i just walked past a group of black people protesting how rolling stone/miller beer's eight-can series of rock musicians 'white washs' music made great by blacks. they were outside a big business center, which i entered for its starbucks, where i found a black man behind the counter and asked him to make me a white hot chocolate.

behavioral finance?

i just ran across this term in some verrrry interesting media-bigwig bios i'm editing, and it sounds very, very creepy. creepy as in let's take advantage of the way this term mimics the credible-sounding behavioral science, and then let's sock 'em with our catlike cataloging skills when their pants/defenses are down.

praytell, what is behavioral finance? is it the prediction of consumers' spending patterns w/r/t our biological and social profiles? this sounds scary. or could it be the more straightforward practice of giving people money when they behave a certain way? like, prostitutes are financed when they behave in a blowjob sort of way around certain men.

i've been to two doctors today and have two more to go. needless to say, there have been/will be more post-physician icecream treats. well, the chiropractor doesn't count as a physician. have i mentioned i'm going to a REAL spine m.d. next month? i am stoked. smoked. lately i've been asking every m.d. i go to if i can blame this-or-that problem on the chiropractor. they always smile and say sure.

the last doktor i go to tonight is the shrink. yay! i have been waiting for this for a while. and really, it was easier than my insurance-phonecall-avoiding mental block told me it would be. i hope this woman is cool. over the phone she sounded a bit dull. but no worries if we don't work out...there are more shrinks in manhattan than there are people.

this morning the warmly paternal yet brusque orthopedist (#1) diagnosed me with patella-blahblah syndrome, so i am skipping happily (he told me i can skip) back to physical therapy, and tomorrow i will finally achieve what i have been lovingly referring to as my epantsipation (he told me i can wear my mary janes instead of sneakers).

greg is having a dance party on sept. 11. there will be twin kegs. rob is coming up. everyone else come! you can stay with me.

it's time for a haircut when

an intern mistakes you for an older, heavier, blander person she has already met.

my hair has gotten too long to wear down, so i've had it back in boring buns and ponytails, but this is the last straw. why couldn't she have confused me with someone better looking?

really i don't begrudge new people their confusion; i have been guilty of fusing plenty of very distinct faces in my effort to absorb the large amount of information they take for granted. when i was new this older lady would confuse me with another new and unfortunately frogfaced girl with a mop for hair and BANGS, but i got back at her by confusing her with a really spacy older lady who works on the same floor.

if there is an edge, hyphens will push me over it.

and i hope there are a lot of phoebe's bran muffins on the other side.

october 22

i have just been informed in pleasant, measured tones via modern telecommunication that this is the date on which my right ankle will surge. it's a little too close to thanksgiving for comfort, since holiday airports are already a nightmare when i have two functioning feet, so i asked them to call me if they can work out anything sooner.

for now, there will be lots of fun and revelry-making: kt's tennessee lakehouse with the rest of jam304 for labor day, homecoming maybe, and medonna III (new york) with brewton as choreographer in mid-october. then the Punishment arrives, with lots of hobbling and whining to follow.

for right now i am excited because rania, my favorite person from high school, is coming to nyc to work at the human rights watch! rania is one of the frankest, most refreshing people i know, and in high school we had lots of fun cutting each other's hair and dancing in the rain. we even had a crush on the same egomaniacal (to us, 'inspiring') boho-boy, and only now are we wise enough to know that we two make far better company than he.

so rania's coming over for dinner tonight, and she is going to meet ed, and we are all going to drink wine and eat this chick-pea and spinach stew i have yet to make, as well as a key lime pie that ed and i made last night while drinking brazilian sugar cane liquor and taking turns shouting over the phone with russ, who is moving to chicago in a week and whom i've just realized i can't visit when emily does because duh, that's in the middle of the week and some signs i'm picking up from my environs (gray desk, plastic 'walls,' staples catalogs 2002 and 2004) are suggesting to me that i just might have a job.