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.