Mosque at Ground Zero

To hear the latest scandal du jour in America is amusing. People are now infuriated that they want to build a Mosque and an Islamic Center at/near (Not sure) the World Trade Center (thats what I still call it by habit, but more commonly known as GROUND ZERO).

What's my view on it? I have no problem with it. Not all muslims are terrorists. I think, in my opinion the site was chosen to show the worlds "We're not all like that. Let us show you."

Yes, the Sept. 11th Terrorists were Muslim. But they were brainwashed and believing that america was the devil and when they died, they''d' go to a fucking garden of eden with like 27 virgins or something. Thats like saying all Catholics are sodomising young alter boys.

Go ahead and put it there, if it were up to me. People nowadays get offended by so many things its sickening. They don't like the color of a model's Victoria's Secret panties, they raise hell. "*roll eyes*. Whatever. I would think as we got older people would be more liberal but it''s not really like that, apparently.

Why not worry about something more important than a Mosque........ THE ECONOMY and CREATION OF JOBS!

Absinthe

I had always been curious about absinthe since I was a teenager, seeing it in a movie one day. It was a mysterious green spirit with a ritual preparation of a sugar cube, spoon, water and sometimes fire. The drink was banned in Europe in the late 1800s or early 1900s (this ain't wikipedia, people! You want stats, look em up!). Thats what drew me to this drink. The fact that I'm not supposed to drink it, makes me want to drink it MORE!

I went to Spain in 2004. I went on a search for absinthe. Unfortunately, due to the shitty value of the US dollar vs the Euro, my $500 spending money turned into 340 Euros upon exchanging it =(

The cost of living equaled America so there was no money for expensive souviniers. Especially since upon my return, I'd have to pay the rent. My plan WAS to buy a bottle of absinthe and sneak it back into the country in my luggage. Thankfully, I didn't buy it cuz I was selected for a random luggage check at the Madrid airport on my way home and they went thru all my luggage. They would've confescated the bottle since at the time Absinthe was illegal in the US. My absinthe dreams were crushed and stuffed aside somewhere until recently.

I don't really remember what started up my quest for absinthe THIS time, but at a bbq, I mentioned to some friends that I really wanted to try it. Everyone else said they did too. I decided to buy a bottle from Europe and have it shipped to me, and have a get together of my more adventurous friends to taste it.

Absinthe for those who don't know is a spirit distilled from wormwood which contains a chemical called thujone. It is rumored to cause hallucinations, and spark creativitiy. Many great artists of the belle epoque were absinthe drinkers. It was also rumored to drive people crazy. This is arguable, with people saying that the symptoms of some of these absintheurs were those of alcoholism, rather than drinking too much absinthe.

I don't do drugs. Never tried any (except my lifelong desire to try LSD just once - haven't yet)
but I wanted to see what the absinthe effect would be like. Would it make me hallucinate? Would it make me want to paint some dark twisted picture? Would I do crazy shit, totally out of character for me? I dunno! But I was sure as hell gonna find out.

Old Absinthe ads

"The Absinthe Drinker" . The green fairy, or fee verte was a nickname for absinthe.

Later on, there was propaganda against absinthe, saying it caused you to go insane.

Worried yet? Nahhhhh, this made me want to try it MORE.

I finally got my bottle of Strong 68 from Alandia, cooked some burgers, and chicken, broke out the slotted spoons I ordered, and decided to git 'er done.

Glasses lined up with spoons and a sugar cube.

There are two "rituals" to prepare absinthe, just like in the old days. The French ritual is to pour 1 oz of absinthe in a glass, top with a slotted spoon and a sugar cube. Drip cold water onto the sugar cube so it melts into the drink. You are supposed to dilute the drink with 3-5oz of water. I don't think we even used that much. Oops.


The Czech ritual is the same except you drip a few drops of absinthe on the sugar cube and light the cube on fire til it caramelizes, then you dunk it in the absinthe. You can also set the absinthe on fire and let the flame melt the sugar cube. I didn't do this because I didnt want to set the house on fire lol.

The essential oils of the drink come out when mixed with water and it turns into a cloudy liquid called a louche. Stir and bon apetit!

The taste was spicy, not bitter like everyone said. I did put 2 sugar cubes in though fearing bitterness. It had anise in it, like what's in sausage. Everyone laughed when I said absinthe tasted like sausage. But I am a fan of flavor and spice. I really enjoyed the experience. I even had 2 glasses, after swearing I'd only have one to start. Everyone had multiple glasses except 2 people.

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Did I hallucinate? No. Was I drunk out my mind? No. Did I feel different? YES. It took a while for it to kick in. I felt a little light headed, and due to my lack of experience with drugs, I'd assume it was a high feeling, but I really don't know. I remember laughing hysterically at a kid across the street trying to lean on a bush to take a picture of something in the next yard (it was dark and 1am at this point) and we all started cracking up. More than we probably would've if we weren't drinking.

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2 friends went home, 2 left. We went for a walk on the beach. It'd be all good as long as I didnt decide to walk to Portugal at low tide in the pitch black. That didn't happen. Returned home and cleaned up. Another friend went home. The last one was staying over because they wanted to hang at the beach the next day. I put my stuff away and went in my room to catch up on the daily Facebook happenings. Thats when I noticed something.

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I was looking at the font of the words on the screen. It was so THIN and WIDE. Why didn't i notice this before. I saw the dots on my sheets had a lining around them, and they had a pattern that repeated. The weaving of the fibers on the lampshade. The wood on the ceiling (I have a hardwood ceiling like a hardwood floor. weird). The numbers on the clock were dimmer than the numbers on the cable box clock. The triangular pattern of skin cells on my hand. I was staring at them in wonder. I never gave a SHIT before about those things.

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Then my hearbeat sped up for no apparent reason. I hoped I'd be able to sleep. I got up to pee. When I got in the living room my friend was still up watching tv. I felt like I was floating (but not drunk-drunk). Then I went back into my room and fell asleep. When I woke up I was fine.

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We barely made a dent in the bottle. We are gonna do it again. I was defintely a fan of absinthe. But if you don't like spice, you probably won't like this.

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I felt a connection to people during the Belle Epoque era carrying out age old rituals of preparation and feeling to some extent, the same buzz they did. I didn't paint any pictures or write any deep poems, but absinthe just gained a few more fans that night.

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The people who were too scared really missed out. I can't wait to do it again! I have it here but its lame to drink by yourself, so...until the next time!

Get a Real Job

The phrase I get the most nowadays is "When are you gonna get a real job?" or just "Get a real job already!" I'm so sick of hearing this bullshit. Today there was major drama at my temp job. Some tenants number was given out to another tenant, who then called the first tenant and accused her of having roaches. Then she called me cursing me out thinking I gave out her number (i didn't), and said she's offended that anyone would accuse her of being unclean and shit. She said she had maintenance issues from when she moved in in January (before I came here), and they haven't been fixed. Then she continued to curse me out, rant about my cheap jewish boss, and hang up.

Today the main office called and blamed me saying that she's had issues for months and I never reported it. The woman from the main office told me the tenant said this. I said if she called while I was here, it was reported. But its my word against theirs. Apparently the super said he never got the work order too.

When all else fails blame the temp.... >=/

So then I was told to call an exterminator. Since I am a lowely temp and not allowed to do anything, I had to call a woman at yet another office to call them. She wasn't available so ANOTHER woman told me she'll give her the message (she usuallyDOESNT pass along messages and just blames me and says she never heard anything from me). I was told to have the tenant write a letter stating that she needs an exterminator. Never heard of that before! But fine. I called her and told her. She was infuriated. I said I was doing as I was asked and I can't even write it myself. So she came over and wrote the letter. Her husband asked me if I was working with a temp agency. I said "unfortunately yes. It's all the work I can find right now." Her husband says "Go get a real job! Don't do this SHIT. This place is horrible! you'll get a bad reputation working here!" Although I see his point, I don't like to be talked to like I like temping and want to be a fucking career temp! I hate temping! I have to live and UE doesn't pay me shit this year. Plus I'm able to have somewhat of a social life, resulting in a much happier ME !

Then she says to me "I have children, and I want to see young people do well. Don't stay here. Get a real job!" Whatever lady. I thought I already made that clear that I'm only here because that's all I can find.

Anyway after I faxed the note to the Neptune office, I was told she has to provide me with a dead roach as proof that she has roaches. It was the end of the day and I didn't call her back. She'll be amused when she hears that. But different people say different things! Noone's story is the same. I complained to my boss that it was made to look like I never reported her leaking WHATEVER from Jan. Turns out she was calling in June, documented in computer, and the super said he completed the work. So I wrote a long email to my boss bitching that I am made to be the scapegoat. She is mad because someone gave out her NUMBER and YOU are screwing her over and she refuses to pay rent til they fix the problems (the whole complex is falling apart). And they are trying to twist it around blaming ME saying she's mad cuz of ME. The boss is a cowardly hasidic jew who doesn't deal with confrontation. Needless to say, he didn't answer. I am looking even harder for new jobs (temp or perm).Although I really need perm but theres just NOTHING!

My boss ^

I apply to tons of jobs, most of which I am overqualified for, and get no response. So I'm kind of in a rut. All I've done is temp, and my last real jobs were higher level jobs. Now I'm applying to entry level jobs. And getting nowhere. It seems that there are more bad temp jobs than good ones. I am so sick of being a fucking temp!! But i dont want to give up the happiness that comes with being able to do things and have a social life.