2006 January « femtique

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femtique 10:38 pm on January 31, 2006 | 7 | # |

In my Social Welfare Policy class with professor Karger, one of the assignments is a group paper, in which, the group decides upon a topic, and then, each group member is assigned a sub-topic still pertaining to the main topic upon which to elaborate on. Tonight, our five member group made a decision about which topic we were going to work on: the feminization of poverty.

It is a very interesting topic, but here’s the catch: one of the members of our group is not part of the college of social work, no, he is a member of the college of political science. Now, I had considered whether or not I was going to study policy analysis, but I changed my mind from policy analysis to social work, because in social work, we specifically deal with policy related to those most vulnerable in society, i.e. minorities, the poor, women, gerentology, homosexuals, etc.

We had a bit of an argument about women in poverty in America. He argued that women have traditionally been as poor as men; that is, women and men have equally been poor (on the same level of poverty) in the history of the U.S., except recently, to where, there has been a significant increase of women in poverty in the last 50 years. One of my colleagues from the college of social work disagreed, and so did I. In fact, we had just finished reading a book last semester about women in poverty, and we both explained to him that women have always been, on average, to a greater disadvantage economically than men in our country, due to the amount of discrimination that women have endured in our country. This policy student was quite indignant about his sources, of course, neither me or my colleague thought he was right; in fact, we thought he was full of shit. Tomorrow, during our class at 5:30 p.m., I intend to ask my professor what he thinks about this argument. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say; I’d like to hear a social welfare policy analysist’s perspective on the topic.
femtique 11:00 pm on January 29, 2006 | 8 | # |
femtique 9:45 pm on January 28, 2006 | 5 | # |

Introduction: Continuing from the first film, in the past, the main character killed for a war based on deception, but now that she knows the truth, she must fight for the future, so that justice is served.

Review: A lot of people ranted and raved that this film was better than the original, but contrary to popular reviews, I think this movie is of the same caliber as the original. The main character is a good fighter, but she would be better if she didn’t always have to use guns. I found it peculiar that the male vampires in this film mostly fought with their bare hands, and that the only female vampire in the film, primarily used guns to fight, as if, she was not capable of fighting with her brawn. Considering that vampires are mythical creatures, I found it strange that the female character seemed almost handicapped without her gun. In the first film, she saved the day and did not need assistance, but in the second film, she is not as strong as in the first film, only relying on artillery. This reminds me of Blade Trinity. Blade was good by himself, kicking ass, because that’s what Blade does . . . kick ass by himself, but the director and producer really ruined the film by introducing sidekicks. I feel the same way about this film as well; she did not need a sidekick in her lover.
femtique 1:07 am on January 27, 2006 | 10 | # |

I’ve been extremely busy setting up a new event at our school. You can learn more about it here. I am directly in charge of it, and it’s been taking up most of my time. I figured, however, that I would update you all of my absence. Usually, I’m blogging like a wild maniac, but lately, I’ve been quite busy. Busy like a bee, if you will. Next Thursday is the event, and then tomorrow morning, I go to the dentist to get my root canal. As pooh bear would say: “Oh bother” or Piglet “Oh-d-d-d-ddear”. I will update, however, when time permits. In the meantime, I’ll continue reading blogs at night after work and after homework (have you noticed how I’ve been commenting rather late lately?).

If you get bored though, you should check out my flickr page or my “elsewhere” links. I usually update them whenever something of interest passes my way. I am able to update them at home and at work. They are sort of like my “blog link” entries. They all have small notes to explain what the link is about. So, stop by and take a look — or I’ll have to throw you off the plank, arrr matey! ((my pitiful pirate impression))

Oh yeah, and check out this adorable outfit I bought for Smitten last week, I forgot to show you guys this one.
femtique 11:02 pm on January 24, 2006 | 4 | # |
femtique 11:26 pm on January 23, 2006 | 13 | # |

This past week of spending like mad has been great, but now it’s time to save. I cannot begin to explain, first off, how good it is to have a job. I was searching for a job for three months, and I landed this one October 31st, on Halloween. I’ll always remember that too, because it fell on a Monday. Both Kris and I having a job on campus means we will be able to not have to waste money on gas for our car, and since we earn a little bit more that what it takes for us to survive, we will be able, for once in the entire time we’ve been married, to save some money for future emergencies.

So, how has my job been so far? Pretty darn good if I do say so myself. I am principally in charge of three things: 1) Programing events 2) Writing the spotlight 3) In charge of recruitment. Out of the 30 emails I sent, there were three people seriously interested in volunteering, and two have showed up to volunteer, while the fourth, is yet to be seen. It is sort of funny though, because the third person is actually one of my group members for a project that is due in March.

As far as my courses, I am a part-time student, and I’m taking two classes. One class is the second part of “Confronting Oppression”, and it is called “Gender, Culture and Human Development”. In Confronting Oppression, we studied “theories as they relate to social and economic justice with attention to persons and groups most affected by oppression”, but in Gender, Culture, and Human Development we focus on “theories of human development with attention to the influences of gender, race, ethnicity, and culture”. Some people find these subjects quite boring, but I actually find them fascinating, because the thought of learning the skills to empower people to cope with life’s difficult situations makes it all worth while.

Off topic a bit, Kris and I are thinking about investing on e-trade. Kris and I need to start doing the smart thing, and invest, but we’ve never done it before, and it will be quite an adventure for both of us.

On another note, I was asked to show what phone I got with t-mobile, and I got this.
femtique 7:25 pm on January 21, 2006 | 7 | # |

Kris and our little princess Smitten, finally got to join up with other Houstonians at the Houston Chihuahua meetup group, and it was a whole lot of fun. The whole reason I wanted Smitten to attend this meetup, was because, she’s really afraid of other dogs, but she’s not afraid of cats because quite frankly, she thinks she is a cat. Slowly but surely, with enough chihuahua meetups, she should be able to realize that she is indeed a dog, and will learn to accept who she is, instead of being in complete denial of her heritage as a canine.

We left at around 10 a.m., went to Starbucks for some coffee, and then headed out to the dog park and arrived there at 10:45. The meetup was scheduled for 11 a.m., but we got there a little bit early. We stayed longer than we had anticipated, and left at around 12:45.

I couldn’t believe how fast two hours went, but when you’re surrounded by adorable pure breed animals where ever you look, it’s really an enjoyable experience. It’s almost as if, we got to go to a petting zoo, where, we did not pet farm animals, just dogs. It would appear from today’s little excursion that we had, as a family (that being Kris, Smitten, and I of course), learned that most of the people who showed up to the meetup wanted the same thing for their dogs as we do for Smitten, which is, to be sociable with people, and especially, other dogs.

Out of all the breeds I saw at the dog park, I was quite fond of the pugs. One pug was named pixel, and I met the person who is in charge of the Houston Pug Meetup, which was really nice. I asked another pug owner a little bit about pugs, and why they look the way they do; that is, what was their original purpose as a breed? She told me:

Pugs are a companion breed, nothing more, nothing less.

I found that quite interesting, and it made a lot of sense, because all of the pugs I saw there had friendly personalities, and were very laid back and loving. They loved having their bellies scratched, and Kris even had fun with one of the pugs, because it was barking at him, because the pug wanted Kris to chase him around the park! Yeah, you could say, that Kris had a really good time too. In the future, you never know, when Kris and I have a house of our own, we might adopt a little pug, because they really have adorable little personalities.

The Splurging Spree

Now, there’s a reason why my maiden name is Spreeman, because when I need do, I definately go on shopping sprees. Kris and I got all the things we’ve wanted for a while. For one, here’s an update about my past trip to the dentist. The bottom line, was that I was told by the dentist that I need a root canal “oh joy, oh rapture!” next Friday. In the meantime, I’m taking antibiotics until Friday when I get my operation. You see, the way a root canal goes is this: when a person somehow gets bacteria to eat up the nerves in one’s teeth, then, there is a substancial amount of pain when biting, hence, a root canal is a dental procedure to where the dentist takes out all of the nerves and blood vessels in the tooth, and fills it with a special sealant, and then, caps it with a crown. I have one root canal that needs to be done, two crowns, and one broken filling that needs to be fixed. Next Friday, I’ll be getting that done, with an exception that the crowns will take two weeks to make, and the week after that, I’ll be getting my teeth cleaned. Guess what the grand total was? Shit, you don’t even want to know, trust me. Alas, it must be done, because I definately want to keep all of my teeth.

Other than teeth and paying the rent, which are necessities, here is the fun part: the actual splurging. Kris and I basically got everything we’ve wanted for some time now, and thank goodness, we still have enough left to pay for a statistics course I need to take during the summer, and, oh wait — I forgot, shoot, a lot has happened this week. Guess who is coming to live with us during the summer? My little brother, Shaquille! Kris and I are so thrilled, because we will be able to spend time with him without my mother interfering in us scolding him, and Shaq is also going to Sylvan Learning Center here in Houston for the entire summer, and yes, we are paying for it. Of course, I’ll be asking mom for some cash to pay for Shaq’s meals, but basically, it’s us and him. You have to understand, that it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to spend quality, un-interupted time with my little brother Shaq. He will live for a summer in the big city, and it’s going to be quite an adventure for him, and we are truly excited beyond all belief.

Okay, now where were we going with the splurging? Here is the official splurging list of Spring ‘06. We won’t be splurging again until Fall ‘06.

PSP with Madden ‘06 (for Kris)

An office chair (for Kris), it looks like this, but costed a fraction of the price. I believe it was $140 bucks, and it’s not leather, it’s just plastic.

30 gig Ipod (for me) I still don’t know how to use the video on
it yet though, but I did buy some awesome software which lets me download movie show times, my email, my rss feed, and a whole host of other things sync’d to my ipod for only $19.99.

New!! T-Mobile cell phones and services (for Kris and I) I’m actually able to afford a cell phone now that I have a decent paying job, unlike last year, when I had a pay-as-you-go phone. Kris’s picture album is here, and mine is here.

A new laptop (for me) It’s actually kind of ironic, because my old computer is a better computer, but I needed a lighter laptop. My previous notebook computer is 7.9 lbs., whereas, the one I have now is 5.1 lbs.

Here are the laptop specs I’m going to either put on ebay, or have one of you all buy from me for $700 bucks. Quite a nice deal, considering the retail price and that the processor speed is actually 3.2 gig. Let me know if you are interested by emailing me at krisandapril [at] gmail.com

A gamer’s chair (for me)

Some awesome clothes for Smitten! I got her a princess outfit for Houston Chihuahua Meetup “pawtees” and a adorable faux fur and denim jacket, which you can view here or at the top, where she’s wearing it.

A DVD burner, because I don’t have TIVO, and I’m missing entirely too much good t.v. right now.

Shoes (for me). I fell in love with these shoes after watching The Island, even though the movie wasn’t all that.

Some earings (for me) The look similar, but my earings were different, and a bit more pricey.

Some cologne (for Kris), he got Hugo Boss. His usual is Cool Water, but he decided to go for a change. I commend him on it, heck, after almost five years of being married to him, smelling Cool Water, well, it’s a nice change of pace.

Star Trek: Movies I – VI on DVD. (yes, I love sci-fi with a passion)

A new vacuum clearner, because I gave the one I bought last semester to my mom, because it’s such a good one. I just bought the exact same vacuum cleaner.

After an hour typing this entry, I must go now, and do the glamorous job of cleaning the house, it’s my turn to do the duty. Kris and I alternate cleaning duties every week.
femtique 11:33 pm on January 20, 2006 | 9 | # |

I’ve Been Tagged!

Barb tagged me with the meme, “Fun with Fours.” I’m typing this entry while watching one of my new dvd collections, all six Star Trek movies on dvd. I shall write a lengthy entry with photos after the Houston Chihuahua meetup tomorrow (yes, I’ll actually be able to go this time!!).

Four Jobs You’ve Had

1. Airman (Unites States Airforce)
2. Server (waitress)
3. Private music teacher
4. Graduate assistant at a college women’s resource center

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over

1. All Star Trek Movies
2. Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
3. Kill Bill I & II
4. The Matrix, all three movies.

Four Places You’ve Lived

1. Brownsville, Texas
2. Biloxi, MS
3. Houston, Texas
4. (sorry, no fourth)

Four TV Shows You Love to Watch

1. Battlestar Galactica, the new series
2. Star Trek Enterprise
3. That 70s Show
4. Home Improvement

Four Favorite Books

1. Killing Rage: Ending Racism, bell hooks
2. Race Matters, Cornel West
3. The Bible
4. The Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice

Four Places You Have Been on Vacation

1. Nebraska
2. Wisconsin
3. South Dakota
4. Illinois

Four Websites You Visit Daily

1. Democracy Now
2. Mixed Media Watch
3. Feminist Daily News
4. Rachel’s Tavern

Four Favorite Foods

1. Grilled Chicken
2. Green Tea
3. Guacamole
4. Chocolate or Coffee

Four Places You’d Rather Be Right Now

1. in a hot bath
2. IHOP
3. in my husband’s arms
4. with my mother and brother

Four Bloggers You’re Tagging

1. Logtar
2. Carla
3. Betty
4. David
femtique 7:28 am on January 18, 2006 | 14 | # |

I got my financial aid, and so, among going to the dentist and getting my teeth fixed, getting our car fixed, and buying books for school, there are a ton of other things we need or want, rather, lol. I normally categorize this entry as splurge, but until we get all we need, I can’t write an entire list down just yet of what we bought. I can tell you this though: Kris got his PSP with Madden ‘06 and I got another laptop computer, but it’s a hell of a lot lighter than my other toshiba. I needed a lighter computer, and now I’ll probabaly be selling the computer on ebay. It’s a very good computer. I’ll make sure though, to share specs with my online friends first, before putting it on ebay, but it’s a really good deal (sorry Mac people). I’ll be reading blogs, but I won’t be able to write a proper entry like I would normally until we finish what we need to finish buying. We also pay our rent a half year in advance as well, so as you are reading, you might find out, that Kris and I basically get paid two big fat checks from the government, that are loans that we have to pay back, and we end up buying practically a year’s worth of certain supplies. Ok, I’ve rambled on enough. You all take care, and have a splendid week.
femtique 9:53 pm on January 16, 2006 | 18 | # |

After watching Aeon Flux again, and a whole host of movies and television shows where a woman dominates in fighting, what I often notice, is that there is usually two opinions that develop from men who watch female dominated fighting; that is, where a woman can beat a man down. It’s either that men do not mind pretending that a woman can beat a man, but that in reality, it just is not possible, or that, it is completely unrealistic to envision someone like Angelina Jolie or Charlize Theron whopping some male ass. For example, at Yahoo Movies, this is what one man had to say about Charlize Theron in Aeon Flux:

There was a lot of action and the acting was pretty good. I’m not too keen on all these movies where women are beating the crap out of guys (My suspension of disbelief can only go so far).

Surely, we can agree, that there are relatively very few movies that break the norm, in that they show a fight between a man and a woman, and women actually ends up winning.

There is a strong ideological connection between the media and reality. I could easily understand why, for example, there are very few movies where a man is beating a woman, whether done for self defense or not, because we have a very long history of domestic violence against women, and we are desperately, trying to avoid encouraging that type of situation. The same could be said of women who commit domestic violence against men. In society, there is a very strong ideology not to encourage any man to lay a single finger on a woman whatsoever for many reasons. For one, there have been many cases where men were just rough housing with their own spouses, and actually ended up seriously hurting them, because they did not realize their own strength. Often, this is exactly what happends between my 6′6″ husband of mine.

There are some men, however, that do not feel sorry for women, and are willing to box against them for the money Quoted from Doghouseboxing.com In an interview with James Johnson, Journalist Benny Henderson asked:

“Some would look at this situation as a lose/lose situation for yourself, you win, you beat a girl, you lose and you get beat by a girl, what are your thoughts?”,

and Johnson replied:

“I look at this the same way, if I go in there and knock her out, well then they say I knocked a woman out, exactly. Well, if I lost to her then my career would be pretty much over because I lost to a woman, but on the other hand I get a chance to make history and to prove a point. I have the chance to be the one person in the world to prove why this should not be done. When it is all over and done with I will have been the one to prove why men should be fighting men and women should be fighting women. Like I said she called me out”.

James Johnson ended up beating Ann Wolfe.

With all of this taken into account, can a woman really beat a man down? Is it possible? After reading that yahoo movies comment above, it encouraged me to seach on goggle for women who beat men a man down, and what I found, was a female kickboxer who fought against a man and won, and another example where a woman beat a man down in a boxing ring and won, but she fought a horse jockey, I mean, c’mon! A horse jockey of all people? A race horse jockey is unbelievably small, and there is no doubt in my mind that a woman could accomplish such a feat.

Despite all the odds that are against women, I do believe it is possible. If a man is bigger than a woman, and they both have equal fighting skills, it is more likely that the man will win, but if they have equal strength and skills, then there is no reason why a woman wouldn’t have a figthing chance. I also believe, that one of the biggest reasons why men are stronger and why women are not, is because we have genetically been predisposed to these conditions, and there is nothing we women can do about it, other than, pump some iron and learn how to fight. If we women spent more time learning how to defend ourselves, and less time in the kitchen cooking, I can guarantee that if a man tried to rape or hurt us in any other way, he would think twice before messing with us after a quick blow to the head.

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femtique 10:38 pm on January 31, 2006 | 7 | # |

femtique 11:00 pm on January 29, 2006 | 8 | # |

femtique 9:45 pm on January 28, 2006 | 5 | # |

femtique 1:07 am on January 27, 2006 | 10 | # |

femtique 11:02 pm on January 24, 2006 | 4 | # |

femtique 11:26 pm on January 23, 2006 | 13 | # |

femtique 7:25 pm on January 21, 2006 | 7 | # |

femtique 11:33 pm on January 20, 2006 | 9 | # |

femtique 7:28 am on January 18, 2006 | 14 | # |

femtique 9:53 pm on January 16, 2006 | 18 | # |

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