Yes, I back dated this...

Men See You As Playful

Men want a challenge and you are the perfect playmate You know how to push men's buttons and attract a wide range of guys You enjoy living and loving - it's one of your most attractive qualities Men are often consumed with desire for you, and you love that!

How Do Men See You?

P.S. - the photo is not of me (for those who don't know)

I think I need to hire Drew Rosenhaus...

It is 12/30 and I still don't know for sure where I will be spending 2006. I will be traveling to Sarajevo in early January. That's pretty set. Will I be there all year or just a month? Don't know.

I really think I'm letting myself get played...again. When it comes to my career, I tend to make the world's dumbest decisions.

Why do people by gift cards for kids?

Today I needed to buy an emergency Chanukah gift. When I got to the mall I was amazed at how many last-minute Chanukah shoppers were there (yes, I realize that they were almost all Christmas ingrates - people who want to return gifts because they think they can do better).

So, I go in the KB Toys. There were about 100 people, 3 employees and at least 5 or 6 toys. I heard several of the customers asking if the store was going out of business. Clearly, the company strategy was not to restock anything after 12/20.

...but here were all of these teary eyed kids clutching a gift card in one hand and a "Tooth Time Kelly" doll in the other. A little boy was saying, "I want to get a remote control car". The dad said, "can you think of anything else" and the boy sobbed, "that was already my 8th choice."

This seemed to be the issue: these kids all got gift cards for Christmas. Twenty-four hours later they are tired of playing with the cards and would like a toy. Then here they are, parents in tow having a miserable time. They seemed to fall into one of two categories:

1) Disgusted - they realize that all of the good toys (along with the fine toys and marginal toys) are long gone. They are now asking to hit the food court to drown their sorrows in ice cream and sugared pretzels.

2) desperate - they insist on their parents making yet another full loop around the 10' x 10' store, or maybe dad should climb to the top of the self, or if mom would just crawl on her hands and knees to see if the box in the back were different then the 3 in front.

The thing they all had in common is that they were cursing the genius that thought a gift card to a toy store was a good idea.

Stupid quiz (but secretly I love these things!)

all about me!!
*Basics*
name:	Ann
birthday:	July 26
zodiac sign:	Leo
where were you born:	Miami
where do you live now:	Not Miami
height:	5' 9"
hair color:	Dark Brown
eye color:	Light Brown
tattoos:	Nope
piercings:	one in each ear
*Favorites*
color:	maroon
food:	mac & cheese
candy:	Smarties
movie:	Casablanca
tv show:	Monday Night Football & The Amazing Race
actor:	Adam Sandler
actress:	Keira Knightley
band or singer:	Maroon 5 (cliche, I know)
song:	No One is to Blame (Howard Jones)
holiday:	Yom Kippur
month:	April
season:	Spring
day of the week:	Thursday
store:	I really don't like shopping
restaurant:	Melting Pot
sport:	Ice Dance
animal:	Hippo
flower:	Alstromeria
*Have you ever....*
danced in the rain:	*sigh* YES!
had an embarassing fall:	I was a skater - Of course, in front of tons of people
smoked:	couple cigars, that's it
got drunk:	Not in the last 12 hours
done drugs:	Not in the last 12 years
gone skinny-dipping:	Yeah - it was less thrilling than I thought
been in a car accident:	yes
been in love:	yes
met the president:	Of the USA, no; Of another country, no; Of a school, dozens of them; Of a company, more dozens
met a celebrity:	Grew up in Miami, so lots, yes
cried over a movie:	All the time
shoplifted:	Not since childhood
laughed so hard you cried:	All the time
cried for no reason at all:	Not since college
*The last.....*
thing you said:	"Has that been in the toilet?" (to Carson)
thing you ate:	Stale BJs pretzel
song you heard:	Why can't I? - Liz Phair
movie you saw:	HP & the Goblet of Fire (yes, I cried...even though I read the book)
cd you bought:	Eurotrip Soundtrack
book you read:	Little Earthquakes (it sucked)
phone call:	Made the "WTFAU?!?!?" call to Ted
im:	Ted
person you yelled at:	Carson
*This or That*
pepsi or coke:	Pepsi
mcdonalds or burger king:	BK - BK Veggie!
chocolate or vanilla:	Vanilla (hard to blend anything else with my personality)
tv or movies:	Movies
colored pencils or markers:	Colored pencils
sun or moon:	moon
day or night:	night
pants or shorts:	pants
long sleeve or short sleeve:	long sleeve
n'sync or backstreet boys:	Backstreet Boys - As Long as you Love Me (sentimental reasons)
burgers or hot dogs:	BK Veggie - Wooohoooo
rock or rap:	Rock
aim or phone:	aim (I can get people to talk in ways on IM that they would never on the phone)
romantic comedy or thriller:	Romantic Comedy
waffles or pancakes:	"...and in the morning, I'm makin' WAFFLES!"
peanut butter or jelly:	Jelly
*Others*
what color is your toothbrush:	Lilac and Silver
do you believe in love at first sight:	no
have you ever wished upon a star:	too many times - and it has worked out for me so far
what language(s) do you speak:	English. I attempt Spanish, German and Bosnian
if you dyed your hair what color would you dye it:	Beyonce's color - whatever it is that day
what would you change your name to:	No idea - my name is totally wrong for me, but I don't know what would be better...any suggestions?
what are the last 4 digits of your phone #:	9771
whats the weather like right now:	blinding cold
what instruments do you play:	sax - a million years ago
do you talk to yourself a lot:	constantly - like isn't this basically talking to myself?
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Do you have a gift giving strategy?

Sure, it's been forever since I have written...but everyone else has been pretty quiet too. I dislike this time of year. It's supposed to be about giving and togetherness. Instead I find myself smiling at people I barely know at various "holiday" (really Christmas) gatherings and speanding time with rude, over-worked, underpaid retail staff.

For the 20% of gift recipients who I know well and care deeply for, gift giving is a labor of thoughtfulness, inventiveness, and love.

For the other 80%, like office colleagues that gossip about me behind my back (once again, I am still not sleeping with the boss - the only way this will change is if I am left alone with him while dead), relatives that still wonder how/why they are related to me, and "friends" that I almost wish I never met, my gift giving goals are:
1) making myself look as good as possible with my impeccable taste and style
2) doing goal #1 as cheaply as absolutely possible (as a friend of mine likes to say, "cheap is good, but free is better" - so I am not adverse to the regifting concept)

I am sure that there are people reading this and feeling appalled. Oh, please spare me your feigned shock. We all feel the same way, but cannot get out of the spiral - if someone gives me a gift, and I have nothing for them, then I look like the jackass, so I am forced to continue the ritual.

If you are truly shocked at this point, stop reading. You certainly don't want to know about my secret 3rd goal...

Goal 3: To somehow make the recipient feel like an ass. One of my best strategies on this one is to give a gift to my friend as a "couples" gift that is more thoughtful than what he/she would have ever come up with for his/her own spouse. I love seeing the look of being thrilled on the spouse's face slowly get taken over by a look of disappointment in the spouse. Another way to pull this off is with a thoughtful gift for the child. Here's a classic one...

The back-story...
A male co-worker was busting my chops because another guy from Delaware was in town and we are all the same age. I was going out with the DE guy a lot because, well, it was fun, and my co-worker had family obligations. So when the co-worker heard that the DE guy and I had plans at a fancy restaurant, he invited himself and his family and another friend of ours to kind of break it up. Honestly, I was fine with it, but I wanted to stick it to him so I bought a toy for his son - explaining that it would help him to behave better during dinner (which it did). At first, his wife was thrilled that I thought of this and then she realized that really, her husband should have come up with this on his own (in this case the transition took under 10 seconds).

See for yourself...

The Gift....                        The Look...


I love how she is obviously trying to still act happy. Can you believe that I had the balls to snap these photos? I actually was a little surprised at myself on that one, but this photo was just the inspiration I needed this holiday season.

Ok, this really does officially make me a horrible person...I guess. But really, I do feel pretty strongly against the obligatory gift-giving that I am forced into at this time of year. These kinds of tactics at least let me get some enjoyment out of having to part with my own hard earned cash. The alternative list of "fake" gifts (candles, gloves, photoframes, soap, etc.) are as disapointing to give as they are to get. At least one of us should be happy.

For the record, I have never stooped to the level of giving someone something that is contaminated, intentionally damaged or defective, or any of the other childish bullshit that the average 12 year-old boy my think up. Part of the fun is dreaming up the gift with just the right message.

;)