A Little More “Off the Kuff”

For those of you who are like me and share a serious interest in politics but have a hard time keeping up, follow along with fellow blogger Charles Kuffner whose blog “Off the Kuff” has been one of the leading Houston blogs since 2002. He has the masses closely eating his every (brilliant) word and rightfully so since his research and attention to detail is more than impressive. For example:

“At a hearing [Thursday] of the House Committee on Human Services, Elkins and other members of the panel considered more than two dozen bills related to Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. Three hours into the hearing, Elkins asked: "What's Medicaid?" The Houston Republican continued: "I know I hear it -- I really don't know what it is. I know that's a big shock to everybody here in the audience, OK." He could have kept quiet. He could have asked an aide. He could have Googled it. Instead, he asked the question into the microphone in the middle of a public hearing.”

For more check out www.offthekuff.com.

The Sloane Way

I read one of the most genuinely hysterical books recently, a collection of short essays by Sloane Crosley, (freelancer for Black Book Magazine, The Village Voice and Playboy) cleverly entitled I Was Told There’d Be Cake. It was only after finishing the book did I discover that her social tendencies and side splitting anecdotes are very reminiscent of myself, and maybe that’s why I really appreciate the writing. Below is a short excerpt from the essay “Bastard out of Westchester,” which I hope demonstrates that the book is definitely worth the read.

“If I ever have kids, this is what I’m going to do with them: I am going to give birth to them on foreign soil—preferably the soil of someplace like Oostende or Antwerp—destinations that have the allure of being obscure, freezing, and impossibly cultured. These are places in which people are casually trilingual and everyone knows how to make good coffee and gourmet dinners at home without having to shop for specific ingredients. Everyone has hip European sneakers that effortlessly look like the exact pair you’ve been searching for your whole life. Everything is sweetened with honey and even the generic-brand Q-tips are aesthetically packaged. People die from old age or crimes of passion or because they fall off glaciers. All the women are either thin, thin and happy, fat and happy, or thin and miserable in a glamorous way. Somehow none of their Italian heels get caught in the fifteenth-century cobblestone. Ever.”
(Book extract courtesy of http://www.bookbrowse.com)

Before you kick it (the bucket, I mean)

I recently discovered the ingenious site 43things.com, a sort of bucket-list composer that helps you get your life on track. After registering on the site (which takes a swift 11 seconds), you begin crafting your master list and for every goal on your “life list”, the site shows how many other people around the world want to do the same exact thing, creating an intricate cyber web of social thoughts. For example, my life list includes mastering the fine art of belly dancing, which surprisingly only 190 people want to do:( The list is never ending (literally), you have everything from “learning to speak Norwegian” to “wearing more dresses” and oddball randomness in between. After completing a goal, you can jot a quick entry about how you accomplished it and share with other members. The site is the perfect inspirational tool for constructing the life you have always wanted to live!

Chasing Adele

Confession: I am an Adele junkie. I first heard “Chasing Pavements” a year ago on 4 a.m. VH1 and immediately downloaded all her tunes onto my Ipod where they have since been played over and over and over again. Lucky for me (and all other Adele fans), she is gracing Houston with her presence at Warehouse Live on Saturday March 14th. As of this second, $17 tickets are being sold on ticketmaster.com where they are sure to be sold quickly and quietly. “Hometown Glory” here I come!