Twenty Eleven Goals

Menu of the Day

Eating: nothing right now, but I'm hungry so i'm going to go find something soon. maybe a mango.

Drinking: nothing, I'm parched too, I'm going to go get some juice, maybe I should have done both of those things ahead of time so I actually had something to put on here.

Pandora: I have fallen in love with the Vitamin String Quartet. Yes, Quartet, its sooo good though, its really modern, and I have it mixed with John Mayer & JJ grey Radio those three combined come up with the BEST songs. I love pandora.

Job Searching: is a pain in the ass, it is SO much work. Writing cover letters for EACH company (and after a couple days when you've already applied to the companies you know you love you start applying for companies you've never heard of so you have to sit and research the company and find a way to genuinely say "i love your work" Nothing has come up yet.

Tip of the week: Pureed Cauliflower in replacement of mashed potatoes. it actually is the exact same consistency and you can add stuff to it the same you would for potatoes if you eat it plain it just taste like cauliflower. you cook it, use a food processor, and then a blender to puree it. it doesnt work going straight to the blender (cauliflower is too hard of a vegetable even when you cook it) and leaving it "food processed" makes it stringy and not at all like mashed potatoes. for weight watchers its a zero point meal. (depending on what you add to it.

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2011 new years resolutions

1. cut out fast food, pretty much entirely.

2. start running on a daily basis

3. get a job

4. move out, yet again, for hopefully the final-ish time

5. finish a crossword puzzle, they are damn hard!

6. finish a diabolical sudoku puzzle, have yet to ever do it!

7. get to my goal weight

8. more photography

9. marry jon stewart

10. meet barack obama

twenty eleven update so far

Photos: (1) we did a series of family photos on my new camera with my new tripod it would take 6 shots at once so we just kept moving and being goofy to get some fun photos. this is just 1 or 50 (2) this is one of the photos from the christmas night party with ugly sweaters, me and my padre, his sweater is wrapped with xmas lights and plusg into the wall with an extention chord (3) i missed the blogosphere when this happened but Obama came to Seattle! (for a Patty Murray rally) we got there at 6am waited in line forever but it was so worth it and with my new camera and zoom lense I got some awesome photos, this is just one of the MANY, i litterally snapped 6 photos a second!

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Television: I got seasons 6&7 of MONK on DVD (i already had 1-5 and all that is left is the final season 8) and 1-5 of How I Met Your Mother -- I'm in LOVE with both, How I Met Your Mother is obviously more casual so I can watch that and be on the computer and fall asleep to it. MONK is more deep so I have to pay attention to that one so i've switching back and forth both are BRILLANT, you know how I love MONK.

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Food tip of the day: I did this for breakfast, I dont like egg whites they kind of disgust me so as advised in a weight watcher recipe, mix 1 regular egg and then 2 egg whites, (that adds up to 2 regular eggs) you won't know the difference especially if you add stuff to it. (mine was an omelet so i used canadian bacon (which is better than bacon) onions, cheese and salt and pepper)

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Job Searching: offically begin the real search today, my goal is to apply for 3 jobs a day (because I need to write a cover letter catered to each company specifically and have to do research for it, I think 3 is a good number to send out good letters and not just half ass-ed ones.

however the really big news: my friend michelle graduated a year ago at the same time, she ended up getting a job with the TV show 'Sell this House' on A&E as the host/designer's assistant (shes on all the new episodes and everything) you travel 9 days every 2 weeks (or somethign like that) you get paid really well and you get to travel everywhere!

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well she was telling me, she got the job from a craigslist posting, it advertised for a design assistant and didnt mention the show specifically. reading the posting she thought she didnt even want it, she got hired right away because she actually had a degree in design (most people applying didnt really know about design)

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so today, i found a craigslist posting from dec 29, 2010 (so it is recent) for a design assistant, it talks about travel, crazy hours, excitment, setting up for photo shoots and somethign (i dont remember exactly) about TV sets -- i'm almosy 90% positive its the TV show job! so I sent my resume -- sooo fingers crossed! I think I would have a great chance at this because most people would glance over that ad, it was short, the only reason i applied is because of what Michelle told me, most people wouldnt be able to or want to travel that much (if they are married or have families) and its only seasonal so no one would leave a job they had for it.

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I was going to post a blog blog but I think I wrote enough in my updates i'll leave it at that.

I'm Back!

I'm finally back!! I know it took me forever, but the last months of college were just way to hectic. so on that note, I am now an offical college graduate with a Bachelors of Fine Arts. and now I have time for blogging again : )

Photos: (1) dad & myself at graduation (2) I think this is a yam or a weird potato but I love the shot (3) this is a thrift store in Freemont and I love the sign.

Lately:

Watching: How I met your mother, I got season 1-5 for xmas I'm stoked, I love that show its great, its this generations 'friends' and we all know how much I love 'friends'

Music: I've been really into pandora lately, and because of that I've found some really great concerto bands/music, but its really modern (it comes on, on my john mayer radio) there are no words, but I love that kind of music especially when I'm working because words/lyrics can distract me, especially if i'm writing.

Eating: I started weight watchers with my Uncle, I sat in on a meeting at first (because I thought I would hate it, but I loved it) but then I had graduation and stuff coming up so I put it on hold for 2 weeks, So I only JUST started, but I do love it, everyone says its the most effective, I'm learning alot I think it will be fun. I'll think include a WW new tip in my new blogs, somethign I learned. today I learned I can eat Bacon =D (and its not expensive points wise, you can eat whatever you want, but it will cost you in points.)

New Stuff:

I moved home to my parents about a month ago now, my lease was up on my apartment a month before graduation and who knows where i'll end up working, this way instead of getting another lease in Seattle or Tacoma I can work wherever and move 5 minutes away from my work if I wanted

My cousin Jonathan visited for 6 weeks from Scotland, I might have mentioned that I know I stopped blogging around the time he visited, and so he has now gone home at some time late october

My dad's cousin Todd (Jojo's cousin as well) is visiting from California through the new year

I got a real awesome present from my Uncle Brian (jojos husband) - A Nikon D5000 with the works, zoom lense, camera bag, heck I don't even know what the rest of the stuff is yet, I got to learn a lot when my cousin was here because he 's a photographer, but were gonna start doing photo shoots so I can learn more about my camera, but I love it. be prepared for blog photos!

hmm what else? I'm sure tons has happened but thats the skinny for now, this is just my update blog so I'll add more later. but I'm back now!

Hibernation

My cousin, Jonathan, is visiting from Scotland (he's the one's whose photos I post sometimes) so I'm kind of in hibernation, I don't spend as much time on the computer, I havent watched LOST and I havent watched any movies. (Since we hang out, explore the city and what not) It feels weird. haha. (he's here for like 5-6 weeks, so its kind of like the first week you're always really busy and then they get settled and its fine.)

If anyone from WA has any ideas of what to do in WA (or actually just anyone in America for different cultured compared to Scotland.) He's not the active type so he wouldn't want to climb to Camp Mure (part of Mt. Rainer) or go kayaking. He's not the lame tourist type to want to go to the top of the needle and all that. luckily the puyallup fair just came to town (which is either the biggest fair in the PNW or in the country, something like that) so thats lots of fun. I'll take him to gasworks park, Alki, hopefully go to a mariners game and a sounders game -- we'll do the first thursday art walk (the first thursday of every month all the museums are free admission and all the art gallerys have showings) hopefully we'll get some weather so we can sailing on our friends 50' sailboat (it might be bigger i dont remember the size) maybe go bowling and everything else includes food. I looked into Teatro Zinzanni (which is this super awesome local dinner theatre but the cheapest seats are still $120 -- its a 5 course meal by Tom Douglas so that alone is gonna set you back haha) and Cirque De Solis is in town but the cheapest tickets for that is $50 a piece

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The Recents

Concert: it was really my first real concert, Maroon 5 & Kelly Clarkson at the puyallup fair really don't count. JJ grey & the MoFro's -- My Cousin Brian & Uncle Troy had 2 extra tickets so Jonathan and I got to go with and I hadn't heard them before, but I lovedddd them. I'll try and post a video later, JJ grey has a really soulful kind of rock-southern style, he's from florida (not louisiana Jo, same kind of area though I suppose)

Food: Gelato from The Chocolate Box -- I love their gelato, they have the most amazing chocolate here (they had a little chocolate with Obama's face on it, it was great) it was just oddly sunny today so we went and got some gelato

Sushi from my favorite place - Umi Sake House - I always go for happy hour because it's super cheap ($4 - $5 rolls) but my FAVORITE roll isnt on the happy hour menu and it's $12 so every once in awhile I get it, its SO delicious, the Thunderball roll its Eel and cucumber (and a ton of other stuff) and theres a mango sauce, its a really fresh tasting roll, and it looks gorgeous. and i love eel.

Project: We finished and presented our project for John Mayer's tour bus today. the presentation went GREAT I dont know if I wasnt nervous because I was presenting with someone or I was just really confident in the project but we did great, my professor gave me a hug after and said "I was beeming with pride! so proud of you!" and sent us an email later saying we did great and she wants to showcase our work and use it for a faculty presentation -- It will be up on my website shortly but I need to get the final original file to compress it down for web viewing (its actually to big to even upload to my website right now because of my storage limits)

Internships: I really love my internship but I started realizing, its kind of crap, I'm WORKING for them, I'm doing their work...for free. And at first I was getting in as many hours as I could and I'm like "why am I killing myself for a job that I'm not getting paid for" I dont want them to take advantage of me. I've always been that kind of worker, putting in more than I should but it always made sense to me before, but if I didnt want to go into work I would think "at least I'm getting paid" and thats hard to do here. especially when its slow and i'm just sitting there.

I just need to be more dilligent about my hours because I was starting to let that take over homework and thats not okay.

Although, my internship is way better than my friend, Fanny's that designer has SIX interns! thats just tacky -- obviously you need to hire someone and you're too cheap, and I guess with that internship their Boss (cause a bunch of my friends are working at the same place) will text them at like 10:00 and ask them to come into work the next day, makes them come to events they put on and stay all day (like a saturday that starts at 10 and goes all night) and then the boss doesnt even really acknowledge or apperciate or even say thanks.

my boss is great and she says thank you for the smallest thing, like making a copy.

an intern is supposed to be one or two students that can assist work, if the intern is doing enough work and hours as an employee, you need to pay them. case closed. (mine really isnt that bad, I've had my hand in everyones projects so I definitley am assisting, this all really comes from Fanny's internship)

Drink is oil for unauthorized movement

Title: Its a Hunter quote, of course. Its a totally alcoholic quote, but its just so poetic. I love him for all the wrong reasons.

Photo: Taken by my friend Eddy, who did the photography for my cousin Tiffany's wedding. To ride to the reception (down the road) we all jumped in the back of my uncles trunk and rode like this. Adrienne, Myself and Jessie are sitting on top of a cooler and I'm having way too much fun after 2 beers and no food. haha

Back to "me" progress: excellente. I've done either squats or crunches (50) every night sometimes both and my dumbell arm workouts, i've expanded and started doing more with them, for the first time I can feel the burn in my arms.

upcoming excitement: my cousin Jonathan (whose also a photographer and I've posted alot of his stuff on the blog) is coming to visit for a month! I pick him up tomorrow at 11:30 and in perfect timing my sister bought her own car so we won't have to share

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UNIQUE THOUGHTS

1. I hate Serif's on font's. Hate hate hate. I think they look gross. (serifs are the lines along your letters, like times new roman and such. this font i'm using, has no serif ("sans-serif") I went to a typography lecture.

2. I like colors. many many colors. and I like to wear many colors and I think its because I remember the line in 'P.S. i love you' when he says 'I remember seeing you standing there, in all your colors' (she wore a green hat, red jacket, purple gloves, purple scarf, i thought she looked adorable, haha)

3. one day, instead of having cash or checks or coins were all going to have plastic and were going to wear watches where you just run your card across and it deducts your money, so if you owe a friend money. there you go. I think its brillant. maybe we wont even have cards we'll just have pin numbers -- if you have no checks, cards or cash too loose how will anyone rob you?

4. this might be very bold but lately the more I think about this, the more I think its false. I dont think there is a heaven or a hell. I don't think I've ever believed in hell, but I think heaven is something we want to believe in so we can think of our loved ones fondly and we want something to look forward too. but i dont think anything happens.

5. i might be becoming very cynical.

6. actually I think I am cynical especially when it comes to dating and love, I don't feel lonely or bad for being single, i dont feel lost without another person (maybe thats why I'm cynical about it) but anytime I mention a love story/romantic comedy to any of my friends that are married or in love they are like "no i totally think its possible" "i thought it was realistic" and im like "yeah rightt! that would never happen!" hahaha

7. i have nothing to say, "sometimes I just say things, just to say them" I think thats how it goes, Jo? My cousin said it...

8. I hung up these "inspiration" pictures for working out all of women because its what I want to look like I have 2 pictures of jennifer aniston (one shes pretty much fully clothed with a tank top) one of marisa tomei in a tshrit and shorts, one of jewel in practically nothing workout wear -- I think people might think i'm a lesbian.

9. LOST is pretty amazing, I tried to ask my friend a question (and I emailed jo and she just kept ignoring me) and she says "I can answer your question but its totally gonna ruin everything so just keep watching" I wish it was a show I could watch while I did homework or something. I tried doing that once but I kept rewinding and then not doing any work.

-- alright everyone. come ramble yourselves.

whats your weird thought that you're not allowed to say out loud?

3:00 am, is a time for blogging.

New goal: get back to working out and getting back into shape.




So I've always known when you're aiming for a weight loss goal you need to have inspiration pictures and mine have always ended up being Jennifer Aniston. I don't think she looks too skinny (like Courtney cox has that lanky frame, others are too voluptuous) and Jenn isn't overly muscled but she is really just generally tone. and I like this picture, because its like shes working for that body (which she has) But i'm going to feel funny putting up all these pictures of women in my room people are gonna think i'm a lesbian! haha



Music: My cousin Mark in New Orleans (well technically hes living in North Carolina now) sent me a bunch of CDs for my birthday and then 2 of them were mixes of just generally AWESOME songs. one of them was actually my cousin Tiffanys wedding song and I'm OBSESSED with it! "Edward Sharpe and Magnetic Zeros - Home" it is the funnest song with the best lyrics. I also like "Tracy Bonham - devils got your boyfriend" and a bunch others but I don't know the names of them, I made up my own titles and artists so it wouldn't do me much to give you the names to try and download. haha.



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I've done a blog before on pet peeves and I've done a blog on things that make me happy. but that was almost 2 years ago, so lets update it.



PET PEEVES

1. when their are dishes (bowls and plates) in the top rack of the dishwasher, the top rack is for glasses and big spoons and spatulas. I realized I think i'm OCD about things being in their correct place, I've always been an organized person so this truly does drive me crazy. (even at work I would love to spend hours just reorganizing the materials library, but they all know where everything is and I'm sure it would screw them up.



2. this might be hard to describe but let me try. I hate when "highlighting" is not a continuous block of highlighter. So say you are highlighting something, normally (most people) hightlight their couple of sentences, and these usually end up sentence on top of another sentence so you usually have open space. that annoys me and I always go back and make it a highlighter block. does that make sense? I will take pictures if necessary. haha.



3. when I find a song or album that I LOVE and I play it to death and then get annoyed of it. why do I have to get annoyed of it? I love it so much!



4. When you let someone "in" on the road and they don't give you a courtesy wave, it really pisses me off. ESPECIALLY when I consciously braked to let you in, and when its really bad traffic and no one is letting you in. for this, even when someone is miles back and they didnt "let me in" I still wave, and I hold my wave for far too long just to make sure they see it, in case my wave is in the blind spot. One time I didnt wave and I had guilt for like a week.



5. dust. I don't quite understand dust. it comes back every week and I don't understand where is comes from. I run my ceiling fan in my bedroom basically 24/7 (mine actually works really well for cooling me down) and when I do eventually turn it off I see a THICK layer of dust crusted at the edge of the ...panel? and then I think, does that mean it is spreading that dust all over my room? am I constantly breathing in dust?




THINGS THAT MAKE ME SMILE/THINGS I LOVE TO DO (superficial silly things)

1. real mail. my magazines, catalogs and netflix do make me excited. but there is nothing like real mail. and yano, I will include e-mail with that, especially when its someone I havent really talked to in a while. I hate when I have an inbox of 36 but not one single email is a personal email.



2. When I see a guy do something really cool like help an old lady, stand-up for his sister (Jo did you watch 'Remember Me' yet?) or something of that sort.



3. When I hear someone say they are a liberal. I don't know why exactly, but I smile, I guess its cause it means we're on the same team.



4. I love to play this game where you number a paper 1-50 and you try and name all 50 states in 6 minutes. I started playing so often that I always got all 50 so then it was just what was the best time I could get, my best was like 2.30 seconds!! If I go long enough I always forget just one state, its always like Nebraska or Arkansas. I now hate those states for that very reason. haha.



5. This is going to sound really weird, it makes NO sense to me, but I LOVE setting up all my pills for the week. I have one of those grandpa weekly pill cases (Monday-Sunday) but its kinda cool because it breaks apart so I can just grab the Monday pill case and bring it with me (and each separate pill case has "Morning" "Noon" "Evening" "Bed" - I know I'm like 60 haha) anyways I LOVE refilling it. I sit on my bed and I open all the "doors" and I pull out all my pills and I dose out my 13 pills for each day.

Some Conversations Only Have Beginnings & Middles

in my glass: water. go me! :)

Book: amazingggg book about Hunter S. Thompson "Gonzo" (jojo posted about it before and she just lent it to me) I'm crazy busy so I'm crawling through it, but I loveeeee it. I loveeee HST and I still don't understand why. haha.

Music: I got turned onto "The Script" I'm completely in love but I think I already out played it so I'm listening to Lee Dewyze again, I like the mellow happy music for when I'm doing design work...

TV: You guys will all be so proud of me. I have finally begun my LOST final adventure. Pre-order on Amazon is amazing! I'm already on disk 3 (but tonight I was too tired to pay attention and I really have a lot of homework to do)

Movie: in lue/luei/lui (I never knew how to spell that) of watching serious LOST I watched 'The Back-Up Plan' I don't like Jennifer Lopez as a person, I think shes a diva but she does do good movies and the guy in the movie is so freaking cute. SUCH an unpractical movie though, I kinda hate those, these are the movies that make women crazy and think that's what real life is... haha

Best thing that happened: My cousin Tiffany got married on Saturday! I got my friend, Eddy, the photography gig so we got their really early so I got to help set up but it was one of the funnest and best weddings I've ever been too. It was so casual but still romantic and it was beautiful weather, I'm sure Eddy got amazing photos because of the lighting. It was just a generally amazing time and if I were do get married (don't hold your breath, maybe when I'm 40 lol) that will be my wedding.

Funny thing that happened: My friend, I'll rename her as Sam (Cause I don't have a single friend named Sam) so Sam meets this guy at a bar and its really loud so when they are exchanging names he says his name is "Harpi, like Happy" and she says "Harpi?" and he says "yes" but its really loud. They ended up hitting it off so they have been seeing each other and talking and such but anytime she says his name he makes a joke. the second time they met up she said "Harpi" and he joked "oh you remember my name?" and laughed. But now its been like 2 weeks and they've hung out so many times that can't just ask him what his name is and she tried looking at his license but "Harpi" is a nickname short for some Indian name that she can't pronounce so shes basically just landed herself a boyfriend that she doesn't know the name of. It's hilarious. we have a few problem solver scenarios we can put into action if it becomes a crisis lol.

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I got really excited with jojo's red flag list so now I'm making my official red flag, blue flag, turn-off, turn-on and deal breaker list. they're always exceptions for everything but I'd like to think these are concrete. okay, ready, set, go!

(I'm totally stealing a bunch of these from jojos blog and everyones posts, I will give everyone their credit lol)

RED FLAGS
1. Amanda: Jesus Fish, alarms would totally go off, not only so much if it was a magnet on his car but if it was a tattoo on his arm, I would run. And I have seen this before.
2. Eque: Hunting/HateforAnimals. I have a love affair with any living thing be it a fish or a big fluffy dog, I'm quite convinced that I could make best friends with a bear; Polar, Grizzly, you name it. I'm on it. I'm not a PETA protester or any kind of animal activist but those Sarah Machlan commercials do make me cry. Plus the "hunter" kind of guy is so NOT my type.
3. Republican. I should put this on the dealbreaker list, but I do always give the guy a chance. Although the last guy I "dated" I gave him too many chances, he was not only a republican but he hated Obama, didn't vote and isn't registered. (and he opinions and my rule is that you can't have political opinions if you're not registered and don't vote.) I wore my "I only date democrats" Tshirt just to piss him off. haha.
4. Jojo: Mullet hair, handlebar mustache or anything else of the sort...unless its a gag joke and its temporary because I do get a kick out of that. and if a guy can still pull those looks off even for a joke, hes a keeper. LOL
5. Lack of education is still a red flag for me, I know y'all had objections to that but I'm sorry at my age if you're not pursuing an education your basically lazy (that would be my first impression) and I said it had to be a Bachelors or higher because a lot of lazy people out there go and get there AA just to have and still do nothing. this is obviously a flag that has many exceptions but at first my red flag is being raised.

BLUE FLAGS (good things- in all honesty its everything the opposite of the red flag but I'll do a list anyways.)
1. to not be repetitive I'll do all the "opposites" on #1. So blue flag's for the following: has a bachelors degree or higher or is pursuing such at a good school. registered democrat that's in love with Obama. (I'm on the opposite of Kat, if a guy is in LOVE with his pets, especially a dog, that's like 5 blue flags in one.)
2. if he's not into sports. you all know how I feel.
3. to further that, if he doesn't watch the "new shows" you all know, besides LOST, the only shows I watch are re-run sitcoms and movies.
4. if he can remember stuff. Its amazing how bad some guys are! If I'm hanging out with you all day and you can't remember something I said to you 3-4 hours ago, its kind of insulting. I don't believe in bad memory. haha.
5. an artist in some way shape or form. well not performance, I "dated" an actor and an actor is just a really good liar, haha and its really annoying to hear them talk about how they're gonna move to Hollywood and become famous and blah blah blah. a little reality maybe? but yes artist in all other shapes and forms I always love the idea of artist that are related to my kind of art because its cool to have that connection and understanding of what each other do.

Turn-On's
1. guitar playing. I would date a hairy man if he could play amazing guitar. actually no I wouldn't but I would maybe consider it. haha.
2. suspenders. I don't know what it is but I find suspenders un-naturally sexy. I could jump Larry King's bones. Okay, I'm lying again, but its a funny thought.
3. humor. of course. I like laughing.
4. cologne/good smells. I used to feel really uncomfortable when old fat teachers would wear cologne because they would smell soooo good yet I was so repulsed by them. cologne is very dangerous. the Axe commercials are real.
5. Manners. I never really thought I cared about this, until I met guys that have no manners. And I don't mean opening the car door or holding the door open for me but please and thank you's go a long way so you'd have to imagine bigger manners than that go even further.

Turn-Off's
1. Smoking. anything, everything, even nothing. I've dated smokers, so its not a dealbreaker for me, but I certainly don't like it. Although I will admit, sometimes, some guys can look really sexy with a cigarette in their lips. (aka James Dean)
2. HAIR! you all know how I feel. clean shaven facial = okay (and usually kinda sexy) long hair and/or chest hair = makes me wanna puke...on your hair.
3. I call it Gangster Style. if you talk or write in ebonics, walk like an idiot and think its cool to say nigga, pop a cap or anything else retarded like that. gross.
4. highly into fashion. its one thing to enjoy shopping, like a tshirt, pair of jeans, have good style. you should not subscribe to fashion magazines and know more designers than me (and I don't know THAT many.)
5. republican. can I put that again? because really if you tell me you're a republican I might walk away. haha.

DealBreakers.
1. Long-distance. nope, nope, nope.
2. Military (jo might say something about this because I almost did date a guy in the army) That's not the lifestyle for me, it was a big reason why me and that fella didn't end up dating. for 1.) its long distance 2.) dangerous and I'd be constantly worrying 3.) if things got serious I could end up away from my family and I'm not okay with that.
3. Friends ex-boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, friends. these are definite deal breakers but I really want to include family of friends, and friends of family but I'm sure there could possibly be some exceptions, although its always been a dealbreaker in the past
4. younger than me. i don't even like dating guys my own age why would I want to go younger? always older.
5. way older than me (haha) I would have no problem dating a guy who was 30 or around that, but then I think its weird that they want to date a 21 year old.

I could be famous one day

Current Music: Musiq Soulchild (I lost all my itunes playlists and I'm too lazy to remake them so I'm listening to whatever comes on, I used to love this guy in high school, he has a good voice but it is very r&b which isnt really my style anymore, but i still enjoy it)

Food: Tater Tot Casserole. we have this way too often but its so yumm and its not really that bad for you (its just ground beef (and i buy the lean stuff) tater tots and cream of chicken (and i buy the low sodium/low fat stuff) and cheese. we love cheese.

Drink: Diet coke of course. this is why I'll never be an alcoholic I love diet coke way too much, Even if I order a vodka/diet I get upset that my diet coke doesn't taste the same, whether it's vodka or not. haha.

Excitement of the week: I got an internship! I had the interview on Wednesday, I found out Sunday night they hired me and I was in the office Tuesday & Wednesday -- They already had me doing spec sheets, finish schedules, pulling materials, CAD work (alot of my friends I've talked to still don't do this kind of work or it took them awhile to be able to be allowed to do it) I got to sit in on a client meeting today and one of my coworkers said "wow, she doesn't normally let interns sit in on meetings..." so it feels really good that they obviously feel really good about me.

Pet Peeve: That there aren't better editing tools in blogger. I hate these generic fonts. bluchk.

Upcoming: Josh's anniversary is Friday, we're doing something as a family but nothing large, but I think thats how it should be, its amazing to me that it was a whole year already. Josh was the first person I lost that was close to me (My grandpa passed away but it was a little different under the circumstances and I think it was time for my grandpa, he was really sick and held on a good amount of years) and you always hear people talking about how "it felt like just yesterday" and I don't have this amazing memory really, especially not after a year, but I remember everything. I remember exactly what I was doing when my dad called, I remember our exact conversation and I remember everything that was going through my mind.

Weird Thought: I hope this doesn't offend anybody, but I always think about this when people say your loved ones are looking down on you -- so they are in heaven and they can look down on you and watch everything you do? shouldn't there be some kind of censor for that? what if you "watch in" on your parents while they're having sex, or someone showering, like, thats not cool. haha. So I was thinking about this, maybe its like a transcript gets sent to them on a little fax machine, haha. Its a very interesting thought I could probably talk about it for hours on all the possibilites because I really hope there is SOME kind of censorship or warning or somethinggg for both parties sake! haha

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So I never really realized this before but with the career path I've choosen and the industry I am in... I could be famous one day. I think for some reason I always thought any job could make you famous if you were good enough at it, but then I realized MOST jobs thats not true when I look at everyone around me, sorry I love you guys but you have no chance of being famous and being told about in history books lol (dental assistant, secretary, admissions officer, whatever the heck my dad's job title is, physical therapists, and so on) Now I do realize if I ever do become famous it will probably be more within my own industry BUT the last couple articles I've read in Vanity Fair have been about designers & architects (which is always very cool because I feel like they are talking about my friends lol)

I could have an article written about me in Vanity Fair, I could have my own TV show, I could be written about in history/design books. Of course I would have to be really good at what I do but I'm up to that challenge. I don't plan on being famous, but its cool to think that I could.

Of The Week

Song of the week: Train - Soul Sister

Book of the week: Mr. Monk in Trouble I'm a HUGE fan of the show and one of the writers of the show has branched off and started writing novels of the Monk character. This is the 9th book (and I have read them all so far) and the author Lee Goldberg just published the 10th -- you all know how long it takes me to read a book I think my blog said I was reading "Howard Hughes" for about 6 months. I just read 2 books starting my 3rd all within about 3 weeks (all monk books)

Currently Watching: Jon Stewart and his not so sexy new facial hair, it makes him look 60 - not the silver fox i'm in love with, I know its still there though, I haven't given up on him.

Upset of the week: I bought a fleur de lis ring in New Orleans. I remember looking at the rings at the market thinking they would be $5 or $10 and the dealer said $36 so I was like "woah nevermind, bye!" then my dad reminded me "well you don't want a cheap ring" so I went back and bartered down to $26 the ring started turning my finger green and then the day after I got back home, the fleur de lis snapped in half. thats got to be bad karma.

Solution: I found a sterling silver (won't turn my finger green and most likely won't snap in half) fleur de lis ring, almost identical online and purchased it right away with birthday money I had left over from my Aunt JooJoo :)

Annoyance of the week: My computer is in bad shape. Its been in bad shape for awhile ever since my adobe programs wouldnt work or install properly but I can't bare myself to sit on the phone for 5 hours with Adobe to fix it, So I just go across the street to the school campus when I need to work. But now, the internet is ridiculous, at some points I can't even open my email! I'm talking with a friend who works with computers to see what he thinks I should do. I've already ran every possible disk cleanup, optimization, defragment, virus scanner etc. I possibly can. they all come back with "no malicious files" "no corrupted files" its horrible. Its like having a child who is sick and you don't know what to do. haha.

Quote of the week: from the book "Mr. Monk in Trouble" it was just such a great line and way to describe a person "He looked like a peach that had been granted its wish to become human" it reminds me of that line that Jo found "she looked like she had spent her whole life waiting in lines" or something to that affect.

Movies of the week: I just watched 'Amelie' again, its such an amazing movie, it makes you feel so happy after you watch it, its the kind of movie you wish didn't end. I have a full review of it on my movie blog from when I first watched it not too long ago.

new project at school: designing John Mayers tour bus! its a pretty exciting project its me and my good friend, Fanny working on it together. Its actually becoming pretty hard because the research is so different and the regulations and we have to find out how tall it can be, what expand, weight limits all these things that you don't worry about in a building or that we have ever had to know before. not to mention standard codes really don't apply so when you normally know that you need 18" from the back of a chair to a wall you know you can make the distance shorter but what is too small? thats the hard part.

Simple Pleasures: Cracking my neck, I don't know how I do it but I can almost always crack my neck, I have several ways of doing it but most of the time if I cock my neck in the right way, it will crack and its a very satisfying thrill

The Big Easy, It Ain't So Easy

pictures: this on the left is my uncle troy and myself my dad said "look like lovers" and this is what came of it haha we were on a balcony in some bar. below from left to right: my dad and i dancing at the blues club, my mom, dad and i eating our first lucky dogs of the night, and then me with my first hurricane at pat obriens on the first night.

The big trip to Naw'lins. one of the best trips I've ever been on! It was so great that so many people ended up coming with, we had about 20 people in our group and about 5 of them flew in from other states (not including us)

everyone kept asking me "is it what you expected?" but I really didn't know what to expect, but it definitley wasnt anything I could have imagined. for one, heres what amazed me though

1. I thoguht it was really just one street, just bourbon street and all the others were just plain in comparison I never would have realized that the entire french quarter was just as crazy all the way through.

2. the girls and the sex, not just pictures of naked girls outside the strip clubs but the girls practically naked standing right outside wearing pasties, that was the one aspect I didn't like.

3. almost everywhere was cash only, which we never do here in seattle because then you'll get robbed (but one of the locals told me its so they fudge the numbers on what they make)

4. walking around the streets with drinks is always unusual, although everyone told me about that one, but i didnt expect that they would have plastic to go cups ready for when you wanted to leave with your drink

5. they start playing music at 9 in the morning and its not just once you walk in the bar you hear the music, you hear a new song and a new band playing every block

6. their are no codes (building wise) in this town. as a designer i kept noticing all that. there are o ventilation fans in the bathrooms, there are no occupancy loads, i even saw a lot of department of health codes, people making food with bare hands and such (not that its a dirty town i think people just arent as paranoid)

7. they hire people to stand outside their bar just to try and get people walking by to come inside

8. the people in new orleans are scared of the rain. haha.

9. everyone was incredibly nice, i woud have thought at some point i would have ran into someone bitchy but I never did. it was amazing.

10. there is obviously no rules in new orleans, even places that post rules no one abdies by like "one drink minimum" "bathrooms for customers only" "no outside drinks" no one ever said anything to us when we didnt follow these rules.

Freegan or Friggin Gross

I just read one of the latest Monk books (written by Lee Goldberg, one of the former writers for the show. This particular book was “Mr. Monk is Miserable” and is set in Paris, the books are great they are just like the show and whenever I have lent them to friends who haven’t watched the show they enjoyed the books just as much. There’s quite a few of the books I believe he just published the 9th)

Anyways, in this particular book that is set in France a very interesting concept of life is brought about and that is “Freegan” Freegan refers to a particular person who chooses to live their life in a certain way. I’m not sure if this is a real thing, if it’s not, HUGE props to Lee Goldberg because it’s one of the most amazing concepts I’ve ever heard of. Surely, it really only could happen in Paris. Supposively it’s a movement, currently only in Paris but trying to branch out to America and around the world.

This so called way of life is a way of freeing yourself (hence the name) for consumerism. Everyone (according to the story by Goldberg) that is now a Freegan was previously a big corporate snob, addicted to the consumer world and wasting as much as they could. These Freegan live for free. They live in the catacombs below France (an entire world lays beneath the city of sewer tunnels (which is the cleanest sewer in the world by the way) and passageways for the catacombs. (Some of them are squatters and live in houses and apartments that aren’t being occupied “everyone has right to shelter, an empty building is a wasted resource.” But basically they are classy dumpster divers. Technically they could be described as “homeless who live in the sewers and eat trash.” However, this is Paris. These Freegan “shop” in the most expensive neighborhoods where people not only buy good food but have no problem wasting it. they throw away an apple from one bruise, they throw away anything that is past its expiration date (that to them is a consumer parade just to make us buy more food, which let’s face it, expiration dates are not 100% you can certainly eat food that is slight past its marking, some products more than others.) people throw away electronics for things that are newer and prettier. These Freegan have complete living rooms, televisions, computers (they do hack into the cities electric grid and get free cable and electricity, that part isn’t so honorable) but they are clean, they are healthy. They live their life not stealing, but using waste. They are essentially recyclers.

They were described in the book as looking like “an ivy league debate team.” They were all high intellectuals at one point and freed themselves of the shackles of a consumer-society. They do grow mushrooms (a delicacy in France, and sells for a good price) for real necessities in life that they can’t obtain “legally through bargain or trade” like prescription medication or the manure to fertilize their mushroom crops. It’s an anti-materialistic lifestyle, in the book, the “leader” of the Freegan said it was not intended to be a movement, a political statement or a cult (none of which it is) but it can be perceived that way, he made this chose of lifestyle on his own and he was passionate about it and anytime you’re passionate about something, you share it with others and if you can speak well your ideas can sound like brilliance and that’s how the “following” became.

Although I would never actually want to be Freegan, I like having a real home and my own personal possessions and safety and security. It’s a real a great idea and I can see how it attracted so many followers. It’s a romantic idea and if I didn’t describe it well enough read the book because Lee Goldberg explains it wonderfully. It’s such a cool idea because it’s not a political movement, they don’t do protests and riot and such, they are simply living their life on our waste, which recycles it and in a sub-minded way it helps save our environment. We should be able to waste less, I am always inspired by this thought, however I’m horrible at maintaining it.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

why Friends, was and only is one of the best sitcoms on television ever.

1. everyone could relate with at least one of the characters, everyone could refer to themselves as a "rachel" or a "monica" or "i'm a mix of rachel and phoebe" few shows have this oppurtunity

2. and thats because most shows and sitcoms don't have 6 main characters, more often than not the cast is a family (king of queens, according to jim, grounded for life, george lopez, yes dear) occasionally an office (spin city, the drew carrey show, the office) but the show is just about 6 friends and they are such completely different characters that it really reaches audiences

3. there was so much reality to the show, there were scenes when the cast was just watching tv, something that real people really do, and most shows the tv is an after thought its what the actor turns off when someone else walks in the room. They were eating breakfast, not as a scene but just because the scene was taking place in the morning and thats what people would be doing.

4. they approached many different topics, I always loved that they could talk about sex in a funny way, in a way that was appropriate for kids (apart from sex and the city or any other HBO or cable show) i remember some adult made a comment once about how friends is a dirty show because they have pre-marital sex, as a kid, i never even noticed it.

5. they fought, theres two parts about this that i love the first part is that they would have real fights and they wouldnt talk and they would be over issues that real people would fight over whether it was a valid reason or something ridiculous. and the second is that they could say real and almost hurtful things to each other and they could laugh it off, something that REAL friends can do, when they are close enough.

6. it wasnt the kind of show that was against change (for instance gilmore girls could never seem to marry off Lorelai, they coudnt change the theme of the show) they put two of their main characters together and it exploded into a marriage (and theres always someone who ends up getting together or getting married in a group, no group of friends stays single forever) they married outside (phoebe, ross) but they also didnt think "of they all need to be married off, and joey stays single by the last episode)

7. they had great special apperances from julia roberts, bruce willis, paul rudd, robin williams, christina applegate, brad pitt, resse witherspoon, billy crystal, and more. most shows get lucky if they can even get a special apperance and if they do its no where near as good as the ones friends was able to achieve

8. they don't play a laugh track after every sentence, the new shows drive me crazy with that. friends is shot in front of a live audience, sometimes its a real laugh but sometimes the crowd laughs too hard and they have to edit it and put in a fake shorter laugh (but that means they are putting in laugh tracks when its not funny.)

9. they always had more than one thing going on in the show. joey has a story happening and ross and rachel have a story and monica has a story, theres some episodes that i dont really care for the story that involves chandler but the story with phoebe is hilarious and i think thats a really smart way to always keep everyone interest, they really have 6 chances for you to like a story.

10. their characters grew. from promotions, to children, to marriage, its pretty complicated. Rachel started with no job, worked at the coffee shop, got a job at a horrible fashion place, bloomingdales, ralph lauren and then had a toss up between gucci and louis vuitton. ross worked at the museum, went on sabatical, started teaching. none of them stayed with the exact same job for the whole 10 years and that was the smartest thing because most people don't stay in the same job for 10 years.

one, two, three, four I declare thumb war.

Biggest Accomplishment Lately: well 1.) I made dean's list last quarter and I think I'll make it again this quarter. and 2.) I finished and did what I think is a really great job on my Pakistan Community Center

Biggest Disappointment this week: I gave my big presentation on my Pakistan Community Ceter that i've been working on for the last three months and because of an unfortunate series of events I ended up going last and therefore everyone was so exausted (after 18 presentations and about 6 hours) I got NO feedback and that really upsets me.

Newest Revelation: I just realized I love books (not the new revelation) but I really dont like fiction. All the books I've read in the last couple years have been biographies or Hunter Thompson - which is debatable on its truth but since its perceieved as true I love it.

Newest Interest: Science. and I really thank my Science Class I was in and the professor who taught it, I never really liked science but he taught it in such a great way that at the book store today I saw a book on the big bang theory and actually wanted to read it.

- - - - - -

1. the more science I learn, the more "facts" that are supported with real evidence and research the more I stray away from religion.

2. the more I read Hunter Thompson the more I want to read Hunter Thompson

3. i'm amazed when people dont know who HST is, too me thats like not knowing who your mother is.

4. my parents are amazing.

5. my dog is amazing. hes so freaking cute I look at him and smile and although it can be debatable on his behaviour when i'm not around, when I am around hes the perfect dog.

6. "Kylee look its your boyfriend, Jon Stewart" "no no, hes my husband" "hes already married" "no, hes not, hes married to me, i cant be his girlfriend, i wouldnt want to encourage a marital affair." i'm so considerate

7. i'm scared for my future. graduation. job searching. apartment searching. ahhh the real world.

8. i'm scared for our worlds future. and i dont think its going to get any better. not enough that needs to anyways.

9. I'm going to be pissed if Obama doesnt get re-elected for a second term if its based off things like cap and trade and other "unpopular/inconvienent" but NECCESARY things we need to do.

10. well im going to be pissed if he doesnt get reelected regardless. if Bush got a second term Obama better fucking get a second term. and fucking was a very important word for me to use there.

11. I hate TV shows...err how do i explain this, I dont know what the kind of show is called. the opposte of a sitcom? a show you have to watch each week, i hate that. even LOST i never watched on cable I ordered the season disks but even then, I hate being addicted to it. people are always telling me "watch this show" but getting hooked on a TV show is like being addicted to drugs. plus when its over your all bummed out, its not something you want to watch over and over (like friends or seinfeld) you go crazy not knowing what happens next, and it takes forever its not like a movie that takes up to 2 hours. so please, dont recommend or tell me to watch TV shows its actually started to become a huge pet peeve of me.

12. oh also, i have a cell phone, i use it often. but if it dies, so what. sometimes i turn off the ringer, sometimes i leave it in the other room. i dont keep my phone in my hand at all times. dont get mad at me if you cant get ahold of me.

13. dont argue politics, religion, science, really anything you dont know enough about. and dont be too ignorant to say "i dont know that much about this..."

14. I hate fox news, for everything they couuld ever possibly say they actually criticized Obama for being on the gulf coast in "fancy pants" / dockers (in a rolled up, buttoned down button up shirt) HES THE PRESIDENT. what do you expect him to wear?! i really hate fox news. HOW are they still on the air and considered a viable news source

15. i hate Sarah Palin. shes on the cover of newsweek, I didnt get a chance to look at the article but by the title of the article its not against her.

16. i really dont like steven colbert. i find him annoying and full of himself.

Future. Goals & Deadlies.

Right now I'm in a career development class. It's pretty basic we go over our resumes, business cards, interviewing skills, owning your own business etc. One of our assignments was to create 10 personal goals and 10 business goals. 20 freaking goals. thats A LOT of goals. right away I knew I would struggle with it I think only 4-5 of each list were honest, the rest were bullshit and for one very small reason.

I think Goals are bullshit. for me I have a CLEAR distinction between dreams and goals. and it is a very thick solid line. to me "traveling" is not a goal, its a dream. "owning my own home" is a goal. I think my biggest defininitional difference is reality, practicality and importance. One day I will own my own home, its practical, its real and its important. If I don't travel my life doesn't go to shit. thats the difference.

I have a problem with putting things like "marriage" and "kids" on a goal list. I have a bigger problem with "Marriage" ESPECIALLY when you put deadlines on your goal list. "I am going to be married by the time i'm 25" all that does is 3 possible things. 1.) makes you settle. 2.) sets you up for failure and 3.) probably sends you into divorce. I'm not saying you can't be married at 25 to your soulmate and live happily after BUT I think if you desire it in that way, you just might be. How do you know when you're going to fall in love? If you expect happiness comes from a companion and a soulmate and love - you're going to be unhappy when you don't have it. But no where does it ever say you have to be in love and married to be happy, and at whatever age. You can be happy doing whatever you want, with whomever you want.

this is where my animostiy towards life deadlines comes from. (in work and small tasks I love deadlines, I'm a big fan of lists and crossing things off) but when it comes to life I don't believe in deadlines. deadlines are dead. could you imagine if we knew when our lifeline deadline was? if we knew when we were going to die? just think of how different you would live your life. and don't be mistaken, you would live your life differently. you would save differently, you would plan differently, and that would alter you're entire exsistence.

When I handed in my "ten personal goals" and "ten business goals" the one remark my professor wrote was "deadlines" and i wanted to cringe. My main reason for not putting deadlines is because if you do put deadlines and you don't make that deadline you not only failed but you've given up and you will settle. it doesnt matter what the deadline is, when its a personal deadline that you have burned in your brain "by the year 2020" "by the time im 30" the day you turn 30 or the day it turns 2020 could be a very sad day.

i'm not a pessismistic person at all, I'm actually quite optimistic but I'm a someone who always looks at the big picture. My lease is up in 6 months and I have already thought of what my sister and I will split up, what my plans are. I am a natural planner and organizer of my life. (my life is quie put-together and i'm quite organized beneath my slobbiness I think I harbor from my father) I know I have these goals "out there" but to be there is no method of what I accomplish first and how soon or how long it takes.

I think deadlines are just too depressing when it comes to things like goals and life plans. my goals in life are to graduate college, work in an architectural firm in seattle, own a downtown condo and my life is not going to be any different if i do this all within two years or it takes me five years.

I have no idea where my life is going, no one does, its people who try and predict life that think they need these deadlines. when I look back on the last few years every year has been COMPLETELY different from the next. I am young, I change, my life changes, our world is changing. I would rather know I have these goals and to go with the flow of life than pressure myself into a sense of failure.

Obama, The Oil Spill and My Opinions

The three big O's on today’s mind.

The oil spill first off, is not only ridiculous it’s shameful -- not that it happened, but that it’s taken THIS long to not even just be resolved but to have ANY progress on. I think I would even have more respect if they had made several failed attempts. But they – (“they”) sit in meetings all day long trying to figure out what would be the best idea, then they sit on the ideas overnight, a couple days and then they have more meetings and its really despicable the way they acting with no urgency. I can understand their position in not wanting to make a wrong move but honestly – could it get that much worse? (Although in saying that, I know it could, but in this sense of urgency wouldn’t you want to try something?)

But the reason I am writing this is because of all this blame on Obama. Now it’s no secret I’m not only a fan of Obama, I am a follower and – whatever I am in response to him being my hero and idol – that’s what I am. I follow his political career and although I’m sure I have a biased eye – I know when he has done something wrong, I don’t deny his mistakes but I keep my faith in him.
In this case, I would like to unbiased-ly say that I don’t think Obama has done anything wrong. Granted he hasn’t necessarily done anything “right” but that doesn’t make him wrong. What I have to look at is the alternatives. If you are someone who is unhappy with Obama during this oil spill situation – what exactly did you want him to do? Money is not the issue here. Legislation and politics really plays no part at all - it is solely ideas and maybe resources. Do you expect Obama to know more about science and oil drilling than the professionals he and we have employed to know all about? Do you expect Obama to go down to Louisiana and swim down and plug up the leak on his own? He has done all that he can, as a president, can do. Regardless of what kind of president he is. A democratic president, a republican president, a horrible president, a good president. He is a politician, he is a leader, and I’m making this point not to make him sound inferior or “that’s all he is” I want to point it out because I know there are people out there who are thinking that he should have this higher intelligence and he should know exactly how to solve this problem. And the truth is – he shouldn’t.

He has halted the progress of all the other off-shore drilling we had planned for our future and I would like to predict that they probably won’t happen at all – not anytime soon and if they do happen it will be when we know exactly how to solve big crisis’ and it will be with big changes in regulations for these drills. He has pushed and leaned on BP as far as he can – what do you want him to do – hold a gun to their head?

A lot of people have been saying “Obama this is your Katrina” well if it is, I think he’s done his job. Don’t forget when Bush was in the white house and Katrina happened – calls were not made, decisions were not made, Bush himself didn’t even get to Louisiana for three days after it happened. These are two completely different situations if you’re looking at whether or not the president did his job.

Because again, I ask you, what was Obama supposed to do, that he didn’t do?

The Kitchen Readings

I know I have been abent from the blogosophere for quite some time now and I will get around to getting back to the other blogs in the circle as soon as finals are over.

surprsingly though, in the mist of my craze of stress and homework I always found time to read. mainly because it was my "get away" and it kept me sane. but also mainly because the book I happened to be reading was amazing. you guys have heard me post blogs "still reading..." it took me like 9 months to read that book about Howard Hughes (which i loved! but still couldnt just sit down and read it.) but this book was different.

this book is called 'The Kitchen Readings' its written by Michael Cleverly and Bob Braudis. Never heard of them? don't worry you shouldn't know them, they aren't writers and although Cleverly is an artist, they aren't famous. They were two of the best friends of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson and this book is full of stories about the great HST.

its in a completely different light though. its not all about his gonzo, firearms, illegal actions, drug snorting, alcohol using lifestyle. its in there, but in a completely admirable way somehow. you're reading these stories and the underlying "facts" come out that this guy is an asshole, this guy is crazy. But the way they write about him, and the way they describe who he truly is -- you find it all funny, charming, endearing, its really quite amazing.

I'm writing this blog, because I just finished the book (it took me 2 weeks to finish this book, in the heat of finals, stress, weird sleep patterns, I finished the book. They cleverly organized the stories somewhat choronically and with purpose. the last two chapters are about hunters death, which i was completely unaware of.

I knew HST had died, but through this book I learned how recently and the moment I started crying was when I read that Hunter took his own life. the book goes back and forth between stories from Cleverly and Braudis and the very last 2 chapters talk about the last time they were with Hunter when he was alive. Braudis was with Hunter the very night before and both of them recalled Hunter being in a great mood, having fun, what they referred to as "vintage" Hunter the last time they saw him.

Hunter had a spinal replacement surgery and that took a huge toll on him and what really started all his medical pain and "problems" he went through a horrble detox when he was in the hospital from alcohol and his drugs and the physical therapy rehab after he was released was just as painful as not doing anything. Braudis recalls nights when they would sit in front of the fire and Hunter would tell him about the stresses of his life - i guess an insight of why he ended up doing what he did. I think ultimately though it was the pain (physical medical pain)

the one thing I have to say though is that as much of a Hunter fan as I have always been ever since I read "Rum Diary" I always took Hunter for someone I would want to read about, and even maybe watch in a movie, but never someone I would want to meet, I always took him for this total junkie, asshole, out of control nut (which to some credit he is) but these "untold stories" provide a completely different side to him, in that he is someone I would completely want to meet and be friends with and I would want to sit in his kitchen with him and be part of that circle (Hunters kitchen was the "headquarters" and was where they all hung out and just sat around and discussed politics and everything else)

and so when I read about his death and how his friends felt. I was actually bawling, so much I couldnt see the words on the page. I had fallen in love with this man through these stories.

Michael Cleverly had two read great passages I just had to write down and now I want to share them

"perhaps when we age and our senses become less acute, our vision and hearing dim. its so that when we finally leave this world, we won't miss it so much."

and my favorite

"people are still reading Hunter, as they have been for decades. I dont know if his books have ever gone out of print. One reason people read him is because he was very funny. he was very funny because he was very smart and because he was honest. Hunter was a 68 year old man who spoke to young people. he was a boozer and a druggie who spoke to people who never embraced booze or drugs themselves and he was a liberal who spoke to people whose political learnings were far away from his own. we all recognized that there was something in Hunter hat we could only hope to see in ourselves; an utter lack of hypocrisy. when Hunter was being brutally honest with those around him it could sometimes be unpleasant but he was just as honest about himself. he didnt sugarcoat it."

the part i bolded was the part that I felt like jumping up and saying "that's me! that's me!" I always fear that people who dont understand what it is like to read Hunter will judge me when they know hes a druggie and a boozer thinking that I commesorate with him or have something in common with him. because I dont have a single thing in common with him other than our share for politics and stories.

needless to say. I highly recommend this book. I feel like in some ways some of the stories have actually maybe changed my life. which could launch me into a whole nother' blog and this one is long enough.

Overly Sanitary vs. Saving The Planet

I am known to be one to watch television, quite a lot of television actually, and I actually quite like commercials (good ones anyways, and ones they don't play 1,000 times so they drive you crazy) and I started noticing a trend in commercials and new products on the market. well two trends actually the first being Green, of course. and the second being what I can only call "overly sanitary" from swiffer mops to dryer sheets... is it really necessary?

lets start with the big ones.

1. Swiffer Mops - Now I use a swiffer, I love it, its really clean and I have a thing to be able to see the dirt I've just removed, its like a sense of accomplishment or something - but at the same time you have to put new pads on the "mop" every time you use them. you throw them away after you're done and without research I still say with a fine amount of certainty that those pads are not either compostable or biodegradable and they end up sitting in landfills.

Alternative: Real Old fashioned mops with the yarn or sponge heads; you do need a bucket of water and some kind of soap though.

Necessity: High

2. Dryer Sheets - now is the need to "fluff" your clothes or make them smell nice really all that important? does the static bother you that much? cause I gotta tell you, I haven't been using dryer sheets for months now; my clothes still smell good from my laundry detergent, i dont find I need them "fluffed" and I've never been shocked by static.

Alternative: Don't use them. OR I have seen a new product where you stick this "thing" in your dryer (im thinking its magnetic) for about 3-4 months and it acts as a dryer sheet each time you run your dryer. i believe its made out of plastic which is normally recyclable

Necessity: low

3. Paper Towels - I am totally a hypocrite on the subject of paper towels. they are the worst thing on the planet, yet I do use them, there is a sanitary aspect there, you use your towel or sponge that you've also used to wipe up raw meat, fresh vegetables I mean it just can't be sanitary. but your killing innocent trees; couldn't we wash our towels more often and have designated sponges?

Alternative: sponges, towels, and cloth napkins

Necessity: medium

4. Floss - I thought of this one the other night as I go on about these "cleaning" products I never stopped to think outside of the box. Floss- we need/use a new piece (usually pick a strand longer than needed) every time we floss and then throw it away. now my argument is this whole "disposable" idea however I don't know what happens to floss. its relatively almost microscopic; even if wasn't biodegradable i don't know if it would have any harm on the environment but its an interesting thought, isn't it?

Alternative: rotting teeth

Necessity: HIGH

5. Toilet Paper - again, like the floss, its on the same level however this isn't about the waste this is about the creation; do we really need to kill trees so we can wipe our bums? surely there are better alternatives out there, I'm not for the idea of using a cloth and rewashing them and the idea of a bidet is just different -- but whatever the alternative is going to be is going to be different than what we are used to.

Alternative: cloths, bidets and -- not using anything.

Necessity: high

those are my ideas. the end. can you think of any others?

Stephen Hawking; How The Universe Works

So I wanted to really start a discussion about this whole thing because it was so intriguing to me. In my science class (my last Gen Ed of class! woo hoo!) we always start class by what science has been in the news and occasionally we bring up specials that come on the discovery channel and we talk about Stephen Hawking all the time (if you are unfamilar (cause before this class i didnt know who he was, now i notice him in the news ALL the time) but he's basically the Albert Einstein of our time and he's really quite famous having TV apperances and writing best selling books)

anyways, i just watched this special on the discovery channel 'into the universe with Stephen Hawking' basically about his point of view of how the universe was formed and then how its going to end. its actually quite fascinating because its breaking the rules of what some people have thought. he talks about the big bang theory (he believes in it fully) from the scientific point of view it makes complete sense, and he explains everything so brillantly (in COMPLETE lamans terms) which is always the true sign of a true genius (to be able to explain it everyone)

but the big discussion is this whole new confirmation of black holes (and there was a special right before this all about black holes so i got a little more education on it before i watched.) but basically a black hole is a completely real thing, i believe they have evidence and proof now and they are working on getting telescopes to work large enough to discover black holes and have visual proof.







a black hole is basically when a star burns out the energy starts disipiate and get smaller and smaller (but the energy stays the same so its smaller and smaller but just get more dense and then eventually creates this black hole where all this energy and gravity is pulling in EVERYTHING including light.) the theory that black hole is a portal that can transport you is just a theory and just a myth but some scientist say it could be possible, they just think it seems unlikely that if you end up in a black hole you die (although I think if there is that much energy in the center of this black hole - how would you survive?) and in the special before hawkins someone suggested that we could be living in a black hole







now I agree with him when it comes to the "creator" (i read online he doesnt talk about it much but he is truly agnostic; the i dont know religion) and people believe that God created this perfect world in this universe with a perfect sun (its just so unique that we live on a planet that has all the elements we need to live, from the perfect distance from the sun, with a sun that is big enough to burn for as long as we truly need it.) but his explanation was along the lines that there were several solar systems like this; but one solar system the sun was too close and it didnt last, another that didnt have enough hydrogen and it didnt last and ours was just the one that ended up getting everything and ended up working out.







but thats what makes me think (and he said something along the lines of life on others planets "but thats a whole nother story") there could easily be other life - but i just dont thik its life on other planets i think it other universes, in other solar systems and they are probably people just like us - not green 5 eyed things but it all just sounds like a good idea right now there is still the underlying cause "where did it all FIRSTTTTTT come from" the stars from the very beginning, everything before the big bang, where did THAT come from.







its actually still on right now and hes talking about how Mars is truly the next step (and Obama just passed some kind of bill to do more research about Mars and having life on Mars (I joked with my science class thats where we will put all the criminals (but it goes from 80 degrees to negative 120 degrees within a matter of minutes) but mars has no ozone layer to protect it from radiation and people might have to live under ground or in protective domes (basically living conditions wouldnt be great) but hes talking about ways of changing Mars to make it habitable and give it what we need.







the reason that mars is such an important research of "can we live here" is because (well in my opinion, we are running out of space due to growing population, and how we are slowly killing our planet) someday we might actually need to live there but "armageddon" is completely real - it has happened before and it will happen again but we dont know when its going to happen and theres nothing we can do to stop it, so we kind of need an evacauation plan - we need to be ready.







another issue is that the sun gets hotter and brighter by 6% every billion years and in another some billion years the earth will be -- well not the earth. (thats an adaption of what hawking said.) and the sun will get bigger and bigger and will eventually (billions of years from now) will obleteroate the earth

apparently there is a planet in another universe that is just like ours (all the same elements that provide us the ability of life) and there planet and sun is larger than ours...the problem is that its 20 light years away (with a certain theortical rocket) we could get to "lisa" (maybe its "glisa") which travels 11,000 miles a second but it would still take 320 years to get there.

the rocket that would travel to glisa's biggest problem is going to be financial - the generation now would pay for it and then never see it again (because it takes so long to get there we would all die before we knew anything) and so they say that the people going on the rocket would have to finance it but with the average light expectancy of only 75 no one would survive the whole trip they would have to bring children and reproduce large amounts along the way (which im sure would bring upon other problems im sure no one has ever 1.) gotten pregnant in space 2.) been pregnant in space and 3.) given birth in space.

its all such interesting discussion and it refreshing to hear these kind of off-the-walls suggestions and theories from the smartest man on our planet.