operation let's run a race, but first let me break your knees..

i've noticed that my political rants don't attract many commenters at all here in deshigrrrl-blogland. perhaps i come off as anti-american when in fact i am just anti-bush. or perhaps my rants don't go deep enough into an issue so as to conjure comments. perhaps people just don't want to talk about it.. such as a co-worker (albeit a lily white blindly patriotic one) who asked to be left off my email lists if the subject matter refers to current affairs in iraq. either way, i've realized that political rants are best left to people like arundhati roy who continues to amaze me with her insight and articulation. read, if you will.. but i warn you that it is a long one, as are most of her essays... but full of interesting commentary and fun bush-bashing.

i helped my cousin move into an apartment this weekend so as to prevent her family from expecting me to let her stay at our place for the next 3 months. that's the bengali way, you see, when it comes to familia. of course it would be hella inconvenient for both c and i if she stayed with us for such an extended period of time even though we do have an extra room which we use as our office. turns out she's having roommate problems and can't stand to stay there another minute. her mother's immediate reaction was to have her stay at our place until she leaves for home in june, but i was having none of that. truth be told, neither was c. so i pulled in a favor from friend who owns an apartment building and asked if he wouldn't mind renting to her for 3 months. luckily he was cool with that and so now she lives on her own and i will take all the credit for guiding her towards the path of independence, nevermind her folks are footing all the bills. she seemed a little intimidated by the whole thing, having never lived on her own before.. but i feel good about it. it's a nice neighborhood, not too far from me, my friend lives in the adjacent building, etc. so it's all good. she'll do just fine.

i rented a car that weekend to help with the move, and on the way home i pulled a u-turn at an intersection and got a ticket...

i've never gotten a ticket before.. i was pretty pissed as i forked over $75 for it.