Living in the suburbs of Vegas is surprisingly similar to living in the suburbs of any other big city, except everything around here just seems to be open a few hours later .  Maybe I'm just used to Irvine's 8pm shutdown time.

So, I was feeling pretty at home the other day grocery shopping at Vons.  I browsed the titles at the top of the aisles to plot my course: cereal, sugar, canned foods, paper plates and napkins, slot machines.... wait. rewind. WHAT? slot machines???

I couldn't believe my eyes, so I went there to take a look.  Yep.  There they were, all in a pretty little row.  And there were actually people sitting at them, too!

Who plays slots at Vons???  The hecks?  That totally didn't make any sense to me at all.

Other than that, everything's been pretty normal. The second I scrounge up enough money I want to go to a buffet, though!!!

Man, I'm broke.  I haven't been this broke since I was still in college and my family decided to disown me.

I started doing work for my new company a couple weeks before we moved here, fully expecting to receive a check from them as soon as I arrived.  Because of various miscommunication issues, a week later, my money still hasn't come in, so things are getting pretty tight around here. 

Hopefully this will help me diet for the wedding.

To make matters worse, there are problems with Brent's school loans, so they're not coming in until later this month... too bad by then I'll already have my checks so it won't really matter as much.

I forgot what it felt like to be completely broke.  I mean there have been times in the past couple years where I had to transfer money from my savings to my checking because I miscalculated here or there, but this is pretty bad.

Somebody please buy me a  mattress!!!!!!

Since I've been coming into contact with a lot of people from my past and losing contact (or at least proximity) with a lot of people from my present, I've been thinking a lot about friendship.

I've discovered that while there is a fairly clear line between a person who is a friend and an acquaintance, within the realm of friendship there are also many different levels.  The term "friend" seems too all-encompassing, and even the term "best friend" or "close friend" doesn't really make that much of  difference.

What surprises me the most is that there are some friendships where a year or more can pass, yet once we reconnect, it is the same as always.  While there are others where a few months is enough to turn that person into a stranger.  This is true regardless of how much time I've spent with the person overall.  There's a certain closeness that I share with certain people that never seems to break no matter the distance (even the ukraine or the caribbean) or the time apart.

And I have to say, while it's super depressing when I realize that people I thought were my friends have become strangers, I very much cherish those moments when I realize I've found that type of friend in which closeness is a feeling and not a length of time, a forced effort or distance.

So, I've been in vegas for a couple days now... I start my new job today, and Brent already left earlier today for his first day of med school!  I'm too lazy to take pictures, so here's one brent took of our apartment.  Can you believe this is about the same price as the room I had in cali??

More to come when we've unpacked and everything.

Kim.

Anyone in the west covina area wanting cheap stuff like $1.00 for clothes and a $20 27 inch tv that works perfectly among tons of other stuff, email me at wikipatterns@gmail.com

So... since the last entry was posted, Brent received his acceptance into med school and I got a new job.  In Vegas.

I'm moving to Vegas this Saturday. We start work and school on Monday.

It seems weird to me that I haven't written anything about my huge life changes.  Yet, as I sit here, its hard for me to think of things to write about. 

The stress of an out of state move, a looming wedding and no money to my name is starting to get to me.  I'm freaking out about all the things that need to be done, or have to be planned, or aren't going to get done, or might not be done right. 

I thought I would be spared from bridezilla mode... but I guess no one's immune.

Im not a huge music video fan... But this is pretty awesome.

CALL TO ACTION
To vote in support of the California Supreme Court's decision on same-sex marriage:

1. call 1-916-445-2841
2. press 1, 5, 1, 1

Fully automated and not limited to CA voters.

After you've done this send it on to all supporters you know.
It couldn't be easier to vote... please take 15 seconds right now to do it!

To email go to http://gov.ca.gov/interact,
hit email tab and select Supreme Court decision on Same Sex Marriage.
On the next screen you must click PRO. It's a little confusing since
we're talking about the initiative for which we are con. Then just a
couple of words of thanks are all you need. No long letter which no one
will read anyway.

State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-558-3160 ( new number )

Please repost.

"If you don't want gay marriage...don't have one."

It seems like yesterday that my friends and I rampaged the rough suburbia residential streets of the Silicon Valley yanking out the "YES ON PROP 22" signs from people's lawns and then making quick getaways.  It wasn't much, (and I'm pretty sure it was illegal) but it was the one of the only things that we as 17 year-old (read: unable to vote) high school seniors and the founding class of the GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) felt we could do. -- Looking back, I'm sure we could have done more productive things -- but I have to say, it sure helped us let out some steam.

Anyhow, as you guys have probably heard, the amendments made by Prop 22 in the 2000 elections to the California constitution have been overturned... Meaning the ban on same-sex marriage is, for now, gone.

I was on the road yesterday when I found out I (embarrassingly) actually cried tears of joy.  Perhaps because I'm on my way to getting married myself, it makes the victory even more poignant to me.

I'm so happy that all the people I have met and known along the way can get married and be able to feel the way I do.  It's amazing being engaged to the man I love, and I know it's going to be even more wonderful spending the rest of our lives together as a family.

I know would feel like I was losing something if my marriage vows were called a "domestic partnership"... Even if I knew everything was exactly the same.   The connotations hold different weights.  (For example, making love, having sex and f***ing could all be talking about the same thing, the same event, but you can't tell me that they evoke the same feeling).

Separate is not equal... and I don't think separate can be equal.  Not for colored people who wanted to use a restroom or ride at the front of a bus...It wasn't for women who wanted to vote... and it isn't for gay people who want to get married.

In 1959 a trial judge sentenced an interracial couple to a year in prison for leaving the state to get married, and then returning to the state as a married couple.  He stated:

"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red,
and He placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference
with His arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The
fact that He separated the races shows that He did not intend for the
races to mix."

How different and unforgiving would our world would be if that ruling hadn't been overturned by the US Supreme Court as unconstitutional.

I know that it's going to be a hard road to keep the California Supreme Court's ruling in place.  There are a lot of dissenters, and a new amendment to counteract this overruling will almost certainly be on the ballot in November. I'm not as worried this year, though, and I probably won't be pulling signs off people's front lawn any time soon...

The difference this time around?  I can vote...which (I think, anyway) makes a much larger difference.

Holy crap, I wrote an essay.

la pride parade 2005

.. no... really... WHAT???

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.