Friday, November 9, 2007

non-negotiables

kate and i got into one of our winding conversations a couple weeks ago. parents, relationship, future travels, binge drinking. the norm.
well fell into the topic of non-negotiables. to clarify what we mean about non-negotiables: the traits or interests that one finds absolutely essential to a romantic entanglement at any level or the traits or interest that completely and totally removes a romantic entanglement from possibility. deal breakers, shallow or not, our personal minimum requirements in a possible mate.

Kate's:
-no "fuzzy" teeth. "Fuzzy" teeth are based on Kate's discretion. I don't have fuzzy teeth, but since I'm not wooing Kate, that matters little.
- Cannot in any way shape or form be a Steelers fan. not even a little.

Me:
* No belly piercings. the belly button must be untouched from hoops, stubs, danglingly things, the whole shebang. never in the the present or past.
* Hands. I have a certain hand requirement. I will just say that really long, skinny, alien fingers are an automatic ejection from the romance arena.

I have some other non-negotiables, but none as static and rigid as the above two.
Kate and I both agreed that physical attractiveness can easily be trump by personality and intellect.
*I must admit that I prefer my love interest to be an intellectual and perhaps a few levels above me... and they must tolerate Prince, Neil Diamond and William Shatner

From that conversation I wondered, what does my non-negotiables say about me? What are other peoples non-negotaibles?
feedback highly encouraged

UPDATE
Christi's non-negotiables:
*neo-cons and most republicans
*people shorter than me
*boys who use more beauty products than i do

I could see how height could be an issue for you my leggy love. I rarely find a gent shorter than my 5'3", so that stays off my list.
I do have neo-cons and republics in the middle category. I guess that I couldn't bring my self to discount a large amount of the male population. But then I want my man queer friendly, so I guess that removes a decent amount of the population anyway.
does bellybutton piercings count as beauty product? i really have a problem with that

Out with the old in the...newish?

I can soundly say that my daily experience as a nonprofit employee as ignited an ache for the lovely corporate human resources.The word fiasco comes to mind when I think about my benefits and salary. Definitely a fiasco. I have been stunningly patient, and while I patiently wait I job hunt on Idealist.


Besides my struggle to get the benefits I was promised when I was hired, work has improved.
The community center has found a new location but not a permanent home. Conveniently our new location is across the street. Not so convenient - the space. The new facility is maybe 1/16 of our old building. I mean, latinos love to be close, but not on top of each other at every turn. My board is constantly telling me space will tight and I am constantly thinking they underestimate, grossly underestimate. The offical move in date for our new facility is Tuesday November 12.
Oh, did I mention that half of our new facility is a church. yea, a full congregation.

*Fall Fest 2007:

My first program at the center. It was an overall success. With my program collaborators we provided hot food, bags of candy, games, prizes and spooks.

The school was divided into two parts, the Haunted Halls (courtesy of the South Lorain Boys and Girls Club) and a neutral non-satanic, non-devil worshiping, non-sinner area for the Pentecostal Puerto Rican community. I was so stressed that we would run out of candy that I was constantly begging for donations up to an hour BEFORE the event. $400 dollars worth of candy later in addition to my own personal contribution of $100, we ran out of candy and some kids went home empty handed. But I'm such a sucker that I made up IOU vouchers for the kids that missed out and on the next day gave out another 20bags.
Over 400 people came to the event.
175 bags of candy handed to happy little princesses and princes.
I was a tired fairy and went out for drinks like a the big kid I am.

Pictures courtesy of Hillard and Carmen of the We Care We Share Agency
















these three look cute, but on a daily basis I am yelling at one of them to not do many things, like spit in the water fountain or stab each other with their pencils.

















































the baby was a monster, but i say it was an adorable snowman. get it!