le sigh le sigh...it's getting fucking cold here guys. it's like 37 degrees. eeemagine!!!
i did a lot of reading today in my office and classes and what not and tomorrow is going to be basically the same thing. but tonight as with all tuesday nights i ended up at josh's with drew for a little "night cap." thus is life as a professional student. somehow we ended up watching raiders of the lost arc and now in our old age we began to ponder certain incongruent facts of the movie. like...why does indie pack a whip? like what made him think, "my weapon of choice is a whip?" I mean really why? drew reminded us that as we see in 3rd indiana jones they explain that indie got stuck on a circus train with lions and found a whip and tamed the lions with said whip. My question was though, did they know about this before they wrote raiders of the lost arc or were they like years later "dude why does indie use a whip? we really need to tie that into the 3rd movie." things that we will never know...
then cathy called me and informed me that she was currently at pac sunwear purchasing some board shorts. i found this such an odd juxtaposition with the fact that it is currently 37degrees in ann arbor and i'm in the process of searching for a poofy jacket to survive the winter. guys 37 degrees!! or as the locals call it "a nice fall briskness." fall!! it's not even winter and it's 37 degrees! wha t the fuck! cathy is buying board shorts and it's 37 degrees out here!! alright, i got a nice buzz and i'm gonna go to sleep...leeeee siiiighhhh
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Monday, September 18, 2006
what lurks in your bag lettuce
guys i have to tell you about a new fear that is currently pervading my life! my life i say! a few months ago back in the days of SF, which oddly enough i realize now was way more than a few months ago but whatever. Point being.... dan ivan and i were tivoing 60 minutes not because we actually watch 60 minutes because we are way too shallow for real news. Instead rather i believe we were tivoing it because angelina jolie was going to be interviewed in namibia. Ok so again i digress, the first report was this really dramatic woman travelling through the midwest talking to people who had gotten ecoli from eating bag lettuce. apparently bag lettuce is like a really bad thing and you could die. but the best part, and we rewound it a couple of times because it was so enjoyable, was the part when the woman shows a bag of lettuce and it zooms in and very dramatically pauses as the woman informed us that "you don't know what lurks in your BAG LETTUCE!!!" and it was funny and i didn't think too much about it nor did i heed her warning.
well let's zoom forward to the present where i was the purchaser of said bag of lettuce last week at the super market. well anyways i ate that bag lettuce and there was still a bit left. But yesterday ozan, josh, drew, and i went to meijer which is like a whole different entry in and of itself (one stop shopping! it's like the poor man's walmart. i know right, you didn't think you could get poorer than walmart, but turns out you can). So i was noticing my basket compared to the boys basket of food. mine had things like soy milk, kashi cereal, fruit, cold cuts, meats, canned veggies. Ozan and josh on the other hand had hungry man frozen dinners, lots of pasta for making casseroles (their new big thing), cream of various disgusting things soup, and stove top stuffing among other things. So i asked drew about the kinds of food that he ate since i figured drew is a much more functional human being than the boys are. he listed of various healthy meals etc etc and then he got on the topic of bag spinach and we started talking about how bag spinach is bad and tainted and then i started thinking about my bag lettuce back home and how i really DIDN'T know what might be lurking in my bag lettuce. anyways this morning i decided to wake up and cook my meals for the week and consequently i came across that very same bag of lettuce from last week and i meant to use it to dress my sangwhich but in the end i stuck my hand in it and got the fear.
WHAT WAS LURKING IN MY BAG LETTUCE!! could it be ecoli...or maybe....or maybe the plague...or maybe cher in a bob mackey outfit singing "if i could turn back time"! ok wait that last one would be AWESOME. But seriously guys maybe it was just lettuce. i didnt' want to risk it so i threw it away. so i write this warning to you all, beware of your bag lettuce. for the love of god people just buy the head of lettuce or the bushel of spinach and wash that shit yourself! it could save your life for reals.
well let's zoom forward to the present where i was the purchaser of said bag of lettuce last week at the super market. well anyways i ate that bag lettuce and there was still a bit left. But yesterday ozan, josh, drew, and i went to meijer which is like a whole different entry in and of itself (one stop shopping! it's like the poor man's walmart. i know right, you didn't think you could get poorer than walmart, but turns out you can). So i was noticing my basket compared to the boys basket of food. mine had things like soy milk, kashi cereal, fruit, cold cuts, meats, canned veggies. Ozan and josh on the other hand had hungry man frozen dinners, lots of pasta for making casseroles (their new big thing), cream of various disgusting things soup, and stove top stuffing among other things. So i asked drew about the kinds of food that he ate since i figured drew is a much more functional human being than the boys are. he listed of various healthy meals etc etc and then he got on the topic of bag spinach and we started talking about how bag spinach is bad and tainted and then i started thinking about my bag lettuce back home and how i really DIDN'T know what might be lurking in my bag lettuce. anyways this morning i decided to wake up and cook my meals for the week and consequently i came across that very same bag of lettuce from last week and i meant to use it to dress my sangwhich but in the end i stuck my hand in it and got the fear.
WHAT WAS LURKING IN MY BAG LETTUCE!! could it be ecoli...or maybe....or maybe the plague...or maybe cher in a bob mackey outfit singing "if i could turn back time"! ok wait that last one would be AWESOME. But seriously guys maybe it was just lettuce. i didnt' want to risk it so i threw it away. so i write this warning to you all, beware of your bag lettuce. for the love of god people just buy the head of lettuce or the bushel of spinach and wash that shit yourself! it could save your life for reals.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
weekend recap
i gotta say i have been a complete and total waste of space the past day and a half. i'm currently sitting in my office clearly writing this instead of reading about statistics. tomorrow i am going ot have to be really intense about reading or else i'll fall behind. grad school is SO EXTREME! anyways Friday night was truly the definition of GOOD times. my housemates threw a party and so a few of my peeps came over and we partied in my basement and played some drinking game called "get on the bus" or "ride the bus" or something. clearly it was a good game since i can't actually remember the title nor how to play it. anyways between like 7 of us we finished off a handle and a bunch of beers and a case of smirnoff ice. we are lushes. we were also a majority of the latino caucus of umich which probably explains the lush factor. Anyways here are some photos of that good night. it was so good that people styaed until 4 am and then we went to fernandos house for left over pizza and then i didn't go to bed until like 5:30. The next day josh woke me up and 9 becuase i had promised him we'd go to the mall to give him a make over. i was so tired and hung over i just kept yelling "why???!" and "wretched!!!" we came back to he and ozan's apartment around noon and watched when harry met sally and i passed out on their couch for an hour while they cleaned their apartment. then josh came to my house and i made him watch survivor. he peaced out and i fell asleep watching a celebrity fit club marathon. then i went to some house party down the street for higher ed where i was promised some dinner by ozan. turned out dinner meant bagle bites and pizza minis and twinkies. nice, very nice. ozan and i tried to rally and headed out to pj's to meet up with some peeps and i decided i wasnt' going to drink that night so that i coudl function on sunday. well by not drinking i meant i'd only have 2 drinks, which is almost like not drinking. turns out ann arbor by night when sober is kind of boring. but we ended the night on a high note as we danced to this 20 minute jam rendition of "i'm every woman" and all kinds of white ladies where doing crazy dance moves that i cannot put into words. and now here i am....learning stats. it's like "hi, i'm in delaware."
the night started out with the obligatory fernando posing like a cholo picture. next to him is Adam, our new friend/pot dealer. very exciting for everyone.
here is my one azian friend Hugo! he's cool and all about political action and i think he's thai but i like to pretend that he's filipino because his name is hugo and that sounds latin. and then there is kristine, my nica (short for nicaraguense) friend from women's studies. she's ghetto but cool
note my new red couch. eeemagine. i don't remember what incited the arm raising but it must have been very exciting. it's also nice to see that hwen it comes to that elusive red cup, it crosses all age gaps.
this is the quintessential ozan dance move. there is a lot of fist pumping, a lot of jumping, and a lot tight eye shutting. he gets really into it. also note the missing paint on my walls from the water damage. i think the white part kind of looks like jesus with a dove above his head but it could just be the catholic in me.
me and fernando. i had to make him swear he would not do a cholo pose. on the other hand i am clearly drunk.
here is me an dmy new gay boyfriend daveed. he's cuban and from wisconsin and has a fiance back home and he's generally kind of ridiculous and loud and i taught him the meaning of faching so i think we get alog well
this was a crazy hawaiin chick named rika who was trying to give david a lap dance. she was pretty smashed and proceeded to give said lap dance to every guy in the room.
sexy
and thus the weekend has come to an end. le sigh indeed.
the night started out with the obligatory fernando posing like a cholo picture. next to him is Adam, our new friend/pot dealer. very exciting for everyone.
here is my one azian friend Hugo! he's cool and all about political action and i think he's thai but i like to pretend that he's filipino because his name is hugo and that sounds latin. and then there is kristine, my nica (short for nicaraguense) friend from women's studies. she's ghetto but cool 
note my new red couch. eeemagine. i don't remember what incited the arm raising but it must have been very exciting. it's also nice to see that hwen it comes to that elusive red cup, it crosses all age gaps. 
this is the quintessential ozan dance move. there is a lot of fist pumping, a lot of jumping, and a lot tight eye shutting. he gets really into it. also note the missing paint on my walls from the water damage. i think the white part kind of looks like jesus with a dove above his head but it could just be the catholic in me. 
me and fernando. i had to make him swear he would not do a cholo pose. on the other hand i am clearly drunk. 
here is me an dmy new gay boyfriend daveed. he's cuban and from wisconsin and has a fiance back home and he's generally kind of ridiculous and loud and i taught him the meaning of faching so i think we get alog well
this was a crazy hawaiin chick named rika who was trying to give david a lap dance. she was pretty smashed and proceeded to give said lap dance to every guy in the room. 
sexy
and thus the weekend has come to an end. le sigh indeed.
Friday, September 15, 2006
PICTURES! AND RANDOM BARS
so last night was a thursday night which in mich terms was just another excuse to go out. so we did, and i brought my camera and took pictures to prove that i do in fact kind of have friends. the night started at 8 when the boys and i were going to watch survivor: black vs. white vs latino vs. asian! it was going ot be awesome! sadly though due to some technical difficulties with the guys' cable that plan was scratched. Luckily i tivoed that shit at my house and it truly was amazing when i watched it this morning. seriously, ya'll need to watch, so fascinating. So then we decided to start the night out early and head to some sports bar where the business school was having a party. lame. business school parties always make you feel like you are at a grown up frat party. also i hate sports bars for various reasons including that i don't like beer or sports so the whole thing is kind of lost on me.
Luckily though ozan and josh agreed that this place sucked alot so then we headed to a few other bars and ended up later later that night we met up with fernando and drew. Ozan was digging this chick and oddly enough i recognized as going to stanford. so we chatted, i introduced them and was a fantastic wing man. who knew? so this bar that we ended up going to was v. random. It's called the circus bar and they randomly have karaoke mixed with a dj and the theme is circus so they have like free popcorn on the tables and a popcorn machine and wierd clown shit everywhere and this giant stuffed lion jumping out of a fiery hoop on the wall behind the bar. Oh and random fun house mirrors everywhere. seriously that and liquor make for a very strange night where you feel like the scene in "fear and loathing in las vegas" when they enter circus circus. i brilliant theme bar i think. Anyways michigan karaoke is really different from cali karaoke. they sing like "sweet home alabama" and wierd this like that. they didn't even have "living on a prayer" on their song list. i don't know, i have yet to be impressed. i did sing some journey and i did get the party started because you know michigan peeps totes love journey as you can eeemagine. The best part about circus bar though was their drink specials. .55 cent pbr's! eeeeeeemagine!!! where in the world can you buy a beer for .55 cents. i don't even drink beer but i couldn't say no to that deal plus people were buying "rounds" for like 2.75 so i had a couple and it was good times. nothing like some good old pbr to get people excited and bonding. Anyways there was double fisting galore. Then we went downstairs to this other place called live at pj's which was not live but rather had some awesome 80's hip hop playing and we all got up and danced to some bel biv devoe. there i ran into the gayest straight man i have ever met, lloyd who is filipino, and chubby and gay but not gay and generally just kind of awesome. we sang careless whisper together and talked about how you really can't "trust a big butt and a smile." truth, guys, truth. and without further ado, photographs.
Josh and I having a cocktail. Note the fiery ring in the back of the bar as discussed above. Anyways oddly this picture looks like i stood next to a random guy at the bar and told my friends "take a picture quick quick!" But i actually do know josh, he was just in a pissy mood and thus not too excited about the picture taking.
Joshy and drew being amorous. Drew is "that guy" who always looks like he hates going out yet he goes out all the time and acts like he's not having a good time even though you know he secretly is haviing a good time. that's drew.
This seems ot be Fernando's pictures face as this is the face he always has in all his pictures. something about being a "hard foo."
my question is, what is going on with my hair? like seriously. focus on the beer.
Ozan being all loud and shit and Drew. do you see how Ozan kind of borders on being a frat boy. he's good peeps.
At one point drew was double fisting and had this brilliant realization that he could store his extra beer in his chest pocket. I later had a brilliant realizatoin that i could suck from the teet of the drew.
I like to call this picture "alcoholism"
See we were actually posing in the background so we thought we were taking a real picture with our beers but it just turned into a pictures OF our beers.
Point of all these pics being, i hope you all appreeeccceeeeiate that when we are not drinking all of us are working hard to fix the gaps in the education system in america so that someday your kids can go to harvard. word!
Luckily though ozan and josh agreed that this place sucked alot so then we headed to a few other bars and ended up later later that night we met up with fernando and drew. Ozan was digging this chick and oddly enough i recognized as going to stanford. so we chatted, i introduced them and was a fantastic wing man. who knew? so this bar that we ended up going to was v. random. It's called the circus bar and they randomly have karaoke mixed with a dj and the theme is circus so they have like free popcorn on the tables and a popcorn machine and wierd clown shit everywhere and this giant stuffed lion jumping out of a fiery hoop on the wall behind the bar. Oh and random fun house mirrors everywhere. seriously that and liquor make for a very strange night where you feel like the scene in "fear and loathing in las vegas" when they enter circus circus. i brilliant theme bar i think. Anyways michigan karaoke is really different from cali karaoke. they sing like "sweet home alabama" and wierd this like that. they didn't even have "living on a prayer" on their song list. i don't know, i have yet to be impressed. i did sing some journey and i did get the party started because you know michigan peeps totes love journey as you can eeemagine. The best part about circus bar though was their drink specials. .55 cent pbr's! eeeeeeemagine!!! where in the world can you buy a beer for .55 cents. i don't even drink beer but i couldn't say no to that deal plus people were buying "rounds" for like 2.75 so i had a couple and it was good times. nothing like some good old pbr to get people excited and bonding. Anyways there was double fisting galore. Then we went downstairs to this other place called live at pj's which was not live but rather had some awesome 80's hip hop playing and we all got up and danced to some bel biv devoe. there i ran into the gayest straight man i have ever met, lloyd who is filipino, and chubby and gay but not gay and generally just kind of awesome. we sang careless whisper together and talked about how you really can't "trust a big butt and a smile." truth, guys, truth. and without further ado, photographs.
Josh and I having a cocktail. Note the fiery ring in the back of the bar as discussed above. Anyways oddly this picture looks like i stood next to a random guy at the bar and told my friends "take a picture quick quick!" But i actually do know josh, he was just in a pissy mood and thus not too excited about the picture taking.
Joshy and drew being amorous. Drew is "that guy" who always looks like he hates going out yet he goes out all the time and acts like he's not having a good time even though you know he secretly is haviing a good time. that's drew. 
This seems ot be Fernando's pictures face as this is the face he always has in all his pictures. something about being a "hard foo."
my question is, what is going on with my hair? like seriously. focus on the beer.Ozan being all loud and shit and Drew. do you see how Ozan kind of borders on being a frat boy. he's good peeps.
At one point drew was double fisting and had this brilliant realization that he could store his extra beer in his chest pocket. I later had a brilliant realizatoin that i could suck from the teet of the drew. 
I like to call this picture "alcoholism"
See we were actually posing in the background so we thought we were taking a real picture with our beers but it just turned into a pictures OF our beers.Point of all these pics being, i hope you all appreeeccceeeeiate that when we are not drinking all of us are working hard to fix the gaps in the education system in america so that someday your kids can go to harvard. word!
Thursday, September 14, 2006
YEAR OF THE DOG!!
it's back guys! and with a fucking vengeance! i have to get ready for class so i can't go into the details of which i know nothing yet but basically an entire wall (including the one that holds my tv i might add, is currently leaking water!! ahh! i don't know what this menas as far as "can i live in this room" "will there be mildew and shit growing" but basically i know this is not good! fuck!!!!!!!!!!! and now i have to move my tv and i might have to unplug tivo. why????!!!
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Dancing In Heaven
so i'm watching the dancing with the stars results show. i admit it guys, i love ABC's crappy family programming. Extreme makeover home edition is the bomb as is dancing with the stars! So i gotta say favorites, emitt smith. who knew! Also i love his partner. I also love vivica A. Fox. I'm really upset though because i accidentally missed the first 20 
minutes yesterday and consequently missed this! Bald dancing joey lawrence! damnit!! this was the only reason i was going to watch. Apparently i read that he came out in a cowboy outfit, did lik e a jump kick and tore his pants. can't believe i missed it. But actually what made the show even more worth watching was Mario Lopez and all the stereotypical words they used to describe him like "latino" "spicy" "lover" "hoooottttt". ok we get it, he's latin. Also he can dance but in that really sleazy "hi my name is RRRrrrramon" kind of way. Actually it's literally like "hi my name is maaaarrrrrio." it kind of grosses me out . Also he's AC Slater and we just can't go there.
On another Saved by the bell note, i had a very Jesse Spano "I'm so excited" kind of moment today when i found out i had to back up my computer and reinstall windows. it seemed liek a really stressful horrid thing to have to do at the time and i definitely starting flipping out wiht fernando randomly talking about the year of the dog striking again and now i think he thinks i'm crazy. Also all of this computer stress was causing my hyperhydrosis to act up like what thus in the end i felt very "scared...i'm so scared zach!" crisis averted though, turns out reinstalling windows when you have an external hardrive is not such a big deal..i mean it still sucked and i still had to buy said external harddrive but now that it's all over i feel rejuvinated and born again.
On another note, anyone else see this yesterday. Lindsey Lohan's faching! ahh!! Shaved faching! ahh!
minutes yesterday and consequently missed this! Bald dancing joey lawrence! damnit!! this was the only reason i was going to watch. Apparently i read that he came out in a cowboy outfit, did lik e a jump kick and tore his pants. can't believe i missed it. But actually what made the show even more worth watching was Mario Lopez and all the stereotypical words they used to describe him like "latino" "spicy" "lover" "hoooottttt". ok we get it, he's latin. Also he can dance but in that really sleazy "hi my name is RRRrrrramon" kind of way. Actually it's literally like "hi my name is maaaarrrrrio." it kind of grosses me out . Also he's AC Slater and we just can't go there.On another Saved by the bell note, i had a very Jesse Spano "I'm so excited" kind of moment today when i found out i had to back up my computer and reinstall windows. it seemed liek a really stressful horrid thing to have to do at the time and i definitely starting flipping out wiht fernando randomly talking about the year of the dog striking again and now i think he thinks i'm crazy. Also all of this computer stress was causing my hyperhydrosis to act up like what thus in the end i felt very "scared...i'm so scared zach!" crisis averted though, turns out reinstalling windows when you have an external hardrive is not such a big deal..i mean it still sucked and i still had to buy said external harddrive but now that it's all over i feel rejuvinated and born again.
On another note, anyone else see this yesterday. Lindsey Lohan's faching! ahh!! Shaved faching! ahh!
Monday, September 11, 2006
First day of the rest of my life
So today i woke up early, around 8, went to talk about the multicultural affairs guy about potentially helping him create a "cohesive latino community." The cuban and i outlines a game plan and he loves us and we might work with him. Very exciting. dissertation on mexican american identity here i come! Then it was about 9:30 and i headed to my office in the basement of the school of ed, and proceeded to read straight for like 4 or 5 hours. i went to a meeting in there somewhere and then i also went to the gym! eeemagine me running for 10 minutes straight! this is alot for me. i walked on high incline the rest of the time and ran a little bit in there but the point is that i did 10 minutes without stopping. i think partially the reason i was able to do this was that i was runinng in front of the mirror, which was a first time for me. all this timei was thinking i looked like a goof while running, but turns out i looked like all the other treadmill runners and thus my confidence was built and thus i went that extra few minutes and just fucking ran.
The odd thing about toda ywas that i read and did shcool work like it was my job because in essence it is basically my job. it was very strange to be reading, and talking about and critically thinking about things tha ti actulaly care about and being paid for them. i've spent the past year kind of forgetting what my purpose and passion was and so when i got here and people were asking me about my research project i couldn't relaly verbalize it but i'm slowly getting it back. minority identtity development, specifically academic and ethnic identity. more specifically how awareness of negative stereotypes like affirmative action and "the achievement gap" affect self esteem of minority students and consequently cause mediating effects on their academic identity and performance in school. don't i sound like i know waht i'm talking about.
on a lighter note, then josh and i went to the 8ball saloon and drank and listened to tom waits and waxed lyrical on things like when his sister first got her period (i know why?) and when we lost our virginities and just general things that one talks about in a seedy bar where drinks cost $3 and tom waits is playing in the background. Ann arbor continues to border on depressing but bearable. it's wierd, i cannot put into words. If i had no friends and no boyfriend waiting for me in SF and no alcohol i would hate it. but as long as i have at least 1 of those things i think i'm good.
The odd thing about toda ywas that i read and did shcool work like it was my job because in essence it is basically my job. it was very strange to be reading, and talking about and critically thinking about things tha ti actulaly care about and being paid for them. i've spent the past year kind of forgetting what my purpose and passion was and so when i got here and people were asking me about my research project i couldn't relaly verbalize it but i'm slowly getting it back. minority identtity development, specifically academic and ethnic identity. more specifically how awareness of negative stereotypes like affirmative action and "the achievement gap" affect self esteem of minority students and consequently cause mediating effects on their academic identity and performance in school. don't i sound like i know waht i'm talking about.
on a lighter note, then josh and i went to the 8ball saloon and drank and listened to tom waits and waxed lyrical on things like when his sister first got her period (i know why?) and when we lost our virginities and just general things that one talks about in a seedy bar where drinks cost $3 and tom waits is playing in the background. Ann arbor continues to border on depressing but bearable. it's wierd, i cannot put into words. If i had no friends and no boyfriend waiting for me in SF and no alcohol i would hate it. but as long as i have at least 1 of those things i think i'm good.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
random stuff
So today ozan and i drove to the local ikea which seemed like miles away but barely took a quarter of a tank. Anyways 4 hours of ikea later i felt that ozan and i were officially bonded for life. seriously a really intense trip to ikea can really make people friends forever "Rremember that time we went to ikea..." it's deep. Anyways i bought a couch. v. exciting!! and it's not a futon it's like a legit couch that i could move at some point in my life. and it's not some wierd euro furniture it could pass for being a real couch and this excites me because it's almost like having real furnitre and as i said before, having real furniture is the first step into semi adulthood for a grad student. yay for me! anyways then we kicked it as his place, created mood lighting and then watched best in show with a bunch of random people. i think josh is sleeping with a 19 year old undergrad because this random very quiet girl was there and we were all too scared to ask her what deparmtnet she was in for fear that she would say "oh i haven't declared a major yet." i felt dirty afterwards. Fernando came over to watch some important football game on their big screen but we were too scared to let him know that in fact the cable in kerrytown was all out. big fat bummer indead. Then i met peopel from massachussets and texas who regaled us with tales of going to summer camp and cowboy ranch camp. At this point Fernando and i lamented the fact that we only knew about summer camp from watching nickelodeon "hey dude" and "camp anawana" and that we really wished that someday we could go to summer camp and be camps counserlors like bill murray on "meatballs" and ride canoes and shit like that, and it would be so awesome. i have way too many fantasies of how awesome summer camp could bE!! anyways point being this chick is tight with some summer camp in maine and is gonna write me and fernando letters of rec and we're gonna be camp counselors this summer!! alright, likelehod of that happening, slim, but eeemagine!! Some people dream of seeing the parthenon, i just wanna go to summer camp.
then we went to a history dept house party which had like this wierd mix of r kelly "ignition" and hall and oats "maneater" playing and i was not impressed. everyone was just talking about hisotry and in grad school it's v. key to get beyond our focuses and talk about real life stuff, like "do you think tom and katie's baby is for reals???!" So then i split up with the group and met up with Fernando again at Bab's for a cocktail and some general revelry. we both bonded over growing up protestant and having things like bibl estudy and the poor mans girls/boys scouts known as "royal rangers" and "primms." it was kind of ghetto. anyways he showed me this game where you have 6 pencils and straws or wahtever, 3 each, and you touch the tips and whichever way the straws turn the devil will answer a question. it was a game called "talk to the devil" and i guess logistically it's hard to explain wihtout being there. Anyways i was kidn of scared cuz it reminded me of playing "bloody mary" in the bathroom in middle school and how frankie gallardo came out of the bathroom with scars on his chest because bloody mary scratched him and THESE ARE THE THINGS THA T HAPPEN WHEN YOU MESS WITH WITCHCRAFT!! true story guy. anyways we played this "ask the devil" game and we asked "is tom and katie's baby really their child?" and the straws went opposite directions. we flipping out cuz it was truly the spirit of the devil! either htat or i thought it might have been the spirit of l. ron hubbard channeling our game and fucking with us. I don't know but we crossed our self real quick. Anyways it was good times.
Then i walked alone to this public policy party to meet up again with Ozan and i had the most LA but not really LA moment. it was like a twin peaks experience to the max. let me explain. So i was walking down an empty residential street but the streets here are creepy because there are a lot of trees and shit and you can eeemagine a girl wiht a jump rope singing "one, two, freddy's coming for you." Anyways this car rolls up next to me with two guys in it and i'm like thinking, oh shit let me get ready for an attack. And then the car slows down and busts a u turn in front of me and i'm thinking "shit shit shit play a, b, and c for survival, get your phone ready." Then the car turns around and, get this, TURNS OFF IT'S HEAD LIGHTS! Ok for anyone from a LA, a car with two sketchy guys that rolls up next to you, slows down, and turns off it's lights, means they are going to gang bang you and have some for reals gang warfare and shoot you. i was seriously scared. Then the car pulls into the driveway next to me real slow. At this point i panic/get my shit togehter and kind of start to speedwalk, turn around to see if i see them, and then run to the other side of the street where i hear people. At this point i ran inot David, the cuban and i was liek "ahh i almost got attacked by an ann arbor gang!!" and then i noticed the guys were just turning off their headlights to pull into their driveway and go home. it was the most "oh my god i'm so LA" moment of my life! Michigan is so wierd!! no fear of drive by's and stuff. SO WIERD!!
then we went to a history dept house party which had like this wierd mix of r kelly "ignition" and hall and oats "maneater" playing and i was not impressed. everyone was just talking about hisotry and in grad school it's v. key to get beyond our focuses and talk about real life stuff, like "do you think tom and katie's baby is for reals???!" So then i split up with the group and met up with Fernando again at Bab's for a cocktail and some general revelry. we both bonded over growing up protestant and having things like bibl estudy and the poor mans girls/boys scouts known as "royal rangers" and "primms." it was kind of ghetto. anyways he showed me this game where you have 6 pencils and straws or wahtever, 3 each, and you touch the tips and whichever way the straws turn the devil will answer a question. it was a game called "talk to the devil" and i guess logistically it's hard to explain wihtout being there. Anyways i was kidn of scared cuz it reminded me of playing "bloody mary" in the bathroom in middle school and how frankie gallardo came out of the bathroom with scars on his chest because bloody mary scratched him and THESE ARE THE THINGS THA T HAPPEN WHEN YOU MESS WITH WITCHCRAFT!! true story guy. anyways we played this "ask the devil" game and we asked "is tom and katie's baby really their child?" and the straws went opposite directions. we flipping out cuz it was truly the spirit of the devil! either htat or i thought it might have been the spirit of l. ron hubbard channeling our game and fucking with us. I don't know but we crossed our self real quick. Anyways it was good times.
Then i walked alone to this public policy party to meet up again with Ozan and i had the most LA but not really LA moment. it was like a twin peaks experience to the max. let me explain. So i was walking down an empty residential street but the streets here are creepy because there are a lot of trees and shit and you can eeemagine a girl wiht a jump rope singing "one, two, freddy's coming for you." Anyways this car rolls up next to me with two guys in it and i'm like thinking, oh shit let me get ready for an attack. And then the car slows down and busts a u turn in front of me and i'm thinking "shit shit shit play a, b, and c for survival, get your phone ready." Then the car turns around and, get this, TURNS OFF IT'S HEAD LIGHTS! Ok for anyone from a LA, a car with two sketchy guys that rolls up next to you, slows down, and turns off it's lights, means they are going to gang bang you and have some for reals gang warfare and shoot you. i was seriously scared. Then the car pulls into the driveway next to me real slow. At this point i panic/get my shit togehter and kind of start to speedwalk, turn around to see if i see them, and then run to the other side of the street where i hear people. At this point i ran inot David, the cuban and i was liek "ahh i almost got attacked by an ann arbor gang!!" and then i noticed the guys were just turning off their headlights to pull into their driveway and go home. it was the most "oh my god i'm so LA" moment of my life! Michigan is so wierd!! no fear of drive by's and stuff. SO WIERD!!
Saturday, September 09, 2006
so a week into grad skeeewwl and i can tell you guy now my observations. i'm starting to see a patern. While these peopel are very fun i have come to the realization that the reason that thye all drink so much is that they are all moderatly depressed. I mean imagine that you are loving your life on a "i am passionate and care about what i'm doing" kind of level, but you have no material belongings worth anything, you have no retirement plan, you have no one to share your life with, and to top it off you can't even have a one night stand because you are stuck in the small town of ann arbor where grad students make up about 95% of the population and therefore the 5 bars that you frequent you are destined to run into th esame people and therefore the whole "we can bone and i won't see you ever again" thing wont' ever happen. Because the reality is that as awesome it is to be helping people and doing something good for humanit in the end as fernando put it "sometimes you just wnat to stay home, watch a movie with someone, and then bone." And it's true. so i'm finding that sometimes people just drnk to have something to do so taht they dont' end up sitting alone in their basement apartment watching reruns of dawsons creek. i don't know waht the point of this is. i guess it's to say that if i'm 29 and have no marriage prospects or no one to at least watch a movie and bone with i might turn to severe alcoholism. these are things that really run through my head on a regular basis. and honestly honestly this is a hard life, academia. i don't know, i guess i'm just hoping that someday it will all pay off and i will feel like my life was worth something and that i somehow helped someone...ok i'm drunk and getting a bit too emo for the blogger.
Friday, September 08, 2006
So i just got back from going out for Fernando's bday. it was good times. we went to some place called alley bar which was really just a bar that had some guy named dj jazzy jeff or dj something or other playing. What was odd though was that i showed up and was like "hey wait, i know you, dj jazzy jeff!" Apparently this was a guy named brian that i had met at a bbq a few days earlier. v. random. anyways it was good times, fernando got hella drunk and started yelling things like "hey hey remember when we were younger and we said 'you got moded!!'" and i did remember and no one else remembered but us because we are both mexican from la. anyways at one point he was like "hey guys did you hear about paris hilton and how she got arrested. that shit is wack!" and i was like "where did you read about that?" thinking he was going ot say msnbc or something. and he stopped, paused in his drunken state and goes "perez hilton fool!!!" and then started laughing and i was liek "shut the shit up you read perez too!" and he was liek "yeah fool it's the bomb!!" Yes people, someday the two of us will be designing curriculum to improve the education system for your children. I know, you're excited.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
day 2
wow day 2 was way different from day 1. it was very similar to my old master's year experience. i didn't even drink! how strange. i went to this morning seminar to shop it and i really dont thnk i'm going to take it because as much as i love the super dorky indian professor i really don't like cognitive psych so that's that. then i bummed around the school of ed and the psych departent with Sujatha, my indian classmate who is obsessed with my hair. She said i was the mexican version of her indian childhood friend and that she felt thatshe had known me forever. We went to the psych building for free printing and then realized that the class that we have tomorrow actually had a really huge reading assigment. Like freaking 300 pages of reading! so ridiculous! The professor is the crazy lesbian with the crazy jewlery and she was all liek "i want us to discuss!" but the exclamation was not one of excitement it was more scary and "we will discuss whether you like it or not!" so then i strted reading about motivation which is not as interesting as you all might imagine. it's actually quite intuitive and boring
Then we had a ed psych "party." this is when you know you are a psych nerd. It was the students and professors and we are really small department so we're pretty tight. Anyways all the pforessors are bff and they make psych/ed jokes all the time and t he dorky indian professor who does cognitive psych brought a cognitive card game called "sets" and made us play and we were all like "um where is the alcohol" cuz seriously. but ok she's cute and i sitll like her. Anyways this is what psych nerds do for fun! we play cognitively motivating games that promote thinking. yeah! then i shot the shit wiht jamaal and fernando and they told me that contraty to what our department chair said we actually should not take 4 classes. Thank god. Granted at stanford i used to take like 5 classes, do my own research, and have 2 campus jobs but i tel you, that relaly sucked and i wouldn't wish it on anyone. And then Kai, oir other professor, this nice little german man who took his wife's last name when they married, told us that we didn't have to take 4 classes. i love kai.
how can you not love this man! this is his professional umich departmental picture. I think i see another academic crush coming on.
Anyways i went home at like 4 only to find that our internet was down and all the readings i had to do were conveniently located online. as much as i love the idea of not having to pay for coarse readers there is also something nice about not having to read off of a computer or print 50000 pages of readings. i don't know, don't you guys agree. this whole move toward online text reading is cool but has some major drawbacks like, oh i don't know, when you dont' have internet! so then i raod my bike to the psych lab and read there on their big screen for a few hours and then i realized the reading wasn't actually that ridiuclous. it was still 300 pages but i neglected to remember that psych readings always have like 25 to 40 pages of work cited so in reality it was only like 150 pages of reading which is totally doable and not at all ridiculous. now i feel like a pussy for complaining to the older kids that i thought it was alot of reading to do in a night. god, cristina, get your shit togehter! you went to stanford! shine like the fucking light that you are! but seriously i have to get my shit together which is what i'm doing right now, one more article to go. then i'm going ot my new gay friend David's house to watch project runway. watch out ivan, you might be replaced.
Then we had a ed psych "party." this is when you know you are a psych nerd. It was the students and professors and we are really small department so we're pretty tight. Anyways all the pforessors are bff and they make psych/ed jokes all the time and t he dorky indian professor who does cognitive psych brought a cognitive card game called "sets" and made us play and we were all like "um where is the alcohol" cuz seriously. but ok she's cute and i sitll like her. Anyways this is what psych nerds do for fun! we play cognitively motivating games that promote thinking. yeah! then i shot the shit wiht jamaal and fernando and they told me that contraty to what our department chair said we actually should not take 4 classes. Thank god. Granted at stanford i used to take like 5 classes, do my own research, and have 2 campus jobs but i tel you, that relaly sucked and i wouldn't wish it on anyone. And then Kai, oir other professor, this nice little german man who took his wife's last name when they married, told us that we didn't have to take 4 classes. i love kai.
how can you not love this man! this is his professional umich departmental picture. I think i see another academic crush coming on. Anyways i went home at like 4 only to find that our internet was down and all the readings i had to do were conveniently located online. as much as i love the idea of not having to pay for coarse readers there is also something nice about not having to read off of a computer or print 50000 pages of readings. i don't know, don't you guys agree. this whole move toward online text reading is cool but has some major drawbacks like, oh i don't know, when you dont' have internet! so then i raod my bike to the psych lab and read there on their big screen for a few hours and then i realized the reading wasn't actually that ridiuclous. it was still 300 pages but i neglected to remember that psych readings always have like 25 to 40 pages of work cited so in reality it was only like 150 pages of reading which is totally doable and not at all ridiculous. now i feel like a pussy for complaining to the older kids that i thought it was alot of reading to do in a night. god, cristina, get your shit togehter! you went to stanford! shine like the fucking light that you are! but seriously i have to get my shit together which is what i'm doing right now, one more article to go. then i'm going ot my new gay friend David's house to watch project runway. watch out ivan, you might be replaced.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
skeeewwwwl day 1!!
I gotta say the whole school thing, a bit of a let down. I want do research already. but for now i have to take stats and some seminar in my area and a couple other cognitive related classes. so my stats profesor is this latino man named rich gonzalez and he uses this cool computer/tablet so he can draw and he gives us analogies for math like "finding the mean is like balancing a seesaw" and then he drew the seesaw. and guys, i know it's pretty stadard for me to have odd attractions to famous psychologists and statisticians and rich is no exception. I am oddly aroused. As we walked out i grabbed my friend Kristine, ie fake saski, and was like "hey was it just me or was he" and she was liek "hot??!!" and i was liek "YES!" So see i'm not the only one.
Then i went and opened up a bank account. oh did i mention of ann arbor doesn't have any major banks in it. what the fuck! like not even a bank of america or anything. so point being in order to be able to cash my stipend and access the money and waht not i had to open a new account. then i went and visitted my office with my fellow classmates. dude they are wierd. i kind of have this fear that they might read this at some point and this actually legitly scares me because hello, we share an office! but let me tell you, the indian girl is seroiusly obsessed wtih my hair in a very "single w hite female" kind of way. she commented on it when it was straight the other day and again when it was curly and then i threw it up in a quick pony tail today and she was like "sigh.....i could put my hair in a pony tail and it would never look that good." apparently my dream has come true, i do a mad good pony tail. so question, i've never thought my hair to be the kind of hair that looks naturally tossled but in all the right ways but this indian girl makes me think otherwise. do i have casual good hair??
So anyways i can't go into the details of the next seminar i went to because i would be talking some mad shit so i won't. But anyways point being after class the JNB (Jewish Non Boyfriend) josh called me up and i met up with the 2nd years for an afternoon cocktail. i fucking love the ed students! all they do is drink all the time and socialize and then go do work. my kind of people. I could say that this is not what i eeemagined grad school being like but that would be a lie because this is EXACTLY what i imagined grad school being like, afternoon binge drinking. So we went to charley's and had long islands and then the grad students regaled me with stories of how awesome i am. no seriously they love me and i don't say this to rub it in anyones face but i am apparently awesome. According to Josh i have this magical talent of being totally great in social situations upon first meeting people. Something about how i make them feel comfortable and like they shoudl open up to me even though i'm the new person and techically i should be the one that they are making feel comfortable. So yes, this is my talent. Ivan and i had this theory once that peopel who were fat or awkward in youth have to really learn to develop a personality and consequently are awesome human beings in their adult lives. remember last week when i had no friends and was lonely?? who knew. so Drew, the really quiet guy, our relaitonship has reached a whole new level. We were sharing stories of the public policy bbq we had attended together the night before. oooh which reminds me
I went to a public policy bbq and some people's house and they played touch football and i drank beer! beer! i hate beer. I drank 3 miller High life's "the champagne of beer." did i write about this already? Anyways it was the bomb and i had a good buzz going and then someone decided to start a junior high style dance off which can only be described as AWESOME because seriosly it was. everyone was so drunk that peopel were like doing some crazy "so you think you can dance" kind of moves. fernando c-walked and then regaled us with stories of how he got his first blow job at age 14 in the back of his school bus and then there was silence. alot of silence. anyways grad school = good times so far. Actually what shocks me is tha tmost of these people are in their late 20's if not early 30's.
and tonight i got invited to this guy nick's house with josh to eat steaks and mac and cheese and baked beans, i know. that steak is going to be regrettable later tonight and yet so good
Then i went and opened up a bank account. oh did i mention of ann arbor doesn't have any major banks in it. what the fuck! like not even a bank of america or anything. so point being in order to be able to cash my stipend and access the money and waht not i had to open a new account. then i went and visitted my office with my fellow classmates. dude they are wierd. i kind of have this fear that they might read this at some point and this actually legitly scares me because hello, we share an office! but let me tell you, the indian girl is seroiusly obsessed wtih my hair in a very "single w hite female" kind of way. she commented on it when it was straight the other day and again when it was curly and then i threw it up in a quick pony tail today and she was like "sigh.....i could put my hair in a pony tail and it would never look that good." apparently my dream has come true, i do a mad good pony tail. so question, i've never thought my hair to be the kind of hair that looks naturally tossled but in all the right ways but this indian girl makes me think otherwise. do i have casual good hair??
So anyways i can't go into the details of the next seminar i went to because i would be talking some mad shit so i won't. But anyways point being after class the JNB (Jewish Non Boyfriend) josh called me up and i met up with the 2nd years for an afternoon cocktail. i fucking love the ed students! all they do is drink all the time and socialize and then go do work. my kind of people. I could say that this is not what i eeemagined grad school being like but that would be a lie because this is EXACTLY what i imagined grad school being like, afternoon binge drinking. So we went to charley's and had long islands and then the grad students regaled me with stories of how awesome i am. no seriously they love me and i don't say this to rub it in anyones face but i am apparently awesome. According to Josh i have this magical talent of being totally great in social situations upon first meeting people. Something about how i make them feel comfortable and like they shoudl open up to me even though i'm the new person and techically i should be the one that they are making feel comfortable. So yes, this is my talent. Ivan and i had this theory once that peopel who were fat or awkward in youth have to really learn to develop a personality and consequently are awesome human beings in their adult lives. remember last week when i had no friends and was lonely?? who knew. so Drew, the really quiet guy, our relaitonship has reached a whole new level. We were sharing stories of the public policy bbq we had attended together the night before. oooh which reminds me
I went to a public policy bbq and some people's house and they played touch football and i drank beer! beer! i hate beer. I drank 3 miller High life's "the champagne of beer." did i write about this already? Anyways it was the bomb and i had a good buzz going and then someone decided to start a junior high style dance off which can only be described as AWESOME because seriosly it was. everyone was so drunk that peopel were like doing some crazy "so you think you can dance" kind of moves. fernando c-walked and then regaled us with stories of how he got his first blow job at age 14 in the back of his school bus and then there was silence. alot of silence. anyways grad school = good times so far. Actually what shocks me is tha tmost of these people are in their late 20's if not early 30's.
and tonight i got invited to this guy nick's house with josh to eat steaks and mac and cheese and baked beans, i know. that steak is going to be regrettable later tonight and yet so good
Sunday, September 03, 2006
things that make you go UUUUGHHHH
ok i wanted to talk about one of the things that makes me so irrate on a regular basis that i just wnat to punch people. Let me preface this with the fact that i have now in my life lived in 2 very tourist heavy places, florence and san francisco, so i hate tourists for the reason which i am about to discuss.
let me paint you a picture: you are walking to class or to the mall or somewhere where you need to be and in front of you is a group of tourists. tourists can also be replaced with people who just gneerally don't pay attention to the world around them. so you start walking and they like walk really slow, in the middle of the sidewalk so that you cna't get around them. they randomly stop to take pictures, or look at there map or just generally take forever and don't ever notice that you are there and need to get by!! let me paint you another picture. today i went to this local jewish deli to buy one of their famed corned beef sangwhiches. truly delicious. i am all about coleslaw and russian dressing. anyways there is this ridiculously long line and the girl taking orders you can tell she's trying ot keep it going quickly. to me i see this situation and i think a few things. First, i should really know what i want by the time i get up there to keep things moving quickly. 2. i should make sure i have all my shit togehter so that i'm not caught unprepaired. 3. just generally i need to remember to be quick, concise, and keep the line from slowing down because it's not just me in line it's like 20 other peopel's lives and hunger i'm dealing with. anyways this is the situation. then this stupid family of 3 in front of me gets to the front and proceeds to do this. Ok when you read this try ot do it outloud and remember that these people were also talking really slow liek they were at fucking nordstroms picking out jeans.
waitress: hi what can i get you
dad: um.....hmm let me look at the menu
mom: i'm not sure you go first honey
daughter: um...no mom you go first
dad: i'll have blah blha blah
mom: can you tell me about the number 96 and the meatballs. are those meatballs made here on the premise?
waitress: yes
mom: hmmm ok well i'll have.....that...i guess
daughter: ok tell me the difference between the 70 and the 76
waitress: (explains both sangwhiches quickly and precisely)
daughter: hmm i don't know what i should get mom!
mom: honey whatever you choose will be great
daughter: i'll go for the 76
waitress: excellent choice
mom: do you have any room temperature water. i don't wnat cold water. is this cold water all you have
daugther: on second thought i think i'll go for the.....hmmm...the number 70
mom: hmm actually could i ahve that sandwhich with no cheese?
waitress: yes mam, and i'll look for that water.
meanwhile everyone in line is thinking "holy fuck just fucking order and move the fuck on!!!!" like serioulsy this was so ridiculous and i almost wanted to say something about the complete lack of consideration. seriously why are people liek this!! you know who i'm talking about. the kind of people who walk in a daze and run into you because they don't notice that you are there. waht the fuck people!! wake the fuck up! you are not the only person on this earth! goddamnit i hate that shit!
let me paint you a picture: you are walking to class or to the mall or somewhere where you need to be and in front of you is a group of tourists. tourists can also be replaced with people who just gneerally don't pay attention to the world around them. so you start walking and they like walk really slow, in the middle of the sidewalk so that you cna't get around them. they randomly stop to take pictures, or look at there map or just generally take forever and don't ever notice that you are there and need to get by!! let me paint you another picture. today i went to this local jewish deli to buy one of their famed corned beef sangwhiches. truly delicious. i am all about coleslaw and russian dressing. anyways there is this ridiculously long line and the girl taking orders you can tell she's trying ot keep it going quickly. to me i see this situation and i think a few things. First, i should really know what i want by the time i get up there to keep things moving quickly. 2. i should make sure i have all my shit togehter so that i'm not caught unprepaired. 3. just generally i need to remember to be quick, concise, and keep the line from slowing down because it's not just me in line it's like 20 other peopel's lives and hunger i'm dealing with. anyways this is the situation. then this stupid family of 3 in front of me gets to the front and proceeds to do this. Ok when you read this try ot do it outloud and remember that these people were also talking really slow liek they were at fucking nordstroms picking out jeans.
waitress: hi what can i get you
dad: um.....hmm let me look at the menu
mom: i'm not sure you go first honey
daughter: um...no mom you go first
dad: i'll have blah blha blah
mom: can you tell me about the number 96 and the meatballs. are those meatballs made here on the premise?
waitress: yes
mom: hmmm ok well i'll have.....that...i guess
daughter: ok tell me the difference between the 70 and the 76
waitress: (explains both sangwhiches quickly and precisely)
daughter: hmm i don't know what i should get mom!
mom: honey whatever you choose will be great
daughter: i'll go for the 76
waitress: excellent choice
mom: do you have any room temperature water. i don't wnat cold water. is this cold water all you have
daugther: on second thought i think i'll go for the.....hmmm...the number 70
mom: hmm actually could i ahve that sandwhich with no cheese?
waitress: yes mam, and i'll look for that water.
meanwhile everyone in line is thinking "holy fuck just fucking order and move the fuck on!!!!" like serioulsy this was so ridiculous and i almost wanted to say something about the complete lack of consideration. seriously why are people liek this!! you know who i'm talking about. the kind of people who walk in a daze and run into you because they don't notice that you are there. waht the fuck people!! wake the fuck up! you are not the only person on this earth! goddamnit i hate that shit!
my life in A squared
It's been a few days here so let's get to it! I have been trying really hard to put myself out there so that i will have friends in the future. And i will add that i have done so successfully. All the people that i mentioned a few days ago are now officialy my friends. There is "my Jewish non boyfriend" josh, my turkish friend Ozan, my old bitter friend Lori, and my messican friend fernando. There is also the quiet silent poet drew. I don't knkow if he is actually a poet but he's quiet so i'm assuming there is something behind those hazel eyes. Discovery, they are all in their 30's! ok not all of them but most of them which came as quite a shock to me that thye would hang out with such a youngen as myself. The latinos are scarce and the gays even more so. Not a fag in sight! fuck! Anyways the local hang out that we hit up every night seems to be "babs" which is this underground pool hall/chill bar. it's decent. Then we went to this "dance club" called Oz which is also a hookah bar (v. random??), and i use the term dance very loosely as it was just white people flaling their arms and girating in odd direction. oh gringos...this town needs some flavor, stat. We also hit up some brewing house, and some place called "live at PJ's" which has this black soulful singere doing covers of sade songs. smooooooth. but i'm wiating for us to hit up the seedy beer halls which apparently i was promised we will do next week. anyways it's a fun group and it's nice to be included. There is hope though as far as the gay thing goes! today i went to the student of color bbq which was really just one color, black. There were 5, yes 5!!! Latinos among the grad students as a whole, not just from my department. it was kind of sad. but anyways i made a new friend, a cuban named David who is so gay gay gay. he was wearing BCBG women's glasses and was a good time all around. he alreayd kind of has this hag type girl but she seems really possesssive so we'll see how it goes. So all in all it's been a tiring weekend but good times all around.
ooohh and guess what!! I went to a football game! like my pseudo first football game of life! i think i coudl term it my first real football game as it was kind of intense. the stadium is referred to as "the big house" and the people in it are super serious about their football.
Even there band was like...wierd. So i learned the fight song, something about the victorious and valient and there was a lot of fist pumping so i felt like i understood laurel on a whole new level. Anyways the stadium was FULLLLLLLL. it was crazy. too bad football is SOOOO BORING. seroiulsy i'm never going to a football game again. I was kind of bored at the beginning and Drew was like "hey what are you feeling" and i was liek "i'm waiting to be moved" and this woman in front of us with a really thick midwestern accent was like "i know the big house IS moving. i cry sometimes!" I was like...um ok thanks. Anyways the coolest part of the game was when the whoel audience did the wave. now i've done the wave but this was like the most intense wave i have ever seen. first they did like 5 waves around the stadium then they stopped and started a slow mo wave so it was like you had the wave on pause, and then they did the alternative waves that went in different directions and met up with each other, collided, and went back in another direction. it was so fucking intense!! Drew and I could nto get over it. David called me later and excitedly asked me how teh game was. he reallywants me to get into football, but all i was able to talk about was the wave. it was that cool.
So anywyas much awaiting pics of my basement!!!
here is my bed. things i need, um...a bed frame, a dust ruffle, some accent pillows, wall hanging. I'm working on that last part.
Thre is my free chair that someone gave me. And thre is the central focus of the room, the tv clearly. also note my wall of religious paraphenalia. yes! Things that are going to suck in winter, the tile floors. totes not cute. 
My sad sad book shelf, also free. note where that table is i should relaly figure out how to get a couch or futon on there or somehow. i'm working on it.
But here is the most important, impressive part of the room. the closet! part I
part II
part III
part IV
dude can you believe my closet has 4 parts!! i knkow!! it's walk in and fricking huge. i'd say it's bigger than our bathroom in san fran was. intense.
ooohh and guess what!! I went to a football game! like my pseudo first football game of life! i think i coudl term it my first real football game as it was kind of intense. the stadium is referred to as "the big house" and the people in it are super serious about their football.
Even there band was like...wierd. So i learned the fight song, something about the victorious and valient and there was a lot of fist pumping so i felt like i understood laurel on a whole new level. Anyways the stadium was FULLLLLLLL. it was crazy. too bad football is SOOOO BORING. seroiulsy i'm never going to a football game again. I was kind of bored at the beginning and Drew was like "hey what are you feeling" and i was liek "i'm waiting to be moved" and this woman in front of us with a really thick midwestern accent was like "i know the big house IS moving. i cry sometimes!" I was like...um ok thanks. Anyways the coolest part of the game was when the whoel audience did the wave. now i've done the wave but this was like the most intense wave i have ever seen. first they did like 5 waves around the stadium then they stopped and started a slow mo wave so it was like you had the wave on pause, and then they did the alternative waves that went in different directions and met up with each other, collided, and went back in another direction. it was so fucking intense!! Drew and I could nto get over it. David called me later and excitedly asked me how teh game was. he reallywants me to get into football, but all i was able to talk about was the wave. it was that cool.So anywyas much awaiting pics of my basement!!!
here is my bed. things i need, um...a bed frame, a dust ruffle, some accent pillows, wall hanging. I'm working on that last part.
Thre is my free chair that someone gave me. And thre is the central focus of the room, the tv clearly. also note my wall of religious paraphenalia. yes! Things that are going to suck in winter, the tile floors. totes not cute. 
My sad sad book shelf, also free. note where that table is i should relaly figure out how to get a couch or futon on there or somehow. i'm working on it.But here is the most important, impressive part of the room. the closet! part I
part II
part III
part IV
dude can you believe my closet has 4 parts!! i knkow!! it's walk in and fricking huge. i'd say it's bigger than our bathroom in san fran was. intense.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
"i'm alive....i'm a mess!" this kind of embodies how i'm feeling right now. i just got back from "grad student orientation" which sucked until all the oriented studnets left and i was left to kick it with the 2nd years from all the various ed PhD departments. needless to say i'm drunk after what seemed like months of sobriety. I even Biked under the influence to my house. the joy of college towns! Anyways my new friends varied by personality and department etc. There was Lori who was super bitter that she wasn't married but n ot really bitter, and i could feel her because this is what being a grad studnet is all about. wishing you were living a normal life but then obsessing about how awesome it is that you can go out on a thursday night and not give a shit. anyways she had crutches from an ACL tear thing and a handicap parking spot which we wholely took advantage of but apparently she claims she was just using her crutches to warn peopeo "stay away from me" and "to hold meup when i'm drunk" which i thought...I love you Lori. Then there was the really boring higher ed phd guy will who is apparently dating a super boring girl from stanford. lame. Then there was my jewish friend (blanking on name) who claimed he wasn't gay but kept singing me show tunes all night long. I don't believe you young gay jewish man! then there was fernando my fellow messican and we bonded on how hard it is to find latinos in academia. Then there was my black friend jamaal who kept telline me "I feel like you keep it real cris" to which i responded "i do keep it real jamall but onlly you can call me cris." anyways i played pool which apparently i am AWESOME at and i won the game singlehandedly. apparently i've seen "the color of money" one too many times. Anyways we hung out at some place called "babs" and another place known for their sangria called "dominics." also i would like to note that i am fitting on the smallest loop of my belt buckle and the guy i met in march claimed "you look thinner than when i saw you!" which is proof that the inner waif in me is clearly winning the battle. yay!! but i made "friends" ie people to drink with and i feel like i have some purpose in my life, ie drinking. so this is good. they also informed me that going to my orientation tomorrow as pointless so instead of waking up at 7 to be at school by 8 i am planning on sleeping in. i also met some awesome indians like my indian (like from india) friend Manu and my other indian american friend Ashima like Ashni. Also my corhort is decidedly FOBy or crazy. like literally. I had to tell the crazy girl in my cohort that she needed to chill. I was liek "i have masters from stanford. I know these things." That was the only time in my life when that masters has been relevant and it was very exciting for me to be liek experienced and shit.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
since you are all dying ot know if i survived the gym shower experience, i did indeed and i live to tell the tale. The gym shower was super scary and i as suspected, one of those group shower things. David made one of those tasteless unsavery jokes about lesbian love affairs in the shower and i informed him that he was better than that. Luckily i found a handicapped bathroom in there with a curtain, apparently the handicaps need privacy. So i hopped in there and was shocked by the extreme water power coming from the shower head. It was the kind of crazy water pressure that makes you feel like if you turn the wrong way it will shave off your nipple, know what i mean? Anyways i am clean, blow dryed and working on what kind of look i wnat to give on my first day of unofficial school. I also found otu that the gym is like a block from the school of ed, which is good to know. i'm slowly figuring out where i am in this town. And trust me, it's a town, not a city. Alright i have to go watchmore dawson's creek.
showers and such
soooo today i did a lot of things: reading for classes, buying frames, putting up wall decor to make my room less hollow looking, and I WENT TO THE GYM. i know, who cared, but this all comes as useful information when you hear the next part. so imagine this...i'm all sweaty and gross from biking all over and from gyming it up. I get home and the water in our house has been strangely turned off. Apparently one of my roomies forgot to switch the bill to their name so, oops looks like we didnt pay our bill. this would never happne if i were in charge of the bills. NEVER!!! Anyways point being i have a major eeemergency. I am sweaty and gross and have no means of showering until they turn on our water sometime tomorrow afternoon or whatever but here is the rub, i have orientation tomorrow at 8 am! ahhh!! this is my one chance to make friends! this is like my opportunity to rise from the shadows of my basement room! and now i have no means of showering! so i consulted my etiquette advisor, bobby, and he suggested if go back to the gym, with my products, and take a shower there. so now i'm gonna drive to the gym, which has no parking....find parking, use their facilities and come back home and like do my hair and shit. i cannot look a hot mess tomorrow. tomorrow is my day! fuck
cheetah girls 4 EVA
apparently i am not the only one who loved the camp that was "the cheetah girls 2" movie.
feast your eyes on this
but even better than that news is this most awesome clip of the scene i was teling you about. It's so bad it's good. Amigas Cheetas 4 eva!!!!!
so i'm settinling into life here, if by settling in you mean, i sit in my room and watch dawson's creek dvd's because if that's what you mean then yeah, i'm settling in. turns out the dawson's dvd's were on sale for 19.99! amazing! i bought all the ones i was missing and now own the series. yay for me. they also had seinfeld for the same price but i already own those. yesterday i road my bike into town to get my id and then i went into my department and the secretary Janie showed me my office. my very own office!!! ok not really, i share it with another person and 2 random computers and bookshelves full of old articles. blah. wahtever it's mine! should i put pictures up and decorate it and stuff. what kind of pictures? I've never been a big putting pictures of my boyfriend or family kind of person.
anyways i road on to every bookstore in town to try to find this book i had to read for summer reading for my orientation tomorrow. turns out, no one had ordered it in 4 years! awesome. i thought, great, i'm already behind. but i called around and found it at a barnes and noble in another town. Then i stopped at this sports clothing store (i know right!) to buy a backpack and ended up buying...get this...a north face backpack! god i love it! i am such a north face whore! the story with this is that being from LA when i got to college i had never heard of northface because really who needs mountain wear in LA? exactly. so i was very intrigued but also felt that i could nto afford a fleece, a backpack and such. well now i can't afford it still but now i have a reason to buy it. like you know, i'm living in the snow and stuff, it's water resistant, it looks sporty, and generally i just don't think jansport is going to cut it for michigan. it's a frosty pink and it matches with the snow! ok but seriously i am not this stupid, it's actually a good backpack and i wore it around and while biking and it was quite ergonomic and you know me and my back ailments.
so today the plan is to pick up the key to my office, go to best buy to return something, buy a spare pillow case at target, and then find the gym. oh wait i also wanted to take some pictures for you all of some of the awesome local joints like "banditos Mexican food" and "beaners coffee." yes you heard that right, beaners coffee which might have to become my favorite hang out.
feast your eyes on this
but even better than that news is this most awesome clip of the scene i was teling you about. It's so bad it's good. Amigas Cheetas 4 eva!!!!!
so i'm settinling into life here, if by settling in you mean, i sit in my room and watch dawson's creek dvd's because if that's what you mean then yeah, i'm settling in. turns out the dawson's dvd's were on sale for 19.99! amazing! i bought all the ones i was missing and now own the series. yay for me. they also had seinfeld for the same price but i already own those. yesterday i road my bike into town to get my id and then i went into my department and the secretary Janie showed me my office. my very own office!!! ok not really, i share it with another person and 2 random computers and bookshelves full of old articles. blah. wahtever it's mine! should i put pictures up and decorate it and stuff. what kind of pictures? I've never been a big putting pictures of my boyfriend or family kind of person.
anyways i road on to every bookstore in town to try to find this book i had to read for summer reading for my orientation tomorrow. turns out, no one had ordered it in 4 years! awesome. i thought, great, i'm already behind. but i called around and found it at a barnes and noble in another town. Then i stopped at this sports clothing store (i know right!) to buy a backpack and ended up buying...get this...a north face backpack! god i love it! i am such a north face whore! the story with this is that being from LA when i got to college i had never heard of northface because really who needs mountain wear in LA? exactly. so i was very intrigued but also felt that i could nto afford a fleece, a backpack and such. well now i can't afford it still but now i have a reason to buy it. like you know, i'm living in the snow and stuff, it's water resistant, it looks sporty, and generally i just don't think jansport is going to cut it for michigan. it's a frosty pink and it matches with the snow! ok but seriously i am not this stupid, it's actually a good backpack and i wore it around and while biking and it was quite ergonomic and you know me and my back ailments.
so today the plan is to pick up the key to my office, go to best buy to return something, buy a spare pillow case at target, and then find the gym. oh wait i also wanted to take some pictures for you all of some of the awesome local joints like "banditos Mexican food" and "beaners coffee." yes you heard that right, beaners coffee which might have to become my favorite hang out.
Monday, August 28, 2006
amigas = cheetahs
ok ok sorry for the bagillion posts but i haven't had internet in like 3 days which is a lot. so anyways another topic i meant to discuss last night. i got cable last night and so was willing to watch ANYTHING, no lie anything and you will see my point in a second. on top of this i tend to watch bad things ( in addition to good things) liek the time i stayed up until 4am watching that hilary duff movie "the perfect man" on on demand cable.
anyways last night i came across the grand premier of "the cheetah girls movie: part 2." i will admit, i never saw part one, which makes me really upset since i'm usually a huge fan of like olsen twins productions, things with hilary duff, and raven simone! serioulsy! anyways this movie was like, really bad but i couldn't pull myself away from it. i missed the beginning but somehow they end up in spain in some mansion and raven simone is huge, like literally what happened to little olivia, and they are in this mansion and performing in some concert. i don't know the details but there were vespas and crazy fashion statements and lots of cheetah print and raven's latina bff started hanging with a spanish girl and they bonded cuz they spoke spanish and her other blond friend met a spanish duke and they all ditched raven but in the end thye all are friends again and she writes a song for them, because did i mention, she's a song writer and she comes out on stage in this ridiculous get up that is like red velvet pant suit, with a red bodace and cheetah print bra showing and giant red heels and a giant brimmed red hat with cheetah accents and i odn't exactly know waht the point of the outfit was other than making raven look even huger.
ok but ANYWAYS she comes out and is like "i want to thank spain for teaching me the real meaning of cheetah" and then she starts singing
Amigas
cheetas
friends for life
and i don't think i have ot go into more detail since i wish you all could just watch it for yourself. Actually i wish you all could just watch it with me so you could relaly appreciate it because i think i have to be there to point out the awesomeness otherwise it's just you, watching a really bad movie.
anyways last night i came across the grand premier of "the cheetah girls movie: part 2." i will admit, i never saw part one, which makes me really upset since i'm usually a huge fan of like olsen twins productions, things with hilary duff, and raven simone! serioulsy! anyways this movie was like, really bad but i couldn't pull myself away from it. i missed the beginning but somehow they end up in spain in some mansion and raven simone is huge, like literally what happened to little olivia, and they are in this mansion and performing in some concert. i don't know the details but there were vespas and crazy fashion statements and lots of cheetah print and raven's latina bff started hanging with a spanish girl and they bonded cuz they spoke spanish and her other blond friend met a spanish duke and they all ditched raven but in the end thye all are friends again and she writes a song for them, because did i mention, she's a song writer and she comes out on stage in this ridiculous get up that is like red velvet pant suit, with a red bodace and cheetah print bra showing and giant red heels and a giant brimmed red hat with cheetah accents and i odn't exactly know waht the point of the outfit was other than making raven look even huger.
ok but ANYWAYS she comes out and is like "i want to thank spain for teaching me the real meaning of cheetah" and then she starts singing
Amigas
cheetas
friends for life
and i don't think i have ot go into more detail since i wish you all could just watch it for yourself. Actually i wish you all could just watch it with me so you could relaly appreciate it because i think i have to be there to point out the awesomeness otherwise it's just you, watching a really bad movie.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
To TorTor, my bff 4 life!!
So the other day i wrote my friend tory an email explaining that according ot gawker we are no longer cool with our truncation of the english langauge (ie: totes, ridic, hilar, etc.). i still stand by my belief that we started truncating before it was cool and therefore are cool, and also that ridic was so our truncation and not something we read somewhere and copied. whatevs bitches. Anyways i also sent her this article in the new york times which sucks and makes me hate truncation even more even though i really love it. she wrote me a most brilliant response about our use of truncation vs. a 13 year old's use of truncation and it really made me believe again. anyways here is the gawker article, here is the NY times article, and here is her response.
dude i could not read this one because I am not a paying member of nytimes.com :(
ok, in regards to the other article, who writes "natch"? for sers yo. we do not write "natch" for fuck's sake. the difference between you and me and all those other asshats, dear cricri, is that we are always ALWAYS aware of our truncations. we did not start to truncate solely for efficiency's sake, we truncate because we are artists. we lovingly craft our truncations and choose the right times to use them. do i sometimes say "totally"? hell yes sometimes i come right out and say "totally." but sometimes, sometimes the ONLY way to express something is to say, with conviction and confidence: totes. When I wear my totes shirt, I am not trying to evoke in other people the aura conveyed by the sense of the word "totally," except in a cute way by having used slang instead of proper english. I am not sending a message of "yeah, I am totally all that," or "i am totally rocking your world." No, I am sending the simple clear, but still somewhat obtuse message of "TOTES." We have moved beyond simple slang and into the realm of conceptual art, you realize. To say "for sers" is ridiculous, and not just because we went to Stanford. But we own that ridiculousness. You'll note there that I did not say "ridic," because, in that instance, it was not appropriate. I don't think the author of this article even realizes the depths of possibilities and how mired one can find oneself in the intricacies of such language. What I'm saying is, totes no longer means totally. It means totes. It is a neologism, something our self-satisfied little reporter apparently has not grasped. To lump words like "totes," "obvs," and presumably, though not mentioned because this guy probably isn't even aware of them, our beloved "ridic" and "for sers" in with words like "bestie" and "lylas" is insulting and shows a distinct lack of understanding.
and that, cricri, is why we are so so totes cool
to
Bravo ToTo!! bravo!! she managed to express my exact feelings using great words like obtuse, and neologism. brilliant!! and my favorite part was when she compared us to conceptual artists, which i have often considered myself to be a bit of a conceptual artists that people don't relaly get. Have you ever seen the movie "you me and eveyrone we know" because it's wierd and depressing and about a conceptual artist, but i kind of got it and dug it because i coudl feel her pain of being misunderstood. anyways totes rock on bitches! i shall not stop truncating because some stupid teenager has decided it is the cool to be ridiculous. i shall own my ridiculousness because it is what it is.
on another note i'd liek to inform you all that best buy is currently selling dawson's creek, gilmore girls, curb your enthusiams, and south park all for 19.99 a season 'after savings" according to their weekly special magazine. i do'nt knw owaht this after savings thing means but i'm going ot check it out tomorrow and see if it's true. i hope it's not some kind of lame mail in rebate. i fucking hate that shit. just give me my savings now! i know about this deal because as a joke my dad threw me the coupon section of the newspaper. for a split second i actually considered cutting coupons. would you judge me? actually the more important question is woudl i care if you judged me? yes i would care so i will hold off on the coupon cutting for now. i'm not that desperate yet....
oh god nip tuck starts this week! my frist new show of the season!!!!! i have to get my tivo set up tomorrow. apparently tivo can go wireless now. i must figure out how to do, stat.
dude i could not read this one because I am not a paying member of nytimes.com :(
ok, in regards to the other article, who writes "natch"? for sers yo. we do not write "natch" for fuck's sake. the difference between you and me and all those other asshats, dear cricri, is that we are always ALWAYS aware of our truncations. we did not start to truncate solely for efficiency's sake, we truncate because we are artists. we lovingly craft our truncations and choose the right times to use them. do i sometimes say "totally"? hell yes sometimes i come right out and say "totally." but sometimes, sometimes the ONLY way to express something is to say, with conviction and confidence: totes. When I wear my totes shirt, I am not trying to evoke in other people the aura conveyed by the sense of the word "totally," except in a cute way by having used slang instead of proper english. I am not sending a message of "yeah, I am totally all that," or "i am totally rocking your world." No, I am sending the simple clear, but still somewhat obtuse message of "TOTES." We have moved beyond simple slang and into the realm of conceptual art, you realize. To say "for sers" is ridiculous, and not just because we went to Stanford. But we own that ridiculousness. You'll note there that I did not say "ridic," because, in that instance, it was not appropriate. I don't think the author of this article even realizes the depths of possibilities and how mired one can find oneself in the intricacies of such language. What I'm saying is, totes no longer means totally. It means totes. It is a neologism, something our self-satisfied little reporter apparently has not grasped. To lump words like "totes," "obvs," and presumably, though not mentioned because this guy probably isn't even aware of them, our beloved "ridic" and "for sers" in with words like "bestie" and "lylas" is insulting and shows a distinct lack of understanding.
and that, cricri, is why we are so so totes cool
to
Bravo ToTo!! bravo!! she managed to express my exact feelings using great words like obtuse, and neologism. brilliant!! and my favorite part was when she compared us to conceptual artists, which i have often considered myself to be a bit of a conceptual artists that people don't relaly get. Have you ever seen the movie "you me and eveyrone we know" because it's wierd and depressing and about a conceptual artist, but i kind of got it and dug it because i coudl feel her pain of being misunderstood. anyways totes rock on bitches! i shall not stop truncating because some stupid teenager has decided it is the cool to be ridiculous. i shall own my ridiculousness because it is what it is.
on another note i'd liek to inform you all that best buy is currently selling dawson's creek, gilmore girls, curb your enthusiams, and south park all for 19.99 a season 'after savings" according to their weekly special magazine. i do'nt knw owaht this after savings thing means but i'm going ot check it out tomorrow and see if it's true. i hope it's not some kind of lame mail in rebate. i fucking hate that shit. just give me my savings now! i know about this deal because as a joke my dad threw me the coupon section of the newspaper. for a split second i actually considered cutting coupons. would you judge me? actually the more important question is woudl i care if you judged me? yes i would care so i will hold off on the coupon cutting for now. i'm not that desperate yet....
oh god nip tuck starts this week! my frist new show of the season!!!!! i have to get my tivo set up tomorrow. apparently tivo can go wireless now. i must figure out how to do, stat.
so many things to discuss so i feel i need to bullet point them at the beginning, make myself a sort of outline, and then go into detail
1. people are fat here
2. people are super friendly here
3. i live in a basement
4. we drove forever and didn't even finish half a tank of gas
5. i love target
6. will i ever get real furniture
7. we're buying a condo next year.
wow what a crazy 4/3 days. serioulsy i don't even know how many days it has been. My dad and i both took separate red eyes here and we completely forgot that we lost 3 hours getting here so we ended up only sleeping like 3 hours but we got here and it was already morning, truly wretched. this was jet lag at it's worst. Then we got our rental car and went to pick up my car. my dad ended up renting a mini van which as much as i normally would hate mini vans was AWESOME!! serioulsy i might be converted! it was not gigantic and could fit in every parking spot but it was also way more roomy than our tahoe or any other suv i have ever been in. serioulsy, i am on the mini van bandwagon! no seriously!! check it out, the toyota sienna.
so then we went to the red roof inn which was ghetto but surprisingly decent considering it was like $70 bucks a night. apparenlty they are partnered with teh aewsome french hotel chain that we stayed at in munich, accor-novotel. Anyways we were planning on cleaning up the room and unpacking a bit that mornign but serioulsy we thought we were gonna die or exhaustien on the way to the red roof so we had to take a 4 hour nap. Then our day started and we went to see the house.
it's a pretty cool house, yellow, oldish, hardwood floors, reminiscent of living in a row house that is smaller. anyways it's a lot like hammarskjold. my room is in the basement. liek for reals, down almost two flights of stairs. But the landlord is really cool and we can paint our walls whatever color we want so i might have to plan some redecoration, although right now they are like blue and pastel green and i'm kin dof feeling it. when i got here my tivo and pottery barn duvet had already arrived. yay!! i opened up the duvet cover and by some chance it ended up looking way more ethnic than it looked online which i think is ok because it will go with my fiesta/ethnic art/chicana motif. eeeemagine. Anyways the room was filthy by our standards so we had to go to target to buy hella cleaning supplies, a vaccuum, etc etc. we got back and my papi and i got to it. wow, i tell you, i neer knew how hardcore my dad was about cleaning. he's more hardcore than my mom! it was exciting. and the both of us together was like insanity!! we didn't eat for like 6 hours straight all the of the days he was here because we just kept saying "we have to keep going....we have to keep going." But then after finishing my dad oddly wanted to eat at applebees everynight, which i found strange. he kept saying that he liked ann arbor because they had applebees and i kept trying to explain to him that we have applebees in la and he wouldn't believe me. anyways this brings me to my other point, no one in michigan understands my dad's accent. he'd try to order beer and the waitress would alwyas be like "excuse me sir." my poor dad.
anyways i love target, you can get everything there. i also love my dad because he is the best and totally helped me so much by paying for all the stuff i needed and all the stuff he wanted me to have. seroiously without his financial help i would be sitting in a room with a mattress, a blanket and my tile floors. instead i have a desk, a tv, a down comforter, and a rug. thanks papi!! my pap is the best!! also he felt bad since he knows how poor i am and will be forever! which agian brings me to another key thing i have been pondering...will i have ever real furniture. right now i have a bed i bought on craigslist, no headboard yet, just a frame. i have tables and a bookshelf that the guy who lived here before left behind which i'm sure he got handed down to him from somewhere. my dad bought me a target desk but it's not a fancy desk or anything. and i' msitting in a computer chair that a guy upstairs didn't want. and i feel liek this will be my lifestyle forever but i don't want it to be. but i also don't imagine ever having like 4000 to buy a new couch for a really long time. like seriously, will i ever stop living like a college student???? i don't really believe in buying cheap things so i tend to just avoid spending all that money and buying used at local second hand furniture stores. should i say my stuff in vintage??? right now i am in dire need of a couch. my room is HUGE, like bigger than david's whole apartment and so i can have a livign room in it if i wanted to. anwyays is this going ot be my life forever?
so my dad and i went driving around looking at real estate today since we are from california where a small house in the ghetto would cost you like 500 to 600,000. we saw this beautiful 1800's house that had 8 bedrooms, yes 8 bedrooms, totally redone inside, with a full basement for 250,000!!! ahhh!! then we saw a 2 bedroom condo with all new stuff in it, on a lake really near campus for less than 150,000 and it was decided, my parents and i (mainlymy parents) are teaming up next year and buying a condo. actually my parents are buying a condo and i'm living in it. seriously that kind of money is like monopoly money to us!! i decided that someday when i'm a professor i need to work in california first so i can buy a psuedo decent but expensive house there, build up equity, and then move to another state where things are cheaper so i can buy a PHAT house with all the fixings! this is my life plan. ok but serioulsy, logistical question, if i have no real furniture what am i going to decorate my phat condo with???
ok another random thing to note, my roommates never lock the door. my dad and i were wigging because we're from la and we ALWAYS lock our doors because you never know who is lurking. the midwest is wierd.
oh yeah, my dad and i drove all over the area, like seriusly a lot of driving and we barely did half a tank of gas. that is how much my mom uses ina one day period. i was shocked, SHOCKED. we came to the conclusion that it must be because all of the houses have a lot of land so you feel liek you are driving further than you actually are, like an optical illusion. does that make sense. anyways real rural. i will take pictures tomorrow and post them. i am tired, jetlagged, i am so wierded out and i have no idea where i am or what time it realy is here ore there. the wierd thing is that i'm gonna get ready for bed now while all of my california peeps are getting really for dinner. le sigh....
shout out to my baby boy, david who does not read this but who is awesome. today on his surgical rotation he saved someones life by diagnosing someone with the gaut. the surgeon of course wanted to do surgery but david was like, no i think they have gaut, because like me david knows about the medici's and how they all had gaut and had pain in their toes and stuff like that. anyways the surgeon was wrong and david was right!! apparently surgeons are as assholish as they seem on tv. they just want to cut you open and get you out so they can cut open the next person. David also got to take out an absys (however it is spelled) in someones ass. is it wrong that i am aroused by this?? the life saving, not the asshole stuff
1. people are fat here
2. people are super friendly here
3. i live in a basement
4. we drove forever and didn't even finish half a tank of gas
5. i love target
6. will i ever get real furniture
7. we're buying a condo next year.
wow what a crazy 4/3 days. serioulsy i don't even know how many days it has been. My dad and i both took separate red eyes here and we completely forgot that we lost 3 hours getting here so we ended up only sleeping like 3 hours but we got here and it was already morning, truly wretched. this was jet lag at it's worst. Then we got our rental car and went to pick up my car. my dad ended up renting a mini van which as much as i normally would hate mini vans was AWESOME!! serioulsy i might be converted! it was not gigantic and could fit in every parking spot but it was also way more roomy than our tahoe or any other suv i have ever been in. serioulsy, i am on the mini van bandwagon! no seriously!! check it out, the toyota sienna.
so then we went to the red roof inn which was ghetto but surprisingly decent considering it was like $70 bucks a night. apparenlty they are partnered with teh aewsome french hotel chain that we stayed at in munich, accor-novotel. Anyways we were planning on cleaning up the room and unpacking a bit that mornign but serioulsy we thought we were gonna die or exhaustien on the way to the red roof so we had to take a 4 hour nap. Then our day started and we went to see the house.
it's a pretty cool house, yellow, oldish, hardwood floors, reminiscent of living in a row house that is smaller. anyways it's a lot like hammarskjold. my room is in the basement. liek for reals, down almost two flights of stairs. But the landlord is really cool and we can paint our walls whatever color we want so i might have to plan some redecoration, although right now they are like blue and pastel green and i'm kin dof feeling it. when i got here my tivo and pottery barn duvet had already arrived. yay!! i opened up the duvet cover and by some chance it ended up looking way more ethnic than it looked online which i think is ok because it will go with my fiesta/ethnic art/chicana motif. eeeemagine. Anyways the room was filthy by our standards so we had to go to target to buy hella cleaning supplies, a vaccuum, etc etc. we got back and my papi and i got to it. wow, i tell you, i neer knew how hardcore my dad was about cleaning. he's more hardcore than my mom! it was exciting. and the both of us together was like insanity!! we didn't eat for like 6 hours straight all the of the days he was here because we just kept saying "we have to keep going....we have to keep going." But then after finishing my dad oddly wanted to eat at applebees everynight, which i found strange. he kept saying that he liked ann arbor because they had applebees and i kept trying to explain to him that we have applebees in la and he wouldn't believe me. anyways this brings me to my other point, no one in michigan understands my dad's accent. he'd try to order beer and the waitress would alwyas be like "excuse me sir." my poor dad.
anyways i love target, you can get everything there. i also love my dad because he is the best and totally helped me so much by paying for all the stuff i needed and all the stuff he wanted me to have. seroiously without his financial help i would be sitting in a room with a mattress, a blanket and my tile floors. instead i have a desk, a tv, a down comforter, and a rug. thanks papi!! my pap is the best!! also he felt bad since he knows how poor i am and will be forever! which agian brings me to another key thing i have been pondering...will i have ever real furniture. right now i have a bed i bought on craigslist, no headboard yet, just a frame. i have tables and a bookshelf that the guy who lived here before left behind which i'm sure he got handed down to him from somewhere. my dad bought me a target desk but it's not a fancy desk or anything. and i' msitting in a computer chair that a guy upstairs didn't want. and i feel liek this will be my lifestyle forever but i don't want it to be. but i also don't imagine ever having like 4000 to buy a new couch for a really long time. like seriously, will i ever stop living like a college student???? i don't really believe in buying cheap things so i tend to just avoid spending all that money and buying used at local second hand furniture stores. should i say my stuff in vintage??? right now i am in dire need of a couch. my room is HUGE, like bigger than david's whole apartment and so i can have a livign room in it if i wanted to. anwyays is this going ot be my life forever?
so my dad and i went driving around looking at real estate today since we are from california where a small house in the ghetto would cost you like 500 to 600,000. we saw this beautiful 1800's house that had 8 bedrooms, yes 8 bedrooms, totally redone inside, with a full basement for 250,000!!! ahhh!! then we saw a 2 bedroom condo with all new stuff in it, on a lake really near campus for less than 150,000 and it was decided, my parents and i (mainlymy parents) are teaming up next year and buying a condo. actually my parents are buying a condo and i'm living in it. seriously that kind of money is like monopoly money to us!! i decided that someday when i'm a professor i need to work in california first so i can buy a psuedo decent but expensive house there, build up equity, and then move to another state where things are cheaper so i can buy a PHAT house with all the fixings! this is my life plan. ok but serioulsy, logistical question, if i have no real furniture what am i going to decorate my phat condo with???
ok another random thing to note, my roommates never lock the door. my dad and i were wigging because we're from la and we ALWAYS lock our doors because you never know who is lurking. the midwest is wierd.
oh yeah, my dad and i drove all over the area, like seriusly a lot of driving and we barely did half a tank of gas. that is how much my mom uses ina one day period. i was shocked, SHOCKED. we came to the conclusion that it must be because all of the houses have a lot of land so you feel liek you are driving further than you actually are, like an optical illusion. does that make sense. anyways real rural. i will take pictures tomorrow and post them. i am tired, jetlagged, i am so wierded out and i have no idea where i am or what time it realy is here ore there. the wierd thing is that i'm gonna get ready for bed now while all of my california peeps are getting really for dinner. le sigh....
shout out to my baby boy, david who does not read this but who is awesome. today on his surgical rotation he saved someones life by diagnosing someone with the gaut. the surgeon of course wanted to do surgery but david was like, no i think they have gaut, because like me david knows about the medici's and how they all had gaut and had pain in their toes and stuff like that. anyways the surgeon was wrong and david was right!! apparently surgeons are as assholish as they seem on tv. they just want to cut you open and get you out so they can cut open the next person. David also got to take out an absys (however it is spelled) in someones ass. is it wrong that i am aroused by this?? the life saving, not the asshole stuff
ohmy goddddddd!!! ahhhdieowfkjfkdsajfkd i can't even type. guys i am in michigan. MICHIGAN!! we just got out interenet up and running and i have way too much to say that i can't say right now because i hvae to finish cleaning my basement, yes, my basement. eeemagine. ok but seriously quick update,
michigan is humid...who knew???
no one could understand my dad's accent and kept saying "excuse me sir??"
all weekend long my dad kept saying "everyone is really ugly here" and "everyone is really fat here" here being the midwest. it was real disconcerting for him.
finally this morning i fit into my skinny jeans, literally skinny and figuratively skinny. like they are the skinny style but like they are the jeans i used to be able to wear when i was skinny. and they fit like no tight pressing in the stomach either. i have a waste!! i am embracing my inner waif. And i tried on of my 10 blazers and the button buttoned with room to spare! liek for reals, biking everyday all over LA really worked. i bought a bike so i could ride to class everyday which is like a mile and a half each way. awesome.
ok that is all i have to say. tonight my roommates are cooking fajitas, and i haven't told them i'm mexican because i want to see waht they thing fajitas are. And then afterwards i'm going to judge them.
michigan is humid...who knew???
no one could understand my dad's accent and kept saying "excuse me sir??"
all weekend long my dad kept saying "everyone is really ugly here" and "everyone is really fat here" here being the midwest. it was real disconcerting for him.
finally this morning i fit into my skinny jeans, literally skinny and figuratively skinny. like they are the skinny style but like they are the jeans i used to be able to wear when i was skinny. and they fit like no tight pressing in the stomach either. i have a waste!! i am embracing my inner waif. And i tried on of my 10 blazers and the button buttoned with room to spare! liek for reals, biking everyday all over LA really worked. i bought a bike so i could ride to class everyday which is like a mile and a half each way. awesome.
ok that is all i have to say. tonight my roommates are cooking fajitas, and i haven't told them i'm mexican because i want to see waht they thing fajitas are. And then afterwards i'm going to judge them.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Not to alienate the few readers that i actually have but (Cathy and Orges excluded) you guys suck at commenting. Anyways moving on. My last day in LA.... a big fat leeee sigh.
I was driving down the 405 today and i heard the familiar tune of "don't stop believing." I knew it was official, i'm leaving. I have spent the fast few days packing which is so awful and i'd liek to swear that i will never have to pack again but due to my somewhat wandering student lifestyle I am guaranteed to be able to do this every year for the next 5 years. yay! Do you think I'll ever actually buy like real furniture before the age of 30?? Actually the real quesiton is do you think i'll ever have enough money to buy real furniture before i'm 30???
Other things to note. I am utterly disgusted with myself. Granted i'm generally speaking pretty disgusted with myself on a regular basis so this was not that unusual but i'm a especially grossed out by the amount of crap that i have.
- I have about 15 jackets, varrying in size and length from coats, to rain jackets, to rain coats, to blazers. Seriously 15! is this necessary! i'm from California for fucks sake!! Mind you this does not include the coats that i got rid of at the beginning of the summer. disgusting.
- I am taking 20 pairs of shoes (i am leaving some at home). 20 shoes!! why!! why the fuck do i have 20 shoes!! I mean i guess when you really think about this relative to like Mariah Carey it's not that many shoes.
- I have 25 purses. again i ask myself...why??? And these are all like legit namebrand purses. if my luggage were to get lost i woudl probably lose thousands of dollars worth of stuff. Which answers the question of where all of my money has gone over the yeras
- I have 18 scarves. i hate myself
- Other odd fact, I own alot of things from AX, which i find ot be really odd considering i don't remember shopping that much at AX nor do i like AX all that much. And yet here i am with all this AX clothing. Very odd.
Now all that being said i generally only wear like 5 things out of all that stuff i have which is where the self loathing comes in. I think i'm gonna really start a buy one item get rid of one item policy. Next time i buy something i have to trade something in my wardrobe. Anyways i'm hoping the 4 seasons will give me the opportunity to really explore my wardrobe potential.
lost items:
- burberry scarf. why??????!!!
- black H & M v neck sweater, not a big deal, cost me like 15 dollars
- black Sisley wool sweater - this one actually did cost me a lot and i bought it in italy. what is it with me and black sweaters? i cant' seem to keep them
- half of my copy of gone with the Wind. I was reading it on my last trip and it was so old and falling apart that i decided to just start ripping off the parts i had already read. Wait i just found it! in the pocket of my luggage.
Well i don't really have anything deep to say. Other than, I spent $40 today to ship my costume box. yes, i am an idiot. My fur coat, bjork swan tutu dress and bedazzled body suit, madonna like a virgin costume, school girl costume, general 80's wear. All of this probably cost less than the shipping price, but it is worth more than that to me. I talked it over with Belton and she convinced me a while ago that i needed the costumes so whatever, it was worth it. And with this i leave you all. If my life had a soundtrack right now "more than this" by Roxy Music would be playing, because that is how i'm feeling.
I was driving down the 405 today and i heard the familiar tune of "don't stop believing." I knew it was official, i'm leaving. I have spent the fast few days packing which is so awful and i'd liek to swear that i will never have to pack again but due to my somewhat wandering student lifestyle I am guaranteed to be able to do this every year for the next 5 years. yay! Do you think I'll ever actually buy like real furniture before the age of 30?? Actually the real quesiton is do you think i'll ever have enough money to buy real furniture before i'm 30???
Other things to note. I am utterly disgusted with myself. Granted i'm generally speaking pretty disgusted with myself on a regular basis so this was not that unusual but i'm a especially grossed out by the amount of crap that i have.
- I have about 15 jackets, varrying in size and length from coats, to rain jackets, to rain coats, to blazers. Seriously 15! is this necessary! i'm from California for fucks sake!! Mind you this does not include the coats that i got rid of at the beginning of the summer. disgusting.
- I am taking 20 pairs of shoes (i am leaving some at home). 20 shoes!! why!! why the fuck do i have 20 shoes!! I mean i guess when you really think about this relative to like Mariah Carey it's not that many shoes.
- I have 25 purses. again i ask myself...why??? And these are all like legit namebrand purses. if my luggage were to get lost i woudl probably lose thousands of dollars worth of stuff. Which answers the question of where all of my money has gone over the yeras
- I have 18 scarves. i hate myself
- Other odd fact, I own alot of things from AX, which i find ot be really odd considering i don't remember shopping that much at AX nor do i like AX all that much. And yet here i am with all this AX clothing. Very odd.
Now all that being said i generally only wear like 5 things out of all that stuff i have which is where the self loathing comes in. I think i'm gonna really start a buy one item get rid of one item policy. Next time i buy something i have to trade something in my wardrobe. Anyways i'm hoping the 4 seasons will give me the opportunity to really explore my wardrobe potential.
lost items:
- burberry scarf. why??????!!!
- black H & M v neck sweater, not a big deal, cost me like 15 dollars
- black Sisley wool sweater - this one actually did cost me a lot and i bought it in italy. what is it with me and black sweaters? i cant' seem to keep them
- half of my copy of gone with the Wind. I was reading it on my last trip and it was so old and falling apart that i decided to just start ripping off the parts i had already read. Wait i just found it! in the pocket of my luggage.
Well i don't really have anything deep to say. Other than, I spent $40 today to ship my costume box. yes, i am an idiot. My fur coat, bjork swan tutu dress and bedazzled body suit, madonna like a virgin costume, school girl costume, general 80's wear. All of this probably cost less than the shipping price, but it is worth more than that to me. I talked it over with Belton and she convinced me a while ago that i needed the costumes so whatever, it was worth it. And with this i leave you all. If my life had a soundtrack right now "more than this" by Roxy Music would be playing, because that is how i'm feeling.
Monday, August 21, 2006
LOST!! V. IMPORTANT
MESSAGE ON THE WIRE!!!I think i lost my Burberry scarf.
I'm inconsolable
Dave Matthews is playing on the radio. why!!! Dave matthews reminds me of being 18 and thinking that dave matthews was good sex music when it's not and all that jazz. why???
i have no idea where the scarf is and it was my favorite accessory and it was cashmere and it was THE ONLY ARTICLE OF CLOTHING THAT I HAVE THAT WOULD ACTUALLY BE GOOD TO HAVE IN COLD WEATHER, and i somehow lost it in my move back from SF. I won't go on to say how much this stupid piece of fabric cost because if you know you feel me and if you dont' know then you will only judge me for owning a scarf that cost that much. but all i know is that a grad student's salary does not allow for luxury purchases like cashmere scarves. Serioulsy WHY!!
If i have seen you in the last 4 months please tell me if i left the scarf somewhere in your house, car, etc etc. serioulsy this is so very disconcerting.
I'm packing!! ok that's a lie. i'm actually sitting in a pile of my crap contemplating packing but getting other things together like my health insurance app and registering for classes. I have to take a stats class, but i figure this time i will actually pay attention and try to learn stats. FYI i have already taken advanced stats as some of you might remember during my coterm year. There were alot of tears, very few showers, a lot of all nighters and sweat pants. One mornign me and Saski stayed in the psych building doing stats with no windows and when we finally finished we saw our professor coming in for work in the morning. hate. Maybe i will actually learn it this time! I'm listening to some bruce springstein right now, good stuff. I also got to register for this class on Motivation in the Classroom which is really cool because it's being taught by the greatest living expert of classroom motivation, jacqueline eccles. ok maybe she's not the greatest but apparently she's a lesbian and she has like 800,000 a year because UMich loves her so much so i'd say she's pretty high up there. she's definitely one of the greatest and she's retiring this year. I met her at the orientation and she was really scuuuurrrry, as lesbians tend to be, and she was wearing like art fair/craft fair type jewlery. you know waht i mean. like big giant stones and wierd things that are pretty but not really. She had a dolphin pin made of turquoise, but she rocked it. Maybe this will help me deal with my isssssssues with those other gays.
Speaking of the gays, my future Filipino gay BFF has been messaging me from Umich all summer. Apparently he loves Karaoke and so we've been taunting each other with who can do karaoke better than the other. I told him my Magic Mic score was 97 which is pretty much unheard of especially on a difficult song like "careless whisper" which has a lot of background noise and stuff, so he's apparently really scared. We decided early this summer that to prove our worth as karaoke singers upon my arrival we'd have a sing off where we both sang the same song and whoever was unanimously better was the ultimate karaoke champion. I left him the option of choosing the song and he emailed me this morning that the song choice will be "Zombie" by the cranberries. It was at that moment that i realized that this guy was SERIOUS! Seriously what an inspired song choice!!
So anyways i'm getting pumped for meeting new people, and doing the whole school thing, and having money again, and paying bills and such. Apparently they give me my semester stipend checks in one lump sum at the beginning of each semester. big mistake! i just have to remind myself that i need that money to live and not to buy clothes and alcohol. I orderd my tivo last night. it's the new version that can record 2 shows at once! i might die like literally. death. Ok well have to go back. As Bobby would say "leave me with my things!!!"
Speaking of the gays, my future Filipino gay BFF has been messaging me from Umich all summer. Apparently he loves Karaoke and so we've been taunting each other with who can do karaoke better than the other. I told him my Magic Mic score was 97 which is pretty much unheard of especially on a difficult song like "careless whisper" which has a lot of background noise and stuff, so he's apparently really scared. We decided early this summer that to prove our worth as karaoke singers upon my arrival we'd have a sing off where we both sang the same song and whoever was unanimously better was the ultimate karaoke champion. I left him the option of choosing the song and he emailed me this morning that the song choice will be "Zombie" by the cranberries. It was at that moment that i realized that this guy was SERIOUS! Seriously what an inspired song choice!!
So anyways i'm getting pumped for meeting new people, and doing the whole school thing, and having money again, and paying bills and such. Apparently they give me my semester stipend checks in one lump sum at the beginning of each semester. big mistake! i just have to remind myself that i need that money to live and not to buy clothes and alcohol. I orderd my tivo last night. it's the new version that can record 2 shows at once! i might die like literally. death. Ok well have to go back. As Bobby would say "leave me with my things!!!"
TO DO LIST
So the countdown begins, 3 days until michigan, and this has all inspired me to start shopping!! yay!! i have held off all summer knowing that buying summer clothes would be really dumb since i'm moving to winterland but now i can rationalize some new purchases. I just bought a duvet from pottery barn on clearance for 30 bucks!! can you believe that! It wasn't my top choice but when you're living on stipends you cannot be too choosey. I mean i was willing to pay like 100 for a duvet so i basically saved myself 70 dollars. woo! That one purchase gave me the shopping bug real bad.
anyways my question is this. For a long time now i have had really mixed feelings about the puffy vest. part of this though i think is that i am from california therefore wearing the puffy vest is kind of really stupid and useless and i am a little doubtful about vests in general. but in michigan the puffy vest might actually be cool if not functional. so like, should i explore the world of puffy vests? or is that a door that i should leave closed? I mean what is the point of a puffy vest really if your arms are not being insluted? does anyone know the answer to this???
Another question...is LL Bean like reputable and good quality? or is it like the east coast poor man's old navy? like this is a legit question because i don't think anyone in LA even knows what LL Bean is. Also should i explore the world of shearling boots, ie boots that have fur in them (not uggs) but like real winter weather boots with rubber bottoms and lambs wool popping out of the top? i kind of feel like i'm just seeing this move as an opportunity to buy a whole new wardrobe and i'm not realy seeing the ramifications of such weather. But it's like I can suddenly be as ridiculous as i've always kind of wanted to be, but that my sunfilled roots have prevented me from being. I'm talking fur and shit. like seriously hold me back, guys.
anyways my question is this. For a long time now i have had really mixed feelings about the puffy vest. part of this though i think is that i am from california therefore wearing the puffy vest is kind of really stupid and useless and i am a little doubtful about vests in general. but in michigan the puffy vest might actually be cool if not functional. so like, should i explore the world of puffy vests? or is that a door that i should leave closed? I mean what is the point of a puffy vest really if your arms are not being insluted? does anyone know the answer to this???
Another question...is LL Bean like reputable and good quality? or is it like the east coast poor man's old navy? like this is a legit question because i don't think anyone in LA even knows what LL Bean is. Also should i explore the world of shearling boots, ie boots that have fur in them (not uggs) but like real winter weather boots with rubber bottoms and lambs wool popping out of the top? i kind of feel like i'm just seeing this move as an opportunity to buy a whole new wardrobe and i'm not realy seeing the ramifications of such weather. But it's like I can suddenly be as ridiculous as i've always kind of wanted to be, but that my sunfilled roots have prevented me from being. I'm talking fur and shit. like seriously hold me back, guys.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
so my parents and i just went to hoff's hut, our favorite suburban establishment, for a celebratory desert. My mom only lets us get desert once a year and this was it. very exciting! anyways i wanted a coffee and so i asked for one and the girl looked at me like "coffee?" with that "you're too young!" look and i was like "trust me i'm older than i look." Anyways she brings me my coffee very apprehensively like she's fearing she will stunt my 5.0 ft growth. so later in the meal she's like "how old ARE you?" and i was like "24" and she goes "oh cuz you look like you are 12!" Mind you this girl was like 19. why do people tell you things like "you look 12"? don't they know how offensive that is. If i was 30 and they thought i looked 18 i'd be praising lord jesus but to be like a fully developed woman and to be told that i look preadolescent is so wrong on so many levels.
anyways something my dad said had me busting my shit. So he was looking at the menu and he goes "what is merengue pie?" (pronounced to the non latinos like mur-ang-ey) like the Latin dance salsa, merengue etc. I just started cracking up like literally ROFLing! i was like, "no papi it's meringue, like egg whites and sugar and some other stuff." to be honest i dont' actually know what meringue pie is like how i've never tried meat loaf or beef stroganoff, and i guess if i only read spanish i would also thing that meringue sounds alot like merengue but trust me they are two different things entirely. Anyways when he said that i was imagining what kind of pie that could be named after the merengue dance and like carmen miranda and flashy colors and things popping into my head. EEEmagine a merengue pie.
MERINGUE
anyways something my dad said had me busting my shit. So he was looking at the menu and he goes "what is merengue pie?" (pronounced to the non latinos like mur-ang-ey) like the Latin dance salsa, merengue etc. I just started cracking up like literally ROFLing! i was like, "no papi it's meringue, like egg whites and sugar and some other stuff." to be honest i dont' actually know what meringue pie is like how i've never tried meat loaf or beef stroganoff, and i guess if i only read spanish i would also thing that meringue sounds alot like merengue but trust me they are two different things entirely. Anyways when he said that i was imagining what kind of pie that could be named after the merengue dance and like carmen miranda and flashy colors and things popping into my head. EEEmagine a merengue pie.
MERENGUE
MERINGUE
Saturday, August 19, 2006
so the saga of "six feet under" finally ended and i must say, what a great show! fuck man, i have seen many a series finale in my day but this was up there with greats series finales ever. this might have been that i watched the show over a 4 day period but i really think that objecitively it was a great finale. Dawson's was up there too because it gave you closure. As was felicity. I need shows that show me the future, let me know that everything is going ot be ok. And i know i always hate future oriented episodes but for a series finale they are tre necessary. but this, this was just beyond. I am going ot give some spoilers, but fuck it, they are irrelevent if you watch the show or not. the point is i was in such a state of mind that they deeply deeply touched me!
in the end scene claire is going to leave LA to move to New York to pursue art and she has to say bye to her family and she's all sad liek she doesn't want to go but everyone knows she has to go. And so she gets in her brand new prius (i secretly want a hybrid) because her old hearse got totalled, and she pops in a mixed CD that her republican unhip boyfriend made her (my boyfriend is an unhip republicanish!!) and the song starts, and it's just so fucking moving. brilliant brilliant brilliant song choice!!!! fucking amazing. if you have not heard Sia "breathe me" which i think at this point everyone and their mom has, i suggest you sit down in a dark room, download it off of itunes, and close your eyes and just FEEL the music because it will touch you too! it touched the cold calloused heart of my dear from Tory, it's that good. Anyways the song starts playing and she's driving on the highway sad about leaving and the cars are rushing by her and then the montage starts. god montages are so excellent! and the montage tells us in essence how everyone dies and it shows each of the main characters at their deaths, and at significant moments in their lives like weddings and such, and the song gets stronger and stronger and at this point i just started like bawling. buckets, guys, buckets. Because it was at that moment when it hit me, fuck i'm moving! and i wish that i could have a soundtrack to my life and have montages of key moments! And this song would be on the soundtrack to my life!! also on that soundtrack would be Desree "kissing you" and of course a lot of Sufjan Stevens becuase Sufjan moves me too!
I had this brilliant idea once for an ad campaign for IPod. it came to me one night while me and my peeps were out camping in some mountain. Emily and I brought our ipods even though the othe rpeople said we were lame and city girls for bringing ipods but emily and i were absolutely positive that mood music was essential to getting the ideal camping experience. So we spent weeks making mixes and compiled them ot have morning mixes, evening mixes, drunk mixes, late night high mixes, and back up mixes for songs that don't belong in a particular mix but that we might need to hear at any given moment. I mean really, and in the end everyone was so grateful for those damn mixes because it was the soundtrack to our camping trip. but point being, i had an epiphany one moment while we were all high looking at the stars and "pink moon" started playing in the background. Imagine that there are these commercials and they each have different scenes in life. Like ok scene one you have people out in the wilderness camping and then you hear "pink moon" in the background and the people are like having a good time and chatting and it seems like the music is an added effect of the commercial and then the camera zooms out and you see the little white ipod and the little ipod light and then the camera zooms to the stars and it says "IPod, the soundtrack to your life." You see becuase you think it's soundtrack music but it's actual music that the ipod is playing because ipod allows you to have a soundtrack to your life! are you eseing it?? another example commercial like you are in a car or at a park of in some setting and it's a girl and a guy and they are real nervous cuz they are about to make a move on each other, the first kiss, and some romantic song starts playing in teh background and the couple doesn't notice cuz again, it's all part of the commercial, or so you think! and then the couple kiss and the camera zooms out and you see the ipod light and the shiny white ipod and then camera zoom to the sky and you see "IPod, the soundtrack to your life." Aren't you feeling the idea???
this brings me to another point, why doesn't anyone but cathy comment? comment people! and my first assignment to you is that you comment by giving me some other ideas for awesome ipod commercials that could be but never will. or maybe comment on what songs would be included in the soundrack to your life...
****edit: other song included in Cristina's soundtrack to life Sufjan Stevens "holland." listen to it, feel it, tell me you don't love it!! granted i also like slow, thought provoking type music so take this into account before listening to either of these songs. But i like slow thoughtful songs that have a real build up and that you get real involved in emotionally and by the end you are just drained. you know!
Friday, August 18, 2006
I would just like to say that I could be doing 1 of 2 things right now if Cathy were not with her boyfriend or if i had more friends in LA.
a) I could be seeing Snakes On A Plane!!! Damn this is most regrettable.
b) I could be seeing Metal Skool on Sunset.
Why!! Instead I just got back from eating at the fine dining establishment, Hoff's Hut with my parents and I am now in bed elevating my jacked up scabbing knee while watching my bagillionth hour of six feet under. I have like 4 episodes left. I am a champion. so my knee is healing but the scab is in such a location that it's pulls on it when i bend it.
Today I went Museum hopping with my mom. We went to the getty which when I really think about it is quite an amazing establishment. J. Paul Getty was this oil tycoon and he made billions of dollars. He hated his family though so he didn't want them to have any of his money. My favorite story of him was that once his son got kidnapped in Sardegna and the kidnappers wanted a ransom and getty was like "no, sorry" and the kidnappers cut off his sons ear and sent it to getty and even after that he still would nto pay ransom!! the the kidnappers just let the son go because they realized they weren't going to make any money off of him. isn't that aewsome! anyways j paul getty was basically and asshole but he did one awesome thing for humanity. he left all of his money to the getty foundation which was dedicated to just buying art throughout the world and now thye have this awesome museum on the top of a hill overlooking all of LA and it's huge and has like all kinds of awesome art from different eras like Van Gogh's "irises" and other cool stuff. And what makes me love the getty even more is that it's all free to the public! isn't that awesome. I've been quite a few times so i noticed that they had aquired a bunch of new peices, some include some Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. If you don't know what that is look it up, cuz they have a really cool history. PBR, serioulys look that shit up. They were having a Rubens/Brueghel exhibit and i was remembering when i was in high school and i had to do a presentation on Rubens. Rubens among other things like to paint voluptuous large women and horses. Anyways i gave this really good talk and at the end someone raised their hand and was like "so he just painted fat chicks? yuck!" I hated high school so much.
Then we went to the LACMA which has a lot of latin american art and really cool ancient sculptures and jewlery. They have an old mummy tomb. and by that time my leg was killing me so we came home and as i said before i am now sitting at home. I'm going to some spa tomorrow. Burke Williams or Brooks Williams or something. I'm not sure but my cousin is sponsoring a shiatsu massage and pedecure. yay! i don't realy like people touching me but we'll see how this goes.
a) I could be seeing Snakes On A Plane!!! Damn this is most regrettable.
b) I could be seeing Metal Skool on Sunset.
Why!! Instead I just got back from eating at the fine dining establishment, Hoff's Hut with my parents and I am now in bed elevating my jacked up scabbing knee while watching my bagillionth hour of six feet under. I have like 4 episodes left. I am a champion. so my knee is healing but the scab is in such a location that it's pulls on it when i bend it.
Today I went Museum hopping with my mom. We went to the getty which when I really think about it is quite an amazing establishment. J. Paul Getty was this oil tycoon and he made billions of dollars. He hated his family though so he didn't want them to have any of his money. My favorite story of him was that once his son got kidnapped in Sardegna and the kidnappers wanted a ransom and getty was like "no, sorry" and the kidnappers cut off his sons ear and sent it to getty and even after that he still would nto pay ransom!! the the kidnappers just let the son go because they realized they weren't going to make any money off of him. isn't that aewsome! anyways j paul getty was basically and asshole but he did one awesome thing for humanity. he left all of his money to the getty foundation which was dedicated to just buying art throughout the world and now thye have this awesome museum on the top of a hill overlooking all of LA and it's huge and has like all kinds of awesome art from different eras like Van Gogh's "irises" and other cool stuff. And what makes me love the getty even more is that it's all free to the public! isn't that awesome. I've been quite a few times so i noticed that they had aquired a bunch of new peices, some include some Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. If you don't know what that is look it up, cuz they have a really cool history. PBR, serioulys look that shit up. They were having a Rubens/Brueghel exhibit and i was remembering when i was in high school and i had to do a presentation on Rubens. Rubens among other things like to paint voluptuous large women and horses. Anyways i gave this really good talk and at the end someone raised their hand and was like "so he just painted fat chicks? yuck!" I hated high school so much.
Then we went to the LACMA which has a lot of latin american art and really cool ancient sculptures and jewlery. They have an old mummy tomb. and by that time my leg was killing me so we came home and as i said before i am now sitting at home. I'm going to some spa tomorrow. Burke Williams or Brooks Williams or something. I'm not sure but my cousin is sponsoring a shiatsu massage and pedecure. yay! i don't realy like people touching me but we'll see how this goes.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
why I love kelly, and my knee
Ok so i was perusing Perez when I came across this. So basically it's this metal rock concert, i'm thinking something of the whitesnake variety. The lead singer looks really really familiar so it's definitely a band that is featured on my "monster ballads" cd. If you know who this band is let me know. Anyways the lead singers are all like hairband assholes and drunk and then suddenly they are like "holy shit, kelly clarkson is in our audience!!" And then they drag her on stage and apparently she is with the lead singer of Yellowcard (you are much cooler than this kelly). And then they make her take a shot of jack and she's loving it cuz apparently she loves 80's heavy metal. And then they are liek "kelly waht do you want us to sing" and she's like "sweet child oh mine!!!!" And then i knew, kelly and I are kindred spirits. And kelly and the hairband all harmonize for a most intense version of "sweet child o mine." The rest of the clip can only be compared to when cathy and i sing karaoke. yes, it's that good. This clip is exactly why i fucking love kelly clarkson.
Anyways what we all knew would happen finally happened. Yup i fell off my bike. i was riding to the movie theaters and i hit a really residential area and the roads weren't paved well and my bike got caught and i skid to the side and fucked up my knee. I got up and just started yelling "fuck fuck fuck!!!" It's a good thing i started wearing my helmet. I usually think helmets are lame and nerdy but last year my parents tabulated how much all of my education has cost and it's about a million so my brain is worth a million dollars so yeah, i really should wear the helmet. Anyways my knee was like gushing blood and puss and shit. Good stuff! But you know what, I got right back on that bike and road on because i dont' know if you know this, guys. But I'M A WINNER! Ugh it was so wretched. I'm never riding again. What made it worse was that after the movie i had to ride all the way back home like 5 miles.
But i saw "Little Miss Sunshine" which was cute. A little depressing but very good.
*** Edit, the band is called Metal Skool. I still think the lead singer used to be in an old band. let me look it up
***** wow ok apparently metal Skool is this 80's metal tribute band, the best one apparently. no wonder they look like whitesnake. And they like rock out and do all kinds of awesome 80's hairband music. How have i never heard of this band! i fucking love metal cover bands! In addiiton apparenlty the lead guitarist whose stage name is Satchel (love) does a solo part o fthe show where he plays the guitar and the drums at the same time! eeemagine! Ok new goal in life, go see Metal Skool. they are basically like Spinal Tap only live. This reminds me of my Uncle Lou's 80's metal cover band "CLAW." so awesome
Anyways what we all knew would happen finally happened. Yup i fell off my bike. i was riding to the movie theaters and i hit a really residential area and the roads weren't paved well and my bike got caught and i skid to the side and fucked up my knee. I got up and just started yelling "fuck fuck fuck!!!" It's a good thing i started wearing my helmet. I usually think helmets are lame and nerdy but last year my parents tabulated how much all of my education has cost and it's about a million so my brain is worth a million dollars so yeah, i really should wear the helmet. Anyways my knee was like gushing blood and puss and shit. Good stuff! But you know what, I got right back on that bike and road on because i dont' know if you know this, guys. But I'M A WINNER! Ugh it was so wretched. I'm never riding again. What made it worse was that after the movie i had to ride all the way back home like 5 miles.
But i saw "Little Miss Sunshine" which was cute. A little depressing but very good.
*** Edit, the band is called Metal Skool. I still think the lead singer used to be in an old band. let me look it up
***** wow ok apparently metal Skool is this 80's metal tribute band, the best one apparently. no wonder they look like whitesnake. And they like rock out and do all kinds of awesome 80's hairband music. How have i never heard of this band! i fucking love metal cover bands! In addiiton apparenlty the lead guitarist whose stage name is Satchel (love) does a solo part o fthe show where he plays the guitar and the drums at the same time! eeemagine! Ok new goal in life, go see Metal Skool. they are basically like Spinal Tap only live. This reminds me of my Uncle Lou's 80's metal cover band "CLAW." so awesome
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)