Fall has arrived!

This is a picture I stole from my sister's blog. How cute is my niece??

We have had a really weird fall, so far. It's actually been pretty hot through Sept. and Oct. Today, it made it into the 40's and I actually wore real shoes for the first time. I love fall, but I don't like wearing real shoes (even though I was actually wearing Birkenstocks for much of the past 5 weeks).

It's pretty much the same every year here in the tri-state area. As children, we would plan our Halloween costumes for weeks, and the weather would be pretty warm and we would get so excited thinking that we'd actually be able to wear our costumes without wearing a coat. Then, without fail, it would get cold all of a sudden and all plans were shot. Of course, this year has been much warmer than most -- in the 70's and 80's. But still, three days before Halloween, it's now in the 40's.

Race relations

The other day, I was with a client who reported that she has Puerto Rican, Dominican, American Indian and African American heritage. Somehow, I said something about being white, which I figured was fairly obvious. She said, "You're white?" I just looked at her, showed her my hand, said, "Yes, of course I'm white!" She responded, "Really? Where is your mother from?" When I answered that she was born and raised here in the US, she asked where my grandmother was from. Again, I answered that she was born and raised in the US and that my ancestors go back for many years, but before that, they were from England, Scotland, and Sweden. Basically, the whitest countries you can be from -- that's where my people are from. I am so white that I have to slather 45 on to sit on the beach for any length of time, as well as wearing a hat and sitting under an umbrella.

I am increasingly realizing that for many of my clients, "white" is a negative term. If you call someone white, that's pretty much as bad as it gets. One of my clients is definitely white -- fair skin, freckles, straight hair, etc. The worst name she is called at school is "White out." I've had clients that have said someone was white, and then quickly say, "Oh, sorry" because they assume that I would be offended by that term. The fact that they like me, for the most part, means that I can't possibly be white. Maybe I should not tell them!

Did this really happen?

This is a picture of Robert Plant talking to Jessica Simpson. In case you don't know who they are, Robert Plant is the lead singer of the greatest rock and roll band of all time, Led Zeppelin. Jessica Simpson is.... a singer. sort of.

30 Rock quote of the week (10/25)

Liz Lemon: I need my job back, but this is not crawling. This is proud begging, like those kids that dance on the subway."

Great episode!

The Office quote of the week (10/25)

After hearing the song that Daryl wrote and everyone sang in harmony, Michael said, "I thought this was supposed to be a rap." Daryl responded, "What's rap?" Michael said, "Daryl, you have so much to learn about your culture. I'll make you a mix."

Gimme More

After almost two years, I now have cable again. I was most excited for VH1 and MTV, although I have no idea why because they weren't that great two years ago and they are even worse now.

This morning (because that's the only time they show videos), I saw Britney's new video for "Gimme More." I can't believe that anyone thought this was the song that was going to be her big comeback. The song is really terrible. I mean, so monotonous and uncreative. The kids in my group made up a song about washing their hands that had more interesting lyrics. (They were "wash, wash, wash, wash your hands.") The video is even worse. A few postings back, I complained about the amount of stripper poles in the mainstream media. Well, I would have given her a couple of singles myself if she did anything more interesting than just walk around the pole. Seriously, seriously, bad. And not in a good way.

You have to be careful in New York City

Whenever I'm at the gym, I am super paranoid about a man walking into the ladies locker room by mistake. If I even hear a man's voice close to the door, I pause just to make sure he's not coming in. I rent a locker, which is situated right by the door, so if I'm at my locker, I'm the first naked person he'll see. In all my years at this gym, it's happened twice. Since I've been going more than 8 years, I guess that's pretty good. Both times, I happened to be fully clothed, thank goodness.

One of these times happened just last Tuesday. So it's no surprise that on Thursday, when I saw a man walk all the way in and actually make it to a locker without realizing he was in the wrong place I was alarmed. I turned to him and said, "EXCUSE ME!" He did not make a move, which made me immediately realize my mistake. I whispered the woman next to me, "Is that a man?" and she just gave me a look that said, "I'm outta here! This is not my problem." Then I could sort of see the outline of a sports bra through this person's shirt, as he/she took his/her stuff out of the locker and walked right out with his/her eyes on the ground. There really was no other indicator that this could be a woman. I still feel really bad, though.