A New Day is Dawned...

Congratulations, Barack Obama, for running one tight-ass race and delivering a resounding thump to the McCain campaign. I, along with Bug, volunteered for your campaign and let me tell you: the qualities that Obama displays - deliberate, thoughtful, organized, consistent - are the qualities that the entire campaign displays, on down to the volunteer coordinators in every precinct. Barack Obama moved me. And he has moved a nation. His life will never be the same, and very, very thankfully, neither will ours.

Congratulations also to Tina Fey, who I believe with my whole heart, influenced the voters by sharply impersonating Sarah Palin as a manifestation of what we all couldn't quite articulate. I'll let you fill in the blank.

I further congratulate John McCain for his considerable graciousness in defeat. He reminded me of the McCain I would have considered voting for in 2000.

And finally, congratulations to the American people. The way you voted makes me hopeful for the future. It's a tough job. He won't be perfect. But he'll work hard for you, because he - sit down now - cares about you. Thank you for caring enough to vote.

Guest Blogger Extraordinaire!

Since CB blogger is busy and lame and should be self flagellating like the albino monk from the Divinci Code, she will turn over the Congrats Blog to a worthy filler...Buggie McBuggerson. Says she:

"I would like to congratulate George Michael for whom it seems Eli Stone was created. His repeated appearances on the popular ABC show have sparked a new interest in the aging former Wham! front man. Additionally, it has been murmured around the proverbial water cooler that he is actually God to Eli's character.

Then Carrie Underwood sang his "Praying for Time" at the American Idol Gives Back event (another hint of his divinity?). He then went on to sing the same song on American Idol a few weeks later which was, to me, disconcerting because dude! You've got a ton of other, more popular songs. AND Carrie sang it better. Still, you've come a long way from passing out in your car and doing questionable things in restrooms, George. Congratulations!"

Says CB: when I was around 10, I saw the video for Wake me up Before you Go Go and fell head over heals in love with George Michael. When I recall that, people say: wow, he was so...gay. Um...who cares? And, I was 10. AND...it may have been the first time I've crushed on a gay man, but it most definitely wasn't the last. Come to think of it, it's not the first time I've crushed on a George Michael.



Thanks, Buggie.

Our Little Girl is Growing Up

This is a very special post, about a very special girl, who did a very special thing: Bug graduated last weekend from Boston University.


It takes a lot of desire and dedication to recommit yourself and pursue something that doesn't fit so easily into your life or your schedule (and study and write about things that have little to do with yours OR YOUR FRIENDS' interests. Fractals anyone?) But Bug held strong and graduated cum laude thank you very much from BU's Metropolitan College, which offered an online program in which she was one of the first students to go through the curriculum. Her class consisted of several people from around the country, many of whom traveled to BU to participate in the ceremony. You could tell by witnessing the interactions Bug had with her classmates and teachers at various receptions how utterly charmed they were by her and how much she contributed to their humble community.

It's kind of the way we feel about her in our humble community here in metro DC. She's added a lot to our little world and we couldn't be prouder of her (note: I totally pillaged this picture from Bug's site. Take advantage of a two for one deal and see it twice!)


Also along for the ride were mama and sister, who are two of the loveliest ladies you could meet. Thank you mama for not being (or at least not showing that you were) annoyed with us and for allowing us to share in the festivities. And I am not, I repeat NOT, in any way entering into a BFF/girlfriend-like relationship with Kirsten (KK, you know the code, I'll call you when the eagle has landed. A not so subtle wink and a hardly discrete nudge follow.)

It was lots of fun hanging with some of my favorite people to celebrate this milestone. Congratulations, Bug. Now girl, you better eat some cheese!

Moving On...

So, it is hard for me to move on from the last post, but alas, I must. There are people to congratulate, you know.


Let's start with obvious. Miley Cyrus got MORE attention from the ADULTS in this world via the Vanity Fair photo shoot and leaked photos of her-showing-her-bra "scandals." Did I not fear this would happen? That Ms. Cyrus would go the way of the Lohan?

And speaking of Ms. Lohan, has anyone read the latest gossip that she is a) reportedly dating DJ Samantha Ronson and b) when La Lohan found Ashley Olsen recently chatting with Ronson, screamed at her: "Get your 15-year-old 'Full House' a** away from my girlfriend!" Ladies, you are keeping it classy! But it's not you who I congratulate...it's your parents, for just giving it their all. Miley's parents were apparently horrified with the now infamous shot, but they left the shoot early. Now granted, there were handlers, but I think publicists and other such members of a professional posse are coming at it from a much different angle then say, Mom and Dad. And quite possibly, "horrified" could be decoded as "generally very pleased with all the publicity" in the Hollywood-to-average person translation book.

Speaking of horrifying Hollywood parents, has anyone been catching the new Tracey Ullman show on Showtime? Does anyone have Showtime? It's a pretty biting take on American culture, spectacularly manifested in Ms. Ullman's imagination of Dina Lohan's social life...

Warning if watching at work (some F Bombs are dropped):



Happy Hump Day!

Alert: Completely Serious Post Ahead.

Pics from Mike's brother added here.

Congratulations will be postponed for the week so that I can give remembrance to a friend from high school who overdosed and died last week. The news came like a punch to the gut and spread quickly across the network of people who knew Mike; we all had the same contradictory emotional response: shock and little surprise.

Mike, like many of us, experimented with alcohol and pot. Then gradually got into the harder stuff. He want to jail, then rehab. He was trying to start over. His parents were driving to his place in California to give him their car when they got the call mid-trip from his friend who found him. News is still coming in.

We haven't seen Mike in years, but the sucker punch was immediate and swift. I'm still close with several people I went to high school with (the average size of a graduating class was 70 people), and each of them have direct relationships with other people from our town; those relationships have kept me deeply connected to that place and that time. A group of my high school girlfriends came to DC for a weekend last November and we talked about Mike a lot, as we did every time we all got together. Most of us had some type of "experience" with him, whether it was making out or more. I mean if you hadn't gone a round with Mike, well, it's probably because you passed out early. But he wasn't a dick about it; he wasn't using you. He wrote several notes to me in the yearbook and on his class pictures that he was "so grateful that we got over our past and could remain good friends." I don't remember having a relationship with him, nor do I remember ever expressing regret that it never materialized into a relationship; it was what it was: two high school friends screwing around.

But he was sensitive. And maybe that sensitivity made him more susceptible to the path he couldn't escape. As my friends and I talked and emailed this weekend, we wondered how he felt; if starting over seemed insurmountable and whether we should have reached out more. We wondered if he knew how much we still talked about him. And how we always held out hope that he would come out the other side.

Note: I'll be scanning and uploading pictures at some point over the next couple days, so check back...

Sincere Congratulations

Congrats Blog is going to get serious (as she can be) and offer her sincerest congratulations to the Changs who delivered Kalina Grace Jia-li Chang yesterday evening. Weighing in a 7lb 8oz 19in. She's a lucky girl to be born to such great parents. Thinking through all the things she could rebel on later in life, I fear that hating hockey would be the worst such offense. Perish the thought!

Also, CB would like to congratulate my friend Jule's son, Nicholas, who was nominated to attend the Junior National Young Leaders Conference (JrNYLC) in DC, which helps scholars develop and sharpen their leadership skills by examining the leaders of the past and empowering them to make a positive social impact in their community and the world. Learn more about it here.

I remember my middle school trip to Washington, DC. Rockin' on the bus to Foreigner's JukeBox hero, flirting with boys at Lincoln's gi-normous feet and playing some weird breathing game in the hotel rooms where you make yourself hyperventilate until you felt high and almost passed out. "My turn now, you went twice!!" Nope, no leadership skills developed on that trip.

So...sarcasm mostly in check for this post. What is the CB, if not to congratulate?

Speaking of which, if you, dear reader, would like to congratulate someone/thing, you can either send CB your request or your "guest blogger" prose to congratsblog@gmail.com.

Happy weekend!

We're Bringing Funny Back

Last night Bex, IH and I saw Margaret Cho at the Warner Theater and gurrllll, "betch" still got it. The Notorious C.H.O. brought the funny in a big way, spewing a stream of intellectual consciousness on d*ck, politics, c*ck, her mother, balls, race, and, of course, the big P.

All the straight people in the house say "Hey-ay." Cue cricket sounds.

What I love about a Margaret Cho show is that it's full on gay pride. Though girlfriend waxes poetic on themes universal to all humans, her sweet spot revolves around the gays, simultaneously poking fun at and demanding self-respect from the LGBT community. Note if you're watching from work: the below video includes some salty language.



If Cho has a mantra it is: love yourself. Followed closely by: love your fellow man / woman. Says she: "if you don't support gay marriage, but laugh your ass off at Will & Grace, well F*** you!"

I have friends and family in the gay community, and it's nice to go to a show that specifically and hilariously honors them. Congrats.

Transitioning from funny relating to the disenfranchised...if you haven't yet seen this website (all 5 of you?), check it out now. If you're anglo (and you know it, clap your hands!), and you like the stuff presented here, but thought you were somehow cool in your affinity for it, my apologies. I've winced a few times myself.

Speaking of stuff white people like, The Office returned! And 30 Rock! And Scrubs! I'm going to settle in this weekend, get up close and personal with my DVR and wrap that NBC love around me like a blanket. Don't judge me.