to kill the vrities and live only with Chitt. But for your kind information, I have to say that these two (Chitta and Vritties) are not two elements. They are same or two aspects of same thing (humankind).Chitta and vrities are as same as day and night, darkness and light. In the present nature all the existing has their negatives. For example days have night, beautiful lotus have mud. If we remove the dirtiness of mud we will also loss the beauty of lotus. And it is a universal law. All the present things have their negatives. But this is not with chitta and vrities. Chitta and vritties are not two things Chitta forms by vritties, it means that no one can prevent it(chita or vritties)as says in Yogshutra. It is very basic and primary weakness of Yoga and through this hole all the establishment’s about Yoga feels fiction. There are several other fictions in Yogshastra. Now let’s see some of the - look at this shutra -
SATYAPRATHISTHAYAM KRIYAPHALASRYATWM.
Sadhanpaad, shutra-36.
Means ones who live with truth can receive the rewards of any work of any on for himself or any self. Now you have to decide that how the result of any work of anyone can receive by another. How it is possible that eat one and satisfy another, not only here but this other can also send this satisfaction to anyone? What is this hypothecation? Imagination / false statement? If not so how it is possible? Can anyone describe it? Live with truth is a good manner but truth can give this kind of power. I can’t believe it. And through this epic there are several other myths have been published. We have to oppose these kinds of statements. While lets look on the another shutra-
ASTEYPRATISTHAYAM SARVARATNOPSTHANAM
Sadhaanpaad, Shutra -37.
There is another type of hypothecation and a kind of grid has been offered by Yoga. In this shutra it is stated that ones who lives with ASTEY can get any kind of wealth. Here we have to know about ASTEY, it means nothing receive by anyone. And in Yogshutra it is stated that the ‘asteyi’ can get everything. Means one who is not ready to receive can get. If this is not a hypothecation then what is this? I am not understood that what yoga says. One who is not ready to receive can get every thing. And if it happened then what kind of consumption he can made? And there is another major question - Is there a man of this kind? Ones who called Yogi are of this nature. This is an anti progressive statement and according to theses kind of statements there will be says that the Yoga is against the progress of science. Let’s talk to another shutra. Here Patanjali (author of Yogshastra) says that we can knew our past births through APARIGRAH
APARIGRAHSTHARYE JANAMKATHA SAMBODAH.
Sadhanpaad, Shutra -39.
‘Purva Janam’ is a fiction and the yoga says about to realize it. All the frauds and business of religions is based on myths of past birth and heaven. And it can be strongly stated that there is not nay past birth and heaven. Then anyone can know it, how? Totally fraud! Lets talk to some other Shutra where Patanjali says about the power of yogi and offering a lots of grid to man.
BHUWARGYANAM SURYE SAMYT.
Bibhutipaad, shutra 27.
Means meditate with sun can give knowledge about the world. Here the T.V. and other communication resources are not necessary, only meditate with sun and knew all about the world!
CHANDRATARA VYUH GYANAM.
Bibhutipaad, shutra 28.
Meditate with moon can give knowledge about the stars, without the help of planetarium, only meditate with moon and knew all bout the stars.
DHRUVE TADGATIGYANAM.
Bibhutipaad, shutra 29.
Meditate with ‘Dhruvtara’ and knew the motion path of stars. Here space telescope is useless? What is this? Lets talk about the another type of hypothecation in Yoga
NABHICHAKRA KAYAVYUH GYANAM.
Bibhutipaad , shutra 30.
Concentration on ‘Nabhi’ (a place on stomach) can give knowledge about the body. There is no need to study medical science. All the information about human body can be received through concentration on ‘Nabhichakar’
KANTHKUPE KSUTPIPAS NIVRITI.
Bibhutipaad , shutra-31.
Means concentration on Kanth (a place on neck) can give the power to live without meal. Is it possible? Any a man also whom called them Yogi can live without mea? Is Patanjali himself were lived without meal? He were eat or no? But it is also as true as Patanjali himself that the take fooding. Then how he told this type of hypothecation? Not only here but is can also be sys that nobody could follows up Aparigrah as stated in Yogashutra and Astey is also far away from the limits of practice.No such a Yogi who can follow up these situations, and not any kind of persons who fulfill this. Let’s talk on anther shutra -
KURMNARAYAM STAIRYAM.
Bibhutipaad, shutra- 32.
Concentration on Kurma Nari can give the stability of body.
MURDDHJYOTI SIDHDARSHANAM.
Bibhutipaad, shutra-33.
Consentration of light on the top of head (is there any man who has seen it) can meet the Sidhdhays (Yogis). It can be said that there is not any kind of this type of light and not any result of this kind of concentration. This is a false and imaginative statement and we shouldn’t have to believe it. Let’s look on other one
HRIDAYE CHITSAMVITA
Bibhutipaad, shutra 35.
Means concentration on heart can gives the knowledge about the mind & thoughts or can give the knowledge of Psychology. But I knew the Psychologists and they knew it through his labour and practice, not through these kinds of concentrations. Let’s see on another shutra
BANDH KARNSHAITHILYT PARCHR SAMDNACHA CHITASYA PARSHARIRE AVESHA.
Bibhutipaad , shutra 39.
Here Patanjali told to reach in the mind and body of others, which is called ‘Parkaya pravesh’. It is totally false and imaginative to reach and capture the mind and body of another one. In anther place Patanjai says about to fly in the air and this is receive through the concentration on the light weighted things.
KAYA KASHAYO SAMBNDH SANYAMATTLAGUTUL SAMPATTESCH AAKASHGAMANAM.
Bibhutipaad , shutra 43.
NOW YOU MAY ALSO DECIDE THAT YOGA IS WHICH KIND OF SCIENCE
One part coffee, one part exhaustion, and seven million parts geekery = An NHL-based Quidditch Fantasy League. Or, that’s how it seems. You wish you were this cool.
@antheia
Seeker: Kovalchuk
Chasers: Callahan, Lecavalier, Datsyuk
Beaters: Staal, Orr
Keeper: Lundqvist
Backup Keeper: Biron
@capsfan91
Seeker: Backstrom
Chasers: Helm, Green, Cleary
Beaters: Gill, Orpik
Keeper: Osgood
Backup Keeper: Neuvirth
@carolineduda
Seeker: Sharp
Chasers: St. Louis, Bolland, Parise
Beaters: Keith, Wisniewski
Keeper: Hiller
Backup Keeper: Nabokov
@ChiBlackhawks
Seeker: Toews
Chasers: D Sedin, H Sedin, Versteeg
Beaters: Seabrook, Backes
Keeper: Mason
Backup Keeper: Varlamov
@Dwatson783
Seeker: Ovechkin
Chasers: Savard, Zetterberg, Havlat
Beaters: Chara, Phaneuf
Keeper: Ward
Backup Keeper: Brodeur
@EP31
Seeker: Kane
Chasers: Kovalev, Franzen, Richards
Beaters: Lucic, Markov
Keeper: Luongo
Backup Keeper: Price
@kueble
Seeker: Malkin
Chasers: Crosby, Vanek, Getzlaf
Beater: Gaustad, Lydman
Keeper: R Miller
Backup Keeper: Fleury
@sarah_connors
Seeker: Semin
Chasers: Wheeler, Krejci, Laich
Beaters: Kronwall, Brashear
Keeper: Thomas
Backup Keeper: Rask
And now comes the hard part: a rule system for next season, when we actually put this into play. If you want to find us on Twitter, look for the #NHLQuidditch tag. Good lord.
You want to know why New York Rangers fans have a chip on their shoulder? Why we have an attitude that is, at best, exclusionary (and, okay, obnoxious)? This is why.
Today, I watched Donald Brashear, a man with 121 PIM and 11 fights in the regular season, level Blair Betts (16 PIM, no fights) with a late elbow. I saw this, and while waiting to find out if he was okay, I waited for the outrage from NHL fans to begin.
I waited for the same people who condemned Sean Avery for his late hits in Game 4 and his words a few months back. The people who were incensed about Sidney Crosby’s cheap shots in a scrum earlier in this season. The people who demanded punishment for Steve Ott.
I waited for these people to say something about the late hit. About intent to injure. About the difference between enforcement and thuggery.
And I was greeted with silence.
Later, when it came out that Brandon Dubinsky had been bitten by Shaone Morrisonn, the only response it elicited outside of the Rangers fans was laughter.
Blair Betts is potentially out for the rest of whatever’s left of the season with a head injury, and Brandon Dubinksy needed a tetanus shot.
Where is the outrage? Where are the voices calling for action?
Oh, right, I forgot: it doesn’t count when it happens to the Rangers.
At the urging suggestion of a friend who was interested, I joined a Fantasy Baseball League for the first time in my life. Ordinarily, I think of myself as more of a Yankee fan than a baseball fan, and really only an Easter & Christmas fan at that (high holy days include games against the Red Sox, and Old Timer’s Day). I have precious little insight into the players on other teams; what little I’ve gleaned has been from the passing conversations of my brother-in-law and my mother, and chatting with two close friends, who are Cardinals and Braves fans, respectively.
So it’s not surprising that come draft day, I felt a bit like a babe in the woods. I talked to a couple of friends about their advice, put together a decent list, and started up the ESPN Fantasy Draft. I scored nicely in the first round, picking up Albert Pujols (a move my brother-in-law assures me means that I win at Fantasy Baseball automatically) as the 2nd pick of the Draft overall. I admit it, I was feeling a little cocky. As the rounds progressed and players I’d hoped to get went to other teams (why, Mariano, why?), that faded pretty substantially. Still, by the end of the process, I figured I’d acquitted myself pretty well:
BATTERS
C Brian McCann, Atl
1B Albert Pujols, StL
2B Robinson Cano, NYY
3B(1B) Carlos Guillen, Det
SS Edgar Renteria, SF
2B/SS Mike Aviles, KC
1B/3B Mike Lowell, Bos
OF B.J. Upton, TB
OF (DH) Milton Bradley, ChC
OF Jeff Francoeur, Atl
OF (DH) Hideki Matsui, NYY
OF Delmon Young, Min
SS Orlando Cabrera, Oak
SS Jason Bartlett, TB
OF Skip Schumaker, StL
PITCHERS
SP Daisuke Matsuzaka, Bos
SP Ian Kennedy, NYY
SP Javier Vazquez, Atl
SP Carl Pavano, Cle
SP Rick Porcello, Det
SP Phil Hughes, NYY
SP/RP Joba Chamberlain, NYY
RP Grant Balfour, TB
RP Jonathan Papelbon, Bos
RP Joakim Soria, KC
And then I realized that I had four short stops and one catcher. Ha ha ha, oops? To the Free Agent List I go, with the question “Are any of the Molinas available?” hovering in my mind.
They were; and not just any Molina: Yadier hadn’t been taken! What a stroke of luck.So now I wait, and hope that my request to drop Jason Bartlett and pick up Yadier Molina will be approved. And that the DTD note on Brian McCann will disappear. Sadly, there’s nothing to be done for the piece of my soul that died when I selected not one, not two, but three Red Sox players for my roster.
It took some getting used to, but I’ve learned to love Twitter. Largely by learning how to use it: what to post, how to interact with people, and what toys were available to augment it. Here is some of what I’ve learned.
Nobody cares what you’re doing right now.
Just ignore the question posed by the update box. I have almost never tweeted* what I am really doing right at that moment. If I did, it would be a daily barrage of “checking my email”, “drinking some coffee”, “being annoyed by coworkers”. Nobody is interesting enough to make that worthwhile, not even Stephen Fry or Eddie Izzard. A good tweet is similar to a topic sentence: short, interesting, and meaningful. And what’s really key is that it should invite a response.
So it’s sort of social. Demented and sad, but social.
What makes Twitter really fun is interacting with people. The best description I’ve heard is that it’s like blogging meets ICQ. I ask a question, and my friends come back with answers. Someone I follow posts something interesting and I respond with a comment. There are a couple of ways to interact with your feed. The first, and most common, is an “@” reply. Place an @ symbol before the username** (i.e., “@antheia” - make sure not to leave a space between the symbol and the name), and then type out your response. On the Twitter website, this will show up in your “@replies”. Most Twitter clients will also highlight these especially. The other way to @reply is simply to hit the arrow next to the post in question on the Twitter page, then fill out the rest of the message. (Again, on most clients, there will also be a reply button.) @replies can be seen by anyone who’s following you, so it’s not uncommon to wind up with someone totally unrelated to the initial comment replying to you.
The next method is direct messaging. These are private messages between you and another user (you can’t direct message, or DM, people who don’t follow you); where @replies are seen by everyone, only the sender and the recipient can see direct messages. To send a DM, put a d and a space before the username (i.e., “d antheia”), then fill out the box. Any direct messages you receive will show up on your Direct Message page.
The final way is re-tweeting. This is, basically, passing on something amusing/interesting/important that was said by someone you follow to the rest of your followers. There is no “official” way to do this, but the most common is to put RT, then the @username and the text in the box. For example: RT: @racebending: http://tinyurl.com/dd4emo YAY Sequential Tart! Article about Last Airbender and historical references. :D. It’s been my experience that the best way to get something retweeted is simply to ask by adding “please retweet” or “plz RT” to the end of the item.
But really, how do I get more followers?
There’s no hard and fast rule on this. Post things that are interesting. Seek out people who post things you’re interested in and interact with them. And use an avatar with your face in it. Where blogs are largely about ideas and interests, Twitter is about connecting with people. Show your face. Or hey, maybe you don’t want everyone to see you and be your friend. That’s cool, too. But there are only two levels of security on Twitter: all or nothing. If you lock your updates, only people you follow can see them, which means that new people will have no idea what you’re about, making them less likely to follow you unless you’re friends in another context. This is totally cool, but a lot like locking your back door in a small town.
OMG, all these freaking #s are driving me crazy!
Get over it: hashtags are your friends. They identify themes in tweets, are searchable on search.twitter.com, and allow for topic trending on sites like Twist. I used the #rangers tag to find the first few new people I met on Twitter, and now find myself enmeshed in a great group of general #hockey types over there, thanks to the combination of hasthags and @replies. I’m not saying you should use it to become a big ol’ hockey fan (although I think that’d be awesome), but that these tags will help you to find people interested in the topics you’re interested in. Although they’re most commonly placed at the end of a tweet (“I really hope they win the game! #rangers”), hashtags can be used in the body for the same result (“I really hope the #rangers win the game!”).
If you’re starting a blog or tweeting about an issue that you want people to get involved in, I would strongly suggest coming up with a hashtag to identify it and spread the word. For instance, anyone tweeting about SXSW included #sxsw in their text.
There are toys for this, right? I know you: you’re all about extras!
There is so much you can do to make Twitter better, faster, stronger. Here are some of the tools I use pretty much every day:
1. Because of the character limit, a URL shortener is key. I use is.gd, but other popular choices are tinyurl, bit.ly, and twurl.
2. TwitPic is stupid amounts of fun. In its own words, it “lets you share photos on Twitter”. You can upload from the website or your camera phone, and add text for the post in either case.
3. Firefox users should download the Power Twitter add-on right off the bat. It has some crazy awesome features that integrate with the main Twitter website, like showing you what the links actually lead to, allowing you to see not only @replies, but anywhere your username has been mentioned in a tweet. It is pure awesome. (They also have a twitter feed: @powertwitter.)
4. Also for Firefox is the Twitter Fox add-on, which I use at work. It notifies you when your feed is updated, highlights @replies & direct messages, and offers separate tabs for the three levels of messages (regular feed, replies, direct messages).
5. I prefer to keep up using TweetDeck, which is a downloadable Twitter client. It automatically separates your feed into three groups: All Friends, Replies, Direct Messages. But where it really scores points is that it allows you to break your feed down into groups of your own choosing. At first, it seems unnecessary, but once you really dig in, you’ll be thankful. (They have a twitter account, too: @TweetDeck.)
6. Blip.fm is for all you music sharing junkies out there. It lets you find a song and post a link to a streamed copy along with text. And you can listen to a stream of what your friends have blipped recently. It’s pretty much made of win. (You can also incorporate it into both last.fm and Livejournal.)
7. If you have a smartphone, download a client. I use Twitterberry on my Blackberry, and I’ve heard things about the Tweetie app for the iPhone.
Is the lingo as annoying as I think it is?
Sadly, yes it is. Friends on Twitter will often be referred to as “tweeple” or “tweeps”. This is only the tip of the iceberg. But my suggestion is to learn to live with it if you can, because you’re not going to convince anyone to stop.
*Posts made on Twitter are called “tweets”.
**Usernames in Twitter are always referred to with an @ as a prefix. So I would be @antheia, rather than antheia.
I have no idea what I’m going to do with this thing, but I figured it was worth poking around a little. Mostly, I tend to feel it’s time to have a grown up blog. Of course, now that I’ve said that, I have no idea what to talk about.
Things in my life are in a slow but steady climb, which is a situation that I’m pretty pleased with. Apart from the fact that the New York Rangers keep trying to break my heart, things are pretty awesome.
So, uh. Hi, I guess.