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.