bus riding etiquette.

don't get me wrong, i love public transportation. i only have to fill up my gas tank once a month and it only costs $45 for a monthly bus pass. love it. however, some men on the bus think that they don't need to close their legs when someone sits next to them. for example, this morning, i moved all the way to the back of the bus just like the young and people with out disabilities are supposed to. i sat next to a more mature gentleman who was sitting close to the window with one seat next to him. but really, he only had one half of a seat next to him. you'd think that when someone else sits down, the other person would close their sprawled out legs. nope. i rode the whole trip in half a seat because he thinks that his body (parts) is/are more important than me. i mean maybe they are, but what the heck. show a little respect to the girl in high heels. and of course, the high school girl talked on her phone so loud that i couldn't hear my music.

all this to say: if you ever ride the bus, only take up one seat, close your legs, and don't talk on the phone.

no good title.

today i watched my sister-in-law run a marathon. well, she is like my sister-in-law, she's been around for eight years now. anyway, she finished and i am so proud of her. i kept getting real teary-eyed watching people run past mile 16 and also at mile 26 (the two places we watched). i was overwhelmed with these people who dedicated the last 4-6 months to fight leukemia/lymphoma by raising money and running for 3-6 hours. i was overwhelmed that God designed our bodies in such a beautiful way. i was overwhelmed with the people who were running that are cancer survivors. i was overwhelmed by the grandma, holding a poster-sized picture of her grandson who had cancer but has passed away. iwasoverwhelmed.

work is getting better and better. i'm learning a lot more about the business of nordstrom, and i really appreciate that. i function better when i know the "whys" and history of a company/institution. i am also making connections with customers, which is great because it is real, not just a fake connection so they come back and i get their sale. for example, i met a woman who is a nurse and my mom is a nurse and i watch grey's anatomy, so we were able to chat while her daughter picked out the perfect bag. haha, isn't that great that i talked to her about grey's anatomy. i'm a dork. anyway, saturday was great... two marc jacobs handbags + lots of other bags = a happy boss.

i'm going to be an aunt next june. crazy! i love love love being near my family.

memorial-work-red

the memorial was hard, but being with family was good...
i didn't realize how incredible of a doctor my uncle was... damn, what a waste.

work is getting easier, so that's good.

[product] red is now available for shoes, watches, shirts, ipods, credit cards, and phones.

my questions/thoughts:
is it just a way for bono and bobby (or me and you) to "buy pills and distribute them"?
what about education?
is it sad that we have to consume more in order to help the pandemic of aids and poverty?
(good thing this isn't the only way to help)
i'm not into "handouts," i thought. but then i read this:
"give a person a fish and they will eat for a day, teach them how to fish and they will eat for a lifetime... if they have the skills to access or own the pond."
i guess i'm more about empowerment.
"instead of giving people hand outs and focusing on trying to make people's lives 'better', empowerment focuses on creating opportunities for the poor to break out of poverty and dependence, so that they can provide their own needs and the needs of their families."
is [product] red more about aids or poverty or both?

check out joinred.com

i want to know your thoughts?
[ekatz@westmont.edu]

3 times in 16 days

"emily.... i have bad news."

i have heard that too many times in the last sixteen days. three times to be exact. three times too many.

my friend's dad committed suicide. will from westmont died in a car accident. my great uncle committed suicide (friday). a long family story with lots of drama, but in the end, he couldn't go on with his life with out his wife. she is dying of cancer and doctors have given her three months to live. a real tragedy.

my brother called and said something so obvious, but it hit hard: uncle jim is real evidence that you can have everything in the world... money, a successful business, brains, etc. and you still might not get it. money and iq scores aren't everything.

i am flying down (orange county) for the memorial saturday. i think i am doing a good job of sitting in the pain at the appropriate time, though i'm still trying to figure out what that looks like. i'll let you know.

smooth like a steam roller

my friend described his relationship with this girl as "smooth like a steam roller". i chuckled. thought it was funny.

right now i am doing smooth. can you do smooth? cause i'm doing that. you know, somewhere between good and just goin along. smooth. yeah, smooth.

i got a job. come buy your prada handbag from me.

i just arrived home from a concert. live music feeds my soul. truth: sometimes i feel closer to God when i experience live music than any other thing i do. teitur (pronounced: tie-tour or tight-er or ty-trrrrr) blew me away. umm, weird phrase, "blew me away." what i should say is that he wowed me with his skills and flawless voice. support him by looking into his new work: stay under the stars or his old work: poetry & aeroplanes.

things coming up: lindsay's wedding 4pm sat. vanessa's wedding 5pm sat. pillow talk with carissa at 1am, laughing because it was just ten years earlier that our friendship began as we snuck out of her house to go tp-ing and make out with boys, then got midnight snacks like kraft singles and taquitos in those yellow silky pajamas (why did i wear those?)

sad about will from westmont. a reminder to not make plans.

looking forward to seeing chelsea, jacob, and carissa.