So Christmas is over. It was fun. Got a digital camera from my parents--I'm probably one of the last people of my group of friends who doesn't own a digital camera. Or didn't, I guess I should say. But I'm excited about that--now I can take pictures of ANYTHING!
Right now I am sitting at home, by myself, feeling sorry for myself, because I have no one to talk to. Always good for the constitution to feel sorry for yourself once in a while. Or not. I think it's actually quite a bad thing to feel sorry for yourself, even if it's just once in a while, because you might start doing it more and more, and then no one wants to hang out with you anymore, and then you really DO have a reason to feel sorry for yourself, and then it's bad for your health to think negative thoughts, and then you die at an unreasonably early age, 60 for example. I hope I don't die at age 60. Or before that, either. Of course, if I felt I'd lived a fulfilling life, I guess I wouldn't mind it so much. But then again, what exactly is a "fulfilling life"?
Ok, enough philosophizing. I got no books for Christmas, which makes me kind of sad, I think it's the first time that I can remember--am I becoming less literate? Well, if I had gotten books, I wouldn't have had to time read them, since I'm reading David Copperfield right now. Really good book by the way; I laugh out loud while I'm reading it. I'm on page 384, or around there, it's almost 900 pages long. My goal is to finish reading it before I go back to school, because if I don't, I just know that I'll never actually finish it.
But now I am done feeling sorry for myself, since my mom just asked me if I want to go to the mall. Of COURSE! Anything to get out of this house, and now I get to go shopping, too! Hooray!

Sheesh, I can be very materialistic sometimes. According to the Buddhist monks, I need to look inside myself to find true happiness. I think I'll wait until next week to start doing that, though.

So far over 12,000 people in Asia have been killed in the huge tidal wave that happened today. The wave even destroyed hotels on Phuket, which is the island in Thailand where Pauline and I visited less than two years ago. My thoughts and prayers are with the people struggling through all of this.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all an awesome day!

Aawww...party at Brigitte's house tonight, what! Ok, so I only went for two hours, since my sister demanded that I be back by ten to sing CHRISTMAS CAROLS with the family (who else's family does such things? Not that I don't enjoy it.) . So I went to Brigitte's and saw her crazy/huge/awesome back "guest house" where she and her brother are going to live, and it was really nice, and then I saw all of these people, many of whom I have not seen for a year or more. It was really nice! I regretted not bringing my digital camera, since basically everyone else had theirs. Maybe people will post pics with me in them, if I'm lucky. So that there will be proof that I was actually there.

I got to see Hannah for the second time in two months (I feel so special), and I saw Billy and Ashlinn and Elaine and Tony and Robin and Katie...and I met Billy's people from Irvine--they seemed nice, even though we didn't talk much. Sometimes I'm bad at talking to new people. But it's so hard, when I have to catch up with everyone else that I DO know! So that was fun. Hannah and I started talking about movies until I lost track of time, and I had to go running home with my Herbert (my rosemary plant that Corie drove down for me) in my hand.

And now I am sitting here, the eve of Christmas Eve, telling this story. And I have to get up at a reasonable hour tomorrow, since we're going to my grandma's house tomorrow. My grandma that lives way the heck down in Venice. And I was just in Venice today. And I got stuck in traffic, so it took more than an hour to drive home. No fun. :(

I did it! I'm done with my finals! Well, I actually only had one test final (French 2)--two others were take-home, and one class didn't have a final. But yes. I'm home!! And I feel like doing absolutely nothing. You know the feeling, right after finals.
But guess what? My family's annoying, slow, stupid aol computer is no more! We now have DSL! Yippee! Now the computer at home is even faster than the one I have up in Davis. I'm kind of jealous now. I was always the one in the family with the best computer....

Mon Dieu!
Je deteste les examens.
Bon chance avec vos finals!

So Corie and I saw Closer yesterday...almost got lost trying to figure out how to get to Sac on our own! That movie is the first time in a long while that I've gone to see a movie on its opening weekend. And...I was disappointed. It was just like I expected it to be. I was hoping the good reviews would be right, but it just didn't work for me. As I ranted to Corie several times, "Why should I care?" They're just a bunch of messed up people who sleep with each other and each other's significant others. Jude Law was a hot jerk, as he seems to be in all of these recent movies (Alfie, I heart Huckabees). Actually, I thought all of the actors did a good job, especially Julia Roberts, surprisingly. I just didn't really like plot in general.

And now I must go work on a linguistics paper. WOO HOO!!

I'm so excited!! The Davis orchestra is having a Christmas sing-along next weekend...I'm definitely going!!

So recently, I've been studying magic and spells, and I figured out how to conjure up my own orb of light!



Ok, fine, ya got me. I'm taking a picture of myself in the mirror at our motel in Napa. My whole family went to sleep at 9:30 and I was bored, alright?

It's FREAKING COLD!! I swear, I think the chill factor hit earlier in Davis this year. I wear a peacoat, a scarf, and gloves, and it's still FREEZING! I guess I'll add my awesome Peruvian hat with the ear flaps for class tomorrow. That always does the trick.

ps-Happy 19th Birthday, Corie!

BLaaaah. Remind me never to eat Carl's Jr, or for that matter, ANY fast food other than In-N-Out (and even that I shouldn't eat more than, like, once a month). It was really cold today, and I didn't feel like riding my bike back from class, so I stalled and got fast food at the Silo. Which made me feel really fat and gross. So I forced myself to ride my bike back home, in the fREeZiNG cold. The good part? I saw this adorable fat cat on the sidewalk on my way back, and I stopped my bike just to pet him. He rolled over on his back for me! I couldn't resist.

This is the way I feel sometimes!

One thing I forgot, and I'm very sorry I forgot to post this: I saw Hannah! My best Blogging buddy! Mua ha ha--that's right, she came to Davis! Just to visit me! Well, ok, actually to stay with her sister for Thanksgiving, but still. We had fun eating at Crepeville (the best restaurant/cafe in Davis), and then looking around Borders for like, an hour. I got to hear all of her crazy stories from BYU, and she got to see the *thrilling* city where I live nine months out of the year, or whatever it comes out to. Hopefully I get to see her again soon (Christmas?)!

So...I'm in Napa with me fambly! My parents came up a little after two to get me and Leah, and it was so nice to see them! I haven't seen either of 'em since mid-september. So we're staying at a motel, which is actually much nicer than the "hotel" we stayed at last year...they have complementary internet access (yes!!)a heated pool, jacuzzi, and a sauna! I'm trying to convince my family to go nightswimming in this 50-degree weather. And tomorrow, we're going to this really nice restaurant called Pinot Blanc for Thanksgiving dinner. I'm excited! Food is one of my favorite things. Especially when I don't have to make it myself and it tastes really good.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

So, my seester is up for the week, until my parents come up on Wednesday for Thanksgiving! It's so cool...she get's to see where I live and everything....
Anyway, she's in AP Art right now, so she's trying to put together a portfolio of sketches and works that she's done. So she has to take photos of her drawings, and she brought some up to show to me.
They are SO amazing! These are all sketches that she's done on her own, just for fun.


This a guy that Leah kind of made up--she looked at a picture in a magazine and kind of changed the features


This is a guy from a Dior ad.


Jack White! With more prominent eyes. I love this picture.

Yeah, Leah's thinking of applying to the San Francisco Academy Arts University. I think she could definitely get in.

This is so exciting! Possibly my favorite musician, Jack White, and another musician that I like a lot, Brendan Benson, are making an album together. Apparently, they're old friends who live like, three blocks away from each other in Detroit, and the album's almost done! They just have to put a few finishing touches on it. I'm excited!

I just have to say, I am REALLY looking forward to Thanksgiving! And not just because I'm gonna get to sit next to a turkey.

I need a break from this Davis life.

According to BBC News, there are 15,500 species of plants and animals on the verge of extinction this year. What am I supposed to I do??

Isn't it weird how stepping on a snail can ruin your whole day? I'm not the only person I've met who agrees with me on this.

Jones Soda is selling special Thanksgiving soda flavors. These flavors are:
-Turkey & Gravy Soda
-Cranberry Soda
-Mashed Potato & Butter
-Green Bean Casserole
-Fruitcake Soda

When I think about some of those flavors, I almost want to throw up.

Oh yeah, and according to BBC, some poll voted The Beatles' Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da song worst song ever. This song was ranked worse than songs by Meatloaf and Vanilla Ice?

Happy 15th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall!



ps-on a totally different subject, this is pretty amusing. My favorite one is #9.

I'm very sad right now. Or not really sad, just disappointed. Dylan and I went to Petco this morning, and there cats up for adoption there, which people were fostering. Well, I just had to pet one of the cats, and of course the people thought that I was interested in adopting her. But I can't! I just wanted to pet the sweet kitty! But yeah...never should have done that. It just made me miss having pets sooo bad. Then I got the idea that I could foster a couple of kittens just for a short time. I got all excited about that plan, and then I remembered my roommate Jessica. She's really scared of pretty much all animals. It's like a phobia she has. So I asked her, just in case, if she would mind having a cat stay with us for a few months. And she was really nice about it, but she just said, "I could never be alone with it." So yeah. I don't think that's gonna work out. I guess I can stick with the pet rat idea. And maybe try to volunteer at the Yolo County Shelter. I'm still really sad though.

My new favorite "poor college student" thing to buy: tapes! I just bought three for ten bucks at Tower: The Genius of Ray Charles, Best of Thelonius Monk, and Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde. Yay!

We have a fridge that works now!
That probably doesn't sound very exciting to most of the people reading this, but the last fridge we had in our apartment really sucked. The lightbulb would turn on when we opened the door, but it was very tempermental about the cooling part. Towards the end of last week, it pretty much just gave up on the cooling aspect all together. So I told the manager that it didn't work at all (we had two gallons of milk in there, and they both went bad! Imagine how bad that smelled!), and so they brought in a replacement one for the weekend, while they order a BRAND NEW one for us to come on Tuesday. So exciting!!
ps-I saw Alfie last night. Jude Law is such a jerk! But he's SO hot in that movie. I liked it pretty well. Better than I thought it was gonna be.

Ok, I finally got my photos developed from the summer(and the beginning of school). So here are some random pictures, since I feel like sharing:


This is Colleen stalking a seagull at Huntington Beach (she and Jessica came down to visit me for a couple of days in August).


Here's the Bob Dylan show--you can see him wearing a cowboy hat all the way on the left side of the picture.


Me and Corie, hyper and super-sweaty right after the Flogging Molly show.


And this is my friend Ivan (on the right) at the pimps and hos party--he was a ho, and Alicia (on the left) was his pimp. He made the costume himself, and Alicia did the makeup. It was greeeat times.

Those are all of the photos I feel like posting right now--if you want more, im me!

My blog has gone to the dogs!
Or to The Dog, I guess I should say.

Brief departure from Bush-hating:





SO CUTE!!

What a smirk.

Why did you choose him again, America? Why??

So, it looks like Bush is gonna win. Scott, Dylan, and Ivan are considering assassination possibilities. . . .
I seriously think I'm gonna cry.

So, I can study abroad to Germany or England for a year, or I could go to France for a semester. I'm SO EXCITED!!!! Where should I go? How long should I stay?? What classes should I take? So many questions!!!!

You know what feeling I hate? It's when I have like, no work on Monday, but I know that I have a quiz and a midterm on Friday, and I know that I'm gonna have a bunch of extra work on Thursday, but I just can't convince myself to do anything at all right now.

ps-who else is planning to study abroad next year???!!!

So, it's Halloween weekend. Kaylan came up to visit us! It was very nice of her, considering she lives more than three hours away. Colleen and Jessica didn't get to see her, since they're down partying at UCSB for the weekend, but Corie, Bria, Scott, Kanani, Dylan, and I all went with her to see Didley Squat play in Rancho Cordova (Kaylan and I know Stuart, the keyboardist for the band). The place where they played was really cool (I don't know what it was called); they had the room covered in spider webs and blacklight-sensitive paint. The show was supposed to start at nine, and we knew Didley Squat was playing last in a set of three bands, so we got there about 10:30, worried me might have missed them. But no! There were actually four bands playing, and it turned out that Didley Squat didn't come on until about 12:30 am. OH MY GOD! We were soo tired and bored. Hehe. Not to be mean to the other bands, but they weren't very good--all local bands, if ya know what I'm sayin'. Didley Squat was pretty good, but I've seen them play better, and almost the whole audience was gone before they came on.
But our costumes were exciting!
Bria found this awesome black lace goth-looking dress at a thrift store for ten bucks, so she made it into a witch's costume. Corie found all of her stuff at thrift stores too, and she was Janis Jopline! It was awesome. She had to wear dark glasses at night though, and that probably wasn't the safest thing to do--we were entertained watching her run into a guy at In-n-out. Fun times. And Kaylan was Betty Rubble, from the Flintstones. She looked very cute. Oh yeah, and I was Clementine (aka Kate Winslet) from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I wore my neon orange sweatshirt and sprayed my hair purple. A very low-budget, low energy costume. But I think we all had a good time. Even though the show kind of sucked, we had fun just hanging out together, and seeing Kaylan! I miss Kaylan!

PS-I went to bed at 3 and got up at 1. I love weekends. But I'm sad that I can't go trick-or-treating. I realllly want some candy right now. I think after I finish my homework, I'm going to reward myself and buy a bag of candy at Safeway.

Don't forget, kids!

Happiness is a warm gun
Happiness is a warm gun
When I hold you in my arms
And I feel my finger on your trigger
I know no one can do me no harm
Because happiness is a warm gun
-Yes it is.

It was supposed to pour rain today, and instead it's crisp and sunny.
I'm sad.

Anyone heard of the Death Wish movies, with Charles Bronson?



They're so lame they're awesome. My friend Scott has all five.

Ps-next weekend is Halloween and I have no plans whatsoever. Is that sad or what?

I saw Flogging Molly last night! Two shows in one week--pretty crazy! Except the first show wasn't really crazy, since it was a lot of old people at a Bob Dylan concert. But the one last night at Sac State was awesome--Corie introduced me to being at the very front during a punk show! Those people are psycho; they all squish you against everyone else, and push you back and forth, and jump around, and crowdsurf, and stage dive, until you're literally covered in sweat that isn't yours, all by the third or fourth song! I got kicked in the head a couple times, I hit my head on some crowd-surfer's head, and I almost got smothered whenever people would pass over me (since I can't support anyone! Who are they kidding?). But it was really fun! Flogging Molly were awesome live--even though punk music isn't exactly my favorite kind of music, they are probably my favorite band in that genre. Such awesome performers! Plus, everyone at the show was really nice, so it made the experience even better. People were constantly helping to pick people off the floor when they fell down, and always saying "Sorry!" and "Are you alright?" when they ran into you. Good times!

Go Red Sox!
Not that I really care. But the Yankees are much too rich for their own good, and the Red Sox never win!

It's official: I am obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Jessica, my roommate, is probably the biggest fan of the show that I've ever met (sorry, Billy, she beats you), and she has all seven seasons of the show on DVD. So we started watching one episode a day, starting from episode one of the first season. Now we're about a quarter of the way into season 2. Wow, I never thought I would get that into a show! I mean, I make fun of pretty much all of the episodes (some of the story lines are REALLY stupid, like the praying mantis one), but I just can't stop watching them!

Corie, Dylan, and I (and a lot of other people, too) saw Bob Dylan last night! It was pretty cool. The only bad part was that Corie had a ticket for the upstairs seated section, and Dylan and I had general floor tickets, so we couldn't sit together. That kind of sucked. But other than that, the show was pretty good! I mean, I don't know any of Dylan's songs, but the songs he played were good, with a really good band. He didn't play any guitar, sadly, only keyboard and harmonica, but it was still entertaining to watch him. After the show, we had fun debating how drunk Bob was--he definitely didn't look too steady walking around onstage! Then again, he is pretty old, too.

The day after tomorrow, I get to go see Flogging Molly with Corie (and Bria and Sam this time, too) at Sac State! Hooray! I actually know some of their songs!

PS-it is very windy and rainy in Davis right now. So fun!!

This is a picture of Koln during the Christmas festival (I'm still researching German cities for my class):


Can I go there for Christmas, please?

I want this shirt

but I don't think I'll ever buy it.

The US is bombing Iraq again. Apparently peace talks were suspended, and the US has decided to bomb Falluja because it's not complying with the ultimatum to give itself over.
I just watched Fahrenheit 9/11 last Tuesday. Could our reasons to vote against Bush be any stronger? Wait, I don't want to hear the answer to that question.

"Today I told of a new, experimental kind of college that taught students the things they would need to know for survival in the world: how to travel inexpensively, how to play blues piano and recognize true love."

--Michael Cunningham, A Home at the End of the World

Well, this has been a relatively less-busy week than usual, and it's very nice. I just watched the last presidential debate a couple of hours ago. First one I've actually watched, since I've had class all the other nights (and alright, I did go to get pizza with Corie and Bria last Friday instead of watching the debates).
But this last debate seemed to be pretty evenly-matched. I agreed more with what Kerry had to say, naturally, but Bush did a pretty good job of holding his own, in my opinion. I decided the job that I am going to aim for in life is the moderator, Bob's, job. He's pretty cool, gets to ask all the tough questions, talk to the presidential candidates, and just sit there, pretty much. I want that job!
But now I must go eat dinner. Hmm, ramen or spaghetti? Or Thai noodles? Do you notice a trend here?

So, for my German class I have to write a travel brochure for a city in Germany, and the teacher said not to make it an obvious, famous city. So I've been looking at this city called Bamberg. It's pretty cool. They have a museum of two-headed animals, they have their own beer called Rauchbier, which is smoked, somehow, and the best part: the town hall is in the middle of a bridge. I guess the town used to be located on both sides of the river, and that's why it's in the middle, but now the town is only on one side.

Isn't that awesome??

Isn't it funny how nail biting is like a metaphor for something?

It's painful. It's bad for you, and you know it. But you can't stop it, even though everyone tells you to. You stop doing it in the summer, and then pick it up again at school (at least, I do.). AARGH!! I need to stop biting my nails!! I have a tin of mints next to me while I'm working on this essay, and I've eaten about 20 in the last hour. Is that unhealthy? My mom always said not to eat mints like candy, because they're not meant to be eaten that way. Does that mean they're like, poisonous if you eat too many? I guess I'll find out.

I don't wanna work on my essay. . . .it's Saturday night! And I'm the only one at my apartment. No, it's ok. I don't need pity. It's good for me to get work done without distractions. Except for this distraction.

oh yeah--I'm going to see Bob Dylan with Corie!! He's playing at Davis! SO exciting!! And we're gonna go see Flogging Molly, too, at Sac State. But the second band's not quite as much of a legend as the first.

Post to celebrate the working internet:
I just have to prove that although Davis may not be the center of crazy people like Berkeley, we still have our fair share of interesting characters.
For example, in the past week I've seen two guys walking by themselves who were singing at the top of their lungs. The first guy had headphones on, so I assume he was singing along with the music, but the second guy didn't have any headphones, and it sounded like he was singing. . . some kind of opera.
Then, in the last year, I've seen two guys dancing on their bikes by doing crazy raver-like arm movements while they're pedaling.
And finally, last night when I was riding my bike back from my 8 pm class, this guy yells "Ghost rider!" as he zooms by me in the dark on his bike. I don't think I knew him. But he certainly made me crack up.

School complaining time:

Yes, I haven't even had a full week's worth of school yet, and I'm complaining.

I have an essay due tonight for my fiction-writing class at six, with the prompt "Why write". It's supposed to be three to four pages. But I can't for the LIFE of me write that much on it! I know that's pathetic, but how much can I really say? So, I emailed the teacher asking if the first essay really needed to be that long, and she said, "The length should inspire you, not limit you. Remember that when you submit your short story the length is going to be at least twice as long as this." So yeah. I need to make it longer, apparently. I hate writer's block!!! I do love whining, however.

PS-another thing I hate: wireless internet in Davis. It works about 20 minutes a day, and the rest of the time there's no signal whatsoever. So I am taking advantage of my internet time today.

I HAVE INTERNET NOW!!! WOO HOO!!!!

I'm at my apartment!! And I've actually been here since Saturday afternoon. I just don't have any freaking internet yet...right now I'm borrowing Dylan's computer (he gave it to me while he's in class-yessss! I can finally look at people's blogs!). So I am taking advantage of this chance. Hopefully, if all goes well, I will have internet by the beginning of next week.
So, the apartment is better than I expected, which is awesome. My room is the smallest one in the building, but I actually like it better that way--all of my stuff fits, and it feels kind of cozy. I'm also planning to hopefully get two pet rats to keep me company! Hehe--my roommate Jessica hates rats (and most animals), so I have to promise to keep them in my room pretty much all the time. But I think I can handle that. I'm planning to give the rats French names, like Maurice and Benoit, perhaps. Any other ideas?
Last night Dylan, Theo and I watched a PBS show how to raise puppies for about an hour. That's kind of what we do around here. Since there's no internet yet for us, we watch the seven channels we get on TV, sit around talking, and eat. Good times. Of course, school just started today, and both of my roommates just got jobs at the dining commons, so chances are we'll be a little bit more busy now. I'll probably be at the apartment by myself more (sniff).
It's nice to be back in Davis! I hope it rains a lot this winter.

Ich gehe morgen.
I'm leaving tomorrow.
It's been a swell summer, and I'm not being sarcastic.
Hopefully everyone has a good second year of school--a lot of us will be adjusting to at least one more change in life: living in an apartment.
I'm very happy I got to talk to most of you! Hopefully I will see everyone again, before too much time has passed.

By the beard of Zeus! I meant to publish that post on September 15th. But apparently it was just saved as a draft until I checked today. Very annoying.
I'm moving into my apartment this Saturday! So exciting!
I had a good last weekend in Socal--Leah and Mom and I stayed in San Clemente. Dulcimer Festival for Mum, and beach for Leah and me! And driving up to Davis for Dad, to drop off my furniture. He may have gotten the shorter end of the deal, but. . . the rest of us had fun!

These final weeks before I go back to school have been a BLAST. And when I say BLAST I mean BLAST as in going to the dentist three times in two weeks, and getting at least four fillings. I was so proud of myself! Me and my (falsely) clean teeth! Ah well. I suppose there comes a time in every person's life when they are going to have teeth problems. But can't I just be DONE with mine? I mean, I got braces three times. . . .

Ok, I'm done complaining about that now. Now I must urge all of my readers to buy this awesome CD: Nellie McKay. It is SO good! Granted, I'd have to say her music probably doesn't have universal appeal. But she's so cool. She plays piano, writes her own stuff, sings it, and the songs are really catchy, and they're in all different styles, although I'd say mainly jazz. Plus, she's only 19. And she's WAY better than Norah Jones, which many articles compare her to. No offense to Norah Jones fans (ahem--Hannah), but all the songs I've heard by her sound the same. And they make me fall asleep. So yeah. Nellie McKay just came out with this CD, and she doesn't have a whole lot of publicity, so everyone should look into it. Plus, she has a whole song about how great dogs are for companions, and how you should get one at the pound. She's a member of PETA, too! Ok, I'm done now. My obsession with Garden State has now changed into my obsession with Nellie McKay.

Last weekend I saw Napoleon Dynamite twice in two days, the first time with Pauline (we weren't really sure what to expect), and the second time with my whole family. What a funny movie! I know I am way behind in seeing this movie, but I had doubts about how good it would be. But, as pretty much everyone else has said, it's hilarious. My parents loved it, too, probably more than I did, much to my surprise. I was worried they would think the story line was pointless. But my mom was cracking up from the opening scene of Napoleon just standing in front of his house, staring at the ground. Good times. My dad also took me and my sister to see Hero. That movie was alright. Pretty much what I expected it to be. Better plot than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in my opinion, though.

In other news. . . there is no other news, about me, anyway. But Leah's gonna start volunteering at the L.A. Zoo. She's gonna get to give talks and stuff to little kids about saving endangered species, and stuff like that. Is that cool or what?

The Only Living Boy in New York, by Simon and Garfunkel

Tom, get your plane right on time.
I know your part’ll go fine.
Fly down to Mexico.
Da-n-da-da-n-da-n-da-da and here I am,
The only living boy in New York.

I get the news I need on the weather report.
I can gather all the news I need on the weather report.
Hey, I’ve got nothing to do today but smile.
Da-n-da-da-n-da-da-n-da-da here I am,
The only living boy in new york.
Half of the time we’re gone but we don’t know where,
And we don’t know here.

Tom, get your plane right on time.
I know you’ve been eager to fly now.
Hey let your honesty shine, shine, shine, now.
Da-n-da-da-n-da-da-n-da-da
Like it shines on me.

The only living boy in New York,
The only living boy in New York.

That song makes me happy.

Today was fun. Pauline and I drove out to visit Vivian (whom I haven’t seen since, like, last summer), and she took us out vintage shopping! Well, actually, we only went to one store, called Iguana Vintage Clothing, on Hollywood Blvd. The store was huge, though—definitely bigger than Aardvarks. So while we were looking at the clothes, Pauline jokingly picked out a frilly, old-fashioned green dress that she said I should buy, so I decided to try it on…much to Pauline’s embarrassed amusement. It fit pretty well! I didn’t buy the dress, but it definitely provided some entertainment.
Then we were all starving, so we went to eat at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, for my first time. It’s famous, so I felt the need to try their food. And I wasn’t let down. Had the mac and cheese, along with potatoes and gravy and cornbread. Man, six hours later I’m still full.

Ok, guys. I'm starting to get scared. I've thought for the last three or four months that everyone was sick of Bush and wanted him out. But now, after the GOP conference, Bush is back in the lead again. And Kerry's not doin' too well at improving his "flip-flop" image. Goodness gracious! I really don't know what I'm going to do if Bush wins this election. I still have to finish at least three years of school at Davis before I can move to Canada. . . .
Everyone, VOTE this election! And not for Bush. Hehe.

YAY! My parents have taken pity on me. To make a long discussion short, they're only making me pay $425 for the damages! I'm so spoiled! Well, not that much. . .I still have to pay something, but. . .hooray!

So, while I was pulling out of a parking space today the front of my car hit a pole and ripped off half of the bumper and lights.

My savings account will dearly miss the $1, 415.

I keep trying to remind myself that it could have been worse.

So...I had an awesome weekend. And that deserves italics! I went up to visit Dylan for the weekend in Davis--I hadn't seen him in more than a month, so that was really nice in itself. But then on Saturday night we went to the Curiosa concert in San Francisco--I saw Cursive, Mogwai, Interpol, The Rapture, and THE CURE! all in one night! Granted, I don't know a whole bunch about any of those bands, but I do know a few Interpol and Cure songs thanks to KROQ. The show was awesome for more reasons than one, but I want to tell people about it in person, so I'm not gonna post everything here. And no, I didn't get to meet anyone famous, if that's what you're thinking. But I'm definitely a fan of the Cure now!

I have to admit though, I did feel a little out of place because I wasn't wearing all black or any kind of...corset.
Oh, and Dylan bought me the Garden State soundtrack. I've seen the movie three times now, and the soundtrack is awesome. Very mellow, yet catchy.
Now I must go to sleep!

I want to buy this bumper sticker (too bad I don't have a bumper to stick it on):

So, Jessica and Colleen (Davis roomies for next year) came down to visit me! They stayed for a brief, but fun, three nights. The first full day we went shopping in Old Pasadena and got some really funny old movie posters to put in our apartment, and then we had a bonfire with Scott (another Davis friend) and a couple of his friends at Huntington Beach. Yay for smokey-smelling clothes! Hehe.
Then yesterday we went to Six Flags...for FREE! Which was very exciting. Jessica works for a branch of Six Flags in "Nor Cal," so she got us all in free, and we got free parking! Which was awesome.
I haven't been to Six Flags since Goliath was a new ride, so it was a lot of fun to go on the newer ones like X and Scream (is that a new ride? I'd never heard of it). I loved X! It was really scary. The only reason we didn't go on it twice was that it was too hard to hold onto all of our stuff. I had to sit on my flip flops, and then my cell phone barely stayed in my pocket! You get really thrown around on that ride!
So it was a fun two days, and I look forward to getting our own apartment in...three weeks! Pretty crazy. I'm just a little worried about figuring out all of this money nonsense. Gas? Electricity? Water? What?

Screw this crap I've had it.
I've had it!
I ain't no Mr. Cool
I'm a pig I'm a dog
So excuse me if I drool.
I've been listening to Pinkerton lately, and yesterday I watched the Weezer DVD again. I love old Weezer!

In other news, did you hear about how the painting The Scream was stolen in front of guards and visitors at the museum in Norway? Pretty crazy.

I'm trying to pick up guitar again, and I was playing Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" (the only song I know, sadly), and Leah pointed out that it's the same chords for that song and for Hotel Yorba! HOorAy! Now I know TWO songs, and one of them is by the White Stripes! So that was exciting.

Friday night, I had fun with Corie and "her people," as I affectionately call them. Well, first we met at Starbucks with Pauline and Bria, and shared pictures and stuff. Then I went with Corie and Matt to see Garden Face, a local band with some folks I kind of know (Collin and Alex A.). The band was great! We saw them at No Futures Cafe, which I've never heard of, but apparently everyone else has. Oh well. My excuse is that I don't live in Monrovia anymore. Sort of.
At the show, I saw a lot of people that I haven't seen for about a year, and that was fun. I got to catch up a little with people, which made me feel that my time spent in Monrovia actually has SOME point. Hehe. No, I love Monrovia. It's just the boredom that often comes with it that I dislike.

Ok, I think I'm pretty much done with my random paragraphs of news/nonsense. Now I must go eat breakfast! And yes, it is almost 1pm.

Finally! Here are a few of the photos from our trip to Hawaii. I would post more, but this computer is amazingly slow. They're kinda big, too. Sorry if it takes a while to load.


Me and Leah caught in the middle of a downpour while hiking out to a waterfall. It was so fun!! We were soaked, but the rain wasn't cold.


We got to go horseback riding!


Mom made us pose in the hotel lobby. I think we look cute. Hehe.


The beautiful Hawaiian sunset!

Ay carumba, I feel so out of it sometimes. Today I have nothing to do. And it feels like I haven’t been living in Monrovia at all this summer!
I picked up an application at Penny Lane today. Last-ditch effort to get a job before school starts. I’d only be able to work about a month, and they weren’t hiring, but I think I’m going to apply anyway, since it would be awesome to work there. I could walk to work, and sell music and movies! Maybe next summer….
Leah got her driver’s license today! Hooray for her! Now she’s already driving to see some movie at the Laemmle. What a gal. When I got my license I just breathed a sigh of relief that my parents were off my back, and I could go back to having them drive me around everywhere. Hehe. But now she’s decided that the car is now hers, and she’s personalizing it with all of her hippie/Indian nonsense. Eh, I guess it’s ok. I like hippie/Indian stuff too.
Other news…hm. Been watching a LOT of movies lately. Leah and I rented five movies from Penny Lane on Sunday. We got: L’auberge Espanol, Blazing Saddles, Eddie Izzard, Waking Life, and Cabaret. We’ve watched all of them except the first one. I’ve also seen Garden State twice (dragged Cammy to see it again. Hooray for the Shins!), and Princess Diaries 2 (Yay for predictable happy movies! And I’m not being sarcastic.) Also saw Before Sunset. Didn’t really want to see it at all, but my mom basically dragged our family to see it. It was SO good! We all loved it. Have I already posted about this? I can’t remember. I must not have. But it was a GREAT movie. Totally not what I expected.
And now for the Olympics! Are Cammy and I the only people who watch them?

"...the giraffe almost knocked me down with its head and the monkey stole my cucumber."
Pop Quiz! Who's that quote taken from?

I’M BACK!!!
I have been a terrible blogger. I hope I haven’t lost all of my faithful blogger friends! You see, folks, I have been out of the country, or at least out of the county, for the past three weeks pretty much continuously. First I was in Baja…woo hoo! Got my science creds out of the way, and got to hang out with awesome people at the same time! AND eat Mexican baking chocolate!
Then, three days after I got back from that, my family went to the Big Island (Hawaii) for a week. Which was awesome, needless to say. I will post pictures as soon as I can figure out how. Let me just say that I LOVE the rainforest there! It was sooo pretty.
And then the day after we got back from Hawaii, we went to San Clemente for five days. With our beloved Kim!! Who had been boarded at the vet’s for a week. She was happy to see us. But she wouldn’t eat for the whole time. So now she’s really skinny, because I don’t think she ate when she stayed at the vet’s, either. Poor doggy.
So that’s what’s goin’ on now. As for reading, I read this book in Hawaii called Conversations with Rabbi Small, and it’s basically a whole conversation about the teachings of Judaism. Pretty interesting, and not really difficult to understand. I recommend it for anyone who’s interested in…reading about Judaism, I guess. And right now I’m reading Grapes of Wrath, which we were robbed of reading back in Swanson days. And it’s REALLY good. I love John Steinbeck. I didn’t realize what a good writer he is, since the last time I read one of his books was probably about four or five years ago, when I don’t think I was really old enough to appreciate his stuff. Sea of Cortez is really good, too (It was required reading for the Baja class).
Well, I’m done ranting on and on. Cammy’s here, and she’s going back to Pennsylvania in four days! And then I’m not gonna see her until Christmas!! So we’re gonna go spend some quality time together and watch Cabaret. Leah says it’s good.
Oh yeah—I saw Garden State a week ago. What a good movie! The story line was a little cliché, but I liked it. I’m going to drag Cammy to go see it before she leaves. Mua ha ha.

So...Leah's coming back from France tomorrow.
And I'm leaving for Baja at 6AM this Sunday!
I'll be gone from July 11-28. It's going to be mostly camping, and we're gonna go snorkeling, and whale watching, and hiking up volcanoes...I'm excited! But I'm also kind of nervous. I hope nothing bad happens, (ie someone dying of dehydration or getting attacked by a shark), and that everyone gets along alright!
So now, I will leave you with a (kind of long) quote from Steinbeck's Log from the Sea of Cortez (which is about the author's journey down to Baja California). I think this is a funny and interesting section about laziness:

“For in some beastly way this fine laziness has got itself a bad name. It is easy to see how it might have come into disrepute, if the result of laziness were hunger. But rarely is. Hunger makes laziness impossible. It has even become sinful to be lazy....
How can such a process have become a shame and a sin? Only in laziness can one achieve a state of contemplation which is a balancing of values, a weighting of oneself against the world and the world against itself. A busy man cannot find time for such balancing. We do not think a lazy man can commit murders, nor great thefts, nor lead a mob. He would be more likely to think about it and laugh. And a nation of lazy contemplative men would be incapable of fighting a war unless their very laziness were attacked. Wars are the activities of busy-ness.”

You had a boyfriend, who looked like the girlfriend, that I had in February of last year....
That song keeps running through my head! And I don't understand the lyrics one bit! It is catchy, though.

So...not much news. I'm basically just posting to show that I'm not dead (yet), and because I feel guilty about never posting anymore. It's just too much dang trouble on this computer, because I'm never online anymore. But yeah. Summer school's going aiiight. Test tomorrow. So I should go to bed. Goodnight!

So I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve had three whole days of summer school at PCC so far, with Cammy and her friends from Dickinson, Sarah and Lily. It feels like longer, though, since it’s kind of a long day. Two hours of Oceanography (with Cammy’s own dad, no less), and then an hour for lunch, and then three hours of Marine Biology with the other teacher, Russ DiFiori. Good times. Both teachers (or professors, I guess I should say), are really nice. However, I need to get used to this dissection nonsense. So far, “we’ve” (by that I mean Cammy, Sarah, and Lily) have dissected a ray, chiton, jellyfish, starfish, crab, lamprey, and squid. I think. Well, some of it we just pretended we dissected, and then copied off other people. There was also some drama yesterday about me getting expelled from my classes at PCC because of forgery, but I really don’t feel like getting into it. Basically, let’s just say that it wasn’t my fault and everything got worked out. Hehe.
Other news? I need to see some people! But I don’t know when…. I’ve been pretty busy lately. But we’re going to Baja in three weeks. And Dylan’s coming to visit for the 4th of July weekend! Yay! My family’s going to San Clemente for that. And Leah’s in France for three weeks. So jealous.
Welp, that’s all I can think of to write right now. Other than I saw Harry Potter for a second time with my dad for Father’s Day, and liked it just as much. And I watched Rushmore last night for the third time. What a good movie. I think I really like Wes Andersen’s work—at least all of the two movies that I’ve seen by him.
Ok, now I’ve got to go to bed, since Cammy wants to get to PCC at 8 IN THE MORNING tomorrow so she can work out. And I refuse to take separate cars.

I'm home! I got home at 1:30 AM yesterday. Mom drove for four hours, I drove for four. Yep, it was a long trip down the good ol' five, since there was road work for some of the way, and we hardly moved an inch a minute. But I'm back now! And it's nice. Except for the summer school homework that's due on Monday...
Yeah, so I'm taking Oceanography and Marine Biology from 10am - 4pm M-Th at PCC. With Cammy and her two friends from Dickinson Lily and Sarah. I think it will be fun, but the work part's not so exciting! It's three weeks of classroom class, and then three weeks of class in Baja. I'm looking forward to that part.
Hopefully I can see some of you this summer!

Welp, Kaylan left yesterday and my mom came up to help me pack. So now my room is almost empty, except for my bedsheets, my computer, and my notes to study for the final at 1:30 today. I leave at around 4pm today (after my final finishes)!
Farewell, dorm life! I'll miss you!

Kaylan's leaving tomorrow morning, right after her final at 10. And she's not coming back next year. I'm gonna miss her.

I'm starting to feel pretty nostalgic about this dorm.

This is the best fortune cookie fortune ever:

Today was fun!
First, I got up at 11 AM (Sleeping in is awesome!), just in time to eat breakfast before rehearsal for our Shakespeare play. Then, I went to rehearsal from 12-8:30pm. That's right. 8 and a half hour rehearsal. Since today was "dead day", where no one has classes, our teacher decided we should have a final rehearsal before opening night tomorrow. Whoopee. Actually, it could have been worse. I think it was some fun bonding time with the IS kids. We goofed around a lot, since it wasn't like an official class.
Oh, the awesome website (that my friend Ivan put together) for the play is here, if you want to see it. The girl who plays the shrew, Erin, is the girl you see when the site is loading. She's a really good actress, and she acts really evil in the play, but she is soo nice in real life! It's really funny.
So then I got back, and I was hungry, so Dylan gave me his swipes so I could buy a frozen pizza at the junction. Cammy and I ate it. It was very tasty. Then Cammy and I went to play racquetball at the gym! It was so fun! We were exhausted, though, after playing for only about 45 minutes or so. I haven't taken a shower yet. Hehe. Tomorrow, I promise I will...because we're going to the JELLY BELLY Factory tomorrow! So exciting!
I'm so in denial that finals are next week... but that's ok, right?

Cammy's Here!!
(I might not post for a while)
:)

This is what happens when we have three hyper girls in the room:


Eighties ponytails!! So fun!!
Ok, I guess they're kind of hard to see in that photo, but it was really fun. However, I think Dylan was a little freaked out when he walked in and saw us all wearing our hair like that.

I was reading Billy's post about how he'd like to be in a performance of Streetcar Named Desire, and it reminded me that I went to go see that performed at Davis last Friday. It was only $7, and it was REALLY good! It was so good that Dylan and I debated the whole way back to the dorms about who was the character we sympathized with more: Stanley or Blanche? So yeah. Good times. Kaylan's gonna go see it with her boyfriend this weekend, since I told her it was really good.
But I'M goin HOME this weekend--Woohoo!

AAArgh. I appear to have lost my id card. Which costs $15 to replace. In the last 2 freakin' weeks of school!! Why?

Important Fact Alert:
I have three mosquito bites on my feet
Four on my legs
And one on my neck

As long as I'm posting photos...


This is a group picture of the camping trip we IS people went on a coupla weekends ago. It was SO fun!
Sorry the resolution kinda sucks. I don't know how to make digital photos look better on photobucket.

I finally uploaded San Francisco pics onto my site (Hey, they're only a month overdue)!
*If you want to see captions, just put the mouse on the pics.





















Ok, that's it for the pictures from San Francisco. Now here are some random pictures from around the dorm.


Kaylan made chocolate chip cookies!!


Liz, Kaylan, and Scott eating cookies. (And my hand holding a cup of milk.)


Karie, Louis, Dan, and Theo messing around in the kitchen.


Everyone in our room watching the final episode of Friends.


Bria and Corie chillin' on our couch.


Kaylan when she took an overdose of allergy medication.


Random pic from back at home: Leah and Danna posing with incense sticks they bought at Venice Beach. Aren't they cute?

Okay, that's the end of my pics. I'm very proud of them. I hope you liked them!

According to a beauty experts' poll that I read in BBC news, these women are the 10 most naturally beautiful women:
1. Audrey Hepburn
2. Liv Tyler
3. Cate Blanchett
4. Angelina Jolie
5. Grace Kelly
6. Natalie Imbruglia
7. Juliette Binoche
8. Halle Berry
9. Helena Christensen
10. Elle MacPherson

Live Tyler's number two! A little random, no?

Writing an essay about the loss of inflection in English verbs is about the most exciting thing I can think of to do this fine Saturday afternoon.

WHERE IS MY BESTEST FRIEND CAMMY? I HAVEN'T TALKED TO HER IN ALMOST THREE WEEKS!

This is quite one of the most random, yet at the same time funny, things that I've seen: Mark Llama, gerbil farmer

Oh, and this too: singing kittens

The 2004 Top Ten Favorite Words, according to Merriam-Webster.com

1. defenestration
2. serendipity
3. onomatopoeia
4. discombobulate
5. plethora
6. callipygian
7. juxtapose
8. persnickety
9. kerfuffle
10. flibbertigibbet

Now the question is, does anyone know all the definitions of those words?

I got this from Corie



create your own personalized map of the USA
I've been to 13 states--that's 25% of the states, apparently. Which new state should I visit next?

Shiba Inu puppies are SO CUTE!!







And yes, this is what I did today instead of writing my essay!