So I didn’t really want to jump on the fake memoir bandwagon, but after reading this, seems like I gotta.

The thing is, I happen to be writing a memoir. And that people who think they can package their fabrications as “memoir,” (which, yes, does take creative liberty in the autobiography/non-fiction department) may be ruining the chance that writers with talent and integrity (not to mention the chutzpah it requires to actually write a memoir) have at truly affecting others with their words, well, it makes me so angry that I could curse. And if you know me, I have to be really worked up for that to happen.

Who do these people think they are? Where do they get off?

A lot of blame has been placed on the publishers for not fact checking. True, the publishing house does — and should — carry some of the responsibility, but, frankly, I lay the blame at the feet of the so-called writers who are not even worthy of being called “so-called writers.” They are wannabes. And, worse, they are liars who take advantage of the power of personal storytelling.

For the record, my memoir is so far from being fake that I’m scared to pursue publishing it.

So I spoke with my former boyfriend of 4 years this week. He’s getting married in August.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

Apparently posting every day – even for just one week – is easier said than done. Alas, I have left my adoring readers hanging nearly four whole days for the week-of-Ravlessness finale.

Day 7 (Sunday, March 16)
Weekends being what they are, there’s less scheduling, hence less necessary travel. Today I took the beach cruiser out for a cruise, heading over to Java City where I met up with BFF Sarah for coffee and chats. We then tossed the beach cruiser in the back of her ghetto-mobile (a.k.a. Doge Caravan), drove back to her house for some early-afternoon French toast (my fave) and then I biked back home. Church was attended via light rail, and a ride home from my friend Renee.

Day 6 (Saturday, March 15)
The morning found me light-railing over to meet my friend Ryan at Temple on 10th Street, then to the office for a few hours before heading up to Cameron Park. Since yesterday was my brother’s birthday, I went to spend the afternoon/evening at the rent’s for dinner and funfetti birthday cake. (Happy Birthday!) This is usually a pretty easy route, even sans auto, as the light rail goes all the way to Folsom, whereupon someone from my beloved family picks me up. Tony dropped me off on T Street on his way back home to Dublin.

Day 5 (Friday, March 14)
Fridays are non-teaching days for me. So the route today was pretty simple: after a morning jog (three miles, thank you very much) and a brisk walk over to Safeway and back (needed milk), I light-railed it over to 7th and J for a few hours. Then back to 16th Street for a meeting at Bricka Bracka on 21st and P.

Day 4 (Thursday, March 13)
The route today would have been exactly the same as Tuesday’s route. Funny thing, though: the 54, which takes me from the Florin light rail station to Cosumnes River College, stops right in front Luther Burbank High School. Well, it just so happens that my roommate teaches at Luther Burbank. And so at her suggestion, I rode with her to school, had a semi-tour her campus and classroom, then hopped on the 54 for the ride to CRC. Coming back from CRC is still the most annoying part of this whole public-transportation bit, because I still haven’t nailed down if I could make it work to head straight to the office or some other place for the rest of the afternoon without stopping at home. But stopping at home means that I can change and unload unnecessary stuffs that I’m usually carrying. But it also means an extra, out-of-the-way leg of the trip. In the grand scheme of things, though, if this is the biggest annoyance, it seems relatively insignificant, does it not?

Today I headed to West Sac for my MW class, so my travels took me on the same route as Monday with one slight variation and a near-mishap.

Since the MW class doesn’t start until 10:30 a.m., I dutifully looked up the bus times last night to find out if there was a later schedule than the 8:07 62 that would still get me to the class on time. Indeed, there was an RT bus at 9:15 and a Yolo bus at 9:35. Armed with this info, I happily told myself that I would go for a jog this morning at 7, shower at 8 and easily catch the 9:15.

Yeah, that didn’t happen.

And, as I was standing on the corner of 21st and T at 9 a.m. waiting for the 62, the thought occurred to me that perhaps I looked at the schedule wrong. Because I was still waiting for the 62 at 9:20. So I called up RT to find out when the 62 was supposed to be to my little corner of Midtown, to which the helpful customer service rep replied that it should be there at 9:15 and 9:45. Alas, I was trying to catch the 9:35 Yolo bus!

After a deep breath, I mentally played out the worst-case scenario: I’d miss the bus to West Sac and have to cancel class on the day before spring break. Okay, not quite a tragedy.

When the 62 arrived at 9:25, I simply asked the driver if he thought we’d make it to 14th and L in time to catch the 9:35. He said it would all depend on how many people get on and off, and how much traffic there is. He also mentioned that he didn’t have a way to contact the Yolo bus driver. And after another minute he added that if we were late, he’d be sure to honk as we approached the stop.

As it turned out, there was virtually no traffic; we seemed to hit all the green lights, and there was no need for my kind driver to honk after all.

The traveling I had to do today had me more stressed than the trip to West Sac yesterday. Probably because there’s more of a time constraint on Tuesdays and Thursdays than Mondays and Wednesdays – class starts at 9 a.m. on the T/Th schedule. And usually I have to be to campus by at least 8:30 to print out a few things, and pick up copies from the print center. But I’m happy to report that today’s travels also came off rather swimmingly.

Destination: Cosumnes River College
Departure: 7:11 a.m.
Arrival: 8:15 a.m.
Route: Downtown Light Rail from 23rd Street to 16th Street. Transfer to Meadowview train from 16th Street to Florin. Transfer to RT Bus 54 from Florin to CRC.
Cost: $2
Difficulty: 0
Notes: Although this trip is not difficult, it’s hard to trade a 15-minute drive for an hour public transportation ride. Though, as I mentioned yesterday, reading does help. Today, for example, I came across and excerpt in the book I’m currently reading, which I then read to my class.

Destination: Home
Departure: 11:17 a.m.
Arrival: 12:20 p.m.
Route: RT Bus 54 from CRC to Florin. Transfer to Downtown Light Rail from Florin to 16th Street. Transfer to Sunrise train from 16th Street to 23rd street.
Cost: $2
Notes: It was a toss up between heading straight downtown, where I have an office, or going home first to eat and change clothes. Heading home won out in the name of hunger and comfort, though it was a slight hassle with the back-and-forth Light Rail trips.

Destination: 7th and J
Departure: 12:55 p.m.
Arrival: 1:07 p.m.
Route: Light Rail from 23rd Street to 8th and K
Cost: $0 (pass from earlier trip still valid)
Difficulty: 0
Notes: It’s always annoying to walk up to the station as the train is leaving. Alas, I had left my apartment at 12:39 and missed the 12:40 train. So I called my mom while I waited for the next one.

Destination: Home
Departure: 7:00 p.m.
Arrival: 7:18 p.m.
Route: Light Rail from 7th and Capital to 23rd Street.
Cost: $2
Difficulty: 0
Notes: Again found myself arriving to the stop as the train was pulling away. And, alas, 7 p.m. marks the start of trains every half-hour for the rest of the evening. So again I found myself waiting, this time for a good 30 minutes since I had left the office at 6:30. Sigh.

Total Cost: $6
Verdict: In spite of some elongated wait times, and based on the public transportation experiences of yesterday and today, I’m leaning toward the decision of forfeiting the Rav. Sniff, sniff. And, thanks to the comments of one RT Rider, I shall invest in a monthly pass, and probably one of those $1 route books, too.

Well, okay, it was like a month ago. But still. The fact remains that, thanks to a few key contributors – one of them being winemaker Justin Boeger – I had the privilege of coordinating a fun/funky event in honor of the biggest accomplishment of my life thus far in creative style.

Everything started when I wanted to throw a party. Then I started thinking about how to make the evening more purposeful than strictly a party that’s all about me. So I got the idea to incorporate a literary reading of sorts, and then other components started to take form in my mind – ways that would round out the evening into more of a cultural event: live music, a featured winemaker and a fabulous space.

To think that a winemaker – and not just any winemaker – was actually at the event is still a bit of a shock to me. That Boeger Winery winemaker Justin Boeger himself came and essentially hosted a private wine tasting for my guests and me was, well, let’s just say that I was (and still am) thrilled. In a word? Rad. And the wine, of course, was just as rad.

For the tasting, Justin poured his personal favorite: The 2004 Reserve Milagro, described as crisp all around with a nice finish and integrated, soft tannins.

In addition to the Milagro, I ordered several bottles of Boeger’s signature wine to use as thank you gifts: the 2006 Barbera, a nicely balanced wine that is easy to drink by itself or with just about anything. That evening, friends and I discovered the wonderful combination of this wine and chocolate chip cookies. And of course I kept a few of bottles for myself.

Doing a week-of-something posts must be a blogging trend. I learned it from my friend Jean, and considering that this week I’m experimenting with the whole car-less thing, it seemed only appropriate. So here it is, day 1:

Destination: West Sac outreach center of Sac City College
Departure: 8:07
Arrival: 9:07
Route: RT Bus 62 from 21st and T to 13th and L. Transfer to Yolo Bus 42 from 13th and L to Harbor and West Capitol.
Cost: $2
Difficulty (on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the most difficult): 2
Notes: Didn’t quite figure out the RT/Yolo Bus transfer protocol

Destination: 7th and J Streets
Departure: 1 p.m.
Arrival: 2 p.m.
Route: Yolo Bus 240 from Harbor and West Capitol to 6th and J
Cost: $1.50
Difficulty: 2
Notes:Still having some difficulty figuring out the Yolo Bus schedule, but it seems that Yolo Buses don’t run as frequently as RT buses. The 1 p.m. departure above reflects the time I left campus to walk to the bus stop. The bus departed West Sac at approximately 1:35, which wasn’t a very long ride back to Downtown.

Destination: Home
Departure: 3 p.m.
Arrival: 4 p.m.
Route: Light Rail Gold Line from 7th and Capitol to 23rd Street
Cost: $0 (transfer included from Yolo Bus, I think)
Difficulty: 0
Notes:This trip did include a walking detour from the office to a UPS store on L Street, hence the hour-long trip.

Total cost: $3.50
Verdict: Getting the bus to West Sac was not nearly as difficult as I imagined. It does require an hour of travel, thus forcing me to leave an hour earlier than when driving, but was able to make use of the time by reading. Over all, no complaints so far.

It’s damn expensive to drive these days. It costs me probably close to $200, or more, on a monthly basis. $100 for insurance, at least $100 for gas, oh, and, let’s not forget that the Rav has 173,000+ miles on it and burns oil. Yes, burns oil. It goes through about a quart a week, and in a perfect world I’d be putting that much in it. But in the world of Just Janna, oil is – you guessed it – expensive.

And with the price of gas only escalating? I run that gas tank dry. So dry that I prayed myself to the gas station last week and coasted up to the pump just in time.

All this to say that for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been contemplating getting rid of the poor thing. It started as all ideas do – only in my head as I wondered whether or not I could actually pull off a sans-auto lifestyle. When I slowly began articulating the concept to some friends and acquaintances, the general consensus was “that’s a big step.”

Is it? So it’s a matter of security, convenience and independence. But really, do I need a car to feel secure and independent? And what’s convenient, anyway? It’s actually pretty convenient that I live two blocks from a light rail station, one block from a bus stop, that I own a rad beach cruiser, and – best of all – that my foot is healing.

So my mission is to find out just how big of a step saying adios to the Rav really is. This is week is my official trial run. See, with the Rav parked out front, what happens is that I tell myself I’ll do the public transportation thing and then, because I know the Rav is there, I sleep just a little bit longer until – oh, what do you know? I have to drive, or I’ll be late. Oh, well, I’ll just figure the public transportation out next week.

This week, though, Mom is babysitting the Rav. I have no choice.

The first time I had a real dollars-and-cents conversation about money with someone other than my family happened a few months ago, after I had resigned from my job. It was with my friend Marie, and the topic came up because I had basically stopped driving, and was taking public transportation almost exclusively.

The reason for this was twofold. Mainly me-minus-income couldn’t afford the luxury of gas. But in addition to that, even though I didn’t get a free ride to grad school, my Sac State tuition also bought me a free ride for Sacramento Regional Transit, e.g. light rail and bus. Similarly, Marie shared with me her attempt at cutting back on spending, and one of her strategies (if I remember correctly) was to monitor her outlay on food by 1) not eating out, and 2) spending a maximum of $15 per week on groceries. Ambitious!

Other than the whole public transportation thing, I’ve also had to curb my spending in a lot of other areas:
•rent – now living with roommate, who has been described to some as an angel, which nearly cut housing expense in half.
•clothing – i.e. haven’t purchased new clothing (sadly including much-needed bras and panties) for more than a year.
•beauty maintenance – have not seen hairstylist at Mosaic since before October. Have also forfeited the pampering of pedicures and massages.
•social outings – whenever possible, socializing has been limited to hosting friends at home, accepting invitations of the like, and, thanks to generous friends, some semblance of a social life has been salvaged.
•Internet – have never paid for Internet service, come to think of it. With the advent of wireless service, it’s highly possible to do so by either 1) pirating an unsecure network; 2) frequenting coffee shops with free wifi; or 3) camping out at public library for hours on end. Have been known to do all of the above.
•caffeine addiction – quitting this spending habit cold turkey has been, well, impossible, thus haven’t kicked it just yet and don’t plan to. Though, have restricted coffee consumption to strictly homebrewed, allowing for exceptions only when necessary for professional purposes. Such exceptions include, but are not limited to, business meetings, network meetings, coworking, and/or general stamina and productivity.

It’s now me-plus-income, and although the status of my paycheck has changed, the status of my bank account hasn’t. Funny how that works.

This week I had the students in my English Writing 300 class at Cosumnes River College write their own six-word memoirs (some wrote more than one) and they were fabulous — no, they were rad. So rad, in fact, that I asked for their permission to post them here.

Still haven’t left after he cheated.

Was expecting more from myself.
No kids, no husband, just me.

United States Passport, new, happy life.
Learning to dance, met my soul mate.

Living by the cross, come with a price.

Nothing but music moves me inside.

Life, your life, our life, death.

Want it, got it, hate it.

In class, half my life gone.

Made bad choices, still no regrets.
Never born rich, still a survivor.

Always faithful and dedicated to commitment.

My family, my friends, my everything.
Need a friend, hear me out.
Mentally bullied, I still stood up.
Best friends made a better person.

Tattoo: Carpe Diem, seize the day.

Fuck others, it’s about me first!

Young, dumb, still young, still dumb.

Hate to love, love to hate.
I enjoy energy, helps me live.
Love is blind. Help me see.