Bacony? Um... or Bacon...Yum!

#100...AND I'M OUT!!!

2008-05-22T22:08:00.003-04:00

Three days ago, the Sun entered Gemini. Wait...maybe it was only two days ago. Whatever. Anyway! Gemini is the sign of being spastic and all over the place and communication and changing your mind constantly and always being of two minds on everything...so what better time than to end one blog and begin another! Too bad I began the other when the Sun was still in Taurus, but maybe that just means my next blog won't be as dramatic and guarded as this one (Scorpio!).

Don't forget to send an e-mail my way (baconyum at gmail) so I can give you my new address!

And if not, it's been a fun!

Now it's time to say goodbye...

...to all our companeeeeee...

B-A-C...See you real soon!

O-N-Y...Why? Because we like you!

Um...the rest of the song doesn't fit. Boo!

#99

2008-05-21T18:11:00.003-04:00

During my job hunt, instead of getting people responding to my resume, what do I get? A raise at the job I am trying to leave.

The universe is making it difficult.

I need to get shit loads of hours from Job C over the next month or I'm going to lose my health insurance! GAH!! Another reason why I need a full time job with benefits so I don't have to worry about things like that. I don't think I'll be able to make the hours I need. I need about 100 hours, and I need to do them in about three weeks. That may sound doable, but it's not, especially since I'm transferring to a new store that is opening in two weeks. Yeah. So it will be an insurance-less summer. I wonder what happens to my 401K. Does it just sit there? Can I just leave it there until I can get it back? I'm glad I'm transferring. Hopefully my new manager won't do this to me. I mean, I opened up my availability to weekends just so I could get enough hours for benefits, and what happens? I lose my weekends and my insurance!

I figured since I'm leaving this blog soon, I can afford one more rant.

Don't forget to e-mail me at baconyum at gmail if you want my new blog address (which isn't as bitchy as this one...but you probably like bitchy...maybe I'll throw some bitch in there). Otherwise, it's been fun.

I changed my mind...again!

2008-05-20T20:12:00.003-04:00

This is post #98 for this blog, and well, I think I really am done with it. After post #100, it's bye bye Bacon. I've already gotten a new blog over at wordpress. I was planning on posting to both, but yeah, I seriously need to stop spending so much time on the internet. I also got a new profile on 20sb because I don't want my new blog to be associated with this one (when I move, I MOVE!).

After I've left, I will of course still read ya'lls blogs. I'll be commenting with a new name of course. If you want to know my new address and don't want to wait for some random new person to start commenting on your blogs where you'll have to guess if it's me or not (even though it sounds like a fun game), e-mail me at baconyum at gmail.

With that said, if you do have some new random person commenting on your blog, that's probably me, but I won't guarantee it...especially if the person has a picture of herself (or especially himself) for their avatar.

Laughter is the best...exercise plan?

2008-05-19T20:44:00.000-04:00

I never thought I would ever be one to say, "Oh, man, I'm getting fat," and actually be serious. I'm definitely being a drama queen here, but I've always been really thin and trying to gain weight so I don't blow away (for reals. That is my actual reason!). My plan didn't quite work out. After years of overeating and not gaining weight, I decided, whatever, I'm ok with who I am. Apparently I'm not! Because over the last couple of years (mostly in the last year), I have been getting quite a gut. I really do look like I'm four months pregnant after I eat. TMI. Whatever.

It's all going to the one place I don't want it to go! Please, fatty tissue, find your way to my ass thanks.

The thing is, I've been trying to exercise some self-control. I'm definitely not overeating anymore, so why the gut?

And then today it hit me.

During college I realized that even though I didn't exercise, I got my work out from everyday things. Mostly I think I kept the weight off because I'm a leg shaker, I sneeze a lot, and I laugh like there's no tomorrow. You'd be surprised at how flat you can keep your stomach by sneezing and laughing. It may sound ridiculous, but you contract your abs when sneezing and sometimes when laughing.

Well, I'm still sneezing, but it occurred to me, I don't laugh as much.

I used to call it my daily dose of laughter, and if I didn't get it, I would seek it out. Over the last year, the phrase "daily dose of laughter" never even entered my mind. It only hit me today that I have definitely not been getting it. I still laugh but not nearly as much as I used to. Where did the laughter go? Is this all a part of the quarter life crisis I thought I had when I was 22? Am I still having it but am in such great denial it took a chubby tummy to wake me up?

When did I get so lazy?? I mean, I've always been a slacker, but somehow my work always got done, but now, I reason myself into not doing things. Like right now I should be doing some job hunting.

You know what? I'll go do that. This is ridiculous. I'm ridiculous. This entry is ridiculous.

Movie Monday: the Demented, the OK, and the Trippy

2008-05-19T00:34:00.002-04:00

I have watched a bunch of movies in the past week that I haven't seen before.

First up was Cape Fear. Demented much? While P² and I were watching it, he told me about the parody Fatal Instinct. I definitely want to see that because so far the movies I have seen that it spoofs are just...so damn spoofable. I just hope there is nobody biting off people's faces.

The next night we watched Spy Kids. Big difference, I know! I actually really liked it. Well, I really liked it in comparison to the other movie. If I had seen this as a child, I actually would have had nightmares. Mutated people haunt my subconscious for some reason.

And the following day I watched Adaptation finally. My screenwriting professor recommended it to me like four years ago, and I bought the dvd about a month ago, and I just got around to watching it. Well, I liked it. It wasn't very moving to me, and I can definitely see why a lot of people didn't like it, but the screenplay was very intricate, and that I can appreciate. I love how it kind of makes fun of itself, and it's very unique just like all of Charlie Kauffman's scripts. That's why he's my favourite screenwriter, so how can I not like a movie where he names a character after himself?

That night, P² and I worked on model aliens that he bought for us, so of course we had to watch Alien while doing it. Well, actually we watched Alien³ since we already watched the first two together (you have no idea how many movies he makes me watch). It was...well...I mean...what the hell was that? All three movies have this weird fake ending, like there's a point in the movie where you think that's all there is, but no, it keeps going, and you're like, really? End already! I just don't get movies where it seems really impossible for "Man" to win because he's basically up against this indestructable force, but oh! He wins! Temporarily because of course there will be a sequel.

And then today I went with one of my BFFs to watch Speed Racer. I'm pretty sure the planning meeting for the movie went something like this, "So the character's name is Speed. What do you think of when you think of "speed"? Going fast? Sure. But there's more. Drugs! Yeah, drugs! Ok. There you go. Now run with it!" It's like you're trippin' through the whole movie. Even in the beginning title sequence already you're like Whooooaaaa. There should be a warning for people with epilepsy not to see this movie because they will be in fits after just two seconds. Also, this is the most colourful movie EVER. EVER!!! So of course...I absolutely loved it.

Oh, and as a bonus, for some reason, an usher came in and passed out reentry tickets to everyone. I don't know why, but who cares. Free movie! Woo hoo!

The Office Finale

2008-05-16T20:55:00.002-04:00

Two finales in one week! And both I had to watch the day after, but oh well.

Ever since the writers' strike ended and the Office came back, it has been...well...lacking. I was hoping for at least a great finale, but after the major blow to Michael and then the one to Jim and Pam, I was like, oh, come on!!!

But then the very last ten seconds made it all worth it. Ooooh scandalous! I can't wait for next season!!

Friday, Finally!

2008-05-16T20:42:00.002-04:00

Time for a weekly wrap up of some online thingies I felt like sharing.

"I'm working at the bubble factory right now, but later I'm going to go bobsledding down a rainbow." Haha! I kind of wish that whole article was true. That would be so awesome. Although the Freudian connotations make me think not.

"Frying an onion is the quickest way to make your kitchen smell like dinner." An excellent post by Brandy (It's like I'm... mmmagic!) full of great advice from her mom.

"Sexual double standards are still annoyingly prevalent, and tearing them down has been my personal crusade as a feminist." This was actually posted last week, but I only discovered it this week. I found Jezebel and Slut Machine in particular through "Pot Psychology", which I found through FourFour. See how everything in the universe just unravels itself?

"Every child saved with my help and the help of all the wonderful secret messengers, who today are no longer living, is the justification of my existence on this earth, and not a title to glory." That is a quote from Irena Sendler, who died on Monday. The article talks about the selfless and incredible things she did during World War II. She helped save approximately 2,500 Jewish children during the Holocaust.

Minus the head thing, I really like Sarah Jessica Parker's dress. In fact, it's my favourite out of the four.

Guinness soap! Thanks to Bananas for the heads up. I heart Guinness. It's as close to a Guinness bath as I'm willing to take.

"This is why I drink." I love the catmeo (yeah, you like my made up hybrid word?).

"You're expelled!" Dolce posts about the (hilarious) joys of being married to a sleepwalker.

Oh, and one more thing that I didn't record the link for (sorry!), but I MUST mention, how cute (and fabulous!) was Ellen's announcement on her show for plans marry Portia?

I'm sure Roland would agree with me in telling the haters to fuck off.

ANTM Cycle 10 Final Episode

2008-05-15T21:16:00.001-04:00

I'm going to write this entry as I watch the final episode of ANTM (watching it on youtube).

LashBlast! That's what I use! I love the stuff! I could have totally rocked that commercial. ...in my own bedroom in front of a mirror playing pretend. I'm sure that shit is painful when it actually means something because you're in a competition.

You know what...Fatima is really pretty. She's like my third least favourite contestant of the cycle, but there is a moment where I just thought, 'You know what...Fatima is really pretty.'

Whitney! Seriously. Every. Single. Photo. Mouth. Open. GAH!

Um...it's a mascara add. Fatima's eyes were just fine. Who the fuck would squint for a mascara ad? "Wear this mascara because it weighs down your lashes, so you'll have no choice but to smile with your eyes."

Wow. Paulina's a bitch.

When I heard "Versace", I was all "Hooray!" But then when I heard "Donatella", I was like "oh." And then right after I was "Damn what's wrong with me? What made me think it wasn't Donatella??"

"Anya." *chills* First call out! Hooray!

Did Tyra just say Whitney isn't as beautiful on the inside as on the outside? That's worse than what she said to Katarzyna. Damn. The insults and persona attacks just keep flying.

"Juicy booty." hahahah Oh, and this is the prettiest Anya has looked since she got that heinous makeover...which I've gotten used to I guess.

I love the gladiator type music they use because this isn't a modeling competition...it's sudden DEATH!

And Whitney looks like she's wearing Frederick's of Hollywood.

What is with the dramatic direction and editing? Perhaps next season they will do panel Matrix style.

I shouldn't read spoilers because I already knew who was going to win.

And I totally agree with everyone who thinks this final three was reminiscent of Cycle 3...except the exact opposite. And hello? AnYA, YaYA. Come on! Of course the sassy, loud mouthed girl won even though the runner-up was better. Although I did like Eva more than Yaya.

I'm actually glad Whitney won. Good for her. I need to get up to NYC when her billboard is up because I want to see.

Please Vote! (No, not that vote.)

2008-05-14T08:20:00.003-04:00

My friend Lucy entered her adorable little guy in 99.5's Baby Idol contest. Please go to this link, click on the name group "Ta-To", and vote for Thomas-Herndon! The picture you'll see is one I took. *big smiles*

Unfortunately you do have to sign up to vote (I think in order to avoid multiple votes), but it's easy to sign up, and he's just the cutest!

When Smart People Act Ignorant

2008-05-13T23:47:00.000-04:00

This blog entry at AfterEllen.com is about celebrity high school dropouts.

One of them was Whoopi Goldberg, and this is what was written:

I was surprised by this because some of Whoopi's stand-up — which I've always assumed she wrote herself — is just so smart. Of course, I know that plenty of well-educated folks cannot write, so I shouldn't be surprised that some less-educated folks can.

So apparently because Whoopi never graduated high school, she couldn't possibly have written all of her "just so smart" stand up by herself...or it's a fluke in the way that "plenty of well-educated folks cannot write".

I graduated from high school. I went to college. I went to a really good college. I don't see how my simply going to college makes me smarter than someone who hasn't. I don't see how graduating from high school proves anything except that I had enough patience and tenacity to put up with public school bullshit.

A commenter wrote:

The biggest surprise on that list to me is Kate Winslet! She always comes across as so eloquent and informed. Browsing through the list made me wonder what exactly does it mean to graduate from our lackluster education system (although some, like Kate, failed to graduate from foreign systems). It's clear that many of them find their education and development elsewhere.

Yes, what does it mean? So Kate "comes across as so eloquent and informed", but since she didn't finish school it's all a show?

Readers, how much do you remember from high school? I bet the majority of it was social and not academic. I remember a lot from extracurriculars. I remember school dances. I remember the guy who wore way too much Polo Sport and had a locker right next to me (how do you NOT smell yourself, dude?!). Um...I think I wrote some essays. I remember feeling like my brain was liquidating from the boringness that was trig...do I use what I learned now? No. Most of what I use now I learned in eighth grade English class. Ok, total exageration, but you get my point.

We learn from life experiences. We learn lessons just from doing. A lot of celebrities who didn't graduate were already working. When you're young and constantly working around adults, you grow up fast (which is why so many of them turn into trainwrecks). Do you remember being in elementary school and laughing at the silly adults who didn't know the capitals of all the states? Silly adults! Tricks are for kids! You wanna know the real reason for school? To learn how to learn. You learn to learn by practicing learning. That's why tests are ineffective. You don't learn by testing. People often wonder what is the point of learning math beyond the basics. The more complex math you learn, the better you are at solving complex problems in general because it exercises that part of your brain, the problem-solving part. You learn to put two-and-two together. We somehow call it common sense.

These days a lot of us know that experience can matter more than education. Have a degree but never had a job? Yeah, good luck getting one over the person who has five years of experience under their belt. Actors, musicians, comedians, they get experience doing something. Being in a cutthroat business means you have to learn. You have to be smarter than the next guy. Yeah, a lot of them get to where they are for other reasons, but I'm saying just because someone didn't graduate high school, it doesn't mean they aren't intelligent.

I'm learning a lot more at community college now than I did at that good college I mentioned. I learn a lot more on my own as well. High school was a fucking waste of time. That's what I learned.

Whimsical Question #3

2008-05-13T20:04:00.001-04:00

Q: Let's say there was a person who had the ability to destroy the whole planet in an instant. Do you think that person should be killed?

What if this person had a truly good heart and probably wouldn't use his or her power?

What if this person was you?

Re-Animator vs Sin City

2008-05-13T19:57:00.002-04:00

P² edited together another video. This time mushing together clips from Re-animator and Sin City.

And if you haven't viewed his other one, you can do that here.

Put your fate in the hands of funny.

2008-05-13T19:50:00.000-04:00

I always felt that if I would write an entry about Astrology, it would be one long ass entry. Astrology has really been the one constant in my life. I have so many interests, and I tend to lose interest really easily. Of all of them, I know the most about Astrology (I should hope so having studied it for about 16 years! That's a lot longer than most professional Astrologers out there).

But this is going to be short. I think. Unless I go on a tangent. Well, let's find out!

What compelled me to even begin this entry? Horoscopes. What the general population thinks of when they hear "horoscope" is those monthly/weekly/daily columns in newspapers and magazines that tell people that they are predestined to have one of twelve fates.

Horoscopes are bullshit.

Astrologers should be well aware of the fact that people are more than their Sun sign, which is really all a horoscope is based on. I will not meet the love of my life or get a job promotion or even have a good day on the same day as everyone who shares my birthday. That's ridiculousness!

But there is one horoscope feed I subscribe to, and I must say that for some bizarre reason, sometimes it is very relevant. It's bizarre because it is the Onion.

My Onion horoscope for this week:

While you've always believed in life after death, it's the possibility of life before death you're beginning to wonder about.

Ok. This one isn't relevant, but I like it a lot.

So this entry wasn't as short as I thought it would be, but it's helluva lot shorter than it could have been.

Ding!

2008-05-13T19:31:00.001-04:00

KS: Oh, you make pillows?

Me: Yep.

EV: I make pillows, too.

Me: Really?

KS: When? Like in seventh grade home ec?

EV: *laughs* Yep!

KS: Did you make light bulbs?

Me and EV: What??

KS: Light bulbs.

Me: Oh! You mean like a light bulb pillow?

KS: Yeah. I had to make light bulb shaped pillows.

Me: OMG! That's such a good idea!!

EV: That is a good idea! Get it?!

Me and EV: *LMAO!*

KS: Huh?

Movie Monday: Movie to TV to Movie

2008-05-12T22:07:00.001-04:00

I am so behind on my movies! The number of movies I need to watch just keep stacking up and then leaving the theaters. Boo! Stay there until I watch you, movie!

Today's post will be about movies and television. Some movies are based on television shows (i.e. Sex and the City, X-Files, the Simpsons Movie, South Park, and all the Star Trek movies). Some television shows are based on movies (i.e. My Big Fat Greek something I don't remember because that show was on for like two minutes).

Clearly it is not a good idea to base a television show on a movie unless you animate it (Clerks), change it completely (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), or are MASH (MASH).

You can get a[n unreliable, probably incomplete] list of tv shows based on movies here. (Here's another list that has multiple lists, and you know, multiple is better.)

Movies based on tv shows on the other hand have built-in fan bases. Movies usually don't have the same kind of viewer loyalty a television show has for the following possible reasons:

-The person liked a two hour movie, and now you expect them to tune in week after week to watch some watered-down version of it?

-We create addiction through anticipation. There is more anticipation with shows than with movies because you get to anticipate weekly. Exceptions are movies that have sequels (like Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean) and of course movies based on tv shows (or books or comics or etc.).

-Movies may cost more, but they aren't interrupted with mundane commercials. Why watch the ad-ridden show when you can just pop in the movie?

-Making something that was small much bigger equals WIN! Making something big into something small...LOSE.

-If it's a movie, it's special. You cheapen it by making it available to the masses with a gaggle of talentless writers who are writing for the show because they couldn't write the awesome movie that the show was spawned from.

We all want to see our favourite shows in a multiplex, but seeing a favourite movie with a different cast, different writers, different directors...oh, hell, it just doesn't work!

It's all about the people.

2008-05-10T17:02:00.001-04:00

In looking for a new job, I realized I need to really decide what kind of job I want, so I looked at my work history (I have kept track of every single job I've ever had, which has come in handy because man I've had a lot!) and went through each job and wrote down what I liked about each one.

So my ideal job apparently has to have the following (in this order):

Good people to work with
Flexible hours
Good pay
Great benefits
A variety of things to do
Creative tasks
Something that requires organizing
Autonomy
Free stuff
Maybe work with children.

That last one I threw in there because at a photography job I had, I really enjoyed working with the little ones. Many of them were adorable. Even the ones that were monsters, it was somewhat fun to take their pictures (especially since their parents were the most impressed if I got ANY kind of picture).

Even though flexible hours is number two, I don't mind having the whole 9-5 M-F type schedule. I would just need a company that isn't so rigid with sick days or something like that because, well, shit happens, and there needs to be enough flexibility in this world to allow a person to convalesce!

I should go through and pinpoint everything I didn't like about each job, but I could just tell you now number one would be an asshole boss. Most of my jobs I have quit because of bad managers. If someone on your level is annoying, that's easier to tolerate, but when it's the person barking orders at you, um...no.

How come companies can't just advertise things like "We're like a family! Come be a part of it!" or "Work here if you can tolerate shitheads!" It would make things so much easier. Plus, I'm sure many people would apply to the shithead company as long as the pay was good. I on the other hand would take a pay cut if it meant working with great people.

People could say I have a bad work ethic because I jump from company to company and don't tolerate stupidity but rather value having fun at work, but to them I say, "Blblblblblblbl!" Life is too short and meaningless to waste working with asshats.

Today I took my mom out to lunch for mother's day. Unfortunately she invited my brother along. What was I supposed to say to him? "Pay for your own damn self!" No. I don't like to be rude. While at the restaurant, I told my mom that I was looking for a new job because I'm not going to work for someone who yells at me for no reason. Then of course my brother had to chime in, "UmYum, what kind of job doesn't have a boss who will yell at you for no reason?" I told him basically to stuff it. He's always saying crap like that. He's so negative and condescending. Fine, believe in what you want, but I have had plenty of jobs where my boss was just fabulous, and even the bosses who weren't fabulous didn't fucking yell at me. Obviously I'm not going to take further advice from someone whose last advice cost me $400.

Writing a Resume

2008-05-10T11:28:00.000-04:00

...is like taking a stab in the dark. People can give you advice all they want, but in the end, you have no idea if your resume will please, bore, or turn off the potential employer.

When I worked at a bookstore, I would sometimes sit down and flip through resume and job hunting books. Of course I also look at stuff online.

Well, let me tell you what I have found...

-Always write an objective. You should tell the employer what it is you want.
-Don't write an objective. If you are applying for a particular position, which in most cases you are, this is unnecessary. Let the employer decide where you would fit best.

Annoying advice? Indeed.

-Replace the word "use" with words like "utilize".
-Don't use fancy words like "utilize" where words like "use" work just fine.

Grr...

-Put stuff in order of importance.
-Put stuff in chronological order.

Um...ok.

-Keep it simple.
-Make it stand out.

WTF?

So in conclusion, no matter what you do, it is up to the reader to decide if you are fucked or not.

The end.

Friday, Finally! Mother's Day Edition

2008-05-09T20:56:00.001-04:00

For Friday, Finally's blog review, I decided to of course dedicate it to the mommy bloggers. I don't know the maternal status of all of the bloggers on my roll, so this is only a few of them, but happy Mother's Day to all of them!

Technodoll makes many posts of pictures and quotes, but this quote I loved in particular and the picture she put up with it was particularly nice.
Ok so Jamie hasn't pushed anyone out of her cooter yet, but she is a nanny AND she is mommy to one of the cutest puppies ever!
RaisinCookies has a little game going on in her blog to guess which is her real accent. I will most likely guess incorrectly, but it's fun to try.
And appropriately enough CDP's little guy had a birthday.

In mommy news...

Pregnant with child #18! 18!!! That's a whole lot of being pregnant! One of my coworkers is pregnant right now with child #1, and every time I work with her, she is just miserable. "Shoot me now," is what she said to me earlier today. So can you imagine being pregnant now for the 16th time? This woman had two sets of twins, hence 16th pregnancy. If you go to their website, there is a poll for what they should name Baby #18. All of their kids have "J" names. They should have done it Seven Brides for Seven Brothers style and named them alphabetically.

It's Mother's Day on Sunday. I work Sunday morning and have a store meeting Sunday evening, so I'm taking my mom out to lunch tomorrow instead. Hope you all have fun plans and happy weekend!

Why I Don't Blog

2008-05-08T20:09:00.002-04:00

It's hard to blog when you sit down to write and all you can think of is screaming in your head, and "AGHHHH!!!!!!!!!" doesn't make a very coherent blog entry.

Movie Monday: Past, Present, and Future

2008-05-05T18:28:00.002-04:00

Past

Yesterday I watched the new movie Baby Mama. It was really funny. A movie like that usually has me laughing, smiling, and rolling my eyes at how cliche it is, but this one didn't make me do that at all (well, it had me laughing and smiling but not rolling my eyes). Sure it probably is cliche. What modern movie isn't? But I was very engaged in the story from beginning to end that I didn't separate myself long enough to go, "Oh, please." It's a really cute movie. All of my female readers will love it (ok, maybe one or two of you won't LOVE it per say). I don't know about the guys. Oh, and bonus: Greg Kinnear. Hello? Love him!

Present

At this very moment I sent P² on a mission to pick out twelve movies, and I have to pick one of them for us to watch tonight. I told him I can't say no to all of them, BUT three of the ones he picks cannot be horror, sci-fi, or drama. He will probably be in his office forever because that's usually all he ever suggests. By the way, the guy has over 2,000 dvds. He archived them, so that's how I know.

Future

The movie that is currently in theaters right now that I most want to see but haven't seen yet is Deception. Ewan McGregor (yum!) was on Leno the other night. It was magical. Hopefully by next Movie Monday, I will have seen this movie, so I can report on all the sexxy goodness.

Animated ANTM

2008-05-04T17:58:00.002-04:00

So I finally got to watch the ANTM episode from last Wednesday that I am still angry about! Oh, and after seeing it, I am even more WTF?! I am so sure they just chose a picture where she was about to blink. That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it.

After watching it, I felt compelled to make an animated gif because there is a moment in the show where I wanted to just give Kat a hug.

And this (which isn't animated because one frame says it all) is Tyra's cold, smug reaction to making Kat feel like crap:

Beeyotch.

Anyway, man, those animated gifs are tedious! But I just had to make another one because this one I have been wanting to make for a while now, so enjoy.

WTF, Bloglines?!

2008-05-02T14:14:00.002-04:00

So I was reading Militant Ginger's blog and wanted to share a post he made. I thought, 'Do I really want to make an entire post dedicated to a post? I mean, I already dedicated a whole post to Clint's penis. Hm...what to do...I know! I can make like a highlights post and post up my favourite blog entries of the week! What should I call it? Well, it's Friday. Hm...' Ok...that was the streamlined version because my thoughts are actually much more chaotic than that.

Anyway, I decided on Friday, Finally! because I too love alliteration.

So I go to Bloglines, and I put it to view all the blog entries over the past week.

And what do I discover?

A BUNCH OF ENTRIES I HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE!!!

For instance, Technodoll had left a comment on one of my entries saying she linked to it. I was like, 'Linked where?' I didn't want to seem stupid and ask, so I just accepted that it was linked somewhere and hooray! Then as I'm going through her blog this time, I see the entry that talks about mine. I never saw it before!

STUPID BLOGLINES!

I think it's time I switched back to Google Reader...although, some people have been complaining about it, so I don't know. Is there anything else out there?! I can't believe I'm missing like a fourth of everyone's entries!

Oh, and I'll start Friday, Finally!s next week. I'm too mad at Bloglines right now to focus.

People are always surprised when they find out I have a sick sense of humour. Hm.

2008-05-01T12:01:00.002-04:00

One of my favourite blogs is Crawling the Carpet Daily. Because of this post I suggested to Clint that he make a Twitter account for his penis. And he did.

Follow Clint's penis here.

Also, while we are on the subject of ~~penis~~ twitter, don't forget to let me know if you have one, and if you don't have one, sign up! And if you lock your Twitter, make sure you add me, otherwise I can't ~~stalk you~~ read your updates.

ANTM Rant

2008-05-01T11:37:00.002-04:00

I haven't even watched last night's episode yet!!! Oh, but I know all about it.

So my fave (my second fave of the whole series) was eliminated last night. Why? Because ANTM is a JOKE!! It always has been! Why do I continue to watch it? (Hm...why do people do things they know aren't good for them but have to anyway?...) I'm definitely addicted to this show, but for the rest of the season, I will watch with complete resentment (and hopes that Anya wins).

I've been meaning to do a whole ANTM post, and since I'm already on the subject, I'll go ahead.

Let me first review my favourites from each cycle:

Cycle 1: Elyse Sewell, 3rd place, called out first both weeks right before being eliminated, bottom 2: 1x before

Cycle 2: April Wilkner, 4th place, called out first 2x, bottom 2: never before elimination

Cycle 3: Nicole Borud, 6th place, called out first the week before being eliminated, bottom 2: never before elimination

Cycle 4: Rebecca Epley, tied for 8th place, called out first 2x, bottom 2: week before being eliminated

Cycle 5: Cassandra Whitehead, 11th place (quit), called out first 2x, bottom 2: never

Cycle 6: I totally need to watch this Cycle again because everyone was unremarkable, so I don't know

Cycle 7: Brooke Miller, 8th place, called out first the week before being eliminated, bottom 2: never before elimination

Cycle 8: Renee Alway, 3rd place, called out first 2x: once was the week right before being eliminated, bottom 2: never before elimination

Cycle 9: Heather Kuzmich, 5th place, called out first 1x, bottom 2: week before being eliminated

Cycle 10: Katarzyna Dolinska, 5th place, called out first never, bottom 2: never before being eliminated

*Also, I should add that for Cycle 4 I had a second fave, Naima, and she won, and in Cycle 5 my second fave was Nicole, and she won as well. But I must say, they seem to get the most criticism of all the winners, but I still like them.

Anyway, the two contestants I still feel angry about their eliminations are Nicole and Brooke. Both of them were called out first the week before! And neither had been in the bottom two before! Suddenly they get eliminated? If you watch the episodes, it's so clear it was totally set up and all for ratings. Complete bullshit.

That's how I knew Katarzyna was going to have a bullshit elimination. She was my fave, and just like Nicole and Brooke, she was completely sweet and beautiful. I was just waiting for the day they would finally have that teeny reason they could cut her from the show. Of course the reason was stupid. Obviously it had to have been. They just wanted to get rid of her. They kept Fatima that one week she didn't do the shoot saying she had a strong portfolio. But then they have one criticism of Kat's picture and they axe her? WTF?! She has a much stronger portfolio than Fatima and definitely stronger than Whitney's (who was in the bottom two with her), so that is such a bunch of crap.

Elyse's elimination was bullshit, especially since she was the best and proved to be afterwards. She obviously wanted to be in the competition or she wouldn't have lasted the long!

April's elimination was bullshit. Who would have thought they would criticize someone for working TOO hard?

Rebecca should have lasted longer. Period.

Cassandra wasn't eliminated. I would have loved if she had stayed longer, but I'm sure her elimination would have been bullshit as well, so it's probably better she left.

Renee's was clearly bullshit because her commercial and picture were better than the other two's by far! They eliminated her saying she looked too old. Um...she obviously didn't age THAT much over the course of a couple months. Also...Robynne, Jade, Dominique. The defense rests.

Heather...oh, Heather...I don't even have to explain that one.

Why do my faves always become victims? I mean, a lot of girls I like get eliminated obviously because there can only be one winner. But I would say half the time the right person is cut. For example, I love love loved Toccara, but they definitely sucked the spirit out of her, so I can understand why she was cut. Same thing for Jael. It's a soul-sucking competition. So I'm not angry just because someone is my favourite and they are cut. I get angry because they were wronged!!!

My predictions for who will win Cycle 10?

My best friend and her friends would watch Cycle 9 and make fun of Jaslene's "My Life as a CoverGirl" spots. They made fun of the way she talked, which was very annoying. Saleisha is annoying, too. So based on this trend, I think the winner would most likely be Anya. I don't think Anya is annoying, but it would be easiest to make fun of her commercials. It has to be Anya or Whitney. I am so sure of this. I liked Whitney at the beginning of the Cycle, but now I like Anya more. I hope it becomes a battle of the super-bleached blondes. DoMANique needs to go, and Fatima? Well...she is no Iman, and she is certainly not CoverGirl material. Actually, that last part wasn't to be insulting. I think her look just wouldn't sell make-up. She would be better suited for magazine editorials with the type of high fashion that no one understands but many pretend to. You know, like with big hats.

Inflation and depression are as definite as death and taxes.

2008-04-30T20:29:00.004-04:00

It's hard to feel free to complain about gas prices when you consider dropping a whole day's pay on a seatbelt bag (or something else extremely pricey I want but don't need).

As a result of my insomniatic (no, that's not a word) episode, I am now ill. I think I would actually be far worse right now if it weren't for my herbs.

I actually was signed up and everything to sell these herbs because I believed in them that much, but then I realized people my age don't really give a shit about their health, and people in this area aren't really keen on alternative medicine. I didn't sell any, and you have to buy $100 worth of products every month in order to get commission, so I dropped out.

But I still use them, and I love them. Every time I have smoked and quit (even the time last year when I just smoked one, ONE, cigarette) I have gotten a horrible cough, probably bronchitis. I'm just waiting for it to happen any day now. It's actually what helps me quit because it prevents me from wanting another one. I feel tired and have had a runny nose and been sneezing, but so far no horrible coughing *knock on wood*, and I owe it to my beloved herbs.

Ok, this blog entry was just going to be that first sentence (obviously since the subject has nothing to do with the rest of the entry), but whatever. My mind wondered.

Unspectacular spectacular!

2008-04-29T23:32:00.000-04:00

Ooooh! Meme! Alya tagged me, and that makes me feel all kinds of special.

I probably shouldn't fill this out right now or even type in my blog at all for that matter because, well, last night I did not go to sleep. I didn't even attempt to go to sleep. I do Sudoku right before bed until my eyes droop. That way I'm not lying in bed with my thoughts. Well, I just kept doing Sudoku and reached a point in time when it would have been worse to fall asleep because I had to be at work at 4 AM. So I worked for six hours on NO SLEEP. I almost threw up and felt sick the whole time. Then I went home and got ready for my other job. I left that one early because I started to feel the stress. I took a nap. I felt like shit when I woke up almost three hours later. So yeah. I'm not fully here nor there, but whatever.

On with the meme!

The Rules:

1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules in your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged bloggers' blogs letting them know they've been tagged.

Unspectacular? That's going to be hard because everything about me screams spectacular.

...what a great word "spectacular". One might even call it spectacular.

...I could say it all day.

...it would make a good theater warm-up.

1. I like to read about things and then talk about them. That may not seem like a quirk, but I read the most random things, like stuff on quantum physics, stuff on types of herbs and their medicinal uses, movie trivia, and business stuff. People usually just nod and smile and say "cool" as I talk about things I know nothing about.

2. I say "excuse me" when I burp and am alone.

3. I sleep in a full size bed but only sleep on one side. The other side is taken up by my giant teddy bear, a small teddy bear that I have had since I was three, and a duckie with the cutest butt you've ever seen whom I give reassuring hugs to every time he gets kicked off the bed accidentally.

4. I have a really bad tendency to start but never finish things like all of my novels, screenplays, hobbies, business ideas, websites, art projects, etc. For instance I bought a sewing machine last year, and it has been sitting on my desk gathering dust just like all the art supplies I bought when I felt inspired to paint that one month two years ago.

5. I'm a messy person who likes to organize. My organization comes in spurts and has to give me instant gratification. I'm very good at organizing but not maintenance.

6. I love stickers and stickering things. There are stickers on a lot of my stuff including my laptop, phone, flash drives, tv, remotes, etc. I think it's more because I like to personalize things, and stickers are the easiest way to go about doing that.

I tag every person who reads this! I don't want to single people out especially since I tend to single out the people who are least likely to do the meme, so I leave it up to you.

Shoe Shopping: a Necessary Evil: Part the Last

2008-04-28T22:22:00.000-04:00

First off, holy crap! Zappos.com sells digital cameras?! No way!

Not to be a complete girl about this, but how good would this camera look with this purse? Pretty damn nice. (Ok, I swear I buy cameras based on functionality. The colours are just a bonus. Um...but they would match my iPod...not that I care...but I do...)

Ok, so now I'm thinking I'm not going to buy the New Balance shoes nor the Skechers (and certainly none of the high heels). Why? Well, first off, I can't afford to buy the heels (...especially if I am going to buy my blue camera/purse combo), and second, I mentioned an article about how shoes make us walk incorrectly. Well, the article was actually about another article. This article is the full six page piece about the whole shoe/foot thing. I read it.

Let me go into a little side tangent here. I'm very easily influenced (obviously, couldn't you tell by the colour thing?). I mean, come on, I went from being a carnivore to a hardcore vegan overnight just from reading a little literature online. How insane am I?! So obviously the shoe article got to me, but it does make a lot of sense (I'm only influenced by things that make sense to me...or come in pretty colours...). Luckily I don't go completely nuts anymore like I did when I went vegan, but it does make me consider things. One of those things is not to purchase something that I'm buying for comfort when it turns out actually causes foot and knee problems. It really explains so much. I highly recommend you all read the article. Don't worry, it won't turn you off of wearing shoes, believe me.

Hm...so I wasted a whole day (I spent a really long time picking out shoes...and purses...and dresses...ok, maybe I didn't waste the day after all). At least the money I would have spent on shoes can now go towards more useful things, like a seatbelt bag. Every woman needs a seatbelt bag.

Shoe Shopping: a Necessary Evil: Part [Peace Sign]

2008-04-28T17:26:00.000-04:00

Buyblue.org is not up. They should have at least left up the old list. Boo!

Alright, so I have it narrowed down. Help me decide!

First up we have cosmic bowling shoes!

Aren't they cute??

These are my favourite New Balance shoes I found:

But they are $10 more than these Skechers ones:

And then we have our eco-friendly option:

So it's really between those. I really like them all, but those last ones aren't really what I was looking for, so it's probably more between the first three. I don't know how comfy those bowling shoes would be (or sturdy considering they are bowling shoes). So I'm kind of leaning towards the middle two (but man those bowling shoes are cute!), and since the Skechers ones are cheaper, I'll probably go with those. What do you think?

And just for your viewing pleasure!!

Could those pink ones be any prettier? I may end up buying those (against my better judgement) as well. Hopefully I won't. But I want them!!!

They are totally not my style, i.e. they don't match my wardrobe.

Well, I can always buy an outfit to match them.

Not that I need more clothes.

Gah!

Shoe Shopping: a Necessary Evil

2008-04-28T13:22:00.001-04:00

First off, let me start off by saying I'm a Pisces, which means I'm extremely picky about my shoes. Sometimes I buy shoes because they are pretty and cheap (like flats from H&M), but most of the time they have to be comfy, lovely, within my price range, vegan, and look good on my feet. That last one is usually the hardest to find because I have really small feet, so sneakers especially look pretty stupid if I don't find the right pair.

For years now I have been buying New Balance sneakers. They seem to be the only major brand that look right on my feet. I was going to go to the mall today (since they told me not to come into work) and get some new shoes (because I threw away my old ones in San Francisco back in January. One of them had a big gaping hole).

It wouldn't mean so much to find that perfect shoe if it weren't for the fact that my shoes last a really long time. I remember as a child, my mom would have me buy shoes that were two sizes too big because I would grow into them and they would last longer. I would have never gotten new shoes if I hadn't made up ailments or destroyed them on purpose because a) my feet barely grew, in fact not until I was 23 years old did I figure out my shoe size was actually a whole size smaller than what I had been wearing for the past ten years and b) I seem to buy indestructible shoes. It pissed me off because my brother was buying new shoes every six months!

That pair I threw away in San Francisco, I had them for six years.

Anyway, turns out the mall I was going to go to does not have a New Balance store (LOSE!). I decided to stay on my butt and shop at my favourite store: zappos.com.

I have taken a break from my little online shopping escapade because shoe shopping is so frustrating! Not only do I have to find a pair of sneakers for under $100, they can't have leather or suede, and they have to be cute. Mission impossible? Feels like it.

I read an article the other day about how people aren't supposed to wear shoes and that we walk incorrectly. That makes total sense to me because you would think we would have been made to run around naked like everyone else, yes? But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop wearing shoes (and clothes) because obviously our high tech, dirty, paved society requires that we wear shoes, or else we can get ring worm or step on glass or some other fun games.

Oh, shopping. I love buying stuff, but I hate shopping.

You know who has the best looking athletic type shoes? Skechers, but they are not very veggie friendly, though a lot of their nonsneaker shoes are. I really regret sending back these boots I had bought because I felt I had spent too much. My only two regrets in life have to do with shoes. Those Skechers boots were one of them. The other was a pair of sequined ballet-style flats. They were comfy on the top of the foot, which is hard to find. I can't believe I didn't buy them.

Yes, I am pretty shallow.

Or rather major life events aren't worth feeling regret over because everything happens for a reason, but those shoes, man...I don't see what good came out of not buying them; therefore, I regret.

It's so much easier buying a pair of dress shoes. I have a handful of those I never get a chance to wear. They are all so lovely. Sooooo lovely. They match nothing, but they are so lovely. I could be like Carrie Bradshaw and disregard matching shoes to clothing. Unfortunately that is something I cannot pull off.

This is what happens when I get a whole day off from both jobs. If you read this whole thing, you are my hero.

Introducing Movie Monday!!!

2008-04-28T01:15:00.000-04:00

I wanted to have a weekly feature, and thanks to Technodoll and Maxie I will now have Movie Mondays. Rejoice!

Um...I haven't decided if it's just going to be a movie review each Monday or just something randomly movie-related. Probably the latter because my other blog really is more for the former.

But for the first one, I will do a movie review because I just watched the movie Junebug.

I purchased it previously viewed for $3.99 at Blockbuster.

I love Amy Adams, which is why I wanted to watch it. What could have been so Oscar-worthy from such a bigscreen newbie?

The movie really was only worth watching because of her. Yeah, it has a great script, excellent shots, very poignant story, creative characters, superb acting, and wonderful direction, but come on, a lot of indie films these days do! There has to be something that makes it stand out from all others, and for Junebug it is Amy Adams' performance, which I agree with the Academy was worthy of an Oscar nom. This movie just solidifies for me that any movie with her in it is worth watching even if the only good thing about it is her.

Aside from Amy, like I said Junebug is a really good movie. What could have been an overly depressing film, bounced back and keeps the viewer satisfied. Although the ending isn't entirely viewer satisfactory, it's a very good ending. The movie remains real through its entirety. I recommend it to anyone except for those who only watch horror films and/or films saturated with special effects. Junebug does have one special effect, which I only learned about in the commentary. It was an interesting tidbit.

Dear, Jimmy Eat World, please don't co-headline tours. I prefer you alone. Love, your #1 crazy

2008-04-27T02:07:00.002-04:00

At the Sonar show, people didn't really start showing up until an hour before doors opened, so I thought this time I'd be alright. I completely forgot I was also dealing with Paramore fans, so when I showed up an hour and a half early, there was a huge line. Boo!

Deutlich showed up and held our spot in line while I went on a little adventure to find a bathroom. Excitement ensued.

When we got inside, there was a bunch of people already at the front. We stood off to the right about three rows back. All was fine and dandy, until the whole crowd pushed forward. Then when the opening band Dear and the Headlights came on (they were really good by the way), this fucking jackass started pushing the crowd in front of him, basically throwing his body weight on everyone thinking they would magically disappear if he did so, at least that is the only conclusion I can reach because this guy obviously doesn't understand the laws of physics...or being a decent human being. These were Paramore fans, i.e. small, young girls. He did it again a few songs later, and I had enough of this asshole. If I had something sharp, I would have done something. I really think my violent actions would have been justified. Protecting children of the female gender seems to be quite high on the "must protect" list considering people always say "women and children first". So yeah, that guy needed to be taken out.

Deut and I decided to leave the front because it wasn't worth it. We figured the Paramore fans would go away after their set, and then we could ease our way to the front for Jimmy Eat World. We got something to drink, found the smoking area, went to the restroom, and I bought a t-shirt and hoodie. Feeling refreshed near the end of Paramore's set, we decided to try to get to the front again. We were almost there. When Paramore finished, only a handful of people left. Not from the front. Assholes. After being sprayed with water (because apparently if you are hot and thirsty instead of drinking water, getting a shower is just as effective...right), I decided it wasn't worth being in the front again. I was squished and couldn't move my arms. I didn't think I could enjoy the concert in that fashion, so we squeezed our way out. I got a lot of boobage in my face somehow.

We found spots in the seating area and watched Jimmy Eat World from there. It was fantastic! They were great of course. They played a few songs that I hadn't heard live yet. Woo hoo! And I KNEW those freaking Paramore fans hadn't left because during a few songs, you could tell the crowd had never heard the song before. Motherfuckers. You should have left! Or at least stood in the back where you belong! JEW played "Here It Goes", and I was so disappointed that the crowd did not cut it to the left nor slide it to the right. Shitheads.

After the concert, we went around to the back where a few girls were. They were waiting to meet Paramore. A few more people showed up also wanting to meet Paramore. Then Rick showed up, and Deut asked me who it was, and when I realized who it was I started jumping up and down like an idiot screaming, "RICK!! RICK!!! HI, RICK!!!!" Then one of the Paramore fans turned to me and went, "Who is that?" I put my hand over my heart and gasped like she stabbed it or something. Oh, and those other Paramore fans started bogarting him and getting his autograph and pictures with him. THEY DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHO HE WAS!!!!!! They kept talking to him and shit. I should have taken them out as well. Then Penny showed up, who I know from the JEW message boards. She said she heard me screaming "Rick". He actually remembered Penny, which I thought was cool. I think I freaked him out though with my crazy fangirl greeting. I'm pretty sure he told the other guys not to come out because some psycho chick was outside. The other guys did not come over to greet us, which part of me is glad they didn't because of those stupid Paramore fans (though it would have been nice to have gotten Jim's autograph, since his is the only one I don't have...now I have Rick's twice! I had to have him the sign the front because I didn't want him to know he already signed it). The Paramore fans chanted for Paramore to come out, and when they shut up, I alone started yelling, "JIM!!!!!!!! TOM!!!!!! ZACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Tom and Zach did pass by at some point on their way to the bus. Tom waved. Zach ignored us. I screamed at him as well, "ZACH!!! I LOVE YOUR HAT!!!!!!!!"

Yeah. I'm an idiot.

Sorry I don't have pictures. I was too far away, and my camera just didn't understand.

Come play with me.

2008-04-25T22:31:00.004-04:00

I just joined Twitter. Why? So I could follow the bunnies. But since I'm on there, might as well make more use out of it.

Do any of you have Twitter?

By the way, I already found some of you through the 20sb twitter site, so if you are wondering who the random person following you is, it's me.

Find Your...Spot...

2008-04-25T19:08:00.004-04:00

Deutlich mentioned in her blog this site that gives you a list of 24 cities you should live in. I can't tell if it's fixed, but someone else mentioned they got Providence and Little Rock really high on their list as well, so either the three of us have similar needs in location or that site is a bunch of boo-hawkey.

Seven out of the 24 cities I got are in New Mexico. Apparently there's a city called Truth or Consequences. How awesome is that? Much better than Bumpass, VA. My #1 and #2 are both in New Mexico. Santa Fe was #8. It seems I was right in choosing New Mexico. OMW full speed ahead!

Thanks for all of your comments, beloved readers and fellow bloggers. Frequently, I abandon things or decide to change things up. I don't know if it's boredom, the stars, bipolar disorder, or what, but I think I will attempt to keep up with this blog because it seems like at least one person enjoys it, and that's enough for me. I will still launch my new blog. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's multi-tasking (I really wanted to say something dirty there instead but couldn't think of anything I was willing to publish).

But I do need something on this blog. A weekly something. Many of the blogs I read have a weekly something. My favourite is Maxie's Would You Rather Wednesdays. Nobody seems to do the weekend except Postsecret and fourfour (he usually posts his ANTM stuff on the weekend). Friday seems to be a popular day. I was born on a Friday. Just thought I'd throw that in there. Perhaps Tuesday? No, I have my Chipotle/movie nights with one of my BFFs on Tuesday. Monday? Hm.

Well, first I should figure out what this weekly something should be. Suggestions?

Also, no one has commented on the video I posted. P² made it. I think it's really well done and cute. So please watch it, and let me know what you think.

Analyzing Analytics

2008-04-24T23:07:00.002-04:00

So I've been going through my blog trying to figure out if it's worth saving, updating, etc. I decided to take a look at my Google Analytics again (I actually don't check it this often).

On April 21, I got the most page visits I have in weeks. So I'm all, 'What did I write about on April 21 that was so special?' It was my post saying I'm going to semi-abandon this blog.

I don't know how to take that.

I have been designing the website for my company and looking up a bunch of webdesign tips. (BTW Lissa Explains is one of my favourite websites, and I have been using it for years.)

Many sites say to pick something, something that interests you of course, and focus on that. I don't really have any one thing I can consistently blog about. I can't even consistently blog about my life!

I'm too all over the place.

Astrology blog? I tried that. Didn't work out.

Movie blog? I don't watch enough movies. I watch a lot of movies but not enough.

Crafts blog? I do crafts and stuff, but I have no advice. I suck at them.

Photo blog? I have one, and I can't even keep up with that!

You know, I bitch about things all the time, but I don't even think I could bitch about something everyday. At least, not stuff I'm willing to put on the internet.

Food blog? Health blog? Philosophy blog? Book blog? Spiritual blog?

I've seen many running blogs. Too bad I don't run. I don't exercise.

Sitting blog?

Today I sat in my desk chair and my chair at work. I also sat in my car. I stopped by Bed Bath and Beyond and momentarily sat on one of the beds. It was glorious.

Most personal blogs are about one's life. I find the most interesting personal blogs to be written by people who are an open book. Of course they are free enough to write about sex. Yeah, I will never do that. Never say never. I seriously doubt I would ever do that.

I'm not an open book.

...Unless you meet me, in which case I can't shut up, but I usually just talk about irrelevant things.

Irrelevant blog? Hm...aren't most blogs irrelevant? Some of my favourite ones are. But they are told in a witty fun way.

I had written a blog entry about why I won't live very long and how I'm the friend that nobody likes. I decided not to post it, but it mentioned that perhaps people keep me around only for their amusement. No real interest in me, just the stupid things I have to say because sometimes I spew out a few good nuggets (while the rest of it is verbal diarrhea).

And so that's part of the reason why I am going to start a new blog. It's not a blog really focused on anything, and it's not a blog about my life. It's just a blog about what I have to say about everything else. This is for my own protection. I'm a private person who likes to talk, and that's a bad combination. I'll sometimes say too much and later regret it and feel exposed and/or stupid.

Hopefully the new blog will work out.

Yeah, we'll see.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

2008-04-23T11:01:00.002-04:00

Fun with Analytics

2008-04-22T11:14:00.003-04:00

For the most part Google Analytics makes me feel bad, but I still look at it because once in a while it has worthwhile little nuggets of amusement.

The keyword searches are what I look at. What do people search for and end up at my blog (and most likely disappointed)?

Why does bacon have rainbow colours on it?

Why indeed.

My apologies to the person who did not get the answer they were looking for, but I will venture a guess. Bacon is greasey. Grease is shiny. Shiny reflects like. Light reflections produce rainbows.

P.S. I love this person for combining two of my favourite things in the world.

Bye bye, blog.

2008-04-21T20:39:00.002-04:00

I've said before how in my seven years of journaling/blogging, I have bounced around from site to site and journal to journal and now to blog. Well, it should be no surprise that I'm about to take flight again. It's so much easier on livejournal though. You could set up a new journal, add the people you want, and voila! They are informed you have a new journal and know exactly where it is and just have to *click* add you back.

Not so much with blogs. Although I'm sure it's a major tip off when you start receiving the same sarcastic, smiley face filled comments from a different username at exactly the moment the other ones stop.

I don't know if I'm going to delete this blog (though that is inevitable, just a matter of when), but I already have my new one set up (no posts yet though). I may still update this one in case I ever have the need to post more pictures of donuts. My other blog is going to be different. Not about my life or about the drinks I get from work. Well, maybe about that.

My new blog will start next month. I still need to make a post here of the Jimmy Eat World concert that will be on Saturday (so excited!). After that...bye bye, blog.

Or maybe not bye but slight abandonment really.

We'll see.

Whatever.

"Friends" With

2008-04-20T15:31:00.001-04:00

Does anyone else despise half of the people they are "friends" with on facebook? I sure do.

Death and the City

2008-04-18T17:26:00.001-04:00

You know, first a sidenote, I thought my subject was extremely clever of me for about a nanosecond until I realized how unoriginal it was and how there are probably hundreds of other entries with the same title about the same thing. Boo.

So what is this thing? Heidi informed us in her blog that Cynthia Nixon let it slip that one of the characters will die in the upcoming Sex and the City movie.

So begins my countdown.

10. Carrie is not going to die. I am so sure of this.

9. Charlotte is also unlikely to die, though people could say she might die through child birth, but I find it more likely that the baby/fetus dies than Charlotte.

8. Samantha...hm...well, she did have cancer, so she is not a 100% safe case like Carrie on the not dying part. Though I doubt Kim would have agreed to do the movie if Samantha were to die.

7. Out of the four main girls for some reason I find it most likely that Miranda would be the one to go, but then again it was Cynthia who spilled the beans, so again, probably not. So basically, I really doubt any of the four will die.

6. Harry is my favourite significant other from the whole series. The writers put Charlotte through way too much during the series, so I don't think they would do that to her, so I'm glad to say Harry is probably safe. If he's not, OMG that would fucking suck balls...fucking suck hairy balls.

5. Steve seems to have cheated on Miranda from the trailer, but I don't think that warrants a death. Plus, everyone loves Steve...although he's a dick for cheating on her, but I'll eventually forgive him.

4. Ok! Now the first most likely candidate! Smith!!! Why? He's in the trailer for like two seconds! And then Samantha is never seen again with him...but...why kill him? It just doesn't seem to serve Samantha's character plotwise at all.

3. Magda?

2. Or how about some new character in the movie that was not in the series? That'll be disappointing. Plenty of random characters died in the series, so that wouldn't be anything new.

And now for my actual guess!!!

1. Before even hearing about this spoiler but rather from watching the trailer, I thought Big dies. It just seems too obvious that he chickens out on a wedding, so I thought, what would be less cliche and more, "WTF?! OMG!!" Plus, Carries reaction just seems way too dramatic even for SatC standards for it to be about Big getting cold feet.

Anyone else have any thoughts or predictions?

Hair hair everywhere!

2008-04-16T19:42:00.001-04:00

I finally scheduled my dentist appointment. I haven't been in so long, and of course the receptionist pointed it out as well.

I decided to also schedule a hair appointment because I've reached my limit. It must go! Too many split ends, and last night on my way to Girls' Night Out with Heidi and Magda, my hair got caught in my purse straps like always, but this time it really got caught and almost ripped out a chunk. (By the way, Girls' Night Out was a lot of fun despite the alcohol being terrible and the vendors being disappointing, but I did buy a cute dress and got to hang out with some fabulous new friends!)

I went to the salon's website to see if it mentioned Locks of Love. It didn't. I wasn't surprised. Then I decided to venture over to the Locks of Love website.

I knew that you can't donate bleached hair, but when I donated my hair a few years ago, a chunk of it was bleached (and green to boot), but the stylist said it was ok. I think it was probably ok because the majority of hairs weren't bleached, whereas this time I don't think it would be ok because almost all of my hairs are bleached (at the ends...from bleaching a year ago and chopping not quite all of the bleached part off).

So I decided, I need to get rid of the bleached ends and then wait another few months before donating my hair. Oh, but I'm not about to pay for a damn hair cut. I haven't done that in years! The last few times I have cut my own hair, and either I'm really good at it or people just don't have the heart to tell me how stupid my hair looks.

Well, after work today, I whipped out my trusty (kinda rusty) scissors and started hacking away.

Of course I took the obligatory before and after pictures.

I have to say that I didn't mean for them to turn out so cliche. I was actually planning on making a very glamorous "before" picture and a really busted up "after" picture to be funny, but I just didn't have time for that. When I get it in me to cut my hair, I do it! But anyway, yeah, my hair was up in a messy bun while I was at work which is why my hair looks like a penis.

The last time I chopped a lot of hair off, I decided I didn't want layers anymore, but the bleached parts were there in layers, so by eliminating them it was either cut my hair really short or cut it in layers. I chose layers. It still took out a good amount of hair.

Doesn't it look like a person is drowning in my sink? And since it's my hair, to me it looks like I'm the one drowning. Kind of creepy actually....And now the after picture!

Still needs a little tweaking, but I think I got it pretty even. The top layers I cut too short, so my hair looked like a muffin, but I'm hoping that's just from hair shock and will go away.

On a completely unrelated note, why it is when I go to wordpress.com, all it says is "It works!"?

You know you watch too much ANTM when...

2008-04-12T20:37:00.002-04:00

...you're working as a barista, and a customer pisses you off, you hand them their drinking saying in your head, "Choke on it!"

Ho...hum.

2008-04-10T17:59:00.002-04:00

Lately my Firefox has been acting up. It'll just randomly stop allowing me to click on things, so I have to close it, but then when I try opening it up again, it tells me I can't because it's already running.

I thought it was because of those stupid Real Player pop up things that say "Download This Video", so I deactivated that. It didn't work.

Then I thought it was just a bug in the system, so I uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox. That didn't work.

Finally after days and days of having to constantly restart my computer, I figured it out.

STUPID DEL.ICIO.US!

Everytime I would tag something, THAT would mess up my browser. BOO!!!

And I was just starting to grow a dependency on it.

Oh, del.icio.us, how you have failed me.

I'm hesitant to try something else because what if it just causes the same problems?

On another note, I've had this blog for only five months now, and I'm already kind of over it. I have ideas for a new blog. So stay tuned for that!

So many movies, so little time...

2008-04-03T16:10:00.001-04:00

It is time once again to talk about upcoming movie releases that I am excited about seeing. Last time I mentioned Definitely, Maybe (so far the only movie I have seen this year to get five out of five stars), 27 Dresses (it was cute), Jumper (ok, felt incomplete, Rachel Bilson wasn't a good choice), My Blueberry Nights (didn't get the point, slightly boring, weak beginning and end), Cassandra's Dream (didn't watch, probably won't), He Was a Quiet Man (very good story, well done), VeggieTales (didn't watch, kinda still want to), The Other Boleyn Girl (really good, highly recommend it), Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (didn't watch, hopefully will soon), Horton Hears a Who (I loved it), Be Kind Rewind (meh, it was ok), and Made of Honor, Speed Racer, Kung Fu Panda, and Sex and the City all haven't come out yet, so they are still on the list, and I am still excited.

So on with the next set!

First on the list, Leatherheads looks really good from the trailer. I love Renee Zellweger. I also love John Krasinski, but I've never watched a movie with him, so we'll see if I like him as a non-Jim.

I kinda want to see Prom Night just to make fun of it. I mean, just look at the poster alone. I'm already laughing at that. I feel like it's going to be a real winner.

Chaos Theory looks like a really good movie to watch when you just want to watch a movie (know what I mean? Like when you don't want to be scared or troubled or stumped by something that is just supposed to be entertaining?).

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. 'Nuf said.

Deception is the one I am looking forward to most (out of the ones in this entry because um nothing compares to my excitement for Sex and the City). Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman? Hello! I'm there. Plus the story looks really good, and Michelle Williams looks good, too, and it's nice to see her do something different because she is one talented lady.

I love Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, so I am soooo looking forward to Baby Mama.

I have to see You Don't Mess with the Zohan because it's Adam Sandler.

The Love Guru looks so good! Mike Myers hasn't released a movie in so long (that wasn't Shrek). Hooray! Major bonus: Toronto Maple Leafs!

I'll stop there or else this will be way too long with all the summer movies. So yeah.

Some random memories about bathrooms and slippers.

2008-03-27T15:40:00.001-04:00

Deutlich and I are trying to cure each other of our blogger's block, so we exchanged topics to write about. For me, she asked about my absolute best memory evah! Although she also said she was originally going to ask me about my angriest but wanted to keep it positive. I'm going to do both. It'll create a nice balance.

Ok, I'm sure it goes without saying that the memories I write about here probably are not the absolute best and worst because it's hard to pick out the best and I'm sure I have blocked out the worst. But let's proceed...

LOL!

This is just one of my better memories that I'm willing to share. I figured I would choose a funny one because it's still too early to get all sweet and awww with you people. It was Halloween. I was working at the bookstore. My coworkers and I joked around a lot, so it was a pretty casual environment. My assistant manager, who is still my friend, was a huge goofball and would make many inappropriate hilarious jokes. My manager was in the bathroom doing something like washing her hands or getting something (the lockers and cleaning supplies were in the bathroom). I walked in probably to wash my hands (because I do that a lot). My assistant manager is standing outside the bathroom putting away stock, and he sees us and walks in. He closes the door and says, "I want to show you guys something." I see that he's about to turn off the light, and I freak out and run out of the bathroom and start laughing. The other employees who were standing in the back room see this and ask what the hell happened. In my mind, I thought he was going to do some "Bloody Mary" type thing, which I hate, and that's why I screamed and ran out of the bathroom. My manager and coworkers kept laughing about it because they thought I had run out thinking he was going to do something perverted. It turned out he just wanted to show us his glow-in-the-dark t-shirt.

I am so angry.

Usually I don't get angry. When I get upset, it's usually just sadness or frustration. I'd say 10% of my negative emotion is anger. So one of my angriest moments was when I was about ten years old. I'm very particular, and I like things a certain way. Yes, I'm high maintenance. Also, I'm a Pisces, so footwear matters a lot to me. I love slippers. At the moment I have a pair of Cookie Monster slippers (I had a picture of them up in a previous entry), and a pair of fuzzy red slippers (which I am actually wearing as I type this). When it comes to sneakers and slippers and boots, after a few times of wearing them, they mold to your feet. When someone else puts them on and stretches them out, there is a notable difference, and they are no longer the same molded comfy shoe you love. They are tainted. This is how picky I am when it comes to footwear.

I had these duckie slippers. I loved them. They were kind of falling apart, but they fit my feet like a glove, and I had grown attached to them. Don't ask me why, but one day my brother decided to put barbecue sauce in them. Not as a prank. He was just sitting there watching television, my slippers were on the floor near him, and some packets of barbecue sauce were on the table next to him. What was the point? I have no idea, but he did it. I got so pissed. Also, I have really good nails, always have. They grow really fast and strong. They are my main weapon against my brother, so yes, because he barbecued my duckie slippers, I slashed him with my finger nails.

I had an extremely short temper as a child, but most people wouldn't know it because I was very quiet and shy and sweet. But I'm overly sensitive, so while I am easily amused, I'm also easily upset. It does seem silly now, but why the fuck did he have to barbecue my precious duckie slippers?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T23:06:00.000-04:00

My favourite holiday of the year! Am I Irish? No. Do I love beer? Actually, no. Is my favourite colour green? Again...no. Um...do I really need a reason?

I wore my shamrock shirt, shamrock bracelet, and my...

Shamrock stockings!

For dinner we got some...

Curly fries!

I also had some veggie chicken nuggets with...

Green mayonaise!

The store was out of green food dye, so we had to get a variety pack.

Rainbow Heineken!

...Yum!

All hail...

Green beer!

And the green head!

We watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Mess!

I'm kind of clumsy, so the food dye got on me.

I think it's semi-permanent!

I got creative and made...

Purple beer!

I love rainbows!

2008-03-17T23:03:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I went to see the Gay Men's Chorus of WDC's That 80's Show. It was fantastic! They did many medleys and complete songs. There was singing and dancing and some video stuff (like an 80's commercial montage). The show I went to was ASL interpreted, and it was great to finally see a musical performance interpreted since that is what I would like to do. There were two interpreters, and one of them was absolutely fabulous. She was very into it and got the feel of the music perfectly. My favourite part was the "Bette Davis Eyes" solo because that guy was really into his performance, and I loved loved loved how he sang "precocious".

So that crosses off one more!

26 by 26

Pay off my amex card.
Go to Europe.
Donate hair to Locks of Love.
~~Learn to knit.~~
Open an account on etsy and sell shit.
Complete an outline and first chapter for novel.
Be able to cue a song.
Watch 100 new movies. (10/100)
Get tattoo for 25th birthday.
~~Watch a signed performance.~~
Make a new website layout.
Take at least one day trip to NYC.
Do at least five new things in DC. (1/5)
Make a Halloween costume.
Cook at least one dish from the vegan cookbook.
Go to the dentist.
Read ten new books. (0/10)
Delete unnecessary e-mail accounts and website.
Make a donation to Animal Welfare Institute.
Go to at least three ASL meetups. (0/3)
Open up a savings account or enroll in 401K.
Edit together a music video.
Get rid of pile of unneeded/unwanted stuff.
Learn Tai Chi.
Exercise a minimum of 20 minutes at least 100 days. (1/100)
Have a fun year!

And now some pictures!

I tried to knit a wristband for St. Patrick's Day. I don't really like it much because it looks more like all it is is just the end of a sweater.

I knit a case for my camera using the microspun yarn I bought in all the rainbow colours.

I had some yarn left over from the ends of it, so I made rainbow bracelets.

Let's do it in five!

2008-03-15T20:55:00.002-04:00

1. I just watched the movie Awake and OMG! That was the most horrifying (HORRIFYING!!!, not scary) movie I have ever seen! GAH!

2. I had to numb the horror by watching the Office (I just finished the last episode of Season 2, and after posting this, I will continue on to Season 3. I've already watched Season 4, so this is the last one I have to watch).

3. ...and crotcheting. I learned to crochet!

4. So hopefully soon I will be able to create things to sell on etsy.

5. Oh, and I got my Jimmy Eat World ticket in the mail. WOO HOO!!!!!

P.S. As I was typing in the tags for this entry, I realized I spelled "crocheting" as "crotcheting", so um...I mean crochet, but crotchet is funny. Yeah, on #3 I spelled it both ways. I win.

Happy Pi Day!

2008-03-14T01:35:00.001-04:00

Here on the East Coast of the United States, it is after midnight; therefore, it is officially Pi Day. Instead of making an entry about the delicious baked pastry, I'm going to be a total nerd and discuss math. Yes, math.

Apparently when I was really little, maybe like four or five, my dad randomly asked me what nine plus five is, and immediately I said fourteen. He asked me how I got the answer so quickly (without having to write anything down). I said that nine is one less than ten, and five is one more than four, and ten plus four (which is easy to add in your head) is fourteen. I know, such a roundabout way of coming up with the sum of two numbers, but this showed my dad I have a weird knack for math.

In high school, my friend and I tried to start a math club. It didn't happen. Not enough interest from other students.

I would have been a math major in college if it hadn't been for AP Calculus my senior year of high school. That shit was boring. It was the same formula with different values over and over. Zzzz.

AP Calculus was the only AP test I got a three on. My other three AP tests I got a two. Math was the only subject that required a four for credit. All the others only needed a three. Boo.

In addition to Astrology, I love Numerology. Ok, that's not math, but it's numbers.

I set my clock about 25 minutes fast, so every morning I wake up having to do some mathematical calculations in my head in order to determine how many more times I can hit the snooze button. I thought having to do math would wake me up a little bit, but it has become second nature.

People say they like math because you can't argue math solutions. On an extra credit problem on a quiz I had in Pre-Calculus, I actually did argue my answer...though to be fair it had nothing to do with math, but we argued about farms. Let's just say I made it a goal to have a dog farm, build a circular fence around it, and fly my teacher in a helicopter over it and be like, "See?! There are circular fences on farms! I was right! You were wrong! In your face! I am the queen of functions!!!" And then I would reflect on my sorry life and jump out of the helicopter because I just said "queen of functions".

Bitch killed my buzz!

2008-03-11T13:12:00.000-04:00

August 25, 2007. It was my half-birthday. I had a party. It was a sex toy party (though that is an overstatement because more than half of the stuff they sell aren't sex toys). It was with the company Slumber Parties and the woman's name was Kim (I'll be nice and leave off her last name, though I should put it up to prevent others from being ripped off). I had met her at a party my coworker had and decided to host my own. Five of my friends came, and three people bought stuff. One of my friends who couldn't come gave me her order a week later which I e-mailed to Kim along with another order of mine because I got hostess credits for that order as well. Kim came to my house to pick up the check for the e-mailed order and my new order and to drop off my first order and one of my friends' orders. And that was the last I ever heard from her.

Yeah, she totally ripped off me and my friends. She definitely cashed my check. I had e-mailed her and called her many times, but she never responded. Slumber Parties has a disclaimer that they are not responsible for undelivered products, but I e-mailed them anyway. No response back either.

(P² said what if she died? I said I had thought the same thing, but I doubt that's the case. He then said, maybe she's a drug addict because drug addicts have a tendency to suddenly drop all of their commitments and responsibilities. I said but she has a son. He said that doesn't matter in fact parents are among the worst.)

Then my friend, whose order I had e-mailed, threw a party at the beginning of February. The woman at the party was Martha and her company is For Your Pleasure. Not only was she much better, friendlier and funnier, she told me that what Kim had done is against the law and I could pursue legal action against her. Martha helped me with all the details, but when it came time to e-mail Kim my 10-day warning, the e-mail bounced back! By this point I had just about had enough. She told me about other things I could do, and P² even tried do some research for an address and stuff, but I'm done. I was done in November really, but I felt bad for my friends who also got ripped off, which is why I tried, but I know one of them doesn't seem to care much, and I'm not sure about the other.

So yeah, NEVER BOOK A PARTY WITH SLUMBER PARTIES!!!!

What pisses me off the MOST is not the money (though of course that pisses me off because I have negative amounts of money). It's the fact that when I look at the products I got from my first order and from my coworker's party, I just think about how she ripped me off! How can I fucking use these fucking products now?! WORST. BUZZKILL. EVER.

I should just toss it all in the trash because they are counterproductive now, but I'm hoping the anger and loathing will diminish, and I will be able to use this shit properly. I can't even use the talcum powder spray that has pheromones in it. I am THAT pissed.

I hope I don't transfer this anger to ALL sex and romance products. So far I haven't. At the party in February I bought this heart thing that warms up when you flex this metal disc inside of it. It's very nice because my apartment is freezing. I haven't associated any anger with the hot heart. Good. Maybe I can move on to other things. Although I don't think I can ever buy and use similar products to the ones I had bought from that horrible woman. Booo.

I'm definitely going to book a party with Martha. Hopefully soon.

That's what she said.

2008-03-07T08:44:00.001-05:00

ANTM

I'll try not to spoil it for those who haven't watched it yet, so I'll just say I am thrilled that the person who got eliminated was eliminated because she got on my fucking nerves. What a beeyotch.

Also, going from my least favourite to my favourite...

After Katarzyna's makeover, I thought she looked a lot like Cassandra from Cycle 5. It doesn't look like it in this picture, but perhaps if you squint it may.

Cassandra was my fave from Cycle 5 (Nicole being a very close second) because of her sociopath comment.

Oh, and why the hell can't Tyra pronounce her name right? It's not that hard! It's kah-ter-JZIH-nuh, not kuh-TAR-jin-UH. You would think she would practice or a producer could correct her or something. Come on, Paulina! You should be able to help her out!

Knitterrific!

I bought some knitting needles, yarn, crochet needles, and tapestry needles. For my first official knitting project, I used some super bulky yarn because I lack patience. I underestimated the size of the yarn and spent three hours knitting before I realized my scarf was going to be way too wide, and I would have to buy five more balls of yarn to finish it.

So I unraveled that and started over. This time I casted on a third of what I originally did. After watching every episode that's online for the current season of the Office, I finished my scarf! Probably for numerous reasons, the scarf curls, and so it looks a lot skinnier than it is. I also used up my entire skein of yarn and didn't feel like buying more, which is why it's as short as it is. I asked my bear Porkchop to model for me.

I think I did a good job for my first actual knitting project. Knitting takes too long for big things, so I need to find a smaller project for my next one. I have this really soft microfiber sports yarn. I bought it in every colour of the gay rainbow (as opposed to the regular rainbow, which includes indigo). I don't know if I'm going to knit rainbow stuff or knit something in each colour or maybe both if I have enough. We'll see.

Well, it kind of has a happy ending.

2008-03-06T01:32:00.000-05:00

I just watched The Other Boelyn Girl, and before I say anything else about it, how hot is this man? As much as I was disappointed by Across the Universe, it was worth watching to watch him...and listen to him, too.

If you have read the book, you may be disappointed. I did not read the book and was not disappointed. I loved it. The performances were brilliant. It was very intense. A couple times I realized I hadn't moved my left hand because I was on edge, and it fell asleep, so I had to revive it and get the circulation going again. Because the actors did such a great job, there were many parts of the movie that were...um...disturbing (not horror movie disturbing or Atonement disturbing...just...disturbing in its own way).

Not a feel good movie. Watch it if you want to watch a good movie with pretty girls, pretty dresses, and sex as a weapon.

Manifest Desti-me

2008-02-26T22:56:00.003-05:00

I told my friend about Operation Move West and how P² has seven years to change his mind or I may just leave without him, and she accidentally called it my "Manifest Destimy", which I thought was on purpose as "Manifest Desti-ME!" It sounded appropriate. Operation Move West (aka Manifest Desti-me). I love it!

She and I were sitting in Ben and Jerry's having a nice long chat catching up. We had just watched Be Kind Rewind. I'm probably biased because it's Michel Gondry, so I can't really say if I recommend it or not, but I liked it. I gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars (I almost gave it 4, but realized I was just doing it because it's Michel Gondry). The trailer is misleading. The story is much more complex though still campy. This movie seems like Gondry's way of showing us his world of moviemaking, not just the result but rather some of the effort put into some of his genius effects and shots. It may also give us a clue to Gondry's stance on movie piracy, though it could have been just a necessity to the plot. Also, I knew Gondry had a soft spot for gross humour after watching his poo film starring himself and David Cross, but a particular moment in Be Kind Rewind definitely erases any doubt. He's the best!

That also accomplishes a part of one of the things on my list. I am one step closer. I also had to change number six because I realized there was no way I could finish ASL VI by my next birthday because the semester would have just started, and that's assuming I can afford the classes next fall.

26 by 26

Pay off my amex card.
Go to Europe.
Donate hair to Locks of Love.
~~Learn to knit.~~
Open an account on etsy and sell shit.
Comlete an outline and first chapter for novel.
Be able to cue a song.
Watch 100 new movies. (1/100)
Get tattoo for 25th birthday.
Watch a signed performance.
Make a new website layout.
Take at least one day trip to NYC.
Do at least five new things in DC. (0/5)
Make a Halloween costume.
Cook at least one dish from the vegan cookbook.
Go to the dentist.
Read ten new books. (0/10)
Delete unnecessary e-mail accounts and website.
Make a donation to Animal Welfare Institute.
Go to at least three ASL meetups. (0/3)
Open up a savings account or enroll in 401K.
Edit together a music video.
Get rid of pile of unneeded/unwanted stuff.
Learn Tai Chi.
Exercise a minimum of 20 minutes at least 100 days. (0/100)
Have a fun year!

First cooking and now knitting. I am on a domestic roll!

2008-02-26T12:00:00.006-05:00

OMG! I've already crossed something off my list!

26 by 26

Pay off my amex card.
Go to Europe.
Donate hair to Locks of Love.
~~Learn to knit.~~
Open an account on etsy and sell shit.
Complete ASL VI.
Be able to cue a song.
Watch 100 new movies. (0/100)
Get tattoo for 25th birthday.
Watch a signed performance.
Make a new website layout.
Take at least one day trip to NYC.
Do at least five new things in DC. (0/5)
Make a Halloween costume.
Cook at least one dish from the vegan cookbook.
Go to the dentist.
Read ten new books. (0/10)
Delete unnecessary e-mail accounts and website.
Make a donation to Animal Welfare Institute.
Go to at least three ASL meetups. (0/3)
Open up a savings account or enroll in 401K.
Edit together a music video.
Get rid of pile of unneeded/unwanted stuff.
Learn Tai Chi.
Exercise a minimum of 20 minutes at least 100 days. (0/100)
Have a fun year!

So after posting my last entry and then playing a few moves in Scrabulous, I picked up "The Knit-It Kit" (it says on the box that it's for kids, but when you don't know anything about something, how different are you from a kid), which I had purchased in the bargain section of Borders yesterday and learned to cast on stitches last night. Well, in just minutes, I learned to knit and purl. Granted all I can knit is a square (oh, but I could knit a GIANT SQUARE! Doesn't that sound more impressive?), but I still learned how to knit, and I did it on my own, so I am especially proud of myself. I need to go buy some bigger knitting needles (even my tiny hands can't take the tiny needles that came with the kit) and freakishly thick yarn (well, I don't have all day to knit with floss!).

Cille, the woman on the plane to San Fran who convinced me I should move to Santa Fe, told me how she crochets because it's much faster and easier than knitting. I'm sure it is, and I'm sure I'd like it more, but one reason I wanted to learn how to knit is because I love how it looks when a person knits, you know, seeing those two big ass chopsticks wiggling back and forth and somehow producing a sweater from a ball of yarn. I also like watching people write with long pencils. When I was first learning to write, I didn't understand why my pencil didn't wiggle as much, so I purposefully added some wiggle to my writing.

I just realized how Freudian that sounded, so I'm gonna add that I also like watching people chew their food. Maybe that's Freudian, too, but at least in a different way, yes?

26 by 26

2008-02-26T10:12:00.001-05:00

I was going to write a whole entry about the last year and all the stuff that went down, but then I decided, meh. So yeah, I'm not going to do that.

Last year I made a list called "25 by 25". It was 25 things I wanted to accomplish by the time I turned 25. Um...I crossed off 7 things. What a bitchin' year.

I'm going to try again. Only this time, I'll try to be more realistic (though I thought I was being pretty reasonable with the 25 by 25 list).

26 by 26

Pay off my amex card.
Go to Europe.
Donate hair to Locks of Love.
Learn to knit.
Open an account on etsy and sell shit.
Complete ASL VI.
Be able to cue a song.
Watch 100 new movies. (0/100)
Get tattoo for 25th birthday.
Watch a signed performance.
Make a new website layout.
Take at least one day trip to NYC.
Do at least five new things in DC. (0/5)
Make a Halloween costume.
Cook at least one dish from the vegan cookbook.
Go to the dentist.
Read ten new books. (0/10)
Delete unnecessary e-mail accounts and website.
Make a donation to Animal Welfare Institute.
Go to at least three ASL meetups. (0/3)
Open up a savings account or enroll in 401K.
Edit together a music video.
Get rid of pile of unneeded/unwanted stuff.
Learn Tai Chi.
Exercise a minimum of 20 minutes at least 100 days. (0/100)
Have a fun year!

Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2008-02-25T10:32:00.003-05:00

Today at 11:52 AM I will officially have reached my 25 year mark. Hooray! It's my golden year (25 born on 25). I'm excited. I don't really have anything planned for today except a whole lotta nothing. That's what I want to do on my birthday. Just relax on purpose (as opposed to getting some time off and ending up not doing anything then feeling guilty about it).

Partay!

I had my birthday party last Saturday night. I made all the food. I didn't take very good pictures (I have no future in food photography). Everyone said it was delicious, and since they kept eating it, I'm assuming they weren't lying.

Usually we have water and mayo in our fridge.
This is the most full it's ever been.
We both said we had to take a picture.

P² said this was the best salsa he ever had.
Liar.
But it was still very yummy.

Corn salsa!

Guacamole!
This took a lot of elbow grease because the avocados weren't entirely mushy.
I had to mush them myself.

Beans!
This and the guacamole were gone by the end of the night.

I even popped the taco shells in the oven.
I went all out.

Oscars!

It had its moments, and I like that they made fun of the montages.

They totally left out Brad Renfro from the memorium. WTF.

I love love love that Diablo Cody won Best Original Screenplay.

Bourne Ultimatum? Um...hello? Transformers!! Idiots.

"And the baby goes to..." Oh, Jon Stewart. Love him!

The penguins are doing it, so why can't we?

2008-02-18T10:57:00.002-05:00

You can read the full article here, but here's the gist of it: The book is called And Tango Makes Three. A parent complained that it was pushing a gay agenda and asked that it be banned. A committee said, "Whatever, bitch, don't get your panties in a twist." The parent appealed. The next committee said, "You better check yourself you fear mongering parent who can't take responsibility for your own child and must get authorities involved to also tell other parents what to do." Then the Superintendent said, "I'm the boss here, and I hate gays, too, so buh-bye book!" Other parents in Loudoun County were all, "Censorship bad!!!" But there is no system in place to allow them to ask that the book be put back on the shelves.

Yeah, you like my summarizing skills?

I totally want to read this book now and had never heard of these penguins. Thank you, crazy homophobic parent, for getting the word out on this book. I appreciate it.

The book is based on a true story of Roy and Silo, two male penguins at NYC's Central Park Zoo. They become penguin partners, and when all the other penguins start making babies, they want to as well, so they get an egg-shaped rock and try to hatch it. One of the zoo staff sees this and gives them an actual fertilized egg to hatch and take care of. The two dads and baby girl are still at the zoo being their adorable selves. I think it's very heartwarming, and anyone who sees something wrong with that beautiful story has something wrong with themselves.

I think if a child read that story, and then you told them, "Penguins choose one penguin and spend the rest of their lives together. Could you imagine if the zoo people didn't approve of two male penguins being mates and they separated them? The penguins would probably become very sad and miss their friend." The child would probably ask why the zoo people would do such a thing. What would you say?

I think now is a good time to tell my reason why I feel so strongly about GLBT rights. It's actually quite simple. When I was a very little baconyum and I first learned that some couples are two men or two women, I didn't really think much of it. I wasn't surprised. It made total sense to me. Why wouldn't there be couples of two men or two women? What's your point??? Then when I learned that there are people who hate them for it and even kill them for it, that's the part I didn't understand. That's the part that enfuriated me and saddened me and made me question good vs. evil.

Children don't need to be taught love, kindness, and acceptance. They are born with it. But somehow children are taught to hate and become narrowminded and judgmental. One of my professors in college was chatting with us one day and was talking about his son. Across the street lived a gay couple. His son asked him, "Why aren't they married?" And my professor said to us, "Wow. Now that's being openminded." And I thought, 'Yes. It's called being a child.' Trust me. People aren't born hating people.

Definitely see this movie, Maybe you'll like it as much as I do

2008-02-16T20:57:00.001-05:00

I just saw the movie Definitely, Maybe today. It is the first movie I saw this year that actually came out this year, and it was excellent! I gave it five (out of five) stars (and I rarely give five...last year I gave about four movies five stars).

I'll admit, I probably would have only given it four stars if it hadn't been for lots and lots of Isla Fisher. Um...I love her! She reminds me of classic movie stars and pin ups (like Vargas girls), short and curvy and gorgeous. Plus, I love redheads (Kate Winslet, Lindsay Lohan, Conan O'Brien, Amy Adams, just to name a few that I adore).

This is the current background on my phone and has been for weeks:

And this is my current desktop wallpaper (which I made, and you can use of course) and has been for months (I really should change it up more often, but whatever):

Um...is this entry about the movie or about Isla Fisher?? Both! But back to the movie...it's really sweet and well thought out. It was quite predictable after a certain point, but I still found it satisfying. There was one scene I did cringe at because it was utter movie cheesey goodness at its highest. Also, I love Rachel Weisz (fellow Pisces! Hooray!), and Abigail Breslin is just the cutest (and a very talented actress). Ryan Reynolds and everyone else also did a good job. Definitely worth seeing. Maybe I'll go again. Definitely gonna buy the DVD. Maybe I'm done being obnoxious now.

P.S. I really think they got the title of the movie from this song:

If you can't see it, it's from myspace (because I couldn't find a youtube version I liked). The song is called "Maybe" by Emma Bunton (aka Baby Spice). I love the song (and I really like the music video).

JEW Concert!

2008-02-15T19:19:00.004-05:00

Jimmy Eat World just announced their tour dates with Paramore, and they will be in Washington, DC, on April 26th at the Bender Arena. Sweeeeeeeet!!! I'm so excited!

But like all the JEW concerts I have been to, now comes the daunting task of figuring out who will go with me. Not because people are lining up and begging, no, quite the opposite. I don't know what's wrong with people. It's JIMMY EAT WORLD!!!

I've been to three of their concerts now (well, four if you include HFSmas), and for two of them I basically sped up friendships with complete strangers I met off the internet. Yeah, I went on a trip to California with one, and yeah, I'm living with and probably will spend the rest of my life with the other, but for once it would be nice not to have to go fishing out of desperation for someone to go with me. I'd go alone if it weren't for the fact I feel 100% less safe walking around DC than I do NYC. DC is sketchy, man. Especially where any music venue is concerned.

The concert is on a Saturday. A Saturday! Someone best be going with me. NO EXCUSES! GRRR!!!!

Perhaps people just don't like me.

EDIT: I want to add a bit of clarity (yeah, I went there) to what I just wrote. I love making new friends, and even though P² made me late for JEW and got there for the last song, it was a memorable first date (though I will keep reminding him, even on his death bed, that he made me miss JEW). It's just I have to leap through hoops and all to find a person to go with me. You would not believe how many people agreed to go to that JEW/Green Day concert with me and then backed out leading one of my friends to go, "Hey, why don't you ask that guy you've been talking to on the internet to go with you?" Oh, yeah, that's safe. Thanks, man. Why don't we also pick up some hitchhikers off the interstate?

Ah, well. Maybe I'll make another friend off the internet. Jimmy Eat World: uniting internet friends in the real world. Maybe if it happens enough times, I can write a book about it. Or a movie. Nah, a book. Yeah.

At least he's funny, even if unintentionally.

2008-02-14T10:36:00.001-05:00

Even though I know Huckabee stands no chance of winning, I had to share this anyway. I found it while going through my Yahoo! account e-mails (which I finally deleted. I have been on an account purge. I had 12 e-mail accounts! Now I just need to ditch my AOL one and one Gmail, and I'll be down to five, which are the ones I'll keep...but I digress...), and it was just too funny.

Huckabee on gay marriage:

Unless Moses comes down with two stone tablets from Brokeback Mountain to tell us something different, we need to keep that understanding of marriage.”
– Mike Huckabee

The real reason I vote.

2008-02-12T16:40:00.001-05:00

I'm so sleepy. I was at my mom's house watching tv (because she has cable, and I don't...and I was there to vote because I'm still registered there), and I fell asleep watching a rerun of the Colbert Report.

So I voted in the Crabcake Primary (dude, Virginia and DC are not about the crabcake. That's all Maryland...though they are quite yummy). They asked me if I wanted to do the paper ballot or electronic. I stood there confused. I'm already here to make one big decision, and you're asking me to make another?!

As my mom and I were leaving, I was eyeballing the gymnasium. For what? For stickers. Where the hell was the person handing out the "I Voted" stickers?! That's the whole reason I vote, man, for the fucking sticker! AND I DIDN'T GET ONE!!! I'LL NEVER VOTE AGAIN!!!!!!! *throws shit across the room in a fit of stickerless rage*

To show how I am all about the sticker (and all stickers in general, I love them), here's a picture of Kennedi (my laptop) in all her stickered glory:

The tiny oval shaped "I Voted" stickers are not mine. They were given to me by people who voted in Fairfax County. The one on the blue is from the 2004 presidential election. I kept telling the theater office secretary to vote so she could get a sticker. She didn't care about the sticker, so she gave me hers the next day. The bottom one on the black is one that P² just got for voting. He got a sticker. Why didn't I? He's saying I did now, but it's not the same! Do you see those big round stickers? Those are the ones I got for voting. Yeah, my county gives out better stickers...except for this time when I got NO STICKER.

I can't think of a catchier title than just, "San Franciscooooo!"

2008-02-04T15:33:00.001-05:00

It has been a week since I have been back from San Francisco. I was there from Wednesday, Jan. 23, through Monday, Jan. 28. I have been working everyday since Tuesday, Jan 29. I'm exhausted. I needed a vacation after my vacation. Steph and I did a shitload of walking, and a lot of that was walking in the rain, sometimes very windy rain, sometimes there were big puddles.

San Francisco!

Ok, so I actually had a whole entry written out that went through the whole trip day by day, but then I thought, "Zzzz." I thought I was being concise, and I was, but it wasn't worth reading. I might as well have told you how many steps I took or which cable cars we hopped on. By the way, I know more about San Francisco now than I do DC ("Oh, yeah, you just take the 30 bus down to Union Square..." "What the fuck do you mean downtown? What part of DC is DOWNTOWN??"). How sad is that? So in more of a nutshell: I'm obsessed with Alcatraz now, people are more rude in San Francisco than NYC and DC if you take public transportation but they are so freaking cool in the Castro and other places, our hostel was surrounded by girlie shows and XXX shops, if you buy rainboots it will stop raining, a woman named Cille on the plane to SF convinced me I need to move to Santa Fe (oh, I just realized Santa Fe is also "SF"), you will always spend more money than you plan to, I am salt and my boyfriend is pepper (Alcatraz S&P shakers have turned into His&Hers novelty items for us), and a guy named Martin at the hostel told me a drug story about a guy who was all excited about catching a gnome under a laundry basket or something and it turned out he had captured a child with down syndrome (why did I include this in my entry? Because when asked I said I would pass on the story of the down syndrome gnome...it sounds better when he tells it...doesn't everything sound better when told with a European accent?).

Wow, my new entry wasn't as...accurate as the other entry I had made, but I sacrifice detail for extreme conciseness (is that a word?).

I want to watch So I Married An Axe Murderer again because I think watching it now after having been to San Francisco will be interesting. I love that movie. I kept talking about it when we were there.

Operation: Move West

So now I am all about moving to Santa Fe. Of course I still need to see it before I decide for sure because I may get there and be disappointed. I told P² that we're taking a trip there to check it out. He didn't say no or seem apprehensive, so for him that's almost like saying, "Cool beans!" I told my mom about how I might move to Santa Fe, and she was all excited about it saying she'll have a reason to visit the west because apparently she's never been out west. I asked one of my best friends if she'd move to New Mexico with me, and she was all, "Sure, maybe, why not? I have family there." Exxxxxcellent.

Blogging?

When I got back from my trip, I had over 400 entries in my Google reader. I finally went through all of them yesterday (ok, not really. I skipped over most of it. I'm a slow reader with a short attention span, but I did read some). I'm glad I took that trip. I needed to step away from the computer. I have these spurts of obsession (obsession with anything...tasks, people, games, books, music, etc.). Luckily they don't last very long, but I just have one of those personalities where I really get into things. I may not be consistent, but...yeah, I have no real "but" to that thought. I'm not consistent. Period.

Picture Time!

Now for some pictures I took in California. I took over 600 photos (2GB memory cards can go a long way). I posted 120 of them on facebook. Here I'll limit it to twelve, and I'm only posting ones I didn't post on facebook, so these are certainly not the cream of the crop. Mm...cream...

Pipes, bowls, and bongs are art.

How to escape from Alcatraz.

My feet were soaked from the rain. This is me attempting to dry them, but the dryer was freezing, and apparently when you're miserable from having wet shoes and socks, it's hard to maintain balance.

One of the many plants at the Conservatory of Flowers at Golden Gate Park.

A store in Haight Ashbury.

"The Crookedest Street" in the world (...not). If I could live anywhere in San Francisco, I'd want to live in the blue house on this street.

San Fran has too many hills. I had to sit down. These are the rainboots I bought right before it stopped raining.

Dog! This was at the beach my online friend Tara and her husband took us to see the Pacific Ocean.

Beach!

Our first night at the hostel, someone had to duct tape our window shut.

Can you spot the famous parrots of Telegraph Hill?

My last meal in SF in Chinatown.

JEW, chopping broccoli, and Operation: Move West...Oh, my!

2008-01-19T20:44:00.001-05:00

JEW News OMG!

Apparently Jimmy Eat World will be going on another tour (hooray!). This time they are coheadlining with Paramore. As long as nobody in Paramore likes to throw their musical equipment at the audience...

Why I Don't Like to Cook

Oh, I can cook. If I tried, I'd probably be amazing (and incredibly modest), but I don't try because I don't like to cook. Why? No matter what you're making, it takes much longer to make than it does to eat. I'm an extremely impatient person, especially when it comes to food. I'm a slow eater, but I don't like waiting to eat when the food is right in front of me. I can't even chop broccoli. You know those broccoli stalks? The ones that look like tiny trees? I have bought them with the intention of making some yummy salad or just chopping it up and drizzling some oil on them. Um...I'm lucky I even washed the damn thing. I ran that sucker under the water, dried it, had the cutting board out and everything, but then it was *stare*munch*munch*munch*, like it was a freakin' turkey leg. I thought, why bother to chop it up? My teeth will do that anyway! So yeah. I don't cook unless you count the microwave because that you just pop in and walk away. I'm all about multitasking. You can't really multitask when chopping something or frying something up.

One day maybe I'll cook. I might even think it's fun. One day. When I learn some self-control.

Operation: Move West

This has been cooking in my mind for a while. Well, the thought of getting out of this area has been in my mind, since, oh, about the middle of third grade. First, what is this area? The east coast. More specifically the Mid-Atlantic region. Even more specifically the DC area...or rather an hour away. We like to call this area "Northern Virginia". I have lived in Northern Virginia my WHOLE life. I've lived in five different cities, and they are all a part of NoVA. Sucks!

Just like I've always thought of baby names, I've also always thought about where I would move to when I escape. I don't remember the different places I considered up until college, when I decided I will be moving to Toronto. Yes, I wanted to leave the country altogether (and not just because of Bowling for Columbine or the 2004 presidential election). I love Canada! I've been to Toronto once. I had a miserable time. That was not Canada's fault. It had to do with my friends, and we were on a band trip my freshman year of high school. Anyway, my favourite team sport is hockey, and my favourite hockey team is the Maple Leafs.

Then when I met the person I think I'm probably going to end up spending the rest of my (or his, whichever ends first) life with, I find out he doesn't want to move to Canada. After much discussion (that popped up over the span of several months, so it was casual discussion), I find out that California (my second choice) is out of the question because he believes it's going to fall into the ocean, and the only place we can agree on is the Southwest. So it's going to be Arizona or New Mexico. Operation: Move West is in its infant stages, but already the idea is planted, growing, and spreading like a cure to a disease.

I have no inner child because I still am one.

2008-01-18T11:17:00.001-05:00

It snowed yesterday.

My boss just sent me an e-mail that said, "I don’t know about you guys, but things here are crusty and likely a bit slick. (And then there are the roads! Ha, ha... just a little joke there.)" That made me laugh. (Side note: I like having a job where it's not only ok if you say "fuck" a lot, but you're encouraged to do so as well.) So an entire week of no work at Job B. Bummer. My paycheck is going to be so skimpy. Boo. But then again, that's my fault. I could have done work from home, but I don't have my priorities straight, i.e. I'm lazy.

Inspired by my own opinionated ramblings and the blogs of Lee Doyle and Deutlich, I wrote a long ass entry about religion. I won't post it yet because I feel I need to give my blog a little R&R from the heavy topics.

I got my weekly Ticketmaster update, and it told me there are tickets available for the Doodlebops Live! And I had to ask, "What are Doodlebops?" Whatever they are, that is a bitchin' name. I googled them, and OMG I'm in love. Something you have to know about me to understand that is no joke, I also love the Teletubbies. I think they are adorable, and the show is so soothing. It enriches my soul. Except I can't stand the freaking Sun baby. That I could do without. But I heart Po.

Some of you might be thinking, 'How the hell can I take the political ramblings of a Teletubbies fan seriously?' I will not dignify that with an answer.

Also, I love SpongeBob.

P.S. I just discovered Google Analytics...I don't get it. How do I use it on blogger? *unhappy confused face*

EDIT: Oh, shit! Do I have to add the tracking code to every single one of my posts?? Or am I just dumb as a bucket of rocks?

EDIT DOS: Not dumb as a bucket of rocks but almost as slow.

Baconyum for Supreme Ruler! 2020!

2008-01-17T13:46:00.001-05:00

Just one more political post to round out the others. Because when someone has laid their cards out on the table, it's automatic for us to go, "Oh, well, I can do better..." So for my imaginary platform...

baconyum on...

Education: All elementary education will be montessori. Middle school will be optional while you get your hormones in check. More vocational options will be available for those who want to pursue a trade.

Guns: The people who shouldn't have them know how to get them, so gun control is a bit futile. Of course, it won't be some gun free for all. That would be friggin' anarchy!

Drugs: There is no war on drugs at the moment, only a smackdown on drug users and dealers. We're a capitalist nation. Bring that shit into the economy, tax it, and let the hardworking citizens get their bake on at the end of the day.

War: What is it good for?

Abortion: Just the fact that this is so highly under debate shows just how sad and just how divided society has become. I'm talking about both sides because both sides have people who think they are undeniably right. Read up on some philosophy and ethics and open your mind. If you're smart, you'll see moral issues never have clear cut right and wrong answers. My answers to the issue of abortion: better and universal health care for everyone, streamlining adoption and fostercare, increasing sex education and classes about pregnancy and parenthood, free immediate counseling, and making the whole topic of sex, pregnancy, and all that jazz less taboo so people don't feel the need to hide that they are sexually active by hiding the evidence with an abortion. Oh, and they would stay legal because there are many more reasons women choose to have abortions other than being a knocked up teenager. Reasons you couldn't possibly even begin to imagine, and the last thing they need is for someone to judge them for making a decision that they never thought they would have to make. (And did I once say I was pro-abortion? No, because I'm not. There is a difference between pro-choice and pro-abortion, and just saying, "No, there's not," isn't really an argument. Try again.)

Da Gays: Equal. Rights. Period.

Marriage: I would take marriage out of our political and legal system. It would be purely spiritual and of course for celebratory reasons because sometimes weddings are a lot of fun. Our government rewards people who get married with special tax breaks and spousal privileges. That needs to stop. Single people have rights, too. As long as there are tabloid celebrities, there will be no sanctity of marriage.

Death Penalty: Against it. Moving on...

Immigration: "It does not say R.S.V.P. on the Statue of Liberty!"

Environment: I would fully fund a project where scientists discovered a clean burning fuel that didn't harm the environment but filled the air in our country with Amortentia*, so we could always smell what we love and be in a happy loving mood. If everyone is shiny, happy, it'll be much easier to be SUPREME RULER! 2020!

So what is your imaginary platform?
(Oh, and I am a bit judgmental, so if part of your platform is eating California Cheesebugers**, please don't share.)

*You Potterheads will get that. *wink*
**Old Simpsons episode. Maybe if you Google it, you'll get it.

Donuts so good I'm inspired to write a song about them.

2008-01-16T14:53:00.000-05:00

My boyfriend bought a printer that could print labels onto cds, and the one he ended up getting also has a scanner, so guess who has a free printer and a free scanner? ME! 'Tis awesome. Microcenter also had a rebate deal of $75 if you purchase any digital camera. I advised my boyfriend into getting a Nikon P50. (I just walked into his office to see what kind it was again, and he asked me if I got the scanner working. I told him I haven't even tried. I thought to myself, 'I figured I'd blog about it first.') The sales man was trying to get him to buy a Canon. He has a Canon video camera, but I told him that Nikon is just as good for what he wants to use it for and has a better price. Yeah, I'm a Nikon person. I own three of them.

Microcenter is in the PanAm shopping center in Fairfax. While we were there, we first stopped by the Fractured Prune for some "breakfast". This place has the best donuts ever!!! No lie. So incredibly delicious. They have these plain donuts, and you order them individually with different glazes and toppings, and then they are made to order. They are all hot, soft, and yummy when you eat them. Mmm. I found out about them because one of my bosses at Job B decided to get some. The best one is called Morning Buzz:

The picture doesn't do it justice. Not at all.
It has Mocha glaze and Oreo topping. So GOOD!!!
I'll try to take a better picture next time I get me some delicious donuts.

They also have breakfast sandwiches made to order.
I got egg and cheese on poppy seed bagel.
What can I say? I love my scarce amount of opium.
Poppy seed bagels are the best bagels.

Here are a couple more food pictures:

Baja Fresh. Nowhere near as good as Chipotle (what the hell is?), but it's good.

The last time I went to my mom's my brother made some noodles.
I took a picture.
He thought it was weird.

And now I leave you with one last picture. When I was at my mom's, I also sat in my brother's recliner and watched Cycle 5 of America's Next Top Model on MTV. Yes, those are my feet, and I have duckies on my socks.

A glimpse of the 2008 presidential candidates, Round 1

2008-01-16T09:07:00.000-05:00

So I've finally taken the time to look at the presidential candidates and their issues. The primaries are less than a month away, so here is a little baconyum perspective on each in case you want to vote but don't have the time to research every dumbass who wants to clean up someone else's mess.

Hillary Clinton, D
~Wants to get rid of No Child Left Behind. Good, good.
~Clean up the immigration by enforcing laws, strengthening borders, and stopping the cheap employment of undocumented workers. Hm...
~Totally against the war, has voted No on bills supporting it. At least you practice what you preach...kind of.
~Has the support of Danny DeVito, Hugh Hefner, Calvin Klein, Bette Midler, Jerry Springer, Martha Stewart, and a couple of Trumps. Ok.

John Edwards, D
~Gets my vote for Best Looking Candidate.
~Has a focus on rural America, which is often neglected by everyone else.
~His stance on taxes: make them easier to file. Thank you!
~Has the support of Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Russell Simmons, and Barbra Streisand. Nice.

Rudy Giuliani, R
~Has been on Saturday Night Live. Hello? Many cool points.
~Thinks in order to deal with terrorist bullies, we need to remain bullies ourselves. Riiiight...
~Free market health care fucked me over, and he supports it.
~Has outlined "12 Commitments", which sound rather...tyrannical.
~Has the support of Melissa Gilbert, Jeff Gordon, Kelsey Grammar, and Donald Trump. Ok, Donald. Playing for both sides, eh?

Mike Gravel, D
~Was dissed by and therefore dissed his own party. Sweet!
~Wants to end our war with Iraq so we can help end their own civil war. Interesting point, Mike. Interesting point.
~Basically a liberal through and through on his issues, but would he be able to deliver? The world will never know.
~Poor guy has no noteworthy donors. Dude, you have no chance in hell.

Mike Huckabee, R
~A republican through and through. I should just stop there, but I won't.
~Wants to get rid of employer-based health care. Um, why are you such a crazy asshole? Do you think Starbucks employees like working at Starbucks because they like being coffee addicts' bitches?
~Vertical politics? You really had to invent something so gimmicky and dumb?
~No one supports your dumb ass.

Duncan Hunter, R
~Hello, guy I never heard of until just this moment when I googled the presidential candidates.
~Completely and utterly opposes abortion. "Personhood" does not begin at conception like you believe, dillweed. The fetus is microscopic. It doesn't even have lungs, and when it does, it can't breathe on it's own until birth. Hm...sounds like a parasite to me. Someone needs to rape your ass and get you knocked up. Then maybe you won't be so quick to judge women.
~"I support people with...a belief in God." So then if you were president, would you ship out all atheists and pagans? Hm...why did people leave Europe to colonize America...why...oh, was it freedom of religion? Oh, yeah. Dumbass.
~Falwell died, so you have no supporters.

Alan Keyes, R
~Blah blah blah, life begins at conception, I just want to ban abortion, blah blah blah. Why doesn't one pro-life candidate ever try to come up with a platform for better prenatal and maternity care? Or educate our youth about safe sex? Or better the adoption and foster care system? Maybe because ya'll are just a bunch of pricks who are so arrogant to think you're the voice of God, so all you do is preach what you think is right but don't even bother to lend a helping hand. You know, Jesus wouldn't cast aside a scared, pregnant woman. You are so far removed from the man you're supposed to be like. Oh, and you will never have to give birth to an already dead baby that didn't properly develop a brain. But then again, it probably wouldn't affect you because you don't have the capability to feel.
~That was long, so I'm done with this one.

Dennis Kucinich, D
~Forget Dennis! Elizabeth Kucinich for president! Too bad she's British. (P.S. She's gorgeous. Nice one, Dennis.)
~He has a page about hemp. 'Nuf said.
~He has a page about Animal Rights. Can we say, "This guy is fucking awesome?" He's a vegan!
~His voting record shows sometimes he votes the same as republicans and not democrats. This either says he is inconsistent or has a mind of his own. I'm going with the latter because it doesn't say why he voted the way he did.

John McCain, R
~The republican the nonrepublicans respect. He's not a religious fanatic (thank God), but he is still a republican.
~OMG! He actually talks about the adoption system and health care and other stuff for pregnant women. He may be pro-life, but at least he understands if you're going to tell someone to have a baby, the right thing to do is support them through it.
~One thing about the republican platform that many republicans fail to support is bringing the choice back to the states. They are supposed to be against big government. McCain is consistent, and though he opposes gay marriage and is pro-life, he believes in bringing those laws back to the state level. Good man.
~Jerry Bruckheimer supports him.

Barack Obama, D
~First off, what a cool name. President Barack Obama. Come on. That just sounds bitchin',
~That's good that you support GLBT, but you, like many other "pro-gay" people, don't support gay marriage. Civil unions are not enough. Kucinich has you beat! (Oh, and why is AIDS on his LGBT page? Um...that's ignorant, dude. AIDS is as much a problem for straight people as it is for gay people, so don't be hatin'.)
~Ok, I can't focus because of the gay thing. It wasn't even under the "issues" tab. I had to go searching for it.
~He has the support of Jennifer Aniston, Tyra Banks, Halle Berry, Zach Braff, George Clooney, Jamie Foxx, Morgan Freeman, Cuba Gooding, Tom Hanks, Hugh Hefner, Bette Midler, Edward Norton, Ellen Pompeo, Susan Sarandon, Will Smith, Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, and Oprah Winfrey. Dude has Oprah. He will be the victor.

I did this in alphabetical order, and there are three candidates left. All are republican. I've been at this for a couple hours, and so whatever. Here they are: Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson, who has the support of Pat Sajak.

After going through this, I am definitely voting in the republican primary because I know that the democratic race is between Clinton and Obama, so my guy has no chance of winning that one. Boo.

According to this quiz I agree with Mike Gravel on the issues the most. It would have been a perfect score actually, but he had unknown opinions on wiretapping. Dennis Kucinich was a close second on the list, but apparently we disagree on No Child Left Behind, but his stance on education I agree with and makes no mention of No Child Left Behind, so whatever. Why is it the guys I agree with most never have a chance of winning? Why vote then? My guys will never win! Boo!

I'm still voting.

Why is it important for young people to get involved and vote? So awesome possums like Kucinich actually have a shot at winning!

Isn't all political discussion just rambling?

2008-01-15T14:21:00.000-05:00

I don't have to work at Job B again for the third business day in a row, hence a second update in a row (instead of doing, you know, real work).

"Politics, politics, politics!"

By the way, that is a quote from one of the greatest movies ever: History of the World Part I. (Yes, it's a quote because you have to read it the way Mel Brooks said it.)

Anyway, so the primaries are coming up on February 12th. My state does not have party registration, so you can vote in whichever primary you want (but you can only vote in one). I plan on voting in the republican primary. I've done it before; I'll do it again. Why? Please take a moment to consider. If you are a republican, pretend I said "democratic primary", and then you can understand why.

I'm not a democrat. I think I've already said that in a previous entry, but I feel the need to clarify it again. One can never say it enough, just like one can never say, "I don't like Republicans," enough.

I haven't kept up with the political world since voting for a new senator in 2006. Well, nothing really exciting was happening in 2007 (although that really is no excuse, but hey, most people don't even vote, some people only vote every four years, and only a few will bother to vote in primaries...me!).

I have a very liberal magazine's blog on my google reader (I don't consider myself a liberal anymore, but once upon a time, I liked the magazine). It's really sad when you're also subscribed to the Onion RSS feed, and just by the headlines alone, you can't tell which blog an entry is from. When you stop busying yourself with hating one side, you begin to see how ridiculous the other side can be as well. I'm no fan of republicrats, but then again, I can't really align myself with any of the third parties either. There are two I agree with on many issues but completely disagree with on a couple. It shouldn't have to be "completely" disagree. I'd follow a party if it was "mildly" disagree.

But it's hard to please everyone (you hear that, democrats? You can't please everyone!), and I'd rather people have convictions (convictions? Baconyum, don't be ridiculous. This is politics!) than try to change their stance just to please people because most likely you'll be alienating others anyway (like the last election Kerry and his whole hunting thing...I get it. You wanted the gun people's votes, but you're in a pro-gun control party!). It's ok to compromise. Try to find a happy medium, but there's a fine line between happy medium and sell out.

People think that the Green Party are full of idealists. You know, I disagree. I think Libertarians are bigger idealists because their platform is based on the belief that people are inately good. Socialists do not believe people are good (or else they would let people do what they want to do trusting they would do the right thing), but socialism would only work if those in charge were good people, and usually they are the worst. Oh, the Green Party are not socialists by the way; however, there is a socialist party in the US.

The other day I was going through "My Documents" on my computer, and I found a text file of an e-mail I had saved. It's called "Two Cow Governments". It explains political beliefs using two cows. (Sorry to make this entry longer, but I wanted to share this...)

THE "TWO-COW EXPLANATION" OF Government...

A SOCIALIST: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.

A REPUBLICAN: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. So what?

A DEMOCRAT: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You feel guilty for being successful. You vote people into office who tax your cows, forcing you to sell one to raise money to pay the tax. The people you voted for then take the tax money and buy a cow and give it to your neighbor. You feel righteous.

A COMMUNIST: You have two cows. The government seizes both and provides you with milk.

A FASCIST: You have two cows. The government seizes both and sells you the milk. You join the underground and start a campaign of sabotage.

DEMOCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. The government taxes you to the point you have to sell both to support a man in a foreign country who has only one cow, which was a gift from your government.

CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.

BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. The government takes them both, shoots one, milks the other, pays you for the milk, then pours the milk down the drain.

It also had two cow corporations, which I'll share just for good measure.

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when the cow drops dead.

A FRENCH CORPORATION: You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.

A GERMAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You reengineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows but you don't know where they are. You break for lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 12 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A MEXICAN CORPORATION: You think you have two cows, but you don't know what a cow looks like. You take a nap.

A SWISS CORPORATION: You have 5000 cows, none of which belongs to you. You charge for storing them for others.

A BRAZILIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You enter into a partnership with an American corporation. Soon you have 1000 cows and the American corporation declares bankruptcy.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You worship them.

It was one of those chain e-mails popular circa six years ago, so credit can't be given. It would be given otherwise. Also, just to clarify further, I didn't write any of that, so if any of it is politically incorrect, I wouldn't know and don't really care.

So going along with the Two Cow Governments, to explain Libertarian I would say you have two cows, and you may or may not give or sell your starving neighbour some of the milk, but that choice is all your own and the government should stay out of it! Green Party, you have two cows, and you take care of them like they are your children because using them for profit would be unethical and bad for the environment. Anarchist, you don't have two cows, but you can get milk from a cow whenever you want.

Remember when "democrats" were "conservative" and "republicans" were "liberal"? Of course you don't. We weren't alive back then.

And now I leave you with a tidbit from an issue from that liberal magazine I once loved. I always think about this when I think about politics and money and other shizzat. If you are really observant and know your political parties and beliefs, you may be able to figure out what I am (though I classify myself as "other"...whatever that means) by this quote.

"And [Charlie Kernaghan]'ll have running through his mind a calculation he once made: At the time, Phil Knight of Nike had a personal fortune of $5 billion. If Knight flew around the world first class, Charlie figured, that would consume only $11,027. If he stayed in a good room at the Waldorf, that would run $400 and even the best breakfast could swallow only $153. If he bought a new Lincoln Continental, that would get rid of $39,660. If he ratcheted up his consumption and flew around the world every day, stayed at the Waldorf and had three fine meals a day, and bought a new Lincoln every week, he'd still be okay for the next 781 years.

'Why does anyone need that kind of money?' Kernaghan asks."

Bowden, Charles. "Keeper of the Fire." Mother Jones. July/Aug 2003. Volume 28, Number 4. p. 73.

Why indeed.

PSA: Attention drivers...

2008-01-15T10:56:00.000-05:00

ATTN DRIVERS WHO HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING ON THE ROAD:

If you are in a turn only lane, you best be turning and not going straight. First of all, it is illegal to switch lanes at an intersection, so you are breaking the law. Second, you aren't supposed to be getting into my lane, so back off or you might cause a collision, and I will not be happy. If you somehow are in the turn only lane but shouldn't be (hey, I do this, too, so I understand), please correct your mistake by turning anyway, or use your turn signal to indicate that you had a temporary lapse of idiocy and would like to amend that and can I please let you in my lane. I will gladly let you merge into my lane. Thank you for being polite and using your turn signal and not just wandering into my lane trying to cut me off. You never know when you will get me on a bad day where I may throw caution to the wind and actually use the bat that is in the trunk of my car. If you for some reason don't know what the arrows mean or how to follow them, cut up your license and promptly return to kindergarten and get educated, you stupid shit.

Thank you kindly.

What's in a name? Um...

2008-01-14T13:39:00.000-05:00

I just signed up for a del.icio.us account. We'll see if it's as necessary as some people say it is. (Then again everyone told me to get MSN messenger because "AIM is stupid, everyone has MSN, just switch already!" Um...it was a waste of hard drive space.)

Hooray! Atonement won the Golden Globe for Best Picture (Drama)! As for the rest of the winners...whatever. Boo.

Also, I've been thinking...I should really change the name I use when making comments and entries (and on 20Somethings). Why? It always seems weird to me to type in "Um...Yum!" in the "name" field. What name has ellipses and an exclamation point? Um...mine! Also, I think of Annyong from "Arrested Development". "Hello." "Annyong!" Not that it's a bad thing.

Hm...opinions?

"Stick with Um...Yum! I think it's fun."
"Stick with Um...Yum! It's too much effort to change, and I'll forget who you are."
"Just change it to baconyum. I don't know why you just didn't use it in the first place."
"Just change it to baconyum. Easy change, Better than Um...Yum!"
"Just go with your real name for crying out loud!"
"Really? Is this what you think about?"

Yes, it really is. I'm obsessed with names. Always have been. I changed livejournals so much, and each time I gave great thought to my new username. Same with e-mails. Even real names! It took me forever to decide what name to put on my acting headshot (I ended up going with my full name, middle name included). I wanted to go by my middle and last name for my photography, but it turns out it does bother me that people can't pronounce my middle name. I've come up with soooo many children's names over the years...since I was a child. I think that's why I want to have five, so I have a lot of them to name. I name everything: my stuffed animals, laptop, cameras, car, phones, etc. I even name other people's stuff. Although I haven't named body parts ever, but one time when I accidentally poured scolding hot cream of broccoli soup on my left hand and got a second degree burn (I should have sued), I named the gigantic blister that formed. His name was Benvolio...I think.

I don't know where my obsession with names came from. I try not be about labels (like putting labels on one's sexuality), though I guess in Astrology it's nothing but labels (Pisces!). In Wicca, they don't recognize the name for the Christian devil or recognize any name for evil because to name something is to give it power. A book I really like is Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. The title character goes through phases where she goes by a new name, whichever name she thinks is her at the time.

I really like names with the letter y. I'm glad I'm not a Silvia. Who needs two i's when you can have a y? Whenever I write stories, and one of the characters is kind of based on me, I give her a name with a y. The exception is when a name is extremely common and ends in a y; in which case, I like it better when it's spelled with an i. My laptop's name is Kennedi (yeah, that's not an extremely common name, but whatever).

I hate my last name. Half of Earth's population has my last name. I'm sure you can guess it now. I like my boyfriend's last name. It has a z in it, although I don't know quite how to pronounce it, and I don't think he does either. His first name though is almost as common as my last name. Well, maybe not. I think Mike, John, and David are way more common. Bible names. His is a Bible name, too.

I didn't think my name was that common, but then when I went to get my learner's permit, there were two other Sylvias at the DMV at the same time. There is someone in the same area as me with the same first and last name. If you google my first and last name, you will get many different people, and none of them are me...especially the blonde white porn chick...unfortunately.

(This was supposed to be a short entry about my del.icio.us account...but I'm a Pisces, and we go with the flow, and my flow is very wordy at the moment.)

Where did baconyum come from? My best friend whom I've known the longest IMed me once with, "You're an enigma wrapped in bacon." It's my favourite quote (because it's about me, describes me perfectly, and includes bacon...yum!). The title of my blog is a question, hence the enigma part. So there you go. I told you I put a lot of thought into names.

I'm also into Numerology, so I believe that what you name your baby matters. Also, the name you use in Numerology is the name that is on your birth certificate, so if they wrote "baby girl" or "baby boy" that is what you use because it will be more accurate than the name you got later. Then again, some Numerologists believe you go by the name you go by at the time, so if your name changes, you will, too. I don't really agree with that. I do agree with the birth certificate thing.

My friend Jenny is in my phone as Nifer because I said that there are too many Jens and Jennys (there were about five in the theater department at the time, although I think one of them was a Jennie, but that doesn't make a difference). How come nobody shortens it to Nifer? Kind of like guys who go by Topher, which makes me think of gophers.

Golden Globe noms!

2008-01-12T15:32:00.000-05:00

The Golden Globes are tomorrow. I don't have cable or antenna, so I won't be watching, and I had no idea until just now that they were TOMORROW. My bad. Sorry for the third post in a row, but obviously, this one couldn't wait.

Predictions are bullshit (because omg! award winners can be so unpredictable, right?). The ones I WANT to win are in bold.

Best Motion Picture - Drama

American Gangster
Atonement
Eastern Promises
The Great Debaters
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

*Ok. In all honesty, it's the only one on the list I watched, but I thought it was great.

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Across the Universe
Charlie Wilson's War
Hairspray
Juno
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

*I didn't even see Juno yet, but I love Michael Cera and Jason Bateman, and I hear good things. Also, Charlie Wilson's War was NOT a musical nor a comedy. WTF?

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

George Clooney for Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood
James McAvoy for Atonement
Viggo Mortensen for Eastern Promises
Denzel Washington for American Gangster

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie for Away from Her
Jodie Foster for The Brave One
Angelina Jolie for A Mighty Heart
Keira Knightley for Atonement

*I really hope she wins! I love her!

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Ryan Gosling for Lars and the Real Girl
Tom Hanks for Charlie Wilson's War
Philip Seymour Hoffman for The Savages
John C. Reilly for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

*I don't have a choice because even though Tom Hanks was really good, I wanted to see Lars and the Real Girl and Sweeney Todd but haven't yet, so yeah.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Amy Adams for Enchanted
Nikki Blonsky for Hairspray
Helena Bonham Carter for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Marion Cotillard for Môme, La
Ellen Page for Juno

*Hell yeah Amy Adams should win! I didn't see any of the other movies, but I don't have to. She totally deserves it!

And, yeah, I don't really care about the other ones, except I hope Enchanted wins for best original song and Katherine Heigl wins for Grey's Anatomy (I don't watch that show, but I love her).

Keira Knightley and Amy Adams FTW!

(I just noticed they both have that alliteration thing going on. I love that.)

Oh! I love the cinema!

2008-01-12T13:51:00.001-05:00

I'm looking forward to all kinds of movies coming up. Let's start with Definitely, Maybe, which comes out on Valentine's Day. It has Isla Fisher (love her) and Rachel Weisz (fellow Pisces, love her, too, but love her in a different way). Abigail Breslin stars in it, and she's adorable and a great actress. I am very much looking forward to this. I can't wait! Oh, and I know what song the title is from, and I'm sick of movies getting their names from songs, but I'll let it slide.

I think I've seen every movie Katherine Heigl has starred in, even the really bad tv ones. So of course I'm going to see 27 Dresses.

OMG! Hayden Christensen! I saw a really bad commercial on tv yesterday for Jumper. What's with the dual commercials? When did it become popular to advertise several things in one ad? WTF? WTF indeed.

Hm...My Blueberry Nights looks interesting. I love the title. It has Natalie Portman and Rachel Weisz, so if it plays at the movie theater near my house, I just might go see it.

I'm not to keen on Woody Allen films...ok, I only saw two. Whatever. But anyway, Cassandra's Dream has Ewan McGregor in it, and that's enough for me.

My boyfriend wants to see He Was a Quiet Man. It looks good from the trailer, and it has Elisha Cuthbert, so I'll go see it with him.

I'm not into Bible-y stuff, but I love me some VeggieTales. They are adorable!

The Other Boleyn Girl looks so good, and so does Natalie Portman.

After seeing Enchanted, I can't get enough of Amy Adams, so I can't wait for Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day!

I swear this is not the only way I choose my movies. Sometimes I go mainly for content. But having an actor I like does sweeten the deal a bit.

Speaking of seeing movies just because of the actors, Horton Hears a Who! Jim Carrey is one of my faves, and it also has Isla Fisher. I don't know how big her role is, but I don't care. Even one line is enough for me to haul my ass to the theater! (Also, Dr. Seuss is a Pisces. We have all the best people.)

Ah! Here's one that I want to see just because it looks funny, Made of Honor. So there you go.

Be Kind Rewind. Directed by Michel Gondry. I am so there.

They keep changing the release date for Penelope. Come out already!!

Yes, I want to see Speed Racer. What of it?

Kung Fu Panda looks very cute and funny.

And lastly the big one! Sex and the City! Need I say more?

I also have to mention, what is up with horror films lately? Such bizarre storylines. Is it because creepy little girls just aren't enough now to make us shit our pants? We need bizarre body parts and new uses for the phone? I have a great idea: a sequel to Idle Hands called Idle Dick. You likey? I can't wait for the scene where he has to chop it off and microwave it. Maybe this time he should serve it in a casserole to his arch nemesis for good measure.

There are two words unrelated to each other ringing in my head. Escape...and KILL!!!

2008-01-10T10:54:00.000-05:00

I really think some people get off on being mean to others, especially when the victim is in a position where they can't retaliate. How small a dick do you have that you feel the need to pick on a defenseless cashier who was nothing but nice to you, you crazy asshole?

I don't know if it's just this area or what. I hope it is because if every place is like this, then there's no where to go. I've never lived anywhere but Northern Virginia, and I've never heard anyone say, "Oh, I love it here! The people here are so much nicer than where I used to live." I have met several people who complained about how rude people are here, and they escaped. Although, one escaped to North Carolina, and when I visited her, I encountered a lot of rude people...I'm pretty sure they were racist. So does this mean I can only escape rudeness by fleeing to an Asian-populated town? No. I live extremely close to one, so no such luck there. Plus, I don't speak Korean, so I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be treated kindly.

So there's no place for this little baconyum. *unhappy face*

All I can do is escape to my happy place, which is not filled with rainbows and butterflies. It's actually just a place where I can bash in the heads of all the people who have been unjustifiably rude to me. 'Tis a glorious place!

But seriously. Do I have any readers who don't live in this area that love where they live? Or even hate where they live (just so I know where to avoid)?

There are no apologies when it comes to the road.

2008-01-07T23:06:00.000-05:00

A friend of a friend was driving home after dropping another friend off, and she accidentally drove through a red light. Her heart nearly jumped out of her throat, screamed, and leaped back into the chest cavity for safety. She is that afraid of the "WOOP WOOP" and flashing blue lights. They strike terror into the hearts of many innocent people, while the guilty laugh as they get away with things and nod when they don't. But what was she supposed to do? Stop, back up (*beep*beep*), and take her place at the red light like she was supposed to before breaking the law? No, because that would be more dangerous than continuing on as if nothing happened.

Why does it have to be this way? When you cut someone off accidentally and are truly sorry, you can't slow down or do anything to show remorse. The only thing you can do is say, "Oops, oh shit," and keep driving while the moment of guilt passes into the traffic oblivion. And when you speed because you just forgot to keep a paranoid eye on your odometer, but you tap the brake once you realize, but oh, no, too late, there's the fuzz on your ass getting you to pull over. "Sorry, officer." That's the only sorry you get to say, but it means nothing. Nothing! Anything you can actually do when driving to show remorse for your mistakes would only cause additional problems, and yet when we want to show people anger we can flip them off and honk our horns (which have a language all their own. *boop*BONK!!!* means "FUCK YOU!!!").

A scene from a cinematic classic comes to mind: in Clueless when Cher bumps a parked car on the side of the road and exclaims, "Should I write him a note?!" That basically illustrates how I feel many times when driving, but all I can do is cringe and hope some higher power understands that I wasn't trying to disobey traffic laws or be an asshole. I mean the friend of a friend wasn't trying to disobey traffic laws.

Lucky for her nothing happened.

But she still feels bad because it was by sheer luck nothing happened.

She should really get some sleep.

On a completely unrelated note, I bought my plane ticket for San Francisco! Steph and I are leaving on the 23rd and coming back on the 28th. I have never been to California (the furthest out west I have ever been is the Smoky Mountains). I can't wait. My friend Megan told me California is the land of avocados, and I love me some guacamole. We also are planning on going to visit Alcatraz. I'm more terrified of the boat ride over (I love water and love to swim, but I can't stand being on boats, even small ones like canoes). Also, we have a layover on the way back in Las Vegas, so I'll be able to add that to my very small list of places I've been. Kind of.

Resolutions are bullshit.

2008-01-06T19:27:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to Steph!

Ok, now on with the regularly scheduled rambling...

I was looking through my Livejournal and read the entry I made first last year, and this was in it:

My New Year's Resolutions (always make them, rarely keep them)

-Go vegan again.
-Find a job and stick with it.
-Write more of my story every day.
-Stop spending so much money. Reduce debt, don't add to it.
-Stop picking nose.

I'll probably go vegan again when I move. Not a problem. The job thing is so unpredictable. The story thing probably won't last but I'll really try. The money thing...well, I kind of have no choice, but I seriously doubt that I'll reduce my debt. I like picking my nose, I don't know why I put that on there. :o)

Oh, that's just too funny. "Not a problem." LMAO. I did find a job...I found several jobs, and I stuck with each one for a while...the shortest one was three days. I was right about the story. I definitely added to my debt like crazy. The last one was just funny. I forgot I put that.

On a completely unrelated note, at the moment I am feeling down, but I don't want to bring the drama to baconyum. Still I feel like acknowledging it. I shall do it in a round about way.

I wish I was a rainbow. Rainbows don't exist in darkness, and they appear when the storm has passed or just to pop in and add some colour to life. I always get excited when I see rainbows. I could be absolutely depressed, but if I see a rainbow, it gives me a moment of peace. Rainbow is my favourite colour. My art sucks because I have this desire to use as many colours as possible. It looks like the colour monster threw up in my room. Rainbows are my zen. Writing about rainbows actually helped a bit. I feel a little better now.

People call me cynical. I don't think they know me very well.

...or know the actual definition of cynical.

Marty Crandall is a bigger douche bag than the douche bag from Viva Douche Bag!

2008-01-05T21:13:00.001-05:00

Why? Because he abused his ex-girlfriend multiple times, and then pressed charges on her because she defended herself. Asshat.

Google has taken over my internet life.

2008-01-03T17:38:00.000-05:00

At the moment I have five Gmail accounts. I am trying to delete one of them, which is the one that started it all. I have two blogs on Blogger. I now use Google Reader to read blogs and stuff. I even decided to burn my journal with FeedBurner. Not to mention I use Google for searches, maps, directions, and sometimes for fun (Google Fight, anyone?). Although I just googled "google" and discovered that I have not yet been completely sucked into all things Google (though it only took me a day to discover both the reader and the burner). It's only a matter of time. Or should I say a matter of Google Time?

Google Google Google Google Google

I wanted to make it a total of twelve times. I like the number 12.

Since I am (not really) on the topic of blogs, how about some more random stuff?

One thing I like about Livejournal is that you can reply to comments, and when someone replies to your comment, you can get it in your e-mail. On Blogger and many other blogging sites, there is an option to be notified of comments that come after yours, but a) I'd rather just get replies to my own comment and b) I usually forget to click that little box. I figure I'm probably not the only one who does that, which is why I don't reply to comments people leave on my blog (I sometimes say something back on their blog or elsewhere). Although, I think I should start commenting anyway, whether the person sees my reply to their comment or not. I don't want people to think I'm ignoring them or don't appreciate their comments. I love comments! Who doesn't? Isn't that why we blog?

I bashed my arm on something at Job #1. I don't even remember exactly doing it, but it tore some skin and hurts when I touch it. Worker's comp? Yeah, that had nothing to do with blogs.

Whimsical Question #2

2008-01-02T20:33:00.000-05:00

Q: Is life a circle or a line?

Just watch The Lion King. See? Many people call it the Circle of Life. And anyone who was in Girl Scouts (or took math at any level in school) knows about how a circle has no beginning and has no end (and that's how long you'll be my friend...or something along those lines...speaking of lines...). So does a line! What we think of as lines are really line segments. A line actually has no end points. It is infinite. A perfect circle and a line just like infinity are concepts. They are abstract. (I'm sorry, but if someone really could draw a perfect circle, totally hypothesizing here of course, he or she would have had to start drawing the circle at a point. A point is a beginning or an end or just a point.) It seems very popular to compare life to a circle, but there's also time lines ("life line" seems to have taken on a whole other meaning, thanks to a certain game show). But you know, the song "History Repeating" just suddenly popped in my head, so are we on a loop? There are many functions that are infinite, not just straight lines. So are we on a wavy line? Who is to say even your life is infinite? Maybe our own individual lives are not part of the great Circle (or Line...or Wavy Line...) of Life. Maybe they are merely line segments. Or perhaps you are just a dot. After all, in the immortal words of Yakko, Wakko, and Dot (oh, Dot! I totally didn't do that on purpose), "It's a great big universe, and we're all really puny. We're just tiny little specks about the size of Mickey Rooney." So wise, children. So wise.

Edit: I realized I wrote, "Who is to say even your life is infinite?" When I talk about life in that sense, I guess I was talking about your soul/spirit/whatever. Obviously, you will die.

Boy, that sounded like a threat.

It was.

But not from me.

What do you mean by that?

2008-01-02T09:09:00.001-05:00

The other day at Job #1 I decided to try almond instead of my usual vanilla. I noticed on my cup, it said "ASL" (almond soy latte). I thought, 'That's so cool!' Then I realized, hey, I could spell my name (not in the correct order, unless I wanted to make a really complicated americano).

It's almost my name. I need a "y", but the only way to do that is to get Splenda in my drink (Splenda packets are yellow, so it's marked with a "y"), but I don't want to do that. I could just mark the decaf with a "y". Hm...

Now you people who don't know me in real life know my name. Unless you can't sort it out.

It's stupid things like this that occupy most of my thoughts. Maybe that's why when I told my manager my Astrological sign she went, "It all makes sense now!" She wouldn't elaborate, but she's a Gemini, so I'm going to take it as a bad thing.

In a couple of hours it is back to Job #2. They sent me home early from Job #1 today because it was rather slow. That's alright. I'm starting to get irritated with that job because of the rude customers. I'm hoping it'll go back to normal now. When I started, the rudeness was few and far between, but right around Christmas people started getting really nasty (and some were really nice). I really like most of the people I work with, but I can't take this area. I have been working retail around here for too long (well, lived in the general area my whole life).

I (hopefully) will be taking a trip to California with Steph at the end of January. I've never been to California, but I have a feeling I will love it, which may pose a problem because if I love it too much and want to move there...my boyfriend refuses to live in California. He is so sure it's going to break off and fall into the ocean or something. But I am so done with the East Coast (have been since I was five). Fuck graduate school. I need a new plan. A plan to get the hell out. Maybe that should be my New Year's resolution: get a plan to get the hell out.

As for my other New Year's resolution...yeah, that lasted 24 hours. This cheese and fruit plate thingie we sell was all messed up when we got it (some grapes were sticking out, but everything else was fine), so I marked it out...and ate some of it. I should have went for the fruit and only the fruit, but when there's a big piece of cheese, tender yummy creamy cheesy goodness cheese, who in their right mind would eat a slice of apple? I don't even like apples! Oh, but cheese...I love cheese.

Worst. Veggie. Ever!

But I'll still try to stick with the no meat thing. And probably no egg as well. But there's too much dairy around me. Also, just to make excuses and make myself feel justified in supporting the cruel dairy industry, my blood type is B, and Bs thrive on dairy. (And just in case you're interested, Os are the meat eaters, As are the vegetarians, and ABs are a very selective weird mixture.)

This entry was much longer than I intended. My bad. Thanks for reading it!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T11:09:00.000-05:00

I have a headache!

I spent my New Year's Eve at my best friend's parents' house where she had a party. She is the one I mentioned in my last entry who got married last year. With the help of my boyfriend, I made her a wedding video of video and pictures. It was pretty much a wedding music video. I gave it to her last night, and she loved it, and it played many more times throughout the night as people showed up at the party. I was in no condition to drive, so I stayed the night but didn't get much sleep (I can't sleep when people snore), and I was up at 7 AM. By 8 AM I was too bored (the only one awake, and no one else was close to waking up), so I headed home.

I haven't eaten anything yet, but I took some herbs (legal ones, kind of like vitamins) because of all the unhealthy things I did last night. I wanted to make sure I don't get sick, but the lack of food in my belly with the herbs has made me a little crazy, and that is why I have a headache.

On my drive home, I suddenly decided I do have a New Year's resolution. I'm going to try to be vegan again! I wanted to eventually, but in the glorious words of Jimmy Eat World, "If not now, when?" So I think I'm just going to go back now. No more of this eating meat if it's free crap. It'll be tough especially since none of the food at my job is vegan (well...none of the food that I would want to eat), but at least I have my soy lattes. Last year there was too much eating of the meat (meat eating vegetarian?!), and I had a lot more cheese than I should have. So no more. Starting...now!

Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts.

Happy New Year!

The Year in Review: 2007

2007-12-30T22:53:00.000-05:00

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:

Enchanted
Transformers
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The Number 23
Alvin and the Chipmunks
The Simpsons Movie
Spiderman 3
Charlie Wilson's War
Live Free or Die Hard
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

2007-12-29T20:21:00.000-05:00

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."

2007-12-27T10:03:00.000-05:00

My ass. man. wants to kill me:

And a shot of the sky for your viewing pleasure:

Xmas Eve Exchange

2007-12-25T08:55:00.001-05:00

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

Happy Holidays!

Blog is Life, Life Blog

2007-12-24T15:15:00.000-05:00

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.

2007-12-13T05:23:00.000-05:00

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."

2007-12-08T19:23:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-12-04T19:34:00.000-05:00

"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?

2007-12-03T13:21:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-02T15:52:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-30T18:04:00.000-05:00

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?

2007-11-25T15:16:00.001-05:00

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

2007-11-22T12:06:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-20T21:48:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-19T15:59:00.000-05:00

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.

2007-11-18T21:43:00.000-05:00

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?

2007-11-13T23:25:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-12T15:52:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-11T00:50:00.000-05:00

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.