Just in time for … uh … St. Patrick’s Day, don’t forget to consider Boutique_ANP when you’re thinking of the perfect and unique gift for your lurfed ones.

www.flickr.com zinegrrl’s Shop ANP photoset

1. Me
2. My lil sister (a distant yet respectable second)

Sellin’ it.

I’ve had a lot of great memories with this car. First time I test drove it was the night after I attended my first rave, and when I picked it up I’d just returned from dancing at Twilo all night to PVD. Crazy to think about the person I was then.

Jeremy and I logged a lot of miles in this car, our Lady. From Flushing to Port Chester, all around Connecticut, tooling around Westchester. We drove down the eastern seaboard to Savannah, Georgia, and up to Acadia National Park in Maine. I remember driving up from Flushing on Friday nights to head up to our “country home”, then back down on Sunday evenings in time for me to catch Six Feet Under. Good memories.

A few other men I’ve tested in the driver’s seat since then. They stalled the engine, couldn’t park her, or scraped her paint up. Not quite up to par.

But, as with Jeremy, as much as I love Lady, our time has come to call it a day. I hadn’t driven her in three months and my life is changing in ways that no longer accommodate a car. For starters, I no longer commute to The Bank. For seconders, I’m moving to Manhattan.

So I’m hoping to find her a loving home. If you know anyone, send ‘em my way.

• 2001 Volkswagen Jetta GLS Turbo Sedan 4D
• 5 speed manual
• 58,100 miles
• Wolfsburg edition
• Air conditioning
• Power steering
• Power windows
• Power door locks
• Tilt wheel
• Cruise control
• AM/FM stereo
• Cassette
• Dual front air bags
• ABS (4 wheel)
• Alloy wheels
• Some dings in paint / body
• No paint or body work done
• Unaltered frame
• No defects in glass, lights, or lenses
• No rust
• Minor upholstery & carpet wear
• No odors
• Fully functional locks / radio
• Minor engine / tranny noises
• Trouble-free steering / suspension
• Fully functional AC / heater
• Brakes less than half worn
• Brand new tires purchased from TireRack in late December (<1,000 miles on them)
• Clean title (I’m the original owner; picked her up with 8 miles on it)
• Passed emissions test
• Current & complete maintenance (have had serviced primarily at Volkswagen dealers)

I love driving this car. She handles curves like a dream, and with that turbo zoom … * sigh *

More pics here.

$8,125.

I just found this online …

Makes me slightly more inclined to jello wrestle on Sunday night.

… for my next adventure in jello wrestling.  Seeing as I’m still in my pajamas, spent four hours writing my next alumni notes column, and am not currently at the wrestling instructions going on right now at Don Hill’s, I won’t be wrestling tonight.

And now, I make some BBQ chix and plan out my outfits for the week.

Just when the random communiques from New York Press-reading ex-lovers dribbles to a halt, another Jello Wrestling Sunday comes ’round the mountain.

The alumni of Yale University may be one of the most utterly absurd groups of human beings in existence. … this is not a dull group of people.

(With at least one exception.)

I might unveil a new character (Cambodian Jungle Grrl) this Sunday March 11th at Don Hill’s.

And thanks to all y’all who gave me web propas on your web properties:

• Cait
• Jay
• Bree
• Alecia
• Ari

(Kudos also due to Aleeeece who tipped me off to Mawkery.com.)

On the shopping list for April:

When your inner tigress roars, slip into our elegant Tigress robe-silky, sensuous, and sophisticated. Polyester. (emphasis mine)

Ooooh yeah…

Would love to see you in the crowd if you can make it.  Or better yet — come wrassle!
(True story: the great core-strengthening workout that jello wrestling offers kinda makes me want to grapple for reals.)

Pick up a copy of this week’s New York Press and you’ll see the ANP gumline in all its glistening glory.

Jerry Portwood, the Arts & Entertainment Editor, clearly gets it when he writes:

(Amateur Female Jello Wrestling founder Dana) Sterling has successfully created a space that gives women permission to forget the hassle of deflecting criticism for their bodies’ inadequacies and regress to a time when they felt comfortable being ridiculous.

Of course, by now all y’all are intimately familiar with the fact that I always feel comfortable being ridiculous.

An excerpt from the article:

After losing all her matches (on purpose) in January, ANP decided to return for a second match—although she did have her doubts.

She was feeling “moody and bitchy,” she says, but as a marketing executive at The Bank, she doesn’t get many excuses to suit up and get slippery with a dozen other women. Most days, she’s like other corporate stiffs: sitting in a cubicle, making PowerPoint presentations, working with a sales team. But tonight she doesn’t have to think about shareholders, instead she sheds all inhibitions and becomes The Thaigrr (her mother is Thai and she used to be into the riot grrl scene, she explains). Assuming a brutish, uneducated persona, she speaks with a stereotypical Asian accent and growls; the audience growls back in support.

Unlike many of the others participating this evening, ANP is extremely athletic. She’s 5 foot 10 and currently on an urban basketball league and was on the varsity track and crew team in college. “The kinds of women that are involved here, they were the ones wearing black combat boots and Manic Panic hair dye. This might be a way for them to be a part of something athletic,” she says. “I’m not trying to cultivate this personality of a weirdo. When I heard it was available, and I wouldn’t have to pay for it? I had to do it; it sounded like so much fun.”

But that doesn’t mean that her friends and colleagues don’t look at her like she’s crazy. “My boss said, ‘I thought when you were telling me you were Jell-O wrestling, it was like you were saying you were going to be invisible next week.’ They think it’s bizarre, but how many other opportunities am I going to have to do something this fun?”

Read Jerry Portwood’s full article at:

GIRL FIGHT! The rise of fringe contact sports — for women, by women

Update: Here are my very minor context additions given the difficulty of interviewing and intent-capturing in an otherwise great piece:

• “cultivate the personality of a weirdo” context: I don’t need to cultivate squat. Being a weirdo comes naturally.
• The comment regarding the girls wearing combat boots:
• I wore combat boots in high school
• I rocked some Manic Panic (pink!)
• I was mentioning Jello Wrestling as a great way to let “non-athletic” women enjoy and experience an athletic activity. Celebrating sport and physicality for those who may otherwise have been turned off to it — much in the way that the woman in the roller derby party says she couldn’t deal with a coach telling her what to do, etc.
• Was also quoted incorrectly, because that’s not quite what I said… I started it with “Perhaps the kinds of women …” and I was referring to all the fringe sport grrrls, not just the jello wrestlers.

All this addenda because my little sister just informed me that I come off as “bitchy” in the article. Shit! Moody and bitchy, okay.

But judgmental bitchy! That just cannot stand.

True story: jello wrestling once a month (in conjunction with yoga once or twice a week) has improved my weekly basketball game. I’m:

• More confident taking my outside shots, and as a result they’re more likely to go in
• More comfortable plowing through picks and otherwise using my body as a tank underneath
• Actually nicer to the other team (asking them if they are all okay after a loose ball, etc.)

I was kinda weirded out right after Sunday night, but wrestling is like lifting weights in all directions for 3-5 minutes at a time. After five matches, you can bet I’ve had a great workout.

And my weight? Headin’ back up to the land of 160s. Let’s hear it for muscle density!

And I can’t stop wrasslin’ just because of one dude. That would just be wrong!

New pics have been posted.

Go here to see ‘em.

And mark your calendars: Sunday, March 11, 2007. I think I’m going to unveil a new character.

Suggestions?

I know, I know. Hard to wrap your mind around. But even a bad-ass like me can need a little suntin suntin to get her jello on.

Thaigrr’s Get Ready to Lumber Mix:

• Aerosmith’s Sweet emotion
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s The skin of my yellow country teeth
• The Killers’ Mr. Brightside
• Madonna’s Hung up
• The Magnetic Fields’ Strange powers
• Scissor Sisters’ I don’t feel like dancin’ (video)
• Daedelus Like clockwork springs
• Dr. Dre The day the niggaz took over
• Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy
• Gorillaz’ Dare
• Jane’s Addiction’s Been caught stealing
• Jungle Brothers‘ Simple as that

I’ve got some narsty “rug” burns, and my muscles are so sore that (a) I couldn’t fall asleep last night without my own personal velvet hammer that is sweepytime Advil (b) I was too stiff to make it to the office. (Thank God for call-in numbers.)

But enough about me.

What songs do you listen to when you wanna get pomped op?