The Year in Review: 2007

The Year in Music

I went to a Killers concert back in May at the Patriot Center. I got floor tickets and was in the center about five rows back. Brandon forgot to sing the second verse of "All These Things That I've Done" and said, "Shit," when he realized. The concert was amazing. I still have the "Shadowplay" video on my phone that I recorded.

October 30 was my best day of 2007! So many things throughout the day just kept going right, and it all led up to the Jimmy Eat World Concert at the 9:30 Club. I got in the front row, and I got one of Jim's guitar picks. The concert was incredible. The whole day was incredible.

November 11 was the Jimmy Eat World concert at Sonar. The concert was fantastic. The day wasn't as incredible as the last, but it was certainly more eventful.

Lillix's newest cd came out last year, but it became available in the US this year, and it played in my car for months. I liked Kelly Clarkson's new cd as well. I have yet to get the Spice Girls' greatest hits album, but I'm so glad they made one, and I wish I could go to their concert. The Jimmy Eat World cd was my favourite of the year of course. The Killers' B-side album was good, but their Christmas song "Don't Shoot Me Santa" was great, and I enjoyed all of their music videos they made this year, especially the one for "Santa". And last but never least, I love Britney's new album. Of course I listened to more music than that, but those are my highlights.

The Year in Movies

I kept a list of all of the new movies I watched this year over at my Livejournal just so I could make an end of the year top 10 list because I usually forget what I watched before September. It becomes a blur.

I am only including movies that actually came out this year (which is why Pan's Labyrinth, Children of Men, and Miss Potter won't be on the list). So here's the list:

1. Enchanted
   
2. Transformers
   
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
   
4. The Number 23
   
5. Alvin and the Chipmunks
   
6. The Simpsons Movie
   
7. Spiderman 3
   
8. Charlie Wilson's War
   
9. Live Free or Die Hard
   
10. Atonement
    

Honorary Mentions go to: Hot Rod, Zodiac, Pirates of the Carribbean: At World's End, Georgia Rule, and Good Luck Chuck

Worst Movie goes to: Premonition
Runner up goes to: Music and Lyrics

I want to mention that I did see Across the Universe just so you know it didn't make the list on purpose.

The Year in Television

I haven't had cable the majority of the year, but that doesn't mean much because of youtube. The show of the year for me is America's Next Top Model. I discovered it in September when I was visiting my mom, who has cable. I watched every cycle of it on youtube in about a month. Cycle 9 was a huge scandalous disappointment, but it gave us Heather, so it was worth watching of course. Cycle 10 better be awesome!

I also watched the first two seasons of Arrested Development on dvd. I got the third season for Christmas, so I am excited about that. Also, on dvd I watched Animaniacs and Ali G (or maybe that was last year. Whatever). Of course I watched Friends a bunch of times, but that's nothing new.

The Year in Books

Originally I did not have this, but I saw someone mention Harry Potter in their own 2007 entry, and I was all, "Oh, shit! I can't believe I forgot! I fail at being a Harry Potter fan!!!" So this section is being added two days later. Dammit.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! The whole Harry Potter July was excellent. Went to midnight thingies for both the book and the movie. It was a little depressing that there are no more books, but I'm glad to have read through to the end because I like knowing. The whole series is brilliant!

Other books I read this year worth mentioning: I have no idea what I read this year. Maybe I should keep a list for that as well.

The Year in Life

I'll start by saying I had a total of eight employers this year. Eight! It has been a crazy year for work. My total since I have been working since the age of 16 is now at 20 employers. You know what? No regrets. I'm just a person who knows when to bounce. Also, this year I had a couple professional freelance photography gigs, and I started two websites (though I think I'm not going to renew one of them). Also, I made my first (and only) sale on eBay on my first try (though my second, third, and fourth tries were not as successful).

I made way too many big purchases and am now in even more debt than ever before, but that's ok. I'll start with the sewing machine, which I haven't used in months, that is sitting on my desk to the right of my laptop. I wanted to start a pillow business, but I guess I don't enjoy sewing as much as dreaming about the things I can create. Next is my Nikon D40x, which I named Isla (after Isla Fisher, who had a baby in October named Olive). It has not paid for itself monetarily yet, but I have gotten good experience and a lot of fun with it. Lastly, my largest purchase in my life, my new used Nissan Sentra, which I named Simon the Beast. His most winning feature is the aux-in port which I can plug Tangerine (my blue iPod nano) into.

Also, this year I moved out on my own (well, not entirely my own since I live with my boyfriend, but on my own in terms of out of my mom's house). That was at the beginning of April, so it's been almost nine months, and it's going pretty well.

Other things I would like to note about this year is my discovery of the Scrabulous application on facebook (it has consumed me worse than Snood did my freshman year of college), joining the Jimmy Eat World message board (which is full of pricks but also really cool people, and I made a new friend off of it as well, and a couple band members actually post there which makes it and them even better), continuing my ASL interpretation education (I mention that because it has led me to the study of ethics, which I may want to pursue for my master's), and one of my best friends getting married (we've been friends since fourth grade, so that was extra special. Back then we both thought I would be the first. We've kind of switched dreams along the way).


So that's my year in a nutshell. It was (for the most part) the year of the Pig, which is my year (hence I turned 24, since they are on a 12 year rotation). In a couple of months I will be making another year in review type of entry for my birthday, which I am looking forward to because it'll be my golden year (born on the 25th, turning 25).

So cheers to 2007! Welcome 2008!

I'll see you next year.

Video Post: Jimmy Eat World Concert at Sonar

Quick shout out to all my readers (it's not about quantity, it's about quality!): thanks for your comments (I love comments!) and for reading! Hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday!

So it's been well over a month since the Jimmy Eat World concert at Sonar, but better late than never, right? I finally posted up some videos on youtube. Click here for the playlist. Below is "The Middle", which was the final song, and some guy bumrushed the stage. Enjoy!



P.S. You can hear me singing on some of the videos, especially on "Sweetness" and "Let It Happen" (my "ha ha ha"s sound like "huh huh huh"s). Oops. I almost didn't post those up because of that, but I thought the performances were too good not to.

P.P.S. My camera work seems really shoddy, but a) it was with my coolpix and b) I'm an artist! I made most of those shots on purpose! (It may look like I'm cutting off Jim's head a lot, but it's because the focus is on Tom or Zach.)

P.P.P.S. I like to see how many postscripts I can stick on.

P.P.P.P.S. Ok. That's enough.

"Poison is fine, but if there's caffeine, I die."

My ass. man. wants to kill me:


And a shot of the sky for your viewing pleasure:

Xmas Eve Exchange

Um: What the fuck?
P²: Stop what the fucking me!

Happy Holidays!

Blog is Life, Life Blog

Ever since I have made this blog, I sometimes think about during my day what my next update will consist of. I have been blogging since my freshman year of college* when I was introduced to Deadjournal. My initial reaction to my friend having an online diary of sorts was, "Why? Why would you want to put all your shit out in public for strangers to see? Why would strangers want to see your shit?" I signed up and have been blogging ever since. I had an account on Deadjournal (long gone), several different accounts on Livejournal (still have one), a couple on greatestjournal (no more), and a few others.

*Let's just say during my freshman year of college I signed up for a myspace account but deleted it soon after because I didn't understand it, and no one I knew had one anyway. That's how long ago (and not so long ago) that was.

But all of those journals have been pretty...incognito? The various [adj]journal.com communities seem to be their own little worlds. It feels safe. Feels like a club. Or in my case a very jaded, knocked down sorority since I usually only have female journal friends, and they usually bitch a lot (that's not a criticism. I bitch, too. It's what we do). Now my blog home is blogger (no need to link it. You're on it!), and I feel more...exposed? So I actually need to put some more thought into my posts.

So why the post about posts?

I wondered is it better to have too many posts or too little? Where is the happy medium?

I always thought if you post more than once a day, that's overkill. Especially if you write novels each time, and especially if your writing makes people want to claw their eyes out (I should hope mine doesn't. Why would you still be reading?). But then I read that some people don't appreciate it when you don't post every day. Some blogs (not mine...yet...) have very loyal readers who want to read an update during their daily internet adventures.

That makes sense. If you don't post enough, people lose interest or get tired of waiting. We live in very impatient times, people (though our procrastination and laziness say otherwise, but we're all about instant gratification)! If you don't have my mocha ready by the time I walk over to the pick-up area, I'm going to stare you down and tap my foot because it's not about quality, it's about GIMME NOW!

I'm sorry. What was I talking about? Oh, yeah...

I personally read about 25 blogs in total, and that includes friends' blogs, online friends' blogs, blog friends' blogs, famous blogs, and community blogs. So if one of the blogs decides to update with ten updates a day, I learn to skim. If I tend to see nothing of interest, I learn to skip. But like I said, with the flip side of it all, if one of these blogs updates once a month, in some cases it's like a treat once a month ("Hooray! An update from so-and-so!"), or I don't bother checking anymore because I checked for two weeks straight and I'm over you now so thanks for the short time we had together and abandoning me when I needed some entertainment from you the most.

So to reiterate: what is the happy medium? More than once a day is too much. Too much! Unless you're absolutely lovable and hilarious, then blog away. Once a day may still be too much ("I was on vacation! I have to read 14 entries to catch up! You should have taken a break when I did!"), but for most it may be reasonable. Once a week is ok for the readers who do the weekend thing. It's like a television show (though now I watch my shows on DVD. Instant gratification!...Commercial-free instant gratification!). Once a month is only good if your entry is gold (none of that "I'm still alive" bullshit). Once a year...who does that?

So it seems in my not so humble opinion 2-5 entries a week is the best option with only one or two of those entries being essays of epic proportions.

Count the clichés. I am the queen of them.

Don't stop until you're ahead.

A quick post before I head off to work.

First, yesterday I finished with all of my exams. So now I'm free! I take classes willingly, and yet I still end up wanting out before halfway through the semester.

Second, I'm a huge ANTM fan. ANTM = America's Next Top Model. Last night was the finale to Cycle 9. WORST. CYCLE. EVER. It was so obvious who was going to win considering they kept talking about how good she was when she sucked. She was already a model and didn't need the competition. She didn't audition but was scouted, so it's not like she even wanted it that much. She was mean to a differently abled girl. She was fake as hell. Her makeover made her look like a mushroom. Chantal may have had a lazy eyelid, but she was much prettier and had better photos. Jenah had her defenses up by the end because they kept picking on her (and you try being a hardcore smoker and being forced to quit cold turkey during a reality show competition and see how bright and shiny you are). Cycle 10 had better be better because the cycles keep getting worse! BOO!!! Stupid Tootie.

Third, I'm almost done with my holiday shopping.

"Vanity: my favourite sin."

I've been thinking about getting vanity plates for Simon the Beast, and I have been trying to make it Jimmy Eat World related, and today I thought about combining my two favourite bands, but then I realized "JEWKLRS" wouldn't be such a good idea.

Simon is the Beast!

"If it were not for Jesus, there would be no Christmas." Oh, really? REALLY??

Actually, all the traditions of holidays that children enjoy most (Christmas decorations and presents, Easter egg hunts, Halloween itself) are based off of Pagan traditions. Christians stole their ideas and created holidays around the same time so as to lure people away from the Pagan religions. I mean, if you were a Pagan, and suddenly someone said, no join our religion although that means giving up all the fun parts of your religion, would they really?

Ok, that was entirely in a nutshell, but that's the gist. When you put up your Christmas tree and kiss under the mistletoe, take comfort in knowing that you are partaking in pagan rituals.

Speaking of Pagan (which I am not for the turntable), I got my license plates today for Simon, and it's the standard three letter hyphen four numbers. Well, the first three numbers are 666. Love it! I of course had to change Simon's name. He is now Simon the Beast. It would be funnier if Simon was an SUV or a mac truck.

Also, to continue with today's theme slightly, I was driving behind this car:



I remember in 2004 and 2005, anytime I saw a Kerry bumper sticker, I'd smile. (She has no Kerry bumper stickers, but she has the equivalent because I'm just talking liberal bumper stickers in general.) I live in Northern Virginia, and as much as people here want to believe this is a liberal area, it totally is not. Loudoun County is one of the three most conservative counties in Virginia. We may have a democrat for governor, but that's the exception not the rule. Also, I didn't even vote for Kerry, but I still like to see that there were Kerry supporters driving around this stiflingly republican area. If this was mostly a democrat infested place, I would find the W stickers amusing and the Kerry stickers overkill.

This woman had two of the same bumper sticker. That was my only issue with the rear of her car. Although some of them I did not understand. Overall, it reminded me that 2008 is upon us. You can feel the budding tension in America. Once the new year hits, people are going to go crazy about the election. Some already are but there will be a significant amount more.

In the fall of 2000, it was my senior year of high school, and it was the first time I decided to take an academic class instead of an honors class (I finally realized that honors is not worth it after being burned out by honors history). Wow. Big difference between honors and academic. During one class, my government class had to be the House, while the other academic government class next door was the Senate. We split up into our parties. There were about 20 people in my class. Five of us were "democrats", while the other 15 were republicans. The republicans actually were republicans. The "democrats" weren't democrats at all. One was undecided, one was green, one was libertarian, one was other, and one was a republican trying to infiltrate our party. In that whole class, only the teacher was a democrat. I think he partially favoured the four of us because we didn't say stupid things or become assholes after the election. Also, I didn't vote in that election because I didn't turn 18 until February.

In the fall of 2004, it was my senior year of college. I was living in a two bedroom apartment on campus. There were four girls in the apartment. One was a hardcore republican (she was also a government major), her roommate was an exchange student therefore didn't care, my roommate was a democrat, and I was green (I was the green in my high school government class as well. I'm actually not now, nor did I vote green during the 2004 election). Can you imagine the tension in the apartment between the two rooms? The three of us were all very opinionated. I thought it was kind of funny that everyone voted for someone different. (I wanted to vote green but due to my stupidity and the fucked up voting system, I chose not to. The green party was a write-in ballot for Virginia, and I read up on write-in ballots. There are rules that go with them, and if you don't follow the rules, your vote doesn't count. In one state, you had to write the candidate's name differently. Well, reading this threw me off because when I got to the voting location, I couldn't remember which way was the original way, so I ended up voting for a candidate already on the ballot because I didn't want to write the green party candidate's name down incorrectly and then not have it count.)

In the fall of 2008, I have no idea where I will be. I won't be a senior in anything. I may or may not be taking classes. Who knows? I'm pretty sure I won't be voting third party this time, so there's a good chance you can guess who I will be voting for. Although, I will say this, I have voted for republicans in the past. Ok, so it was in a republican primary vote (Virginia doesn't have party registration, so you can infiltrate the other side), but I think it counts.

And now some more pictures!

I love looking at the sky! Sooooo pretty.


Doesn't the Moon look cool?


I admit, I totally changed the gamma and contrast on this one.


I didn't change this one. The sky was that blue.


Not the sky. This is a broccoli cheddar scone. It smells delicious. It's difficult to finish though. I don't know why. I once referred to it (before trying it) as "the gross looking one" in front of the customer who ordered it.

I also have a video! Steph told me about Any Video Converter, which enables you to compress a video, so I tested out a random video I made to see if I could fit it onto youtube. On Thanksgiving while driving home, I recorded what was in front of me while listening to "Shadowplay" performed by the Killers. The video is kind of boring, I know, but soon there will be JEW ones!

Cool hands on your...what?

Job #2 canceled work today, so I decided I should use this time to finish all of my work for my online class. I wrote two paragraphs and got sidetracked.

Fellow JEW fan Steph asked me if I knew what Jim is singing in "Stop". Cool on hands on your... Many people seem to think it's "steps". Steph's guess is "stay". I decided to type up all the lyrics I could understand and play the song really loud. I've officially shortened my hearing life, but who cares? It took me two hours, but I am so sure I have the right word, and I am so proud of that, so I am writing a whole blog entry about it!

(And for those of you who don't understand, "Stop" is a song off of what has been called by JEW fans as Chase These Demos. They are unofficial, and the band was upset that they were leaked. If we were good people, we would have refused to download them. But we aren't good people...we are fans.)

Stop lyrics
Jimmy Eat World

Don't have to be the prettiest
If you have the mind, the willingness
No one stops [incoherent] she's got
No reason why
I can't help following with my eyes
Even at my best I guess I'm still just one of them

I see it all in my head
Cool hands on your sweat
You wanna make me mad
Stop 'cause I am
You can call this a game
You can look at my face
You wanna hurt me, baby
Stop 'cause you have

Combination, both strong and lost
How easily you turn then turn it off
Do you take what you want
And save it for a better time
Don't act that way
Honey, I don't buy it at all
If you're really as tough as your defenses
You'd let them fall

[Chorus x2]

You wanna see me mad
Stop 'cause I am
You wanna hurt me, baby
Stop 'cause you have

SWEAT!!! BOO-YAH!!!!

If I'm wrong, I'll still insist that I'm right. Even if Jim says I'm wrong, I'll think he's lying.

After I figured that part out, I searched for what other people thought. Here are some that stood out to me:

But he has taught as your defenses and let them fall
...Um...that doesn't even make sense.

Combination of song and lust
Song and lust? Srsly?

Alright, I still need to figure out the part I marked [incoherent]. Many people think it's No one stops and no one knows what she's got, but obviously just because many people think something, it doesn't make it right. When I think something, that is what makes it right.

Yes, I really am this stubborn.

No, I'm not.

Yes.

No, no. I am.

COLLEGE PAPER WRITE I HATE BOOOOOOOOO

I had a research paper due in my online introduction to interpreting class maybe three weeks ago. I'm still working on it. My topic is interpreting in Canada.

As I was sitting here researching it, I suddenly remembered that this morning when I was at Job #1, around like 6:30 AM when no one was really in there yet, a customer came up to the register and signed to me that she wanted a Venti mild coffee. I didn't miss a beat and started to sign back to her. We hadn't started brewing the mild yet. I asked her if she wanted to wait five minutes or try the bold. She tasted it and didn't like it. We kept signing to each other, and she decided to get a Venti skim no-whip Mocha. Ok, so most of that information was irrelevant, but I felt like sharing anyway. She asked me where I learned to sign, and I told her. She said she used to teach there and asked me who was my teacher. I told her I'm taking interpreting classes, but I told her the names of some teachers I had before when taking ASL. She knew one of them. She told me how her children are interpreters.

After she left, I wanted to keep signing to people! I'm not that good at communicating in ASL yet (I've only finished ASL IV), but I still love it. I'm not sure yet how I feel about interpreting, but I definitely want to become fluent in ASL.

And in something not related to ASL but related to the fact that I have to write a research paper for intro to interpretation. No matter what a person's major is, it seems everyone's major in college is writing fucking essays! It doesn't matter what you want to learn or study. If you don't like writing essays, college is set up so that you're not good enough to earn a degree in something that has nothing to do with writing essays. In the world of academia: good essay writing skills = success! Bad essay writing skills = wah wah wah FAILURE!

I hate writing research papers and essays. Interpreters don't write essays. Why should it matter how well I write an essay when it comes to earning an associate's degree in interpretation?

I wonder how many essays math majors write. Like I said, it doesn't matter what your major is. I mean, in graduate school, you need a thesis, right? Oh, what is a thesis...a large fucking paper????? Of course some can be thesis projects, not papers, like art projects, but for the most part, there's writing involved.

Obviously, I love to write. I write creative essays, screenplays, play scripts, poems, songs, stories, blog entries, etc. I'm pretty sure I'm going to grow up to be a writer (yeah, I still say "grow up to be" at 24 years old). I guess my random point is it doesn't seem right that if you suck at writing essays, you're not going to do well in college. Period. It doesn't seem right because how often do you write essays other than in college or high school? It doesn't seem to be a good measure of how smart or capable a person is in their field of study.

I suck at writing academic essays. I suck at college.

...And yet I still pay to go.

Chipotle Manifesto

I feel the need to make a whole entry dedicated to Chipotle. Why? Chipotle is the best thing ever! That's why.

Earlier today I was watching the videos from their 30 second video contest. The entries this year are definitely not as good as last year. My favourite though is the Lucho Libre one.

What do I usually get when I'm at Chipotle? Veggie fajita with rice, black beans, peppers and onions, corn salsa, lots of guacamole, and lettuce. That is my usual.

At an interview I had last year with (what I call) a "business casual" company (meaning it's more professional than working at the mall, but the work is still kind of unimportant and probably boring as hell...or maybe it was an interview for a mall job...omg I've had so many, I've lost track...whatever), and when she asked me what my proudest accomplishment was I said, "You know what Chipotle is? The restaurant? And they have those huge burritos? Well, I have eaten two of the big pillow-like burritos in one sitting...three times."

Yes, that is right. I have eaten two of those things in one sitting three times. After the third time I said I would try for three burritos in one sitting, but that has yet to happen. Lately I've been learning self-control.

Also, I should mention I'm 5'4" and about maybe about 100 lbs. In one of the Chipotle facebook groups, I've seen wall posts by guys twice my size who said they get full after one burrito.

It may not be childbirth, but I still think it's an impressive accomplishment.

The first time I did it, I had bought one burrito for lunch and one for dinner. After I ate the first, I decided I still wasn't satisfied and went ahead and ate the second. Then I went to a play rehearsal where we had our first costume fitting. Obviously my costume did not fit since my belly was bursting with Chipotle goodness. I told the costume lady not to adjust the costume, and that it didn't fit because I ate too much. She is somehow programmed in a way to try to prevent or at least put an end to eating disorders in female actors. I guess she has dealt with it a lot, though I have yet to meet any theater actor who has one. I insisted that I don't have bad body image, I want to gain weight actually, and please don't mess with the costume. She wouldn't listen to me, and for the next couple of weeks, the costume went through many changes and ended up being something totally different in the end.

So here's a tip: don't eat Chipotle the day of a costume fitting.

I remember the first time I had Chipotle. Monday, February 23, 2004. It was two days before my 21st birthday. My junior year of college. One of my greatestjournal friends had kept mentioning Chipotle, so after visiting the website and making sure it had veggie friendly items (which it did, and it actually said which food items were veggie and which were not, which made me more excited), I decided that for my birthday fun with my roommate, we would go to Chipotle and see a movie (I don't remember which movie we saw. I only remember the orgasmic experience that was Chipotle). It was the best thing ever! The burrito was so freaking big and delicious and inexpensive. What more could you ask for?

My roommate and I decided to be roomies again the next year, and we had many more Chipotle movie nights. The following year was her senior year, and I visited her almost every Wednesday for weekly Chipotle movie nights. Man, I miss those. Good times.

I have a Chipotle calendar. One time they double foiled my burrito, so I had a clean sheet of foil that I folded up and kept. It is in my Harry Potter cookie tin with all my other trinkets and fun things I collect including two Chipotle gift cards. I got two Chipotle metal card cases when I got the gift cards. If they sold giant Chipotle burrito stuffed toys, I would totally buy one and hug it and take pictures of myself pretending to eat it.

Chipotle is so YUM!

Oh, you didn't want a dash of phlegm on your cappucino?

Friday night thru Saturday morning I got the most sleep I have had in the last few weeks.

I woke up feeling like crap.

I went to work, and a couple hours into it, I just kept sneezing. I sneeze a lot, but I can tell when I'm sick, and I'm sick. That's what I get for sleeping less than five hours a night. Sleeping for ten hours allowed my body to go, "Oooh, hooray! Finally, I can heal."

I worked for eight sneeze-filled hours. Today I worked seven sneeze-filled hours.

I understand that if someone goes home sick, the store will be shortstaffed. But seriously? Who wants to get their coffee from someone who has bloodshot eyes, is slurring her speech, sneezing ten times in a row, and then wiping her nose on her sleeve? Mm...delicious germy Venti drip. (I totally just gave away where I work.)

And since I'm sick, I'm in a foul mood. I almost bitched at many customers today. It would have been worth it. "Don't just throw your money at me. How would you like it if I tossed your cup of coffee at you?" "How do you think I feel?" "Duh I'm sick! Way to point out the obvious. Gee...you're annoying as hell you fucking bastard!" "You're getting hazelnut? Hazelnut tastes like awful concentrate."

Whimsical Question #1

Q: Do you think there has been just one second when every human being on this world was awake at the same time?

That's what came to mind when I was trying to sleep last night. I thought, 'I bet there is always at least one person sleeping at any given moment.' This can be expanded to eating, walking, sitting, pooing, etc.

I dropped a trashcan on my toe this morning at Job #1. It hurt a lot. I didn't think it would because it was empty, but it did. For some reason, even with all the nasty, mean customers and staying a half hour longer and what felt like a broken toe, I was still in an ok mood. They must pump something into the air or put something in the coffee.

Speaking of coffee, when I became a vegan about five and a half years ago (not a vegan now, just vegetarian...kind of), I became all health conscious and decided to cut out caffeine. I cut out coffee altogether, even decaf. Since starting at Job #1 almost three months ago, I am drinking coffee again (well, espresso drinks but still...), and my teeth weren't the brightest to begin with, but now they are even less so. Perhaps once I stop working at Job #1, I will invest in some tooth-whitening kit. I've seen a couple of people's teeth after having used one of those, and they look...bizarre. They don't look like real teeth, but I imagine it is just because they went a little overboard. No one's teeth should be WHITE white.

I wish teeth came in different colours like hair and eyes do. Although my hair and eyes are both really dark, so I probably would have dark teeth. That would suck...although I'm sure I wouldn't have to worry about coffee stains.



HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hazelnut, aka the flavour of evil

This morning I stayed half an hour longer at Job #1 only to be rewarded by finding that my purse had been soaked with coffee that leaked from the trash. Lots of coffee. On my way out I grabbed newspapers to protect the seats in my car. I was slightly annoyed (would have been more annoyed if I had been more awake) because I have a lot of electronics in my purse: two cell phones, an iPod, and a digital camera. Luckily none of them were seemingly harmed. Although my pack of gum got the worst of it and had to be discarded.


All the gross wetness that is my purse.

I was an hour late to Job #2, but they don't have set times most of the time, so I wasn't really late, and it wasn't a big deal, so I took my sweet ass time and stopped by the dry cleaners and bakery near my house. I had been meaning to get my faux fur coat dry cleaned since last winter when a soda fizzed all over it. I brought along two other coats, and they told me all three would be $35. Um...I thought it was going to be more like $5. I left with my coats and went to the bakery that had a proud sign in the window letting everyone know you can purchase bubble tea there, which I did.

The place had the look and feel that they maybe get one customer a day. I wanted almond bubble tea, but they were out of almond. Would I like hazelnut instead? Um. Alright. Sounds good. She took forever making it, and during that enormous amount of time, I decided on getting a pastry as well. A lemon pastry. It looked fluffy, buttery, and delicious. When I finally left, I sipped the tea on my way out. There isn't a word for it. I'll make one up. Narsty*. Not just nasty. It was yech. So incredibly yech, it was narsty. Still, I don't like wasting stuff, and I thought maybe it would taste better if I kept drinking. I drank some more. Nope. Still narsty. I got in my car and bit into my lemon pastry. It was not fluffy, buttery goodness. It was crumby. Crummy. Crumbly. It was not good. It wasn't soft or yummy. It seemed like it was stale and about ready to turn into a pile of sugar and spread over the interior of my car and find its way into my lungs.

*[EDIT] I googled "narsty", and apparently I didn't make it up. How was I supposed to know? I don't have cable. This could almost be filed alongside other things I thought I invented (like the middle finger and the word "kiwi"), but this one I'll admit probably made it's way into my subconscious, and it wasn't that creative to begin with.



Nasty hazelnutsack bubble tea


Lemon pastry of death

The hazelbutt taste/smell/essence stayed with me the rest of the day. All through Job #2 I kept thinking how I wanted to go to sleep, and I figured 5:00 PM is an ok bedtime when you usually wake up at 3:00 AM. But the narsty hazel taste was bothering me too much. My mom had made these Korean dumplings (mandu) and asked if I was going to come home and get them. I told her, no, I'm going to sleep. She sent the brother to my house to deliver the mandu. I complied and stayed up because I hadn't really eaten anything all day, and I thought perhaps the strong taste/smell of Korean food would exorcize the hazelnut demons out of my life.

It sort of has but not enough. The taste of evil is overpowering. Nothing can defeat it except time.

Meanwhile, here are a few more pictures.


Fun with Macro: at Home


Fun with Macro: at Work


Car on fire...don't you love accidental cool shots?

Picture Post: Autumn and the Macro Feature

Right outside of my apartment.


Steps!


Boyfriend's feet because the leaves on the street looked too empty.


Beads of H20!


Obey the signage.


Discovering the usefulness of the "macro" setting on my CoolPix (named Geri).


Keeping warm and awake...even though it's marked decaf...and the heater is clearly off.


Took this while I was waiting for the play to be over on Saturday, so I could take pictures for the post performance discussion. That blue thing is what I keep Geri in. I made it myself out of a bathing suit I deemed unflattering.


This is the closest parking spot I can park in at my condo. All the spaces were full including this one. Jerks.


Took this while waiting on Sunday. Oh, the joys of the self-timer.


Extreme close-up!

And yet, I'm still awake.

This has been such a long week (because of Job #1, my week is now Monday thru Sunday, as opposed to Sunday thru Saturday).

Monday - Supposed to have classes but instead spent the day waiting for my car to be done then went and picked it up in the evening. First day this semester I skipped classes. Worked on homework and Job #2 stuff. Oh, and editing the Jimmy Eat World concert photos of course.

Tuesday - Accidentally kept hitting the snooze button. I set my clock 25 minutes ahead (don't ask). Set alarm for 3:00 AM. Finally jumped out of bed when it said 4:30 AM. Had to be at work at 4:15 AM. Do the math. I had to be at work in 10 minutes. I was 10 minutes late. No harm. Worked at Job #1 until 10:00 AM. Worked on Job #2 stuff. At 5:00 PM drove to DC for a theater photo shoot. First one. It was exciting. I love extreme learning experiences (you know, where you're forced into learning a bunch of stuff just because of the situation).

Wednesday - Had class at 11:00 AM. After that I went to Borders to buy Alternative Press since there's a huge Jimmy Eat World article in there. I also saw Keira Knightley on the cover of Elle, so I bought that, too. I also bought Chipotle. Mmm...Chipotle. Then it was back to home for more homework and Job #2 stuff.

Thursday - Job #1 from 6:00 AM to 10:00 AM. Holy crap I can't remember what else I did. More homework and Job #2 stuff?

Friday - Job #1 from 4:15 AM to 10:00 AM. Job #2 from 11:00 AM to 4:15 PM. Good times.

Saturday - Job #1 from 6:30 AM to 1:00 PM. Then off to DC for another theater photo shoot. This time it was for the post performance discussion of the same play. The lighting was so dark I hardly got any good shots if any. I need a faster lens.

Sunday (today) - Job #1 from 6:30 AM to 3:00 PM. DC again for the second post performance discussion. The guest at the discussion was an actress I used to watch on "In Living Color", but I wasn't sure if that's what I remembered her from or not because she seemed so mature and not goofy, so I didn't think she would have been on a show like that. But she was.

Tomorrow is the start of another long week. I haven't seen my friends in forever. I haven't had a full eight hours of sleep in a while. Maybe I should stop doing shit on the computer and get my priorities straight.

Don't steal my car! Wait....is that an olive?

After three hours of sleep I woke up to find out I slept in (or rather kept hitting my snooze button without any awareness of what I was doing). This was at 4:05 AM. Yes, that was oversleeping. I was 10 minutes late to Job #1, but luckily the shift manager who opened didn't care too much. During my shift I felt like crap and kept sneezing. Not good in food service. I was standing outside in the cold all day Saturday car shopping, and then I was standing outside in the cold all day and then part of the night (also in slight rain) for the JEW concert. So more than likely I'm sick.

A few weeks ago, an Artistic Director of a theater in DC called me about photography. He wanted to see if I was interested in shooting some stuff for their play. We never finalized whether I would do it or not, so yesterday I sent him an e-mail because the photo call was today. He called me today to say yes can I be there tonight and also for the post show discussions on Saturday and Sunday. I said sure even though I need sleep, I need to do my homework, I still have to write a research paper that was due last Sunday (hey, I've been a little distracted with car stuff and almost getting smacked by a drumset), and I have stuff to do for Job #2. I spent two hours working on Job #2 stuff, so I could at least send them something. Homework shmomework. As long as I pass the classes with a B I'll be satisfied. I'll write the paper. Hopefully tomorrow. I'll sleep when I'm dead.

So at around 5:00 I hopped in my car and went to DC. The theater I was going to is located next to another theater where I had an audition at two years ago, so I was sort of familiar with how to get there and the awful parking situation. It was either deal with the parking situation or walk all the way from the Gallaudet Metro stop, which is a mile from the theater. Walk a mile through a raunchy part of DC at night? Hellsno!

It only takes about 30 minutes to get there. I had to be there around 7:00. But I hate being late to things like that, so better super early than a little late. I got there around six because I missed a turn and had to wing it through a whole other way (luckily my intuition is like a GPS system...which doesn't explain why I missed the turn), and then I did a weird lap around the place trying to find parking on the street. The street had meters, some were covered with "Emergency Parking Only" signs, and there were signs sectioning off parts of the curb you couldn't park at. I finally settled on a spot but wasn't sure it was kosher. During the whole time I was inside the theater, I was worried my car would be towed, ticketed, or stolen.

Luckily Simon was ok.

There was condensation on my windows, so I used my wipers and such, and as I was driving, I noticed a little black thing on the hood of my car. It looked like an olive. I thought, 'What the fuck? Did someone rub a Subway sandwich on my car?' And instead of planning on cleaning it off when I got home, I hoped it wouldn't fall off because I planned on taking a picture of it instead. A picture of a random olive on my car. Funny stuff, man.

Then I noticed another one on the other side in an identical spot, and it occurred to me that they weren't actually olives but may in fact be parts of the car.

I didn't check though. I don't like standing around outside in my neighborhood. I get inside as fast as possible.

I may be a very trusting person and think highly of people, but I watch out for my own ass.

So now I'm home. I was going to edit the pictures and put them on a cd, then I discovered...all my pictures are tiny. It was the first time I did a whole shoot using all manual settings, and I had been messing around with stuff, and I thought all my other shoots had been done on a raw format as well but apparently not. I shot half of the play using RAW+B, but it was taking up too much memory, so I thought I would just do RAW. Well, apparently doing RAW means I have to use PictureProject and connect my camera directly to my computer otherwise they will be the stupid thumbnails I see right now! DAMN YOU NIKON!!!

I'm starting to feel like Canon is the better brand. Have you seen Elyse Sewell's pictures? They are amazing, and she uses a Canon, and it's a oneshot, not a dSLR. That's impressive.

Although I'm sure a couple of you are probably thinking the RAW thing is not just Nikon, but still...they could have explained it better.

And Canons look more professional. I think because they are so fucking huge.

I'm going to deal with the RAW images tomorrow. I'm done for the day. No more. I can't take it!

Almost Got Decapitated by a Drunk Disgruntled Drummer

I met fellow JEW friend Steph at Starbucks at noon, and then we hopped in her car and continued on to Baltimore. We got there pretty quickly, and finding the place was rather easy (good directions, Google!). There had been a farmer's market in the parking lot across from Sonar, so we sat in the car and waited while the sweeper finished cleaning it up. While we waited we kept spotting band members. Very exciting.

After parking, we walked around Baltimore and went to the inner harbor. We took some pictures, watched a very mean-spirited street performer, and ate lunch at Panera. It was only a little after 3:00 PM, but we decided to head back to Sonar and wait since we didn't really have anything else to do.



We sat down on the other side of the street on these log things and watched as the band members went inside to do sound check. Tom walked across the street before heading inside to talk to this fan in a wheelchair who it seemed went to a lot of their shows (Steph said she also saw him when we were at 9:30 Club a couple weeks ago). I kind of stared at Tom (at first trying to figure out if it really was him since he was wearing a hat so the easily recognizable hair was covered up). He looked at me but didn't say anything, and since he was talking to the other guy, I didn't even try to say hi.

After a while, we decided to move to the other side of the street and stand right by the doors. There was another JEW fan there whom we had seen when we first got there at 1:00. She had traveled to Baltimore from New York I think (my memory flubs on some things). It was over an hour before the next couple of fans showed up to stand in line. During our wait, the band members kept going back and forth as well as roadies. The Pipettes were also playing at the club, so we saw them and their roadies, too. I liked their shoes a lot.

At one point when Rick passed by, he leaped over the metal barricade and went, "Woo!" or something. That made me and Steph smile. Apparently all of their families were with them (although I think it was just Jim's and Zach's because I only saw Jim's wife and Jim's and Zach's kids), and at one point Jim walked inside with them, and as he did, he looked at me and Steph sitting on the corner and said hi to us. I said hi back, and afterwards I was like, "OMG! Jim and I just said hi to each other! How awesome was that?!" I don't get out much. Until yesterday, the biggest celebrity I ever met and actually spoke with was F. Murray Abraham.

Fellow JEW boardie Penny and her husband showed up and stood with us. We finally got to go inside a little after 7:00. At that point Steph and I were acting very weird from the cold and very long wait. I scurried front and center and tripped onto the platform. They need to put some glow-in-the-dark tape on those things dammit. At around 8:00 Viva Voce went on.

A little background before I continue. We saw Viva Voce when they opened for JEW at the 9:30 Club. I liked them a lot and even friended them on myspace right afterwards. A lot of JEW boardies, however, were not of the same opinion and tore them to shreds on the board, especially the drummer. So for the record, Steph and I were among the very few people who liked Viva Voce after seeing them play with JEW (oh, and at the 9:30 Club the guitarist called them Jimmy Eats World and basically alienated half the fans right there).

After a couple of songs, I thought, you know, I really like some of these songs. I think I'll buy the album. The thing was, I was standing right in front of the guitar amp and thought my heart was going to explode from the vibration. I also couldn't hear them well from the high frequencies and noise. Steph just thought it was too noisy, but nonetheless, we both stuff our fingers over our ears. I was amazed to find out that by doing this, I blocked out the high frequencies and noise and could actually hear the singing and everything sounded normal and good.

But apparently, the drummer had a huge issue with us doing this because after like the second song, he said something like, "This is for the girls in the front row covering their ears. You are in for a long night!" Everyone else thought he was just joking and playing with us, but I could tell he was being extremely nasty and spiteful. I watched as he kept turning something up, and he also tried to play harder. Mature, dude. Very mature. What was even better was towards the end of that song, he threw a cymbal at us! A cymbal! That shit has an edge to it, and if it had been a couple inches higher, it would have hit us and hurt us pretty badly. I was so shocked at what happened, what could I do but take a picture of the cymbal? After I took the picture, he threw is drumsticks at us, too. One ended up with the cymbal. I think the other flew into the audience. Oh, and before he even started picking on us, some guy in the audience started heckling them screaming, "REMEMBER THE ALAMO!!!" The drummer had a shirt on that said "The Alamo". The audience thought it was funny. He did not, but apparently he decided he couldn't chuck a cymbal that far.



Stephanie still thought it was a joke, but I was pissed. I stopped covering my ears because I didn't care if I could hear the vocals or not. All I heard was really bad feedback crap for the rest of their set. Whatever.

Oh, it doesn't stop there!

He decided we hadn't learned our lesson or felt his wrath I guess because the second to last song he "dedicated" to "The girl in the hoodie in the front row who [insert the incoherent babble of a drunk] Pringles [more babble]". Again, people continued to think it was a joke, including Steph (the girl in the hoodie) who laughed, though none of us really heard exactly what he said, but oh, I knew the gist of the first part of what he said, and I wanted to run up on stage and beat him with a guitar. That was not cool. When we were standing outside waiting to come in, Penny asked us if we liked the opening band. Steph and I said yes, but Penny said she didn't. And who ends up being attacked at the show?

And the finale. "This is our last song." Thank god! At the end of the song, he decided to throw half of his drumset at us. And I think that's when the audience realized it wasn't a joke, he really could have and tried to hurt us, I'm pretty sure the last drumstick he threw did hit Stephanie, and the guy was clearly drunk and angry, but that's no excuse or reason to treat people like that. Especially people you are trying to win over and sell something to. If I was handed a group of potential clients by some famous photographer, I would never take it for granted and slap one in the face or something. Who the fuck does that?





Enough of that! On to the important stuff!

Jimmy Eat World came on the stage half an hour later. They were brilliant! They sang a couple of songs they didn't at 9:30, so that was good. I could see Zach better this time from where I was standing. The stage at Sonar is narrower, so the guys were a little closer together. I was also closer to Rick this time (last time we were in front of Tom), so I could hear him better, which is a treat because he rarely sings. We were right in front of Jim, so this time he looked even sweatier. hahaha I told Steph that when he came out his shirt looked made of cotton, but after the first couple of songs it looked more like a shiny material. He was drenched and dripped all over his guitar and set list. I was worried he might get electrocuted. It may sound like I'm exaggerating, but I am definitely not. The other guys remained completely dry. But then again, Jim is the only one who dances around, and he has some really sexy moves. I love when he dances, and after the show I tried to come up with names for each of his moves.



Towards the end of the last song, some guy bum rushed the stage. I have it on video.

After the show ended, we waited around trying to get picks and set lists. Steph got Jim's pick and (maybe Rick's) set list. The woman who got Jim's sweat-drenched set list, I asked her what she would do with it. Sleep with it under her pillow? She was really nice; earlier we had talked with her about how disgustingly crazy the Viva Voce drummer had acted.

Apparently it started raining (but not hard, so that was good), and so not a lot of people waited around outside for the band to come out. In fact, Steph, Penny, her husband, and I were like the last ones standing after only half an hour. There were people coming out from the Pipettes and people standing around because they got scammed at a parking lot and their cars got towed (I felt so bad for them. $300 towing fee!).

After a while, we flagged down Tom. He has really sleepy eyes, so it made me feel like we were bothering him, but he was very nice and signed our liner notes and took pictures with us. Then we flagged down Rick and got his autograph as well. We were more timid about asking for pictures, but then we decided this was our only chance and chased after him. Jim passed by but was holding a bunch of stuff and said he would drop it off and come back. We caught Zach who seemed in a hurry, and he said he would give us autographs when he came back. A few minutes later he did, and he still seemed like he was in a hurry, so we didn't even bother to ask for pictures. We were just grateful we got the autographs, especially Steph who said she always missed him and wondered if he existed.

We waited around for I have no idea how long and kept seeing Tom and Rick pass by. Penny and her husband had bought Jim a birthday present, but when it was clear he wasn't coming back out (and who can blame him? His family was with him, and he was clearly exhausted), they decided to ask the next person they saw to give him the book. It was Rick. He is so incredibly down to earth. We were on the other side of the street, and he told us he would come to us, which completely threw me off because I was thinking, 'You're Rick! It should be us crossing the street to you! Who cares if we get hit by a car?'

They explained the book (and I kept interjecting and then backing off...I think I just really wanted to talk to Rick, but it was their present, which is why I felt guilty after every time I spoke). He took it and thanked us again for coming to the show.

So it was between midnight and 1:00 I believe when we finally left. Roads were blocked off, so Steph ended up asking a cop for directions, and he was so nice that he actually told us to follow him to where we needed to be. And I think the story ends here. Good times.

Click here for more pictures from the concert.

Adventures in Used Car Shopping

The first car I ever drove on a regular basis was a wood paneled station wagon. Driving it was like butter. My high school classmates made fun of it of course, but I sacrificed flashy for peace of mind. After hitting a parked car while driving a very expensive, three-year old SUV, I opted to drive the station wagon instead because ruining that car wouldn't be such a big deal.

Then my older brother came home for the summer from college and decided to bogart the SUV, which meant my mom needed the wagon, and I was forced into sharing. No, no. That just wouldn't work. So off to the used car lot we went to find me a car! The first car I could call my own. It was glorious. I was 17 and could not test drive, so the brother did. He test drove one car.

"I love it! Let's buy this one!" said I.

He test drove another.

"This one is even better! Let's take it!" said I.

He test drove a third. This time it was a make I had decided on even before stepping on to the lot despite my lack of car knowledge. I still don't know why I decided on that make of car, but I did.

"I WANT IT!" And so it was mine.

It was a little over three years old. When I first started driving it, I actually didn't like it. It made weird noises. It wasn't butter. It wasn't the colour I wanted in the first place. The thickness of the frame made it difficult to see.

Seven years later...I had fallen in love with Noah (the car), and when he started dying (and costing me thousands in repairs), I was in denial. "Maybe I can fix him." When the repairs cost more than the resell value of the car, it's time to trade up.

Today (or rather yesterday, since it is now after midnight) I went used car shopping. Why used? If a car has been driven a bit, it's probably not a lemon. Plus, the whole peace of mind with a little more worn car (there's too much pressure with a brand spanking new car!). One person's trash is another person's access to multi-mile mobility.

5 dealerships
8 test drives
2 nice salesmen
1 flippant salesman
1 rude but honest salesman
1 typical used car salesman
1 car that wouldn't even start
10 hours
1 sandwich, chips, and drink combo from Wegmans
1,000,000 papers to fill out and sign

and 1 new used car named Simon. Unfortunately bought from the typical used car salesman, pushy, fast-talking mumbler spewing what he thinks you want to hear.

Even though Noah had been my car, my mom had purchased him and had the title. Simon is the first car that is really all my own. No cosigner, nothing. Mine!

It's kind of nerve-racking.

It also means an additional monthly bill of $305. Recalculating my monthly/yearly finances, I have determined that I need to work 35 hours at Job #2 every week in order to pay off all my crap. Job #1 is for food and fun. I shall see how that all works out.

As for Noah, instead of trading him in for chump change, he is still sitting at the mechanics waiting for his fate, which may now be to get fixed by one of the brother's friends and privately sold. I will miss driving Noah. It was a good 7.5 years. He was my only constant during those years. He was with me through the end of high school, all through college. He took me to the dozens of jobs I have had. We went on some road trips together. Good times just getting from point A to point B while listening to music and singing along.

Noah, my darling, dear friend, farewell.