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Sunday, December 21, 2003

family trips

Oh dear. Family trips. Supposed to leave at 9am which of course means we leave at 11am. After 5 minutes on the road we stop at a phone booth to look up a Best Buy on the way down to LA. So 15 minutes later my bro is at best buy buying some lcd screen for his xbox. Peppermint mochas from starbucks were had by all.

After our 20 minute stop we’re back on the road again, only to hear will complain 15 minutes later that the power cord for the screen doesn’t fit in our power source. Of course he says this right as we’ve passed the exit for home depot. So for the next couple hours I get to hear I get to hear whining and complaining banter from both my parents in front of me and my brother behind me.

And so starts my list of annoyances about my family car trips:
1. over packing: my parents pack like there is no civilization down in LA. Think 20 bottles of water, huge ice chests of food, humongous suitcases , spray bottles, plates, napkins, etc. So even with a 7 seater minivan, we barely have room to fit family of five. No leg room and no ability to lean back makes for a crappy car ride.
2. strong smells in small spaces: my mom decides 20 minutes into the trip to have an orange. Yes an orange smell can be pleasant. But the small confined space inside a minivan does not have enough air to get away from the sharp acid of an orange. Imagine my disgust when my father bought a chili cheese dog at a gas station 15 minutes later.
3. Christmas music nonstop on the cd player
4. people asking for things that were packed beneath all the other crap packed into the car.
5. hearing two sets of audio. In front of me, Christmas music interspersed with the beatles. From behind me, family guy audio interspersed with my brother’s laughter.
6. trying to hold conversations with people in the front and back of the car. People in the front never hear what people in the back say, and vice versa. Being in the middle means you get to hear all parts of the conversation repeated 5 times on each side, and you’re often relied on to continually pass messages along.
7. having four backseat drivers. Really really stressful

as an interesting aside, we saw a car pass us with a bunch of chinese characters on it. My grandmother strained to read it as my father got dangerously close so she could do so. My brother comments, “Ugh, it’s just some Asian who thinks he’s cool.” Wow. Growing up in Orinda must be doing its job.

Also, while cleaning up this morning while people were still rushing around trying to pack, I noticed that my parents’ dishwashing liquid is sold as aromatherapy. It had mandarin and green tea essences. What an interesting idea, who knew that to relax and titillate the senses, all one had to do was wash her own dishes. Swell. Oh marketing.

To end the xbox lcd power saga that I know you all are so interested n, about 4 hours into the trip, my dad remembered that he had a power source that fit into the extra plug in the front of the car. Hence the whining ceased and the dual audio tracks ensued. Oh please let LA come soon.

Saturday, December 20, 2003

The Dent: Mona Lisa Smile

I went to see mona lisa's smile with e last night. It was an enjoyable movie. julia roberts was, well, julia roberts playing her normal julia roberts role in that julia roberts way. Julia Stiles' performance didn't hit the right key with me. Her performance was not quite believable. Kirstin Dunst was good in her role as 'the bitch' and Maggie Gyllenhaal was amazing in her role as 'the loose and progressive girl.' most reviewers gave this movie a poor rating, but i thought it was a fun time. and for you tori fans, tori makes an appearance in the movie (as pointed out by e).

The Dent: Mona Lisa Smile: "But here's the part you'll want to know: The movie does indeed have a wedding scene at which Tori appears as a wedding singer. We see the girls socializing in the ballroom at the wedding reception, and there's big bang music playing. One of the characters repeatedly comments on the good band. Shortly thereafter, we hear 'Murder, He Says' partway through, then cut to a close-up shot of Tori singing onstage. She sways seductively, and kind of bobs her shoulder and head toward the microphone in that way she does. Tori is standing, not playing a piano, and wearing a royal blue dress that is pulled back behind her neck. (I don't know what that style is called.) The song ends, and as Maggie Gyllanhall's character begins to dance with a teacher who she has slept with (that's not ruining any of the plot, so no attacks about the lack of a spoiler!), we hear 'da ba ba da-ba doo wee doo wee/da ba ba do-wee do-wee do-wee/see the pyramids along the Nile...,' and for a good minute or so of the scene, the two characters slow dance to the music, but are parted right down the middle to reveal Tori from a distance on stage in full focus! It's actually kind of surprising to me how carefully the shot seems to have been composed to make room for Tori in the romantic context."

Thursday, December 18, 2003

Christmas Christmas time is here...

a close up of skeeter snacking on some lettuce.


i was so thrilled to be done with finals. i had been staving off on buying a christmas tree and going shopping for school (it mostly paid off in grades). When I finally went to target to buy the cheap fake tree (only 16.99!) they were long gone. The beautiful ornaments and gift tags I had previously seen at Costco were also long gone. as it turns out, the christmas season for them ends around 3 weeks before christmas. sadness.

finally we went to a real tree lot and bought a cute live tree, and went to long's and got some cheap lights and ornaments (i didn't notice i got blue and silver and now people tell me i'm mixing my religions [christmas and hannakuh]). It's great though. and i put the first present under the tree (e's xmas gift)!

Thursday, December 11, 2003

blech

I hate finals. the worst part is thinking all this will be over in less than
a day. that is a dangerous thought because i start to lose concentration
on the task at hand. i think, hey in that little amt of time i won't care about
all this, so why do i care right now?

blah. times like these always make me think of my future and whether i'll
make something of myself. i wonder if i'll make my parents proud of me. i
wonder if i'll be proud of myself. i wonder if people will ever look down on
me for whatever i decide to do. i hope i do something good with my life.
on the other hand, i just hope i'll be happy.

my emotion final was long. i didn't know enough detail for the questions.
i feel bad, like i let my teacher down. he tried to chit chat when i handed
in the exam, but i nearly ran out of there. i should be studying for tomorrow
i won't sleep much tonight most likely. i hate the end of a quarter.

my parents sold the baby girl chinchilla today. a lot of people were interested
in her. my dad took some great pics of her that i collaged for a craigslist
post.
see:

people on an lj chinchilla group called her sexy which was sort of
disturbing.

e was nice and drove me to my final tonight. i was too nervous and stressed
to drive i think. he's really stressed now tho. big computer assignment due
in 30 minutes.

i made a new level for skeeter. i think e calls it his bachelor suite. he hops
up there for food and to squeek at us as we wander by. it's lined with an
aquafresh box which is a really pretty shade of green. it does advertise
aquafresh to skeeter constantly. maybe it'll get him to brush his teeth.

ok studying cognitive development now...

Tuesday, December 09, 2003

The 2nd Annual Twenty Most Annoying Liberals In The United States -- The 2003 Edition - Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)

i don't know if people saw the list of the 20 most annoying conservatives posted not too long agolike this one, but the political right has come back with a list of the ownThe 2nd Annual Twenty Most Annoying Liberals In The United States -- The 2003 Edition - Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views). oh those silly conservatives.

yo-yo's

I remember yo-yo's going in and out of popularity growing up. I could never get any tricks to work (besides walking the dog for a few seconds) so I had to get one of those fake yo-yo's that would retract on its own so i could bounce the orb around in fun ways. These kids are crazy. it's very cool that a string and a couple of wheels can make such frenzied geometric sketches. Here's some highlights from the national Japanese yo-yo competition.

Sunday, December 07, 2003

engrish

japanese making curry from a hamster?!!!
Cute Curry

Make-a-Flake - A snowflake maker by Lookandfeel new media

Make-a-Flake - A snowflake maker by Lookandfeel new media

Biography of President George W. Bush

it's odd how typing miserable failure in google brings up our president's bio. it's a funny prank. i never knew google worked like that.

Friday, December 05, 2003

American Civil Liberties Union : Louisiana School Punishes 7-Year-Old Boy for Talking About His Lesbian Moms

this is horrible. did it come from a school that was afraid other parents would cause a ruckus? the kid wasn't even discussing sex. He was talking about his family. Sometimes people make me sick. This should never happened. American Civil Liberties Union : Louisiana School Punishes 7-Year-Old Boy for Talking About His Lesbian Moms

molly ivins chooses dean

she says, "Dean gives a hell of a speech -- even if you're Republican, you should go and hear him just for the experience. But I fretted about Dean on TV -- TV is so important. How could anyone poker up on Margaret Carlson of PBS, not one of the world's toughest interviewers? But then I saw Dean laugh his way through a Chris Matthews interview (which he should have done with Tim Russert, who was hell-bent on gotcha questions), and I know the guy can take care of himself. So he fights back if you get in his face -- that's not all bad. "

for the whole story click:here


oh no spidey!

they got rid of him! I don't know who, but they did. e and I came home today to find spidey out and about during the day time. He looked so cool and intricately patterned sitting on his web in full day light. Apparently this was a bad idea for him. Tonight we came back, and his web is gone. he's not tucked up in the corner where he usually is when it's chilly. Someone had to have killed him. RIP spidey. I used to love seeing you there by the stairs when I got home. i never got to feed you like i wanted.
bad people who kill spiders who aren't invading your space! boo.

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

b3ta presents buffys swearing keyboard

my friend fufu sent this to me: b3ta presents buffys swearing keyboard

i actually find it rather frightening. make sure you have your volume on.

buffy season 5 comes out next tuesday!!!! woohoo!

The lost art of hand-washing clothes - Eurail Blog

I was realizing I have some shirts I'm supposed to hand wash, but I haven't really hand washed any clothes before. So I decided to look up how to hand wash clothes. Here's some advice I found:

The lost art of hand-washing clothes - Eurail Blog: says you can use any type of soap

ehow.com's instruction on hand-washing clothes with deteregent

this page has useful info from handwashing sweaters to whitening grout between shower tiles

Mr. Picassohead

this is the most fun thingy i've found on the internet for a while. It's Mr. Picassohead. It's basically a paint program with set objects. But everything comes out abstracty and fun. plus, since you can enlarge, rotate, and color items, you can actually do a lot.

here's the first one i did


here's the first one e did


also you should check out the gallery as there are some great things people have done with this.

fun fun!

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

introducing... SKEW! Minli's puppy. Apparently he can't run straight... and that's how he got his name!



I thought he was a bichon fris, but apparently he's a maltese because his hair isn't curly. Anyway, I think he's ADORABLE!

balls

i just spent an hour sitting with peeps from my honors class having pizza. i barely remember anyone's name, and i can't really ask again now since it's the end of the quarter. i ended up stuck between a new york girl and the teacher, which meant i couldn't talk to anyone near me. i ended up talking loudly across the table to people i wasn't sitting near.

i'm so bad with the chit chat. barf...

i'm a blue plate special apparently

I went to vaden yesterday to check out a rash i've developed. Dr. Lady said i've got over sensitive skin. She said i was the second person she'd seen that day with the same problem, so it must be the blue plate special.

well boy howdy chowdown!

this damn honors proposal is driving me nuts. it's taking forever to write, i need to finish it today so that i can get people to help proofread it. blah!

hehehe! on a waaaay positive note! I figured out what to get e for his xmas present and bday gift. they've already been ordered. yeah baby! he still hasn't decided on a giftie for me (i asked him) :)

back to writing...

ok so apparently carole king

apparently carole king sang it, but i remember the version from my mix tape had a man singing it, and it was lovely.

tapestry lyrics

i have this song stuck in my head from a mix tape that an old high school friend once gave me. I really love this song, but I can't remember who sings it. I did find the lyrics though, so I can sing more than the first line of words when start humming the tune.

watch out this is long. here are the lyrics:
TAPESTRY MY LIFE HAS BEEN A TAPESTRY AND RICH AND ROYAL HUE
AND EVERLASTING VISION OF THE EVER-CHANGING VIEW
A WONDROUS WOVEN MAGIC IN BITS OF BLUE AND GOLD
A TAPESTRY TO FEEL AND SEE,
IMPOSSIBLE TO HOLD
ONCE AMID THE SOFT SILVER SADNESS IN THE SKY
THERE CAME A MAN OF FORTUNE,
A DRIFTER PASSING BY
HE WORE A TORN AND TATTERED CLOTH
AROUND HIS LEATHERED HIDE
AND A COAT OF MANY COLORS,
YELLOW-GREEN ON EITHER SIDE
HE MOVED WITH SOME UNCERTAINTY,
AS IF HE DIDN’T KNOW
JUST WHAT HE WAS THERE FOR,
OR WHERE HE OUGHT TO GO
ONCE HE REACHED FOR SOMETHING GOLDEN HANGING FROM A TREE
AND HIS HAND CAME DOWN EMPTY
SOON WITHIN MY TAPESTRY ALONG THE RUTTED ROAD HE SAT DOWN ON A RIVER ROCK
AND TURNED INTO A TOAD
IT SEEMED THAT HE HAD FALLEN
INTO SOMEONE’S WICKED SPELL
AND I WEPT TO SEE HIM SUFFER,
THOUGH I DIDN’T KNOW HIM WELL
AS I WATCHED IN SORROW, THERE SUDDENLY APPEARED
A FIGURE GRAY AND GHOSTLY
BENEATH A FLOWING BEARD
IN TIMES OF DEEPEST DARKNESS,
I’VE SEEN HIM DRESSED IN BLACK
NOW MY TAPESTRY’S UNRAVELING,
HE’S COME TO TAKE ME BACK
HE’S COME TO TAKE ME BACK

Monday, December 01, 2003

Blog Change Bot

Blog Change Bot: "blog "

Kittens!

Man, if you love kittens, you have to check out thesephotos!
They're probably some of the best kitten photos i've seen, and everyone has seen alot of cat photos!