Chapin came to visit me this weekend from San Diego. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to dedicate the entire weekend to her due to my midterm today but we had a blast nonetheless. I studied and cleaned my apartment all day Friday. I met Chapin on campus on Saturday and we got to catch up over lunch. I had my Panda Express and she had Rubios. The Empower Change summit was happening on campus that day and that's why we were there. Unfortunately. we both weren't able to make it to any of the workshops but we were able to attend the keynote speech at Royce Hall given by none other than Bill Clinton.


This was the third time I've seen him in person and he never fails to mesmerize everyone around him. I like his sense of humor. He poked at the fact that he's being led back into politics like an old retired stallion now that his wife is running for presidency, and that he happens to favor one of the candidates (wink wink). He didn't explicitly promote Hilary or encourage us to vote for her, which I find admirable since I think that would've been a turn-off for a lot of the people there. He did mention that he likes what he's doing now more than when he was involved in politics. He went over the issue of inequality both domestically and globally. The issue of health care was addressed and he believes that we cannot depend on market forces to solve that problem. He had a few ideas to alleviate these inequalities, including convincing more affluent countries to invest money into poorer countries and using U.S. ingenuity to make the most out of those dollars. He addressed the global warming crisis and how some cities are following the Kyoto protocol anyway. He said that Congress was already predetermined to reject it when he got off the plane from Japan during his presidency. He encourage us to "not let this election be taken away" from us. I agree with him that issues cannot be condensed into thirty second soundbites during broadcasted debates. No issue is so simple. His words were very powerful to me because it solidifies what I believe to be true deep down. Chapin said she felt the same way too. To have someone as influential as him affirm what I know to be right but also encouraging everyone else to do what's right is definitely empowering.

On a personal note, I am very disappointed with the Iowa debate last Tuesday. I mean, what the f*ck? I lost a ton of respect for both Obama and Edwards. Don't tell me it wasn't because of her gender because even if that wasn't the entire reason, it certainly was one of the main reasons. The mud-flinging has to stop. I was going to vote for Clinton anyway but this just convinced me even more. It's hard to follow the issues (trust me, I've tried) when the media doesn't have it's priorities straight and the candidates are talking about everything but the real issues. I love Colbert but I'm glad he dropped out of the race. It was getting ridiculous.

So a little after the conference, Chapin and I headed to Hollywood to see a comedy show at the Upright Citizens Brigade. We ate at a great Italian restaurant right next to the theatre. I had the most delicious mushroom ravioli there. Some lady even stopped by our table to ask me what I'm eating because it looked so good. Chapin and I joked how that is very typical Hollywood behavior. We were fortunate enough to go to the UCB on the night they had stand-ups by Mary Lynn Rajskub and Janeane Garofalo! Bill Clinton and Jeaneane Garofalo both on the same day?!? I was in liberal heaven. So I don't watch the show 24 very much at all but apparently both comediennes are on it. Mary Lynn did her bit first. She came onstage piss-ass drunk and behaved accordingly. She just came from the premiere and after-party of the new movie Fred Claus. She mostly made fun of it and then talked about her role in 24. Then Janeane came on and everyone went crazy. She was hilarious of course. A lot of Republican-bashing and crude humor, which I thoroughly enjoyed. *Incredulously* "We can put a man on the moon, but we can't make my pores invisible?" Haha, so true.

I would like to thank Chapin for motivating me to break out of my usual routine and share a day of great experiences with her. If it weren't for her, I would've stayed at home with my nerd glasses on and studied my head off the entire weekend. Instead, I only studied my head off about half the weekend. I hope it didn't cost me on my midterm today but hey, you only live once suckas!