from "The Namibian"

anyone who knows me, knows that this whole thing irritates me. i hate brad and angelina. i think all hollywood is basically trash. and now they have drawn my beloved namibia into their dump. and i'm sorry, i don't think UN goodwill ambassadors really do that much. it's another way for rich, famous people to get an elevated opinion of themselves by smiling next to starving children. and now b & j's kid is a namibian citizen. that sucks.

Monday, May 29, 2006 - Web posted at 8:45:55 GMT
It's Shiloh Nouvel!
ELMA ROBBERTS
ANGELINA JOLIE and Brad Pitt's healthy baby girl, named Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, saw the first light of day in Namibia yesterday morning.
"Overjoyed" and "happy to share this experience in Namibia", was how Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism Leon Jooste, who is at the coast, yesterday described Jolie and Pitt's reaction to the birth of their daughter.
"It is with enormous pleasure that I inform the Namibian nation about the birth of Angelina's healthy baby girl early this morning," Jooste said in a statement.
"They [Jolie and Pitt] have again expressed their deepest appreciation for the love, warmth and kindness of the Namibian people as well as understanding from all during this special and sensitive time," the Deputy Minister said.
"The couple are thoroughly overjoyed by the event and have expressed their happiness to be able to share this experience in Namibia," he said.
"The entire procedure [birth] went according to plan and there were no medical or other complications at all."
The Deputy Minister has promised that more information would be made available.
By law Shiloh Nouvel will be entitled to Namibian citizenship.
Jooste said this issue would be discussed with her parents at a later stage.
Pitt, Jolie and their three children - they have two adopted children: son Maddox (4) and daughter Zahara, who is about 15 months ­- will stay in Namibia until mother and daughter have recuperated enough to travel.
Erongo Regional Governor Samuel Nuuyoma, who has had several informal meetings with the couple during their stay, remarked: "I wish the family and their newborn a blessed, happy life together."
Nuuyoma said he has had no direct communication with the couple since the birth.
When asked where the birth took place, he said at Swakopmund, but did not want to disclose any details.
Reuters reported yesterday that residents at Walvis Bay were thrilled by the celebrity birth.
"It's great ...
She [Jolie] has put us on the map.
It is a great thing," said resident Della van Noorten.
Another resident, who asked not to be named, was also very happy but told the media to lay off.
"I am happy for her - and leave them alone," the resident said.
WHEN? There is conflicting information about the exact time of the baby's arrival.
Agence France-Presse reported that Shiloh Nouvel was born at 01h40 (0040 GMT).
In his statement, Jooste said that Jolie had given birth to the baby early yesterday morning.
Pitt's publicist Cindy Guagenti released a statement that reads: "The night of May 27 2006, in Namibia, Africa, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt welcomed their daughter Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt.
No further information is being given."
No photographs were being released, she added.
Jolie reportedly remained in hospital yesterday.
While there have been daily rumours for the past two weeks that the baby had been born or that Angelina was in labour, the first formal hint that the hour was nearing came on Tuesday when Pitt explained his absence to the organisers of the currently running Cannes Film Festival by saying that "the birth was imminent".
Jolie, who has helped draw world attention to Africa through her work as goodwill ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, has been welcomed by the Namibian Government which has asked the press to respect the couple's privacy BIG BUCKS The paparazzi have hunted Jolie and Pitt virtually from the moment they touched down in Namibia, hungry to pocket the rich spoils that would come from the sale of photographs of the couple.
Darryn Lyons, Chairman of Big Pictures, which runs the website mr.paparazzi.com, estimated that the objective of the paparazzi hunt, the first picture of the newcomer, could be worth as much as U$5 million (about N$330 million).
"You could probably buy Namibia with that picture," he was quoted as saying.
A security team supported by the Namibian Government has protected the privacy of the celebrities.
"This lady is expecting," Prime Minister Nahas Angula was reported as saying.
"You guys are harassing her.
Why don't you allow her some privacy? Harassment is not allowed in Namibia."
In a sign of media fascination with the pair, New York magazine recently said the baby was the most anticipated since Jesus and would be more newsworthy than the recent birth of a daughter to Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.
- Additional information from Nampa-Reuters, Nampa-AFP

now i guess i am wearing the button

i so need to vent right now. tonight, i had my last group project meeting EVER. i used to like meetings for work and what not. school meetings--not so much. i am so over this. i thought i was going to have a relaxing evening with a couple gin and tonics before hitting the aerobed for a restful night. instead, i am ONCE AGAIN in the effing library, where a girl in the quiet zone was talking on her mobile phone in a really annoying, affected hippie type of voice (duuuuude, maaaaan, woooooow). seriously, take your patchouli @$$ outside. AH! anyway, i have to wait an hour for the stupid updated paper to be sent out so i can edit it for "grammatical and spelling" errors. alright, we all make mistakes. but maybe you could check it the first time you right your section before it turns into an 87 page monstrosity which will keep me in the library until 1 am and ruin my gin and tonic prospects?
probably much of this frustration comes from being so close to being DONE and just having these stupid annoying little things come up at the last minute. it's like moving--you find that one little spot you forgot to clean or something like that.
i have a headache.
i should go have a cigarette.
which is not as good as a gin and tonic.
if only i could chain smoke in the library, life would be so much better.
but soon that vice will end, as i am quitting as soon as this grad school b-s is overwith.
until then, i love my cancer sticks.
peace out.

the ball

silly nawa left her ball in denver. well, i guess technically it is my fault. i found it under a chair while cleaning out my apartment today. i'm outta there tomorrow. everything is cleaned and packed. and i can't say i will miss the place. i wasn't a huge fan of the place--i never bonded with it, kind of like i never bonded with denver. it was kind of small, kind of hot, and it had that horrible beige carpet that every cheap apartment seems to have to have and which i hope to never see again.
ever.

the button

everyone is wearing the button lately and i am a little sick of it.

i'm going to a bbq today where there will be no buttons.

so there.

a few things

...German Musik Update: never understood the nena song "Lass mich Dein Pirat sein" ("Let me be your Pirate"). Any ideas what that means?

..as the weather geisha tells you, Denvuh is hot today. Thus, I am in the library. Do I have any work left to do? Nope, but the 'brary has aircon and my apartment does not. And there is internet here, again, which my apartment lacks.

...my unhealthy addiction to Snood continues. Don't download it--it will take over your life.

....life is quiet without Nawa. She went to Iowa yesterday. My dad said he thought she thought she was in ZA when they took a break in Nebraska--guess it looks like the veld. Sorry you're confused, Nawa. we don't mean to mess with your head.

...slowly, my furniture is disappearing into craigslist land. i am so sick of creepy people e-mailing me. no, i will not sell you my $25 shelf for $5. please, that's not bargaining, that is just stupidity.

...i have been realizing lately that i talk really stupidly. like, i say crap like "aircon" "what's it" "is it?" "hey?" "surname" and other stupid stuff.

...finished two books last night, both by nadine gordimer. one was july's people. it was good, but not my favourite book of hers. the other was the conservationist. also, not my favourite. sometimes she has endings where you can't tell what really happened. or maybe it's because i finished these books after a couple of beers. or maybe i don't think deeply enough.

happy birthday!

today is heatherfeather's birthday. she even got a book from her mutha' about heather's feathers. when we walked out of the dim sum place, i check, and heather didn't have any feathers, so i am confused. in any case, happy birthday!

we love you!

peipei was our ho-hostess

i got my sticky pork buns.

i'm not sure, but it think we got bingo!

gratuitous eurotrash shot.

hemingways!

last night was our last time at hemingway's on south gaylord. it was interesting on a lot of levels. there was the surprise invasion of the entire greek system, the lap dance(s), 20 minutes waiting in line for a freakin' beer, really stupid nlonde anoxerix sororitutes (thanks matty for that line). one highlight was a rather large girl who conveniently stored her cell phone in her cleavage. that really puts the @$$ in class.

peipei and marianne were there.

as was heatherfeather (this is me getting in trouble with her, hehehe)

but we made up!

success!

tonight i am totally finished with one of my classes--the presentation went great and we looked HOT--i am thinking of wearing this ensemble to Kerstin's wedding in September.

business fritz strikes again

a couple of months ago, when i was in DC and NYC, heatherfeather commented that she "was afraid of business fritz" because basically, i don't put up with a lot of crap from people. why should I? i had an older brother--i've put up with enough stupid crap.
so, i am moving and am trying to get rid of my furniture--hello craigslist!!!
one particular item is a bookshelf from IKEA. well, as i have lamented on this blog before, there is no IKEA in denver. this bookshelf is in mint condition, so i am selling it for the same price i bought it for. yes, i suppose it has "depreciated", but if you were to pay for the shipping or drive to the nearest IKEA, you'd be spending a lot more than the depreciation.
i have had quite a it of interest in the shelf. one jerk, though, wrote to me and said "well, i'd be interested, but not for the same price"
alright then. why does this dude got to be so snotty?
so i just wrote back "well, i suggest you don't buy it then." period.
so that's business fritz for you.

bilder von janek

zu seinem abschied von suedafrika hat janek dieses montage gemacht--so 'ne schoene erinnerung. unten links sind nawa und ich!
(ich denke, wenn ihr aufs bild klickt, koennt ihr das vergroessern)

i'm in the library...

...and there's no other place i'd rather be. why, you ask? well, my weather geisha tells me it's 88 degrees fahrenheit (almost 30 degrees celcius) outside and my apartment is hotter than snot. in the library, on the other hand, it is heavenly cool--this air conditioner ROCKS! yes, amischwab doesn't deal with the heat well. it is not what he grew up with. for it to be this hot in washington or oregon, it would have to be august and even then, you knew you could count on the cool breeze coming off of puget sound to temper things out in the evening. in colorado, i am just a sweaty beast.
...some of you may ask the question "how did you survive living in Namibia or on the high veld of Gauteng in South Africa?" frankly in namibia, i didn't care about being a sweaty beast, because it's so hot there that everyone else is a sweaty beast as well. and in pretoria, i was in an air-conditioned office all day. on the weekend, we could just lay around all day and drink gin and tonics, which seemed to be the cure for the heat. being in grad school, i don't have the lunxury of sitting on my behind all sunday drinking the magical malaria-fighting potion.
...so i am a whiner. i also don't know how i survived a summer in washington, dc where i had no air conditioner and spent half of my day outside. and what am i going to do in iowa where it is very humid as well?
...speaking of iowa, the fact that i am moving there, albeit it possibly temporarily, in a couple weeks, is becoming more and more real to me. what am i going to do there? a whole lot of nothing at first, which is fine, but then? i don't know anyone! granted, i have been in situations like this before, but for some reason, facing the whole being new thing in iowa seems scarier.
...now that i will soon have my life back, i guess i can start making more choices of where i want to live. it's not like when i moved to denver for grad school, which was kind of a decision of where i got in and where i got the most scholarship money. today, i'd love to be on puget sound where i know a pleasant breeze is surely blowing.

what are you?

You are a Social Moderate (55% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (33% permissive) You are best described as a: Centrist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

i need to be more of a trooper

there's what,like 2 weeks left of grad school?
and i can't decided whether or not the fact that there are still two weeks or just two weeks is making me feel icky. i mean, really icky, like the kind that even calm tea can't cure. i have just been feeling really down. really, really down. like, constant urge to weep.
maybe i got stuck in nadine gordimer space this weekend (i plowed through two of her books), maybe i am sad inside that i will be leaving my peeps soon, maybe i have just really had it and don't even want to be here for two more weeks, maybe i am freaked out by the prospect of having to take some time off, maybe it is because my apartment is nearly completely empty and sad looking, maybe i am scared of what lies beyond all of this, maybe i am afraid of iowa
...probably i am all of these things.

i need to get my shi-at together in my head and realize that it will be alright. i'm working on it.

MEME

because class was more like sitting through a bad episode of dr. phil (if that isn't redundant), thanks to crystal for the distraction...
1. When was the last time you had sex?
depends on how you define it...
2. How do you flush the toilet in public?
with my foot3.
Do you wear your seatbelt in the car?
yes
4. Do you have a crush on someone?
not really
5. Name one thing that you start to get tense about if you are close to running out of it?
money....duh
6. What famous person do you (or other people*) think you resemble?
matthew perry
7. What is your favorite pizza topping?
quattro formagio
9. Do you crack your knuckles?
yes
10. What song do you hate the most when it gets stuck in your head?
can't think of anything
11. Did just mentioning that song make it get stuck in your head?
n/a
12. What are your super powers?
i am psychic
13. What is the hardest thing you have faced?
not having insurance (that's the first thing that comes to mind)
14. Where are your car keys?
in my medicine cabinet
15. Whose answers to this questionnaire do you want to hear?
i think we have all done so many of these things, we could fill them out for each other
16. What's your most annoying habit?
slipping into dialects
17. Where did you go on your last vacation?
F if I know
18. If you could punch one person in the nose and get away with it who would it be?
as a general policy, i don't answer these kinds of questions in public
19. What is your best physical feature?
my calves?
20. What CD is closest to you right now?
antje duvekot--little peppermints
21. What three things can always be found in your refrigerator?
3 bottles of beer
22. What superstition do you believe/practice?
step on a crack...break your mother's back
25. Do you talk on your cell phone when you drive?
i try not too--it is hard with a stick
26. What would your name have been if you'd been born the opposite gender?
Katie
27. What song(s) do you sing most often in the shower?
i don't sing in the shower--it upsets the dog
28. If you could go back or forward in time would you and where would you go?
to the point where i have a job and insurance
29. What is your favorite Harrison Ford movie?
air force 1 (I don't know to be perfectly honest)
30. What CD is in your stereo?
no stereo
31. What OCD qualities do you have?
not any, really
32. How many kids do you want to have?
4
33. If you could kiss anyone famous who would it be?
gwyneth, or keira
34.Would you really want to kiss someone you didn't know, even if they are famous?
not really
35. What do you do when no one is watching?
scratch
36. If they made a movie about your life, what actor/actress would be the best for this job?
dean cain
37. Would you rather die in a blaze of glory or peacefully in your sleep?
peacefully
38. What candy, from when you were a kid, do you miss the most?
airheads
39. What is your favorite kid's movie?
can't say i have one
40. Favorite musician(s)/bands you've seen in concert?
mary j. blige--it was in berlin and it was great
41. Have you ever been in love?
not sure..if that was it, it really sucked, but in a good way
42. Do you talk to yourself?
more than to other people
43. Is there anybody you just wish would fall off the face of the earth?
it's the circle of life people
44. Would you steal from the rich?
no

more puppy

i just can't stop! just another gratuitous picture of nawa for your viewing pleasure. if she has a guilty look on her face, it is with good reason. good thing you're cute, nawa, else you wouldn't have much going for you.

awwwwww

today i was going through some files on my computer and found this old picture of nawa and just had to post it because it is so freaking cute. she was about 6 weeks old in this picture. so cute!

happy birthday!

this is my mutti and it is her birthday today! happy birthday!

a good book, but very depressing

last night around 1:08 am, i finished this book. it was excellent. the author brilliantly weaves together the lives of people with vastly different backgrounds who come together and create an atmosphere of hope in an extremely chaotic period in the history of modern india. but it ends badly for all of them at the end. so if you're in the mood to read a thoughtful, well-crafted novel and want to feel introspective, i recommend it.

i guess i should write something

well, it's been awhile since i've posted. really, not much has been happening.
let me first give a shout out to all my asian friends who may now be offended by the fact that i do not like bubble tea. as peipei pointed out, i am after all only 1/16 chinese, thus, the german ruled in this case. can't hate me for my genetics, can you?
this week has been uneventful. going to work, going to class, going to starbucks and having some calm tea. i have been trying to be calm this week. while every other grad student at starbucks is trying to hype themselves on caffeine, i am trying to calm down. i've just been really anxious this week. i had a bit of an attack on tuesday and it took me ahwile to calm down. i think, as someone pointed out, that there is a snowball effect. i get anxious for no apparent reason, and then i get anxious about the fact that i am getting anxious for no apparent reason. i get anxious as well because i worry an anxiety attack will trigger another seizure. so i am trying to be calm, calm, calm this week. and it is hard. when i get into this anxious state, i turn into a huge freak and can't stand anything--like i want to crumble when a car alarm goes off, or when the dog barks, or when the annoying kids who live accross the alley start their afternoon screaming.

this is all a sign that i just need to get out of here and be done.

please don't be offended, see the humor in it

tanzimatt: hey you wanna go get bubble tea
amischwab81: no, i hate bubble tea
tanzimatt: you hate bubble tea??
tanzimatt: what kind of man are you!
amischwab81: um, actually, i really don't think bubble tea is very manly, dude
amischwab81: i mean, you suck balls
tanzimatt: haha
tanzimatt: i go to bubble tea place not for drink, but for ladies
tanzimatt: sweet little asian girls
amischwab81: so it's an association thing? you figure they like tapioca balls, they like to sucky your balls?
tanzimatt: hehe
amischwab81: admit it, that's your logic!
tanzimatt: i like to think so
amischwab81: outstanding

the ruin of romantic comedies part deux

alright, so i was laying in bed this morning, not really wanting to get up for real, and i was thinking about what hollywood was trying to do with the whole romantic comedy thing. it seems like they are trying to make it more "realistic" or something. like in prime, uma and the funny nipple guy (whose name, according to peipei is brian or something) don't come together in the end due to their age and different religious backgrounds.
well guess what, hollywood, this is not reflective of reality! i want some comments hear--raise your hand if you know a lot of couples that "don't make sense"! i can think of a lot! like my parents for one. how about their good friends--he: son of a nazi diplomat (no joke), she: a jewish woman from queens. there are dozens of examples of people who the world would like to tell you shouldn't work out, but they do, because that is part of love and relationships--it is putting people together who complete each other in a variety of ways, not just two versions of the same who get along well. we love each other because we are different from each other. we fill each other up with something that is missing in us.
so f-u movie makers!

the romantic comedy has been ruined

peipei and i decided not to go to gaylord street last night and instead, stay in, eat ben and jerry's, and watching comedies/romantic comedies. i received numerous text messages and phone calls inquiring why i was not at hemmingway's. perhaps this is a sign we go out too often on thursday nights and it was time to do something different. especially since they've started the drunk bus, hemingway's has turned from a grad student place to one overrun with undergrads, many of whom happen to be my students. it's just not a good situation.

so we went to blockbuster and rented two movies: last holiday with queen latifah and prime which stared uma thurman and meryl streep and some guy whose name i forget but who peipei thinks is really hot. whatever. the only thing i noticed is that one of his nipples is noticably larger than the other. in any case, we were both kind of in a funk, so we wanted to laugh and watch movies that would be funny and turn out perfectly in the end.

unfortunately, hollywood seems to be determined to ruin the romantic comedy by making them more realistic. there have been several movies like this in the past year. it's like they want to say "haha, you thought you were going to get a fun sappy movie but we're showing you how life really is!" seriously, life is realistic enough--the whole point of the romantic comedy is to help us escape for awhile. but not, apparently hollywood wants to turn these movies into existential life-discovery monstrosities and ruin the fun for all of us. and they trick you, too! you read the back of the DVD or see the preview, and they appear to be legitimate sap, but then you find yourself either crying or angry or both by the end of the movie because the guy doesn't get the girl or you are just way too reflective about your own life for it to be fun anymore!

all i can say is that i hope this apparent trend ends soon.

total..lack...of...motiva..tion...

let's see, what did i do today? sat around in my apartment with a huge birthday-party-enduced headache, self-loathed, finally left the apartment to get a burrito-bol at chipotle, self-loathed, went to the library, played around on the internet, self-loathed, im-ed with rachel and matty numbchucks and decided where we would go out tomorrow night for "operation land a chica," and went to class, which i had not read for at all.

this pattern of behavior has been prety typical for me. this quarter, i have not really been motivated at all. today, this will change. tomorrow, i will be a machine. i will, i will, i will.

fun photo of the day

this is me and kaka in prague. i don't know if we were actually laughing or just being stupid (both are definitely possible). i just like it, it's just kinda fun. kaka is coming into denver this weekend and i am excited.

late breaking news

ok, so it turns out that rachel was involved in the aforementioned campus safety incident. apparently, there was a table full of rowdy undergrad business majors (yuk) who refused to keep it down, so rachel asked the librarian if they could tell them to be quiet and the librarian said they couldn't do anything but that rachel could call campus safety, so she did, and the campus cops came and kicked those frat boys to the curb. best part, in true rachel style, as the jerks were leaving, she winked at the really obnoxious one...and he winked back.
stranger things have brought people together, though i don't see rachel ever going for a waspy DU undergrad.

the library is a strange place

the DU library is a weird place.

...who is that dude who is always sitting on the couches in front in (way too short) running shorts? i mean he is always there.

...what could happen in this library that would require FIVE campus safety officers to attend to it? did some girls get in a fight because they had the same louis vuitton bag?

...there's that couple that is always fighting, but are still too adorable together (you know who i mean)

...i am not sure how i feel about the library's subscriptions to GQ and Vogue, though they do sometimes provide a much needed break.

...how about we remodel the ugly library instead of building more brick sidewalks. idea: use those same bricks to cover the library up. a simple fix.

...of course, there are those people who go to the library and just fool around on the internet and don't do any real work. man, those people are weird.