The Dragon's Keep

Yes, I do still have a blog and yes, I do still update it...sometimes...

2010-11-13T23:12:00.000-08:00

This is purely for those of you (and you know who you are) who keep reminding me that it's been awhile since I blogged. :P

MLIA. It stands for "My Life Is Average." It's often used in place of a more, shall we say, *explicit* acronym. It can have one of at least two connotations: 1)The user is basically saying "screw it, my life sucks" (without actually using the explicit acronym) or 2)The user is demonstrating how less-than-normal or less-than-ideal circumstances are completely within their personal norm. What does this have to do with today's update? We'll get back to that.

This past year has been a bit crazy. Okay, more than a bit. Back in January, I had a nasty bout of cellulitis in my leg, but on the bright side, it could have been MRSA, which would have been much, much worse. Plus, I didn't beat around the bush about getting it taken care of so it didn't have a chance to become a big open sore like it could have. A friend of mine contracted cellulitis on his arm a few months later and...well...let's just say he didn't get it taken care of as quickly and it was pretty nasty.

I didn't do terribly well in school, but I didn't do terribly badly either. After much course correction, a couple of customized clusters, and plenty of panic, I finally pulled it all together at the last minute to apply for and successfully earn my Bachelor of Science degree in Art at BYU-Idaho in April. A week later, as a graduation present to myself, the highlight of this past year was a trip to Oakland with my two best friends to see my absolute FAVORITE band, MUSE, live in concert! I still look back and get an emotional high thinking about how amazing that show was and how much fun I had sharing it with my absolute best friends. Mind you, we had TERRIBLE seats and it was STILL the BEST concert I have ever been to and probably ever will. Except, of course, for any future MUSE concert dates that may be in my future. :D

Then, despite some worrying naysay and the extremely frustrating actions of a coworker at the summer job I've worked for three summers now (but only two at the time), I got that job back and started just a few days after the concert. I was warned (very untactfully by the coworker previously mentioned) that it would still only be for as long as the summer help was needed because my dad works there, and we can't have any nepotism, don't you know. Nevermind that *I* worked there first, THEN my dad got hired, and they rehired me because of my previous experience, NOT because of my dad working there. While I'm going there: nep·o·tism [nep-uh-tiz-uhm] –noun: patronage bestowed or favoritism shown on the basis of family relationship, as in business and politics. I repeat: my being rehired was based on PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE. You can tell I'm still very miffed about the whole situation. Anyway, I did get to work for the summer, and the point is that I should have been looking for a different job the whole time, knowing it was going to end, and knowing my student loans were quickly approaching their time of becoming due. (That's a completely different rant for another time. Suffice it to say I am VERY grateful for parents who are willing to let me live with them for as long as necessary, and even MORE grateful that the loan companies have things such as deferment due to unemployment.)

As amazingly wonderful as it is to be done with school, BYU-I is still a work in progress; therefore, I didn't get as much education as I really really needed to be able to find a job in my field right away. It doesn't help that when I started college, the graphic design business was booming. A short 6 years and MANY political and economical mistakes later (I won't name names because that will start big arguments and let's face it...NONE of our most recent political leaders have made very good decisions as of late...) art of ALL kinds is suffering. Sad as it is, art isn't exactly at the top of the "MUST HAVE" list of a nation in economical turmoil and hardship. I am greatly saddened to see my peers in the art world having to settle for significantly less than they are worth, for that is the great compromise. The middle ground between what you're worth and what people can afford is truly frightening.

I thought I had plenty of time to find something in my field. Heck, I thought I had plenty of time to find anything else, too. Two months of unemployment tells me a different story. I have no one to blame but myself, because I really haven't been trying very hard. I have a plethora of excuses but the bottom line is that even after making at least a bit of significant effort in the past two months, the job market flat out sucks. You can bet that the jobs you're applying for are being applied to by HUNDREDS of other people. Even someone like me, with nothing but the best to offer and plenty of past experience and references to prove it, can't seem to fight my way to the top, even WITH previous experience! I can't tell you how many people I know who are working a job they absolutely despise because it's a job and they are very scarce, and that's why I applied to a job I absolutely hate but have worked before and am at least very good at, if nothing else. Yet that was weeks ago and I doubt I'll get hired by them any time soon, despite my previous experience and their willingness and desire to hire me. The fact is there are literally hundreds in line ahead of me.

I'm aware I tooted my own horn a bit up there, but it wasn't just for the sake of being a braggart. It's simply a demonstration of MLIA in action. EVERYONE is brilliant and EVERYONE is fighting for the same opportunity to prove it. My life is average; no worse or better than anyone else out there who is struggling frustratedly to find that niche where they can live both comfortably and happily. I hope that time is coming for me, and SOON.

In the meantime, I'm determined to try harder and give it my all, and I pray that God will make up the difference. He doesn't try us harder than we can endure, but He definitely pushes us right to the very edge of what we can endure sometimes. I'm not gonna lie; I'm so very stressed and right on the brink of a nervous breakdown constantly these days. Just ask my family how often I just snap for pretty much no reason, to my shame later. I'm lazy, whiny, and selfish, and it's hard to overcome those vices.

Maybe that's the lesson He's been trying to teach me. There's been too much "I, I, I, me, me, me..." and not enough consideration to the fact that MLIA. I am *not* alone in what I'm dealing with, and it's time to suck it up and move forward.

when it rains...

2010-01-19T15:18:00.000-08:00

I gotta stop jinxing myself, getting all excited about things finally going my way. :/ Where do I begin...?

Well, for starters, this semester is already off to a pretty rocky start. I got sick right as I was coming back from Christmas break, which meant I missed a couple days of classes right off the bat. Then, right as I was finally feeling back in the groove at the end of last week, I got slammed with a bit of a shocker, really. I started feeling really sick quite suddenly on Saturday evening around 9pm, with a sudden fever and chills that had me literally shuddering and sweating at the same time, unable to even try and sleep it off. A couple of hours later, I realized that my left leg was throbbing and starting to hurt, so I called my roommate in to have a look and see if it might be a spider bite or something. After a little online research, we came to the conclusion that it wasn't a spider bite, but possibly an infection resulting from a bite or sting of *some* kind. I called my mom next, and she gave me several more possibilities - shingles, cellulitis, MRSA, or even an abscess/cyst like my brother had to get cut out of *his* left leg a few years ago. I'm thinking, "wow...none of these is really going to be better than any of the others..."

You know what they say about hindsight being 20/20? I *intended* to get to the doctor the very next day, but I was unable to get a ride and so I figured it could wait until Monday morning first thing. I REALLY should have walked over there myself on Sunday when I still had the ability to do so without much complication.

The area of redness and pain went from two spots on Saturday night in the middle of my shin - one about an inch/inch and a half in diameter, the other about a quarter inch - to a much larger, less uniform spread all the way down to my lower shin on Sunday and Monday, to all the way down past my ankle and around the leg today. It was VERY painful this morning; it actually brought me to tears and I have a fairly high pain tolerance.

So, let's back up a little bit to yesterday, when my aunt took me to the doctor. He took one look at it, felt it and everything, and told me very seriously that we were going to have to pay close attention to it and be very "aggressive" with treatment right away. He speculated on cellulitis right from the get-go, but took a culture of it to be sure. He then ordered me a shot of antibiotic *and* prescribed some antibiotic pills to get going on right away.

I hate shots. I *usually* like surprises, but not the kind that involve shots. So when the nurse came in with the needle and said, "ok, I'm gonna need your bum" I was like "...wait, what?!"

I had a different doctor for the follow-up today, and *he* said it looked like cellulitis for sure, and based on the fact that my fever seems to have gone away, we're on the right track with the treatment. But it felt so horrible this morning and looked worse than before, so he ordered *another* shot to the butt for me today, with yet another scheduled for tomorrow. And, if it's any worse tomorrow than it was today, they'll have to take a blood sample and be sure it isn't more complicated than cellulitis, as if cellulitis isn't complicated enough! I mean, check out this link! https://health.google.com/health/ref/Cellulitis That pretty much fits me to a T, so what could be even *worse* I wonder?! I was told to take it easy and stay home, off my feet as much as possible, which means no classes for the rest of the week. :/

I've already gotten emails back from some of my teachers telling me to take it easy and not worry too much about catching up until I get back (hopefully) starting Monday, so that makes me feel a little better. If y'all could pray for me, I'd really appreciate that so much too. To be honest, things could be much worse, and I'm grateful that they aren't.

hey hey!

2010-01-09T13:30:00.000-08:00

I'm such a flake when it comes to this blog but I manage to update it at least bi-annually so that works, right? :D

I'm really excited about a couple of things right now. First of all, if all goes well, I've applied for graduation this semester! My major is all but completed (all that's left is a travel class or an internship), my generals have been done for a couple of years, the minimum total required credits will be reached after this semester, and I will be submitting two custom clusters in place of a minor. Best case scenario here, and my personal choice, is that they'll approve my clusters, I'll be able to get into the travel class this semester, I'll finish out this semester, and I'll walk in April. Worst case scenario is that they don't like my clusters, they make me take some courses during the summer, I do the travel class in the summer, and I walk in July. Either way, I win because I'm FINALLY graduating this year!

Plus, I wouldn't mind staying for the summer anyway because my friend Craig is coming home from his mission in March! I'm so excited! I've only been on two dates with him, but before he left two Marches ago we had discussed more dating and such, and I've been writing him his entire mission and, quite frankly, I feel like we've grown so much closer even though he's on the other side of the States. I really like him and I'm really looking forward to seeing him when he gets back. :)

I'm taking some difficult classes this semester but I know that as long as I stay focused and get my homework done on time, rather than my usual procrastination, I'll get decent grades and be able to graduate either this semester or next. I'm so excited to be able to say that with absolute certainty now!

Oh and one more thing that I have to say is that I am REALLY proud of myself and my handiwork in watercolor painting. I need to have my family send me pictures of the paintings I recently gave them all, because I barely recognize my own work for how professional they look now in their frames. It really gives me the drive to keep going with it and push myself to new heights so that my work will be worth more monetarily and I'll make a name for myself someday. :)

Tech-knowledge-y

2009-10-26T17:25:00.000-07:00

Was trying to be clever with the title. *shrug*

This story is actually sorta old, considering I've had my new phone since, oh...June? July? I don't remember. But I got it about halfway through the summer. I think. Anyway, it's been awhile.

My old phone, a cute little red LG Chocolate, was my favorite toy. The one before that had also been my favorite toy, but unlike *that* one, the Chocolate never gave me any troubles until the very bitter end. I had a LOT of good pictures on it and had been starting to email them to myself when one day it just up and turned itself off (with about 3/4 of a charge still left) and wouldn't turn back on. I tried plugging it in, taking out the battery and putting it back in, and a couple other things I'd been told to try before finally taking it in to the Verizon store for them to take a "professional" look at it. Basically, the end result was that the guy tried everything I did, and nothing worked for him either.

It's like I just can't keep ahead of the technology curve. It's nice that you can transfer all your contacts and pictures and everything from one phone to another when you get a new phone, even when you switch service providers. But the phones have to be ON for the transfer to take place. It just seems so stupid to me that apparently there's NOTHING they can do for me, and even stupider that the phone would just plain stop working like that, with no previous problems or hints that it was dying. UGH.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Samsung Alias2. But I hadn't been planning on a new phone when the LG was working just fine, and losing all of my contacts and pictures really leaves a bad taste in my mouth to this day. Ah well, life goes on.

of illness and such

2009-10-01T23:02:00.001-07:00

Sooooo remember that trip to the emergency room a few weeks back? The bill arrived at my home in Bakersfield the other day. Can't say that I was surprised but it still hurts like a knife in the back.

$900. Ow. Nothxplzreturntosenderkthxbai. No but seriously. Ow. Once my mom forwards it to my apartment in Rexburg I'll be taking it to the Student Health Center to see if there's anything they can do, considering I *am* on their insurance plan and it was a random set of circumstances. Otherwise I'll be taking out that student loan I really wasn't wanting to take out after all... T_T

Also, Rexburg did one of its crazy mood swings, going from a little on the "too warm" side two days ago to being more than a little on the "too cold" side and nasty rainy yesterday. That triggered a nasty little head cold starting last night that is quickly getting worse. I was supposed to drive down to Salt Lake for Conference tomorrow, getting to see my dad at the same time since he's going to be there as well, but I just don't see that happening if I keep feeling this bad or worse. Not to mention I'm supposed to be singing at Devotional on Tuesday with the combined Women's and Men's choirs and the Collegiate Singers (I made it into Women's Choir by the way, at least THAT'S happy news :D ), but I'm losing my voice! Le sigh. I suppose we'll have to wait and see what happens but for sure I'm stuck in the R-burg for the weekend. Sad day. :/

EDIT 10/05/2009 : So the insurance kicked in, bringing the final bill down to $134. *PHEW*! Still sucks but better than $900!

Bakersfield ---> Bear River ---> Emergency Room ---> Rexburg...wait, what?

2009-09-05T17:08:00.001-07:00

Yes, you read that right. Allow me to start from the beginning.

Four days ago, I was getting ready for my trip from home in Bakersfield, CA to Rexburg, ID via a stop in Bear River, UT. My right eye was perfectly normal before I took my shower that day, but when I got out and finished getting ready I noticed it was very red and irritated and, though I couldn't understand *how* I could have gotten it since no one I knew of had it, I knew it must be pink eye. Being the poor college student I am, and considering my ability to hitch-hike my dad's insurance ran out when I turned 24 this past year, I REALLY didn't want to go to the doctor because I knew it would be more expensive than I felt like dealing with for a stupid pink eye. My mom is a medical transcriptionist and usually has a pretty good idea about how to treat minor things, and she told me to try putting just a tiny bit of Neosporin in the corner of my eye since it has the same antibiotic ingredient as Tobramycin (Tobrex), which is the eyedrops doctors prescribe for pink eye. Mind you, she tells me this just as she and my dad are on their way out the door to begin *their* trip to Peru for 10 days. So I tried the Neosporin trick right then, as well as on Wednesday as I drove 12+ hours to Bear River...which brings me to official adventure #1 of the trip.

I got to about 20 miles from Beaver, UT when all of a sudden the traffic just stopped. After about 15 minutes at complete standstill, sitting in my little '93 Saturn with the broken air conditioner and running out of gas, I turned off my car and got out to at least see if I could see what was going on, and I wasn't the only one. I called some people to see if they could find anything on the internet about what was going on, and eventually my aunt told me to try calling the local information hotline. The recorded message mentioned a traffic wreck that had the freeway completely blocked off (greeeeeat...) and traffic was being rerouted where I had already passed (oh lovely! -_- ) BUT! One lane should be open by now! (Says the operator as traffic continues to stay motionless.) Anyway, about an hour later, after a very long, tedious, and slow crawl across about 2 miles (yeah, 2 miles in an hour...) I finally made it past where they were letting people through on the left *shoulder* one at a time. It had been a pretty nasty wreck involing two big rigs; no injuries, luckily, but whatever both had been carrying had made a HUGE mess across both lanes. With no further delays, I eventually made it to my friend's house in Bear River on Wednesday night. She and I discussed maybe going to the Wal-Mart eye center because it might be cheaper, and I agreed it might be a good idea.

The next morning, while my eye was still very red (probably worse, but I was in denial), it *felt* better, and so I once again passed up a perfectly good opportunity to have it looked at professionally. Instead, I went to my great-aunt's funeral (basically just to represent my dad since I don't really know my great-aunt or her kids at all) as planned. I felt kinda bad because I didn't really cry or anything, but I *did* see some family that I *do* know, some of whom I hadn't seen in at least 10-12 years. It was good to reconnect and I'm glad they were glad that I was there to support them.

When I got back to my friend's for the night, the real adventure started. My eye was bugging me a little, and so even though I knew I should just leave it alone, I rubbed at it and got a little overzealous because, of course, as I rubbed it, it only felt worse. When I opened my eye again, it felt and looked like there was a contact floating around in, and I don't wear them. I pretty much lost it at that point, just knowing that I had just detached my cornea or something. I showed my friend and her husband and they also knew something was very wrong, so, with no other options at 9pm, we rushed to the emergency room, calling my out-of-the-country parents and my aunt in Rexburg whom I'm staying with until I can move into my new apartment to let them know things aren't exactly going as planned. We also called the emergency room to let them know the gist of what was happening so they could get us in as quickly as possible. Being the overly-excitable and emotional person I am, I was seriously freaking out, balling my eyes out, lol. So I said a prayer asking to be calmed, which was answered quite promptly actually. I stopped crying and just kind of sat the rest of the ride out patiently, holding my eye closed.

Now I've never been to the emergency room before. The worst thing I've had to deal with medically was having my wisdom teeth removed, and that only involved a single suture, no swelling, no complications at all. So even though I'm still calm, my brain and heart are going a mile a minute as they take my blood pressure and pulse and ask me all kinds of questions. Plus there's the whole issue of not really knowing if my student insurance will cover me while I'm off track, in an ER, with a provider that's not necessarily on their list and yadda yadda. So when the first nurse says, "hm, your blood pressure is a little high..." Uh. Yeah. Y'think? However, I did start feeling a little stupid when she looked at my eye and asked if I'd been using anything for it, and of course I had to tell her about the whole Neosporin thing. I told her my mom had told me to try it and that it had the same stuff in it as the eyedrops, to which she replied, "yes, but it's not sterile." Oh. I hadn't thought of that... ^^;

Anyway so next I'm lying on the bed in one of their rooms, my friend in the chair next to me still talking to me and keeping me distracted from the situation at hand like the good friend she is. The next nurse comes in and verifies my insurance and personal information, then the doctor comes in, puts some numbing drops in my eye (hate that stuff, especially when it runs into my nasal cavity from the tear duct *shudders* ) and looks at my eye with the typical optometry light where you put your chin on that thing and...yeah you get the idea. By this time whatever was floating in my eye had reattached itself or something but anyway. He told me to lie back as he took a cotton swab to my eye and pulled out some nasty goopy, stringy stuff. Seriously it was weird and gross, and explained why it had looked and felt like a contact was floating around in my eye. He put some dye in my eye and looked at it again to make sure my cornea and everything were intact, asking me specifically if I had put anything in my eye. So again, I had to tell him about the Neosporin, and he mentioned that that probably had been a bad idea and I just might have had an allergic reaction on top of everything else... ^^; He gave me some Tobrex, the nurse came back in and said I was good to go (I took that as a good sign that my student insurance was good), and I left the emergency room with discharge information and medicine in hand. I also called my family to tell them I was going to be just fine.

So there you have it. I basically ended up in the emergency room for a neglected case of pink eye. Needless to say, I feel quite stupid for not just going to the doctor in the first place. I would have had to pay more than if I still was on my dad's insurance, but not nearly as much as I'm sure I'm going to have to pay for the ER visit. At least I got one of those ER bracelets they give you with your name and a barcode on it as a souvenir... ^^;

OK!

2009-08-07T20:35:00.000-07:00

Alright so I'm glad I didn't update on the negatives because yesterday made up for all of those nasty little things that had piled up a couple days ago. ^.^

First of all, the weather in Bakersfield for the past couple of days has been absolutely gorgeous and amazing. It worries me ever so slightly to be in the 80's in August in Bakersfield...not that I'm complaining...BUT! When you consider that we were just in the 100's for a week or two solid before this...it worries me, lol.

Anyway, yesterday my family and I went down to Los Angeles, where the weather was even more gorgeous, to go to the Dodgers baseball game. It was "Mormon night," which they've done every year for the past 15, so there were a lot of people there whom we knew and enjoyed the game with. My LDS friends and family will be interested to know that an area 70 authority whose name I don't remember caught the ceremonial first pitch thrown by none other than M. Russell Ballard himself! That in itself was awesome before the game even started! We also were able to get tickets in the right field pavilion, which happens to be where you can get all-you-can-eat Dodger Dogs, nachos, sodas/water, popcorn, and peanuts all night (until they run out, anyway, heh). It was a pretty good game too. Very nail-biting for us Dodgers fans considering the Braves had the first say and stayed 2 points ahead until the bottom of the 9th inning. But then Juan Pierre and Rafael Furcal got on base with no outs, and Andre Ethier knocked one into our right field pavilion for a walk-off home run. It was great!

All I've done today is play video games, but it's ok because it's my day off work and my best friend is over playing video games with me. So great end to my weekend. ^_^

...

2009-08-04T19:51:00.000-07:00

I'm alive, I promise. I would elaborate but it seems like every time I update this thing I mostly just have something to whine about. Now is no different, which is *why* I'm not going to elaborate. For now. Just know that I'm alive and I have every intention of updating you on the positives just as soon as I can think of some... :/

blogger CPR, (| Can I have it? |)

2009-04-20T22:23:00.000-07:00

I think I need a life. Final Fantasy XI really has taken up way more of my life than I'd care to admit, and it just hit me like, 10 seconds ago that my life pretty much revolves around it. All I can think about when I'm at work or doing something besides playing the game is "hurry and get this done so I can get back to playing FFXI." If I have no internet, such as happened for the past week and a half previous to Saturday night, instead of reading any number of books I keep meaning to or doing any number of artistically/musically engaging projects I have written down to work on or writing any number of stories I have ideas for in my head, I just get restless and bored and pissy over the net being down. I can't see past the fact that I'm losing precious in-game time, and that scares me. I think I may have to take a month or two off at the very least, so that I can focus on the fact that I'm finally home again and there are any number of things going on that I could be doing with the people I care about most, rather than wasting away in front of my laptop. I've never been very good at prioritizing and putting the most important things first, and I know I don't have to just quit the game cold turkey, just cut back and set aside time for other things.

So, there. I admit it. I'm an addict, and I've got to do something about it. What exactly that is, I don't know yet. But hopefully you'll see more of me here and on twitter/facebook/myspace as I figure out that everything *can* be done as long as I do it right, and in the right order. In the meantime, I'm back home in Bakersfield for the summer, for those who didn't know already. ^^ It's good to be back, but holy crap it is already way too hot! Lol. Also, in closing, and for your amusement, some highlights from the drive home:

To the man in the dark grey '05 Honda Accord who kept passing me, then getting passed by me, then passing me again, and so on, pretty much the entire way from St. George to Barstow: Cruise control, (| Do you have it? |). Seriously...I drive a '93 Saturn with no cruise and I still managed to keep at a pretty constant speed the whole way across the desert. It's a bit frustrating to keep getting stuck behind you going just barely under the speed limit, only to get passed by you over and over as you decide to start going 5-10 *over* the speed limit for whatever reason.

To the kid in the silver '09 Mustang GT, driving around in heavy Las Vegas traffic like a bat outta hades: Go ahead kid, come within inches of nicking me and two other cars ONE more time. I dare you. My car's a piece of crap, and it'd be worth a couple more battle scars to prove that you do NOT, in fact, own the road, nor are you impervious just because you're new and shiny and fast.

And last, but certainly not least, to the jerk in the black Corvette Z06 doing 60 in a 70 zone going through Mojave, cruising with your top down in the fast lane as we're all forced to pass you on the right: owning a brand-new, black, convertible Corvette does not mean you automatically belong in the fast lane at all times. The "slower traffic keep right" sign does, in fact, apply even to you.

times like these

2009-02-10T11:23:00.000-08:00

College has been a long haul for me. I'm interested in so many things, and that made it really really hard to pick a major I felt I'd be successful in. I love and am good at math and science and could have easily picked a major in either area. I also love to write, and I have an amazing teacher, Brad Ruff, to thank for really showing me how to write well during my senior year of high school. I'm writing a novel (a couple now, actually) and I really just love to write in general, so I could have been an English major. I love to sing and play the piano, and I actually started out as a declared Music major before deciding that it would be just a bit too competitive for me to actually get any enjoyment out of it. And, as previously mentioned, I love cars and regret letting myself get talked out of pursuing that. Finally, I enjoy art, and dabble in several media while struggling for a graphic design major. As hard as I struggle with art, I have found at least one or two things that I'm good at (making books, for one thing), and I'm glad I picked it. I guess, thinking about why I *didn't* choose music, I get enjoyment out of this because I'm *not* really all that good at it to begin with.

It goes a little deeper than just this though. Before I even came up here to BYU-I, I wasn't even sure I really wanted to go to college in the first place. I didn't start in the fall right after graduating from high school because I was working and trying to get enough money, and I hadn't applied to any schools because I honestly didn't know where I wanted to go. My mom felt impressed to start the applications to both BYU in Provo, UT and here in Rexburg, ID and basically force me to finish them so that at least I had *something* going. I ended up only finishing the one for Idaho because I felt that if I was going to a "Mormon school," I wanted to go to the one that was smaller and harder to get lost at.

I got accepted while I was working in the mailroom at the regional State Farm Insurance office in Bakersfield, and even though I was working through a temporary agency at the time, they liked me so well that they asked if I would consider sticking around so they could hire me on as a full-time employee with benefits and the whole thing. I'd be willing to wager that, had I done so, I'd be doing pretty well for myself right now. The pay would have been enough to get me out on my own, I wouldn't be up to my eyeballs in school loans, and I would quite possibly be very happy. However, again, the Lord impressed on my mind that it was important to get my college education, if for no other reason than to be able to say that I did.

I have no doubts now that coming here was indeed the right choice, and the Lord's will for me. I've met countless wonderful friends, and professors and church leaders who not only care about helping me succeed in school, but who also know my name and care about me as a person. I've learned a lot and I can see myself and my work have improved over time. I know that I'd like to work around cars in some way or another, but as far as how my major will get me there, I have had no idea whatsoever. I still don't, but a door just may be opened soon.

See, I did this project in graphic design last semester that some people have heard at least a little bit about. We had to design these little information cards (50 of them to be exact), and the subject of what to do them on was up to us. Of course, I chose cars. The first part was that we had to design and print out just 10 of them to show our progress; basically a first draft of our design. I've been writing letters to a guy whom I met through an old roomie (another blessing of coming up here) while he's on his mission for my church, and I sent him those first 10 cards to demonstrate what I was working on. Well apparently, the guy who he is working with right now is really into cars as well, and he asked my friend where he could buy them!

So now I'm really excited, because this means that I could perfect my design, talk to the car companies to get permission to use pictures and information and everything, and market the info cards! This just may open up a whole new avenue of possibilities for me. The perfect thing, first of all, would be to be able to see all the cars in person and take my OWN pictures, which is no small thing considering the exotic nature of some of the cars I picked for the project. I'd be able to show off my work, my photography, and my little writeups I did on each car, which could quite possibly open up the job of my dreams. Only time will tell, and I have a LOT of work and a lot of people to talk to in the next little while, but I'm really excited.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

2009-02-03T10:57:00.000-08:00

The whole MMORPG scene is still pretty new to me. I just barely started playing Final Fantasy XI Online this past summer, and I'm pretty into it now. I don't get to play very often at the moment because Legacy Ridge's internet blocks my access to it on a regular basis. I have to settle for playing from 10am-4pm at the Madison Library because it's really the only time I have anyway. The whole needing to do homework and get a job thing should take priority and I'm forced to let it this way.

Anyway, when I first heard that Bioware and Lucasarts were working on a Star Wars MMO, I have to admit I was a bit skeptical at first. Don't get me wrong, Knights of the Old Republic I & II were both REALLY good and fun to play through. But the art and CGI design were a bit rough and shaky, in my opinion. They weren't nearly as smooth and detailed as the world of Vana'diel (FFXI).

Now, however, having seen some of the in-progress work on The Old Republic, I'm so freakin' excited. It's basically the same working concept as the KotOR games, where you face front all the time, it's turn-based, and probably even uses the same controls for all I know. But the character design, creatures, landscapes, and EVERYTHING is so much more lifelike and detailed, right on par with FFXI.

Not that I'll give up FFXI when TOR comes out, but it's definitely going to compete for my attention, being the hardcore Star Wars fanatic that I am. :D

planning

2009-02-02T18:19:00.000-08:00

I don't know why I have such a hard time yanking myself away from my stupid computer and doing those things which *should* take priority above anything else at the time, but I really do. It's bad.

I really intended to get a lot of homework/projects done today, but it really didn't happen. I worked yesterday on making the book that's due tomorrow, but that's about it. Not that I wasn't productive at all; I got my room clean and I dug out a planner and wrote down all of the homework, projects, quizzes, and other important class-related stuff that are coming up due within the next week or two. So at least I accomplished *something* today.

It's funny because I haven't done the whole planner thing probably since freshman or sophomore year, and my grades have really reflected it. I haven't gotten anything worse than a C, but considering that up until college I got nothing but mostly A's and a handful of B's, my grades pretty much suck. What's really weird is that something about writing down everything on paper really really helps me focus and get things done. Maybe it's because I take pleasure in being able to cross stuff off the list when it's all done that I actually am more motivated. *shrug* Whatever the reason, I'm actually excited now to have it all laid out and ready to rock. ^^

just a short little update

2009-01-27T15:56:00.000-08:00

Since I know at least a few people read me now, (love you guys!), I just wanted to take the time to point out/remind everyone of my little Twitter space to the right, just underneath my profile info. Twitter is an awesome place, and it provides more up-to-the-minute little mini-updates for when I, as Catherine put it, need blogger CPR. xD So when I forget to actually update my blog, please still stop by my site and take a look at the top right there for updates. Those of you who don't already have your own Twitter account should definitely sign up for one and add it to your blog as well. Do it! It's seriously really fun and really cool. And it's free! You can even set it up to send updates from your mobile phone, in case you have something extra epic you want to post, but you're away from computer access and may forget to talk about it later.

Wow. They should totally pay me for that commercial. :D

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and everything else I've missed...

2009-01-25T12:49:00.001-08:00

Wow. So either my concept of time really sucks, or I just plain got busy after the Thanksgiving holiday and totally forgot I was going to update my blog more regularly. ^^;

Anyway so there really hasn't been much excitement in my life of late. Still in school (sigh) but this time, for sure, I only have this semester and possibly a summer semester to get through. I really need to talk to this lady in the Snow music building and ask her to help me put together SOMETHING to graduate. I don't care what major I end up with at this point, (though it will surely be art one way or the other, lol), I just want to be done.

I'm taking an art history class (the art of Egypt/Near East), a watercolor class, advanced book arts, and photography. Something noteworthy about my classes is that they've started to sort of combine the lower levels with the higher levels. I'm a beginning watercolor painter but there are watercolor II students in with us, and the same goes for book arts. I'm an advanced student, along with a couple others, but the rest of the class are beginners. I've also heard they're doing that in other art classes as well, and I actually think it's a cool concept. Instead of having TA's, the "older" students can help the "younger" students. It's certainly a help to see the advanced watercolor students' work and get their advice, and I feel, well, important (and helpful) with all the younger students coming to me with questions and asking for advice on what materials to use for their books.

The only other really interesting thing that happened recently took place back home in California. About a week, week and a half ago, I was chatting with my mom and she said something about my 22-year-old brother finally moving out. I was shocked! Not only did he have an apartment, he was already actually moving into it. I won't go into details as to why this is so significant to spare embarassment on his part. (Plus, he reads my blog. Heh.) It was just really exciting and I'm proud of him. :) Kinda puts the pressure on the almost-24-year-old older sister to follow suit pretty soon... xD

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-28T00:03:00.001-08:00

Just like the title says. Will update with something a bit more substantial tomorrow, but for now, the roomies are trying to talk me into a very early Black Friday morning tomor...er, today...er, actually in like two hours...so bedtime now? Yes. I think so.

spark of life

2008-11-12T17:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm officially convinced that no matter what I end up graduating with, I absolutely want to do something that involves cars in some way or another. Maybe you all can give me some ideas to that effect.

It just seems like no matter how hard I try, I'm just a mediocre designer. Photography and writing, on the other hand, come to me naturally and I enjoy them both much more. Why I didn't choose one of THEM to major in will always bug me. To be fair, I didn't really discover my photography skills until this semester, and as for writing? I guess I was so afraid of it not being sufficient to support me in case I don't get married for awhile, and never having time to do anything else besides, or...heck, I don't know.

The only thing that I really got excited and passionate about right out of high school was cars. (Turns out that spark is still there, but I'll get to that.) When I got accepted into BYU-Idaho, I started out just taking general classes to give myself a chance to solidly decide on a major. Since I started during the winter, and am on the fall/winter track, that gave me a whole summer before I had to think about what classes to take next. Most of my best friends are guys, and pretty much all of them are car-savvy, which is how I got so into it myself. They all encouraged me to consider an automotive path, and I was totally for it. I made sure to give it considerable thought, seeing as I'm a girl wanting into a male-dominated field, and I wanted to be sure that I wasn't just doing it because all my friends were doing it, and etc. So I took another semester of required generals to stew over it. When I was sure it really was what I wanted, which was around the time to start signing up for the next winter semester, I talked to my mom about what classes I was signing up for. Hindsight is 20/20, and as much as I love my folks, I regret letting them talk me out of my dreams. Long story short, they thought that going to a private university for such a lame degree was a bad idea, and they didn't think I could cut it in a "man's job." Discouraged, I moved to the only other thing I really had thought about, which was art, and graphic design specifically.

Over the past four years, I've struggled my way through it all, not really finding the passion for it that I thought I would. I had an ephiphany today that, looking back on all my projects and whatnot, the things I really succeeded with and did my best work on had to do with cars. Go figure. My latest project is 50 little information cards, and the concept I chose is 50 must-know cars for the enthusiast and apathist alike. I'm really REALLY enjoying the process, and it's just all coming together so well. I seriously haven't gotten this much positive feedback from my peers and ESPECIALLY my professor in a long while. Probably not since my last car-related project. I obviously still have things to work on, but they are relatively little things. My concept is solid, the design is working and just needs to be refined a little more, and everyone really likes it, whether they are into cars or not, which is the entire point!

So really where I'm going with this is that maybe there's still hope for me to really find something that I enjoy doing, and that I'm successful at, so long as I get to work with cars in some way or another. And who knows? Maybe I'll get to drive some of my dream cars and meet people like Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hamilton, and James May. How cool would that be? ^_^

methods of torture

2008-11-06T12:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I haven't been able to find a job that will work around my weird class schedule this semester. I survived off of $28 a week helping my aunt with her house and kids for a little while, but I need a little extra to start saving for other things (like getting home for Christmas lol), so I finally resorted to doing what I vowed never to do: donating my blood plasma for money. For first timers, you have to go through a bunch of paperwork and questioning and even a brief physical before you can start donating regularly. You can donate twice a week, and you get $25 the first time and $35 the second time you donate in a week. But that actually changed down to $20 and $30 respectively as of this week. Still, I think it's worth it until I can find something else, and if nothing else, I thought, I should be able to conquer my fear of needles, NO problem. The first two times were a breeze, and I didn't even bruise at all!

Fast forward to yesterday. They always use my right arm because the vein is easy to find and goes the way it should up my arm. So the guy stuck me, which really doesn't even hurt at all, but the blood wasn't flowing, so he pulled it out a little bit until it did. The way it works is they take a portion of your blood, separate the red cells from the white, and then give you back your red cells and repeat the process until they have enough plasma. Well, when the machine tried to give me back my red cells, I could feel pressure and a stinging sensation from the Citrine(or whatever) that they mix in to keep the blood from coagulating. The guy tries to fix it, but he nicked the vein or somesuch on the initial insertion, so that arm was basically screwed (and you'll notice the wonderful bruise left behind in the right picture. It's pretty sore just FYI). I figured they would just call it a day and I wouldn't be able to donate again until my red cells replenished like from a normal blood donation, but they didn't want to cheat me out of my only income and so they moved to the other arm.

After tapping around on my left arm for a bit, they finally found the vein, which hooks a left in my arm before it goes up like it's supposed to, so they had to put the needle in practically sideways. And OMG let me tell you, that sucker HURT! It didn't on the initial poke, but as they kept pushing it in to find the vein, HOLY FRACK no other needle has EVER hurt that bad before. ><; To top everything off, even though the donation process went smoothly from that point, when he yanked the needle out he wasn't careful, and it scratched me after it came out! AND he did it so fast that I also have a bit of bruising in that arm as well. ><;! These guys were definitely not as experienced as the first phlebotomists who took care of me last week.

So much for overcoming my fear of needles; I think I just may be traumatized for life! xD

Left Arm Right Arm

social networking

2008-10-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

I've added quite a few things to the links side of my blog lately, as well as started following/getting followed by more and more people on Twitter. We were talking in graphic design class a week or two ago about how Facebook and Myspace and Twitter and everything else like unto is really growing and becoming a major part of how we stay connected with the world, and how we get the word out, so to speak. We're already encouraged as design students to buy our own unique web address and include that and our email information on our resumes. It raised the question whether we should also include our social networking info, and I was surprised that my professor wasn't really sure about it. Ultimately, he said we probably shouldn't, but that it really was a matter of personal preference considering this day and age. I just find it interesting how technology and such progresses so quickly, and just how much of an impact it has on our lives as a whole; how it shapes the way we live and work and play. It's an amazing thing.

'alright, alright!' or in other words, 'finally uploading photos to the blog' :D

2008-10-20T16:17:00.000-07:00

Alright, so all semester long, my graphic design class has been taking (at least) 10 photos per week of a random object(s) we were given at the beginning. I've tried all kinds of stuff and gotten fairly fun results, but this week I finally took my professor's advice and put my objects, rubber tile spacers, in Jell-o. I had a lot of fun doing it, and they turned out pretty neat in my opinion. These three are probably my favorites/the ones that turned out best:

They link to the full-size on Flickr. At least they should, if I did my coding right...^^;

Edit: Ok, so they link to the preview size. But just click on "all sizes" to see the full, 1024x768.

...why?!!!

2008-10-14T22:57:00.000-07:00

Ok seriously. I am so simultaneously pissed off and relieved at the same time right now. I'm working on a poster for a (fictional) restaurant called Casa de la Oriental; fusion cuisine of Latin America and the Orient. I'm really quite happy with the way it's turning out, too. I've spent quite a few hours on it just today, not to mention yesterday and the days before. It's a good thing I usually do well with saving often, because I'm remembering just how immature/thoughtless roommates can be.

So I'm working on a shadow effect for the Chinese dragon holding a sombrero, about to mask a little piece of it to make it look better overall, when all of a sudden, the power goes out. I got that butterflies/freakout feeling and groaned, then immediately had to restrain myself from yelling out profanities as I hear, "sorry Erin!" and the power comes almost immediately back on. Come to find out my roomie is messing with the breaker box for NO reason other than freaking out a second roomie in the shower. I calmed myself before opening the door and peeking out, asking what was going on. She apologized again; I sighed and told Windows to start normally.

JUST before it gets to the login screen, a third roomie comes out and asks what's going on, and she flips the breaker AGAIN to show what she did. This time, while I again restrained myself, I did mention just a bit angrily that my computer has enough issues as it is (stupid Vista) and I was in the middle of an important, due-tomorrow project that just might not be there anymore at this point. If it hadn't been, you can be sure that I really would have been more than a little angry.

oops

2008-10-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

Well I fell off the "write every day" wagon, didn't I? ^^; I really did mean to update with some pics, but I found out my free Flickr account will only let me upload a max of 200 pics, and not only did I reach the limit, but I overdid it last time I uploaded pics. So now I'm going to try out snapfish and see how it goes. The only downside to Snapfish is that, while it technically is free and unlimited, once every 365 days you have to actually buy something/use the services they have available or they have the right to terminate your account. :| Shouldn't be too bad...I'll just do a little something every summer when I have a little extra money. Snapfish really is rather neat. Mom's been using it for about a year now, I think, and they do everything from prints to mugs and posters and all kind of paraphernalia. Worth checking into for sure.

I'm also going to get serious about a new website pretty soon here; an actual, $10 per year, my-own-url site. It's something my design professor highly recommends, and in all honesty it's something I should have thought of long ago for my art and such. It will take some time, not the least of which owing to needing the money to pay for it and needing to come up with a url. But I'm going to start getting familiar with Dreamweaver and brushing up/strengthening my limited html skillz and getting to it.

...just as soon as I'm caught up on homework and can stay on top of things. ^^;

music

2008-09-25T20:27:00.000-07:00

That's pretty much been my day. I've just been putting stuff up in my room still, listening to my music all the while. I have very eclectic interests, but I'm pretty sure that most people with good taste do. I just let it all play in WMP on shuffle and it never gets boring. Every once in awhile I have to skip something and delete it, because I copied everything over from my friend's computer and he listens to some rather hardcore stuff that makes my ears bleed. But for the most part, I'll hear everything from Huey Lewis to Muse to Beethoven to video game remixes to Prodigy to etc...

playing catch-up again already

2008-09-24T21:04:00.000-07:00

It's probably a good thing my apartment's internet blocks my access to Final Fantasy XI Online, because I'm already finding myself behind on my homework/projects. I'm definitely improving, but it's going to take some serious effort to kick my old procrastination habit. So let's see...

For photography, I missed the lab on Monday (as previously mentioned), so I'm going to the one on Friday with my roomie. (We're in the same class, we just have lab on different days.) Before then, though, I have to make a print from my developed negatives, and a proof sheet of the negatives themselves, so that I have it ready to learn how to dry mount it. Have to remember to do that tomorrow right after the art history test. Then we got our first "official" assignment today, which is to get some black and white shots with "light" as the theme. So something with solid lighting and shadows, two 5"x7" prints, due a week from today.

For graphic design, I need to do three 30-minute thumbnail sketch sessions (of "hammerhead, "heartburn," and "headgear"), and then pick one from each and enlarge/tighten/finalize them as logos. I also need to take 20 more creative photos of the rubber, x-shaped tile spacers I picked out for the semester long, 100-photo project. I have until Monday for all of that.

Art history is just a matter of reading the next chapter before Tuesday, and I just have to read the required scriptures for D&C. (OH! And take that quiz before it closes tomorrow night...) I should probably get my little 3-minute presentation thing ready as well, just in case we get to the term I picked for that.

Now that it's all out there, I'm sure I can get it all done. I just need to spread it out over the next 2-3 days and make sure to do it all FIRST before plopping down to do silly things like post a blog entry. :D

writing again

2008-09-23T22:19:00.000-07:00

I'm finally finding inspiration to write bits and pieces of stories I've had in my head for quite some time. Mostly it's just ideas and quips of dialogue here and there or parts of the action sequences, and all of it changes all the time. It really helps me figure out which scenarios are too cheesy, which are entirely too out there, and which I really want to actually use in the final products. Maybe I should have been an English major, but I keep saying that about a lot of things lately. I honestly have so many interests and things I'd like to be better at, so picking graphic design will hopefully help me be able to do a little of everything.

Heroes was AMAZING. I won't post any details for the sake of those who may not have seen it yet, but holy crap suffice it to say this season promises to blow our minds further than anything yet.

sleepy

2008-09-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

Ugh. I hate it when I have to be up for an 8am class but am unable to get ANY sleep the night before. Such was last night's dilemma. I was in bed at midnight, and seriously just kept switching positions all night. I was wide awake at 5am, when I got up to get a drink of water and take care of business. Then I tried to catch those last two hours but ended up being so tired when I needed to be up to get ready at 7am that I just turned off the alarm and stayed there. I was finally able to get a couple hours between 8am and 10am, so when I finally drug myself out of bed to finish a project before class I was able to make it through the rest of the day. I made the hike down to the Spori and back TWICE today, so I'm dead tired and I HOPE that means I'll get to sleep tonight. Gonna take a shower and then see what happens.

Oh, and due to circumstances beyond my control (forgetting my keys), I missed Heroes after FHE tonight. :| It's not too big of a deal since they put everything online, but I still wish I could have watched it tonight.

pranksters >:)

2008-09-21T20:43:00.000-07:00

Our guy friends are such good sports. ^^ We totally set them up tonight. We told them to come over because I needed to take pictures for a project (which was *halfway* true). Then, while they were distracted helping me, two of my roommates snuck out through their windows, stole their couch cushions and pillows, and then came back. They stashed the cushions in another guys' apartment upstairs from theirs, but their pillows are totally over here at our apartment and we're waiting for them to figure that part out still. This is only part two of probably MANY more pranks to come. We stole most of their lightbulbs last week because when we went to visit, no one was home and they left their door unlocked. Silly boys.

EDIT as of 09/24/08:
I should add that after we had accomplished our "thievery" and shooed them out of the house, making sure to lock our doors and windows behind them, it hadn't even been 5 minutes when they came pounding on the front door and the living room window, scaring us half to death. They were, and still are, determined to get us back. It's a good thing we keep our door and windows locked practically at all times, because we heard them try the windows and they would most certainly sneak in, even WITH us in the apartment, if given even the slightest chance.

I think it has become war. :D

the great outdoors

2008-09-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a nice park in St. Anthony, ID, which is about 15 minutes from Rexburg. My aunt and uncle and their two kids picked me up and we drove up. The swings are huge, there's a huge slide and seesaws, and a merry-go-round. There are also some nice, tall, solid trees with climbing potential, and lots of soft grass and a shaded picnic area. It's also right next to the Snake River, and you can walk down right next to the water. There's a sandbar with a waterslide right across the river as well. There's so much photographic potential and it's a really nice place to relax! It was beautiful right between 6 and 7 today, perfect temperature, perfect lighting...I'm so excited to go back and do photoshoots. :D

Right before that, we ate at a little hole-in-the-wall place called Chiz's. It's a really small, bar-style place with EXCELLENT food. They open at 5pm, and I understood why it's important to be there RIGHT at 5. There seriously are only about 25 barstools and it was full when we got there at 5:10. But it was so worth standing around for a little while. They do a prime rib and shrimp combo on Friday and Saturday nights, and both were absolutely delicious. The shrimp were HUGE!

Oh, and much earlier in the day, I finally caved and bought a new cord for my phone. :| I checked the mail first, and I got my hopes all up when there was a key to one of the package compartments. But the package was for my roomie, not for me. So, disgruntled, seeing as it has been at least a week and a half since my brother SWEARS he got my cord in the mail, I went to the Verizon store in town. I walked in and told him my story, and since there weren't any regular chargers, he gave me this brand new one they had just gotten in at a discount because I'm a loyal Verizon customer and he felt bad about the mail thing. $40 was the discounted price. >:( At least it's retractable, which is definitely cool...

...but I bet you anything, my regular one will arrive in the mail tomorrow. :|

long day

2008-09-18T21:34:00.000-07:00

Well I had a full day. Woke up at 7 this morning, was out the door at 7:30 to find a parking spot for 8am class. Was in class from 8-9am, finally met a friend I've talked with online several times who just happens to have two classes with me. We both went straight to the campus library, and I worked on my project for 2 hours. Took about half an hour to get it printed out, only to realize that I needed money on my I-card to pay for it and everything else needed to finish the project. Drove home, put money on I-card, grabbed some supplies, went back to campus. Finished the project and turned it in, then went home around 1:10pm. Finished homework for D&C class, took a 15 minute power nap, then walked to the Hinckley building at 3pm. Stayed awake through D&C from 3:15-4:30pm, went to the bookstore to buy my photography book, then hit Tomassito's for a couple slices of pizza and a bubble gum flavored Jones soda (yum!). That gave me just enough energy to get through Art Seminar in the Smith building from 6-7:30pm, then I hiked all the way to my apartment at the top of the hill. (No joke! I live right at the top of the hill across the street from the Rexburg Temple.)

I am thoroughly proud of myself for it all. I did everything I needed to; I didn't miss a class or skip out on homeworks that needed done. I am ub3r l337. I've been reading way too much MegaTokyo.

^^;

does the drama never cease?

2008-09-17T21:14:00.000-07:00

It turns out the charger for my cell phone hasn't even gotten in the mail yet. I kinda started to suspect as much a couple of days ago. You can't track a package on the USPS website without a tracking number, and he at least told the truth in that he didn't have a tracking number. He said he tried searching by name, address etc., but I tried myself and you can't. Dude, all you had to do was admit that you dropped the ball on this one. Lying about things only makes me more upset than I would have been originally, and adds stress to my life. I DO NOT NEED THE STRESS this soon into the semester. Even little stresses add up to a big fat mess when all is said and done.

Ok rant over.

On the bright side, I'm so loving where I live, and the people I live with. Not only do I have Lindsey just around the corner on the other side of the building, but now one of my roomies and one of our guy friends are getting addicted to Dance Dance Revolution with me! It's a blast, though I'm a bit jealous of the guy. He played for the first time just this past week, and he's already pretty much on the same level as me, and I've been playing for over two years! Lol. It's great though, having people to play with. I ordered a couple of mats since the one I've had for almost two years is starting to not work so well. Of course, it could also just be that something isn't quite right with the TV. From what I can see, the beat is just BARELY off so that instead of getting "Perfect" on most steps, I'm only getting "Great". I don't know what might be causing that, but it's rather frustrating.

on top of things

2008-09-16T18:44:00.000-07:00

Third daily update in a row! ^^

I'm fairly proud of myself at the moment. I'm staying on top of homework and going to all my classes and I'm actually enjoying myself! Of course, not having a job definitely makes things easier, and as much as I would love to just have to deal with classes and nothing else this semester, I gotta have moneys to live. But for the moment, everything is working out. I have a "found alphabet" project due tomorrow at 2pm, but I should get all the photos taken and the layout designed tonight. That leaves me time to sleep in and still be able to mount it flush to some foamcore before classes start at 12:45pm. I'll be sure to upload the results later on. I'll be posting everything here either way, but I'm debating whether to also post it to my other blog, or just get rid of it since it will all be here anyway. Thoughts?

so...3-5 days huh?

2008-09-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

Let's do the math. Package with cell phone charger was in the mail on Tuesday morning. So Tuesday + five days (the MOST the post office says it should take) = today. So that means we get our postage back right? :|

To be absolutely fair, just in case it didn't get in the mail until Tuesday afternoon, it had BETTER be here tomorrow. My phone is now officially completely dead. Can't even check messages. If it's not here tomorrow then I have to go and buy a new one. Again. (A new cell phone charger, not a new phone, just so no one thinks I'm COMPLETELY retarded. ^^)

In other news, photo lab was so ftw. I developed my own negatives, and it looks like I may actually get some good prints as well! I will definitely post the best one(s) at a future date.

boredom and insomnia

2008-09-13T23:45:00.000-07:00

Yep. That about sums up how I feel right now.

I KNOW I've said it before, but I really am going to try to keep this thing updated better, with more pictures and everything. I would REALLY like to see more traffic around here (and more commentary) from my friends and family, so I guess that means they need a reason to be here. My goal is for people who are interested in how my life is going to be able to see just that on a regular basis. I do intend for it to be both interesting and fun. I have a lot of ideas about a lot of different things lately and I really do want feedback and support. Decorating my room, ideas for photography, feedback and suggestions for my graphic design projects, etc...I will upload and post photos and such for reference.

For starters, I signed up for and added Twitter. It will be connected to my phone just as soon as I have my phone charger. /crosses fingers that it will FINALLY be here on Monday. :| I'm really proud of myself for getting it on my blog MY way, so that it fits with the rest of the right-hand side but also has it's own presence.

That's all for now. Forgive me in advance because I'm going to be throwing my url out there EVERYWHERE for awhile until I re-engage the people who have always followed it and until I catch the attention of everyone else I'd like to have checking this thing out and, thus, helping me out. ^^

A-Z

2008-09-12T16:40:00.000-07:00

This one is for Kelli. ^^

A. Attached or Single? Single... /sigh
B. Best Friend? I have like three...Amy, David, and Lindsey
C. Cake or Pie? Fresh peach PIE!
D. Day of Choice? Friday
E. Essential Item? Cell phone
F. Favorite Color? Maroon, pink, black, and red
G. Gummy Bears or Worms? Worms (wow I misspelled that like three times! ^^; )
H. Hometown? Bakersfield
I. Indulgence? I'm happy to say that SODA has become an indulgence, rather than a habitual drink :)
J. January or July? July...the 4th to be exact! :D
K. Kids? None of my own yet...
L. Life is not complete without? Family, for sure
M. Marriage Date? I'm gonna project...maybe December 29th, 2010? (Keep in mind I am unattached and no one's making any claims yet. Lol.)
N. Number of Brothers and Sisters? 4 brothers, 1 sister, 1 brother-in-law
O. Oranges or Apples? Oranges
P. Phobias? Spiders and caves
Q. Quotes? Don't get me staaaaaaaaaarted! xD
R. Reasons to smile? Friends, family, weather
S. Season of Choice? Autumn
T. Tag some peeps! Bah...whoever wants to please feel free. ^^
U. Unknown fact about me? Yeesh just put me on the spot! I can't think of anything at the moment. :P
V. Vegetable? Artichokes
W. Worst Habits? Procrastination, nail-biting, junk food (soda in particular)
X. X-ray or Ultrasound? Neither if I can avoid it!
Y. Your favorite food? Shrimp, seafood in general, and SUSHI is my new thing
Z. Zodiac Sign? Aries/Ox

a couple things

2008-09-12T11:40:00.000-07:00

First of all, the first week of school went well. Photography I, Graphic Design, Art History I, and Doctrine & Covenants shouldn't be too hard to keep up with. The trick will be when I finally find a job, which has been made difficult by the fact that the one thing I accidentally left behind during the move this time was my stupid cell phone charger. It wouldn't be a problem, except that my new apartment doesn't even have a land line. At all. So retarded...*mutters* So I've had to keep my phone off rather than be able to make all the phone calls I've needed to make. Hopefully the charger will be here today, if not tomorrow, and then THAT hassle will be out of the way. I'm also waiting on dad's single lens camera, which I should really have thought to bring just in case. They do have cameras for rent but I should have known they'd let us use our own, as well, if we had them, and dad sounded more than willing to send it up. Anyway...

Secondly, I fixed some links on the right there (though you never did tell me the updated URL of your site, Frank :P ) and added some new ones, mostly for my benefit since I use my homepage as my link to everything I visit most often, but you might find interest in them too. *shrug*

Oh, and one final thing. Sam, if you ever find this, I just want you to know that I am sorry. I really did overdo it. But dangit if your actions didn't bring out the worst in me. Lindsey didn't sick me on you; I did it because I had had enough of you AND your friends ganging up on her and I figured she deserved the same right. If she can't blame your friend, then you can't blame me, because she had no idea I was going to send that nasty letter to you. I'm sorry that you think I'm a bad person just based on that one little letter. I assure you I'm not, and despite the hurtful things you've said to Lindsey AND me, you should know that I don't think you're a bad person, even if you think I am. I think what you've said and done were wrong overall, but if you truly are happy with your decisions then good for you. Honestly. I'm sorry things worked out the way they did, and I'm sorry that by the end, you thought that her gifts, both material and otherwise, were only meant to win you back, rather than seeing them for what they truly were: a sincere token of appreciation and thanks for all the good things that came from your friendship while it lasted. The least you could do is accept her admittance of being wrong and her apology as sincere, not fake, before you both move on.

*EDIT* I'm just retarded. Frank's link is fixed. ^^;

checking in!

2008-08-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

So it's been awhile...again...

Another summer come and gone and the Erin is exhausted. But I am excited to finally be taking a vacation between being done with my summer job and heading back to school next week. My friend from Utah is in California for the week, and we're having a blast already. She flew into Long Beach this morning at 9:30, and I sat out in a parking lot for an hour and a half beforehand because *I* thought an hour's worth of cushion time added onto the normal two-hour drive would be plenty to account for L.A. traffic, but Mom was like "rararar you haven't seen enough L.A. traffic and you don't know and blahblahblah and your friend is going to be standing there waiting for you if you don't give yourself at least 4 hours to get there..." So fine, I left at 5:30 instead of 6:30, when I probably could have left at 6:30 and been perfectly fine.

Once I picked her up, we found out we couldn't check into our hotel until midafternoon, so we went straight to Disneyland. We've got those three-day park hopper cards, so we're going back tomorrow and then probably to California Adventure on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday we'll be checking out Little Tokyo and the beach and possibly some other stuff, so all in all it promises to be a fun week.

Apart from some minor details like not having A/C in my little Saturn and trying really hard not to spend every last dime I've got on the awesome stuff in Tomorrowland, that is. ^^; And the A/C in the hotel room is most DEFINITELY working...I'm freezing!

new awesomeness

2008-07-02T22:43:00.001-07:00

So I've had the old lappy, a Dell Inspiron 1000, for almost four years now. It's been a good run overall, and it was the first computer I ever bought with my own money. But let's face the statistics here. I bought it for around $1200, and that was cheap four years ago for the specs it has. It came with 256 MB of RAM, which I upgraded to around 756 MB and that still doesn't cut it these days. It's only got a 40 GB hard drive, which was only moderately good even back then. And don't even get me started on processor speed (or in this case, the lack thereof) and video card crappiness. It was decent for when I needed it, but it's seriously been time to upgrade for awhile. I had the money, so I figured, what the heck, might as well do it while I'm thinking about it.

So newegg.com is the shiz. Only took my friend David and I about ten minutes to land on a really nice laptop for a little more than half of what I paid for the crappy lappy. (Heh.) Dual-core processor, kick-butt graphics card, 3 GB RAM, 160 GB hard drive, etc. But what really sold me was the fact that it is NOT running Vista. Windows XP all the way! Sorry for those who actually like Vista; considering the new compy has been nothing but trouble since day one, I am currently not a fan. I've only had this thing for 7 months, and already it's BSoD'ed several times. SEVERAL, mind you. It doesn't like anything I try to load onto it, it restarts itself randomly every single day, the constant "are you sure, are you REALLY sure" prompts are ridiculous, and etc. etc. etc. With XP on the new lappy, everything loads RIGHT when I click it. Nay, BEFORE I click it.

Vista would hog at least half of everything and not even run very fast in return. It's pretty and all, but I'm sick of sacrificing looks for performance. When you buy a Porsche, you expect it to go as well as it shows. Why shouldn't we expect the same of our operating system? Eh? Eh? ^^

movies

2008-05-28T22:51:00.001-07:00

Two words: Indiana Jones. GO SEE IT! Definitely on par with the first three, better in some ways, not so much in others, but that's to be expected of any sequel anyway. Personally, it was my favorite thus far. Harrison Ford's still got it, and Shia Lebouef (Labeouf, even >< I WILL spell his name perfectly without having to look it up one of these days...) has become one of my favorite new actors. He really does very well at everything he's in.

I'm afraid of 8 out of 72 common fears...

2008-05-25T17:28:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd post a little something-something between 'bouts of Final Fantasy and the real world.

I'm afraid of:

[] the dark
[x] staying single forever
[] being a parent
[] giving birth
[] being myself in front of others
[] open spaces
[] closed spaces
[] heights
[] dogs
[] birds
[] fish
[x] spiders
[] flowers or other plants

Total so far: 2

[] being touched
[] deep water
[] snakes
[] silk
[] the ocean
[] failure
[] success
[x] thunder/lightning
[] frogs/toads
[] my boyfriends/girlfriends dad
[] boyfriends/girlfriends mom
[] rats
[] jumping from high places
[] snow

Total so far: 3

[] rain
[] wind
[] crossing hanging bridges <=reoccuring nighmare when little
[] death
[] heaven
[] being robbed
[] falling
[x] clowns
[] dolls
[] large crowds of people
[] men
[] women
[] having great responsibilities
[] doctors, including dentists
[x] tornadoes

Total so far: 5

[] hurricanes
[] incurable diseases
[] sharks
[] Friday the 13th
[] ghosts
[] poverty
[] Halloween
[] school
[] trains
[] odd numbers
[] even numbers
[x]being alone
[] becoming blind
[] becoming deaf
[] growing up

Total so far: 6

[] creepy noises in the night
[] bee stings
[] not accomplishing my dreams/goals
[x] needles
[] blood
[] dinosaurs
[] the welcome mat
[] high speed
[x] throwing up
[] falling in love
[] super secrets

Final Total: 8

... if you wish to post this in your journal, it's been requested that you title it I'm afraid of _ out of 72 common fears...

If you get more than 30, I strongly recommend some counseling
If you get more than 20, you’re paranoid.
If you get 10-20, you are normal.
If you get 10 or less, you’re fearless.
People who don’t have any are liars.

Huh, I guess according to this, I'm fearless. Woohoo! ^^

it's official....

2008-05-09T15:39:00.000-07:00

...I'm completely addicted to Final Fantasy XI Online. :D

the number 23

2008-03-27T00:04:00.000-07:00

I totally forgot to post yesterday...er, two days ago now, technically...for my birthday! I'm now 23 years old, and it's just not all that exciting anymore. Heh. I really didn't even do anything for my birthday except go to the Olive Garden for lunch with my mom, which was an adventure in itself. I hesitate to tell the story because it means admitting that even I, the best woman driver in the world (*mutter*self-proclaimed*mutter*), was still just a woman driver for a singular moment in time. *sigh* But the tale must be told, and hopefully it will at least make you laugh...

Alright, so my mom and I took separate cars because she had to go straight to work right after lunch. I knew how to get to Olive Garden, but I followed my mom anyway because it just worked out that way. We pull into the parking lot, and she starts to pull into a spot, but then hesitates and starts going back towards the left around the corner of the building. She goes for a little, and I guess I thought that she kept readjusting because she was going to try to fit into a different spot. So I start to pull right behind her into the first spot, and as she starts backing towards me again, I realize a split second too late that she was trying to back into the spot I'm trying to pull forward into. So really, it *is* at least partly her fault, because she assumed that surely her daughter would know what she was doing and not be behind her, and therefore didn't even look over her right shoulder at all. My brain was farting so badly that I didn't even think to try and back up or honk the horn or anything. I just watched in horror as my mom continued to back right into me, only stopping when she heard the crunch of her bumper against my front left wheel well. She stops, pulls into a spot a little ways down, and I pull into the spot we had been "fighting" for.

Of course, by this time, I wasn't sure whether to get out and face her or just pull out again and go home with my tail between my legs. I opted for the first choice, biting my lip to keep from laughing at my own stupidity. The look of half anger, half bemused incredulity on her face did not help at all. I think the only reason she didn't start yelling at me right then and there is because she didn't know whether to scream at me or laugh at me herself. Her bumper was a bit scratched, and there's a couple of cracks in my wheel well, but as my car is old and a POS anyway, and neither of us really want to explain this one to my dad, let alone the police or a shop, we're basically going to pretend it never happened. XD

Jeff, wherever you are, laughing your butt off somewhere on Heaven's floor, yes, I admit it, I *am* a chick driver. -_-

Beyond that, the only thing I really got for my birthday was pizza and brownies from my best friend and her husband for dinner that night. Oh! And the coolest thing! My friend Cody just got back from a 10-day trip to China. He brought back all kinds of stuff for everyone, so even though he didn't even know it was my birthday, I got stuff from him. Hehe. He gave me a Chinese Chess set, a pair of *real* chopsticks that even came in a pretty little pouch, one Chinese dollar (the anti-counterfeiting measures on that bill were INSANE but awesome), and a really nice little thing that's technically supposed to be a cell phone keychain, but I put it on a necklace chain and it's really pretty. I'm so excited that he thought of me and that I now have some cool Chinese stuff! Though now I really REALLY want to go to Japan... T.T

rough waters

2008-03-11T23:03:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the long span between updates. I've tried and failed several times to put to words just exactly what's been going on in such a way as to do justice to the young man who is no longer here with us on Earth. Most people know by now that basically, I'm no longer at school in Rexburg and that it's because I recently lost a very dear friend. As I said, nothing I say can ever truly do him justice, but I'll give it a try for the sake of moving onward and upward.

Jeff Fagan, one of my best and truest friends, took his own life on February 22nd, 2008. He was 22 years old, and had SO much ahead of him. If he had given himself time to think about that, as well as how many people love him and looked to him for so many reasons, I know that he would have chosen differently. Unfortunately, he did not give himself the chance to think, he just acted, and we'll never truly know why. He wasn't depressed, or he hid it well, because not even our friends that were living with him saw it coming. He was always so happy, and never really got angry, and he empathized with everyone he met. Maybe that was part of what led him to do it; he carried his loved ones' burdens as well as his own. He had such a big, tender heart and he was always so generous and willing to help people.

He could build anything out of Legos or K'nex without instructions, as well as anything from his head, without photo references. He built a working, moving, miniature 'Mech from cardboard and such. He molded swords, both standard and imaginative, from balsa wood for himself and for his friends. He made one for my 16th birthday, and I will cherish it forever. He could tear down, modify, and rebuild anything, mostly his cars. He got his Ford Probe during our Junior Year of high school, and by the time it got totaled a couple of years ago, he could fix ANYTHING on not only that car, but anyone else's. He had just barely finished turboing the Probe, and it was AMAZING, let me tell you, and it was really sad when the guy ran a red light and t-boned it before Jeff could even take it to the track once to see what it could do. Luckily, he got a deal on an already TWIN-turboed Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4. It was already pretty amazing to begin with, but there's ALWAYS something to be done, and he got to work on it almost immediately. He even modified the computer chip to be able to control certain aspects with his laptop computer just for performance situations. I went with him and a few other friends to the track with the VR4, and despite his rather slow reaction time and not having much racing experience, his best time was 12.89 seconds. If only he had given himself the chance to go back this summer and practice...I mean DANG he had so much potential, and there's just too much to be said about how awesome he was, I could go on forever. *sigh*

And yet, I know where he is, and I know that he knows so much now where he is. I take comfort in being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and having the perspective and knowledge that I have. I don't know what I would do if I didn't know that I will see him again. He means so much to me, and I loved him, no *LOVE* him dearly. I always had a thing for him, and while I got over it for the most part, I don't think I ever stopped caring about him in that way, to be completely honest. Call me crazy, but there's bound to be some single lady in Heaven who he will finally find happiness with. I hope that with all my heart, because he deserves that kind of happiness.

The good times were aplenty with him around, and we, his family and friends, will always...ALWAYS treasure those times and memories. He will be sorely missed, and I will always get choked up thinking about him, but he will never be forgotten. Maybe it's cliche and cheesy, but you've heard what they say about legends.

They never die.

puzzling internets (and LDS temple trip!! :D )

2008-02-15T09:31:00.000-08:00

Well, it seems the leadership behind the school's internet server have been making some changes to the way things work around here. Two nights ago, my roommate randomly tried to get on Facebook, which is usually blocked, but we were both amazed when the site came right up, and it's been allowing us to access it ever since. I guess they finally heard enough people complain about it. Who'da thunk? That same night, it was pretty much open-server and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that a bunch of people went to the dean for going to...um, shall we say "innapropriate"...sites, because NOTHING was blocked. They're slowly regaining control, however, and most things are back to the way they were. Gaming sites are blocked between 2am and 5:30pm again, but facebook is accessible all day. Hmm. Well, no complaints here! ^_^

Also, I had the opportunity to attend the recently-dedicated Rexburg temple this morning to perform baptisms on behalf of those who have passed on. It was a beautiful, joyful experience and I'm going to try to make it at least once a week from now on. If you have any questions about anything I've just said, please feel free to comment and ask. I'm always open to discussion about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and what we believe and practice. :)

"Erin! I blew up the kitchen!"

2008-02-10T00:03:00.001-08:00

Yup. Lindsey blew up the kitchen. XD

That's what we get for going to Idaho Falls for three hours and forgetting what we left on the stove! Lol!

Oh, and that kitchen is now EMACULATE, I'll have you all know. XD

wtf parking ticket?!

2008-02-04T17:27:00.000-08:00

I love Rexburg. Seriously, I do. I can deal with the snow and the wind and the insane weather mood swings that everyone complains about. What I really don't like, however, especially since I now have my little '93 Saturn up here with me, is the parking situation. I don't particularly care for the overall driving situation either, but that's for a later rant.

So, there's a single parking lot, not very big, mind you, between the two rows of dorm buildings. Small as it is, it always seems to fit all of the cars for those of us in the dorms. However, the problem is that the very same parking lot is free game for those with A or B parking stickers during the day (which is until about 5pm). In order for me to be to work on time, I have to drive, so by the time I come back, it's a toss-up whether there will be a spot when I get back.

Last month, I don't remember exactly when, but it's been at least two or three weeks, there was one of those days that I couldn't find a spot. At all. So, I parked on the street side of the dorm, intending to put it in the other later because the street side is off-limits after like 2am so that they can clean the streets of snow at night. Well, I totally forgot about it until the next day, and I freaked out because I've got a clean record and I wasn't sure if they had towed my poor little Saturn or given me a ticket or what. I was relieved to find it in the spot where I'd left it, and with no ticket.

Fast forward to today, when my mom calls to yell at me to pay my ticket. I was thoroughly confused, but it's legitimate, even if it is retarded. I mean, yes, the car is registered in California and so any notices about my having not paid a ticket yet would go there. But, excuse my French, how the hell am I supposed to pay a ticket that I don't even know I have? Doesn't the RPD work with Campus Police, and therefore have access to records of my local address?

So, wonderful. Thanks to a combination of retarded parking situation and lack of written proof of ticket, and possibly the aforementioned weather moods swings which might have blown away said proof of ticket, I now have a $20 parking ticket to pay and I no longer have a spotless traffic record. :|

omg cocoa

2008-01-29T16:46:00.000-08:00

I'm super excited about this new place in Rexburg called The Cocoa Bean. It's seriously like a Starbucks for Mormons! :D Instead of roasted coffee beans, they use roasted cocoa beans, and then they do the same types of things with it as Starbucks. I got hazelnut cocoa with whipped cream and just...wow. SO good. You don't even know.

sad news!

2008-01-27T19:56:00.001-08:00

I just found out that Gordon B. Hinckley, the Prophet and President of my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, passed away a couple hours ago. He was a wonderful, inspired man, led by the Spirit in all things. So much for our church has been accomplished with him at the helm, including the building and dedication of many, MANY of our temples and much missionary work. He truly loved God and his fellow men, no matter whether they were members of our church or not, and he will be sorely missed. It was from complications of old age, and considering he was 97 years old, I'd say that he lived a full and productive life.

The happy side of things is that he is no longer ailed by the trappings of old age, and he has got to be so happy to finally be reunited with his wife, who passed away awhile ago. I think he was ready to go right then, but he just had to tie up a few loose ends for the Lord first.

We love you President Hinckley, and miss you so much already. Thank you for all you have done for our church, and may you find peace and joy in the hereafter.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

2008-01-27T13:29:00.001-08:00

OMG THIS RIGHT HERE is so ftw and coming this summer. For PS2, even! Which begs the question, why do we need to buy a PS3 again?

This is why: Yoda and Darth Vader are going to be in Soul Calibur IV. Just might be worth it. Maybe. Someday. When I'm graduated and my loans are paid off. :|

a metaphorical thought

2008-01-22T18:29:00.000-08:00

EDIT: First off, I would just like to say that I'm deeply saddened to have just found out that Heath Ledger was found dead today. He really had a great life and a promising career ahead of him. A Knight's Tale is one of my favorite movies, and judging from the trailers, he's looking to be the very definition of the Joker in live-action form. It's sad really, to know that it will be the last role we see him in. My condolences go out to his family, his loved ones, his friends. He will be sorely missed.

So, I've had my prescription sunglasses for a couple of years now, and I actually had to use them today. I would normally welcome the sun in this snow-covered American Siberia, but it's a scientific fact that it's actually warmer when it's cloudy, because the clouds keep what little heat there is around better. It didn't get above 0* today. :|

But that's not the main thing that I was wanting to write about. I've actually wanted to write about this for awhile, but I keep forgetting because the sun keeps going away. See, I notice that every time I wear my sunglasses, everything just seems to look better. All the colors are more vibrant and life in general seems happier. You know that old saying about seeing the world through rose-colored glasses? It just so happens, my sunglasses are tinted a rose color. Well, how 'bout that. :]

a new semester, a new set of roommates

2008-01-20T10:33:00.000-08:00

I don't know how I get so lucky. :|

The one in my room is a neat freak, constantly leaving notes and complaining about the apartment being "gross" all the time, when it really isn't. Obviously her home is a lot better than mine, because I don't call a *tiny* bit of clutter and a few dishes in the sink gross. Now, stuff all over the place and a sink *full* of dishes and disgustingly dirty floors and counters and stuff...*that* might be gross. But as it is, we are no better, but no worse either, than the average college student apartment. Get used to sharing a living space with people who don't mind a little mess, kiddo.

One of the other two is, well, let's just say that I've nicknamed her "squirrelly". She is constantly running...yes RUNNING...around the apartment, and it's actually quite noisy! Her footfalls are very heavy, she slams every door she uses, and she goes scampering around doing who knows what multiple times in a row. Seriously. This morning, as my roomie and I are trying to sleep, this is what I hear. Door slam, two seconds pass, door open, scamper to the kitchen, scamper back, slam door, open it two seconds later, scamper back and forth...etc. for about five minutes! I mean, seriously, where's the fire? And did I mention how noisy the process is? Then you add in the fact that her headphones are blaring loud enough that I can hear them as well, and the fact that she slams the bathroom door and slams the lid down EVERY SINGLE TIME she uses the bathroom, rather than politely shutting it quietly...my GOSH it is freakin' frustrating. And you wouldn't even guess how loud she is because she's also deathly shy, except when talking to the other one in her room.

The third roommate...has no inside voice. She's quite friendly, a fellow art major with just a few quirks like we all have, but she does not know how to speak quietly. Not even at one in the morning, when she and Squirrelly yap it up while we two are trying to sleep in here. And she also likes to slam down the toilet lid.

I just.don't.get.it.

HOWEVER, beyond all of their quirks and such, I really do prefer this set of roommates over last semester's. Overall, we all tend to keep to ourselves, but when we do converse, we actually like each other, and I don't feel like they're just being nice to my face.

internet and Vista troubles

2008-01-13T15:20:00.000-08:00

So last semester, I just had the laptop, and no matter where in my apartment I took it, the wireless signal was always either very good or excellent. Considering we have a hub right above us in the front room, that made perfect sense to me. Now, the hub has not moved, has not been touched, yet here I sit RIGHT UNDER IT and my signal is so low that it's barely able to keep me online at all. And then there's the brand new desktop I got for Christmas, only a couple dozen feet away in my bedroom, that can't even connect at all. Um, wtf anyone?

Also, I'm just chilling out here trying to check my email with what little connectivity there is, and my desktop, which has Vista on it, just randomly restarted itself. I had a blank Adobe Illustrator CS3 document open and minimized, but nothing else was running. Having Vista is the ONLY way I'll be able to play Halo 2 on my compy, so I put up with it and try to be patient with it, knowing that XP had bugs and issues for quite awhile after its birth as well. But in the meantime, I curse it's very existence and wonder, why can't you work out the bugs BEFORE you go public and make things mandatory to run with it, eh Microsoft?!!! :|

say what?!

2008-01-12T09:41:00.000-08:00

I am depressed. And I don't say that often because I really try not to be very often. But when I walked into the craft...*cough*...I mean, art supply store and noticed that one of the MANY tubes of paint that I have to buy is $24.95, I literally had to grasp a shelf for support.

Now, fortunately, only a couple of the tubes are that ridiculously expensive. Most are in the $7-$10 range, and then a few $15 and up to that $25, but either way, this is shaping up to be a VERY expensive semester. Also fortunately, my parents love me and are giving me the funds to make it, and most ESPECIALLY fortunately, after this semester, I just have to take a few more classes, and none of them require such a heavy expenditure of moneys.

Needless to say, I am SO ready to graduate next winter.

make up your mind!!!

2008-01-05T14:31:00.000-08:00

Ok, so the reason I haven't updated in awhile is because blogspot was blocked on campus for quite awhile, when it never had been before, and once again is no longer. I don't think I will EVER understand what's going through the heads of the people who are in charge of managing the school's servers and firewall. They'll block the stupidest, least dangerous sites, but let you visit some that maybe are more on the questionable side. So retarded.

Anyway, I was in California for a couple of weeks, but I'm now once again back in Idaho. However, all is glorious, for I have my car at last!!!!!!!! The poor thing was iced over this morning, but she started right up and she's handling the ice and snow like a champ. I'm so proud of her. ^_^ She needs a name, but I need to think on the matter for awhile first. My friend Lindsey, whom I picked up on my way through Utah, is calling her Helga for now, but I'm not sure she's a Helga. Maybe. She's certainly nothing cutesy or fancy like Candy or Lady, but not as hefty as Helga, either. Any suggestions?

naivete

2007-11-19T08:28:00.000-08:00

Anyone know how to put those little symbols on letters like the one that's supposed to be over the "e" in my title?

Anyway, the whole idea behind today's post is the fact that I must be retarded or something. I get all excited and post my webpage url anywhere and everywhere for people to see, but then I write things that certain people who just might actually visit my site might be angered or embarassed by because they know who I'm talking about.

So, lesson learned; I'm going to be a bit more discreet and less journal-minded around the blog. Hopefully that will mean more interesting, less dramatic posts. ^_^;;

the game

2007-11-01T20:00:00.001-07:00

Guess who's officially in the dating scene? :D

My friend Travis and I had dinner with my aunt and uncle and a couple they know. We had two kinds of fondue, cheese and chocolate, with all kinds of really good stuff to dip in them, and it was a lot of fun! We also played Apples to Apples, which is always a riot. And if you haven't heard of the game or just haven't played it yet, DO IT! ^_^

Not sure about any future dates with Travis as of yet, but I do have a date lined up a week from this Saturday for the ladies' choice dance with another really nice guy. I'm so excited! I'm seriously so freakin' happy right now. :D

pix

2007-10-29T11:04:00.001-07:00

I just uploaded a bunch of pictures to my Flickr account. Go check 'em out!

...no, seriously. Go check 'em out!!! My skills are improving, I think. ^_^

internets down

2007-10-29T05:57:00.000-07:00

The wireless connection in the dorms is saying that I have to "pick a certificate" or "provide credentials" in order to connect to the internet. When I enter my school ID and password, it just said the same thing again and won't let me connect. It's happening in the whole dorm since Saturday night, and the only reason I'm able to write this is because I'm at work in the mailroom, so it seems the rest of the campus doesn't seem to be having troubles.

Beautiful.

This past week has SUCKED HARDCORE. :|

Edit: internets back up...and my grammar sucks at 6:45 in the morning, apparently. ^_^;;;

rant time

2007-10-26T23:31:00.001-07:00

Item #1 - the guy still hasn't called me. Is there some protocol for the amount of time you're supposed to wait before calling a girl whose number you've gotten?

Item #2 - f'in hate the roomies. Again. More like still. It's on and off. One minute, we're all having fun and getting along, and the next, they're acting like the popular girls in high school.

Ok, so two of them have had their mattresses out in the front room for a little over a week now, which I've deduced is because the one who shares my room can't stand my snoring. See "sick and tired" post below for that story. The other one joined her to make it look like it wasn't just because of me, but I'm not retarded, nor deaf, so I figured it out already. One of the girls next door also brought her mattress over to join the party. Whatever. It didn't bug me for the first couple of days, but now it does because it's the freakin' front room and no one can sit down without touching/putting feet on/etc. their beds, which they apparently take offense to.

I was wanting to take a nap earlier, but I didn't want to be back in my room where I'd miss if people came over to chill, and the couch is very VERY uncomfortable. So, not wanting to take up any one girl's bed, I had the brilliant idea to lay across the foot ends (note I said the FOOT ends, NOT the heads or middles of them) of all three of them, thus being comfortable and not feeling left out. I used my OWN blanket and my OWN pillows. Well, when they got back, they said they just really didn't want me to be on their beds. Oh. Ok. So, letting the guys lay across them is ok, and you can use my PS2 and dishes and food whenever you want, but I can't take up 2 square feet of space on the end of your bed? Right. Got it.

I just packed up my PS2 and moved it into my room, so that takes care of that. They can go out and buy a DVD player.

"can I have your number?"

2007-10-20T22:09:00.001-07:00

...asked a very nice young man about five minutes ago. Wow, I'm still in shock. I mean, I've dated a few times, but it's usually people like my FHE brothers or close friends. No one's actually asked me for my number like this before.

This guy is totally my type and I'm so excited. We just met tonight kinda randomly because he's friends with my roomie's friends, but I just knew by how we clicked that he was going to ask for my number. Oh, so happy. ^_^

midterm

2007-10-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's kinda weird to think that I'm already about halfway through this semester. Each one at BYU-I is only about 12 weeks long. It's nice, because you don't feel like it just drags on and on and like you'll never get done, but it's not so nice because all the instructors have to fit what used to be 16 weeks worth of lesson material into a whole month less of time. It's taking some adjusting on the part of everyone, but overall I really think it's a good change. The teachers have learned to cut back on the amount of work somewhat, and we students have learned how to work extra hard to get good at what we do.

Also, I'm very grateful to Ricardo Rosas, the art director for Skogen Group in Salt Lake City, for the wonderful presentation and lecture he gave last night for my art seminar class. I've been in a bit of a rut, wondering what the crap I'm going to do with my life once I finally graduate. His work and the way things are done at Skogen have really helped me realize that I don't have to be an amazing artist like the peers who intimidate me so much. I can do the parts I excel at and then hire a photographer and/or illustrator to help me! Or, I can get hired for just my specialty. I don't have to do it all! I guess I didn't really understand my area of emphasis as much as I thought. Graphic Design is definitely the way to go for me, and I'm finally excited about it.

positivity

2007-10-17T16:58:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems my cold has finally run its course. My voice is still a bit funny, and my nose a bit runny (I rhymed haha), but I'm feeling about 95% now. For now, I'm also stress-free, as I have no projects due for a little while.

Today was very interesting. It's been raining for the past couple of hours, with mushy snow that isn't sticking mixed in from time to time, and it's just cold and wet overall. It was overcast before that, so normally a day like this, most people would be moping about and grumbling. But strangely enough, everywhere I've been today, people have been cheerful and friendly, and I've run into tons of old friends and roomies and coworkers who were really happy to see me and I them. My typography classmates were all talking to me today as well, and I felt like we were all bonding during class. Maybe it's because everyone's turning in major projects today, like we did in typography, so the euphoria of having that much less stress makes everyone friendly. Maybe it's what I'm wearing today, which I've been complimented several times today on. Maybe I'm just so happy because lots of things are going right and so everyone's feeding off of my positive energy. Whatever it is, today is a good day, and I'm really happy. :)

backtrack

2007-10-14T23:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I *thought* I was getting better, but it turns out I'm actually getting worse. :| I guess it's my fault for going out and doing stuff yesterday instead of resting and drinking orange juice all day like I probably should have. Doctor visit tomorrow...

Yesterday, we went to the ice caves (when I have a better idea of the location I'll edit it in), which included quite a stretch of a dirt road that was perfect for off-roading. So that was a fun event in itself, and my friend's old Chevy Blazer is still in one piece. ^_^;; I feel like such a wuss though, because I only went a few yards into the cave before I freaked out and came back out. What I saw of it was very cool, and if I was a bit smaller I might not have panicked so much. See, they're called the *ice* caves for a reason, as there is very thick ice on the floor and around the walls and ceiling further in year-round. But in order to get to the bigger, open areas, you have to squeeze through some very claustrophobic tubes, and I guess I just freaked out. Dark, tight spaces through which I've never been and really don't know what's beyond doesn't sit well with me. It's one thing to go on a guided tour through caves you can walk upright through most of the way (Mammoth Caves, etc.), and I had a hard enough time with that as a kid.

Maybe next time I'll do better, if there is a next time. :|

Subway delivers!

2007-10-11T10:24:00.000-07:00

Oh really? Yeah, really. Hooray for that, because I'm still sick and unable to walk down and get it myself. :|

sick and tired

2007-10-10T11:12:00.000-07:00

Well, the sick part I meant literally. I've had a sore throat since about halfway through yesterday, and the stuffiness started this morning. I really HATE having to call in sick to work, and I avoid it at all costs. But there are days like today when it's unavoidable because I really don't want my coworkers to get what I've got.

The other part of my rant spawns from the fact that when I am sick like this, my already abnormal snoring is worse. Apparently, my roomie took offense to it, but rather than telling me so in a polite-ish way, I woke up a couple hours after calling in sick to hear her telling my other roomies about it. And we're not talking a low-toned conversation here. She was practically yelling about the fact that she turned her iPod on at some point during the night (which, incidentally, ALSO woke me up >_< ), and she could *still* hear me. Well, pardon ME for things that I can't help.

Gah, my roomies, all three of them, are just immature like that in general. I know they talk about me behind my back because I'm not perfect, like apparently they *are* or something. *eyeroll*

Mexican food and postal holiday

2007-10-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

I always love being able to come home early from work on postal holidays because we just deal with the previous day's mail and then have nothing else to do. However, it always comes back twofold because mail is still moved on days like today, Columbus Day, we just don't see it until a day later, when that day's mail is ALSO needing attention. So it means double the work in the same amount of time, which almost makes having postal holidays totally not worth it in the end. Lol. But oh well. I probably wouldn't have time for an update if it weren't for the extra hour I have now.

Also, Gringo's in Rexburg has the best Mexican food ever. So good.

in a rut

2007-09-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

Meh. I really shouldn't be getting restless this shortly into the semester, but I am. Maybe it's the fact that I'm only taking one *new* class, and retaking the other four due to, let's face it, my stupidity for letting myself give up last winter. Granted, I had some pretty good excuses for being depressed (both my mom's parents passed away among other things), but in the end, I really have just downright lost the persistence to get straight A's that I used to have up until sophomore year of college. It's my own fault for refusing to push myself hard enough, but it's also the fact that I am SO ready to be done with school even though by all rights I'm not even close to good enough.

Did I pick the right major? I look at my work, all of it, and try to be as objective as possible, but when you put my best work up against some of the worst of my peers' work, I totally suck, and that's a fact. I know I shouldn't compare myself to others because my work is still very good no matter what, but I have yet to find *my* style, and until I do, it's so hard not to compare to everyone else who has! Maybe I should have just ignored my parents and done what *I* wanted to do in the first place: work on cars. Maybe that sounds lame, but seriously, I wouldn't be nearly in debt as I am if I'd gone to a tech school, and believe it or not, I'd be happy, too! Call me crazy, but working on cars or even just as a lobby receptionist at a shop or SOMETHING like that would totally get me by. And if not, State Farm in Bakersfield would take me on, as all of the people I've worked with there have said. They're proud of me for getting my education, but when it comes down to it, I could be making very good money there in the mailroom or as a receptionist and I'd be fine!

Forgive my babble, but there's a lot going on in my head right now and I can't seem to find my niche in life. Music, computers, art, cars; I want to do it all, but realistically I have GOT to find my place, and I can't decide if I've made the right decisions or not! Am I doomed to go to college for 10 years and then spend the rest of my life paying off the debt because I'm not good enough at what I've chosen to make a good living? And yes, I'm going to say it, will I ever find that special guy who can take care of me and bring each other happiness in this life and the one to come?

success!

2007-09-09T14:48:00.000-07:00

Mwaha! I have found a wireless internet card that works with my laptop! Let the T1 goodness flow!

Right, so that's pretty much what's up at the moment. I'm back at school, determined to get straight A's this semester, don't care if they're all A-, as long as they aren't any lower than that. I'm semi-moved into my new apartment (I'm back in Barnes Hall on campus) and I'd be further along if facebook weren't blocked and I could get ahold of the girl with the key to the storage unit a bunch of us went in on together. In hindsight, I *knew* we should have looked into making copies so we could each get into it, but who knows if we'd have been allowed to or not.

Highlights from this past week: canned fruit with my aunt in Blackfoot, ID, peaches and pears, and I have a quart of each to partake of my labors. Also, I went to the East Idaho State Fair and managed to have some great food and get some cool jewelry all for only $30. It was really fun, I just wish they hadn't tethered all the animals in such a way that every single one had its butt facing out at the fairgoers. :| I would have liked to see the horses' faces, at least.

I also got all my grocery/clothing needs out of the way, with a bit of money to spare and more coming as I work and my loan goes through next month. (Why it has to take so long now, I don't understand. *sigh* ) Now I just need to find all of my BYU-I buds and hang out for a couple days before school starts on Wednesday.

And a final random thought: kdice.com rocks and I'll be getting back into that this semester to boost my score back up since they reset everything and changed the scoring again.

sigh

2007-08-08T23:36:00.000-07:00

Why is it that every time I finally find some time to blog, it's a huge ol' long amount of stuff I want to talk about? I will try to keep it as short as possible, but I warn you, those with short attention spans will most likely want to just read the Cliff's Notes about the rant part at the bottom.

Ok, first off, part of the reason I have time for this in the first place is because I no longer have to wait half an hour for the site to load up! Dad's all giddy about his new fangled cell phone technology that he's pepped about everything else as well, including this brand-spankin' new highspeed internet connection. *Hallelujah Chorus begins to sound*

Secondly, the aforementioned cell phone. All four of us on our family plan renewed our contracts with Verizon and bought new phones, which also prompts an occasion for the Hallelujah Chorus, especially if you've heard me gripe about my old LG VX3200. Along with my new red LG Chocolate phone, I got a special music-oriented kit and a 4-gig mini memory card for it, so it's a camera, MP3 player, and phone all in one! I also can text to my heart's content, to anyone on any network. It's like a dream come true. ^_^

And now for the rant. Skip ahead to the next paragraph for the shortened version. Ok, so I stayed home from work today due to flu symptoms and a desire to NOT throw up on everyone if I could avoid it. So I already wasn't having the best of days. Fortunately, I've had Friday night at Famoso raceway to look forward to for a couple weeks now, so I was glad at least that I'm sick today and not Friday. Now, some of you may know that I *sorta* have a car now, a '93 Saturn SL. I say *sorta* because *technically*, it belongs to my parents, as they pay the insurance and bought the car initially. But they bought it basically for me, so that I have a way to and from school until I graduate (hopefully) in a couple years. However, my brother, Jordan, has been the one driving it around about 99 times in 100, as it is the best way to get everyone to work and save the most gas. Therefore, he's been paying to keep the gas tank full 99 times in 100 as well, and also pays the bills for scheduled, and not-so-scheduled maintenance. I've used it a few times since we got it, but not without him trying to take a lung and a firstborn child every single time. (Yes, I exaggerate, but not much.) Well basically, Friday is to be one of the few times I use my own car. My other two brothers don't need a ride anywhere before Mom gets off work, and Jordan has Fridays off for the next couple of months, so we had it all worked out that I could have the car. So, needless to say I was just a *bit* surprised when Jordan calls me on his way to work as says "oh by the way, you can't have the car on Friday after all..." which is where everything went downhill. He was getting obnoxious and I was already mad because he was just being a big fat douche like always, so I hung up and talked to my dad. Jordan got all immature about being hung up on, so he calls the house line and leaves messages (lying, by the way, about how he'd talked to my dad while I was still on the phone with him myself), and sends a couple texts over the next few hours to all three of us (me, Mom, and Dad), basically saying that they always take my side and as far as he's concerned the car is his because he pays for it and that shows that he's the only one who really "cares" about the car and blah blah blah, trying to get me to respond so he can feed his already overlarge ego. I didn't bite, and now the *true* owners of the car are just a bit pissed that he has the nerve to call it *his* car. So basically, that all worked itself out with little effort on my part, but it still pisses me off towards my little brother. First of all, I can't seem to recall the last time he ever washed the car, inside or out, or even threw out his own freakin' garbage that piles up from the junk food he's supposed to be avoiding in order to lose enough weight to go on a mission for our church, or cleaned up the mess from said garbage. THAT shows how much *I* care about the car, and you can be damn sure that if he didn't have it at work every evening, I'd spend a heck of a lot MORE time cleaning that car's engine bay, and the carpets that are now ruined by the bits of milkshake and soda that he just chucks into the floor of the passenger's side when he's through with them. He has yet to replace or have fixed the driver's seat that HE broke by being so huge and pushing on it so hard, or the panels that have broken loose by him not being careful getting in and out. So WHO really cares about the car? Yeah.

Shortened version: little brother thinks the car that our parents bought for me to get back and forth to school is his because he pays for everything he rightly should pay for, being that he drives it most often at the moment, but doesn't pay for the things that he's actually messed up. It nearly screwed up my ability to go to Famoso raceway on Friday, but luckily my parents are enforcing things on the right side, not the fraudulent one.

Oh and then there's the douche(s) who decided it would be a great idea to hack my ebay and paypal accounts, sending spam emails to people through my account and running up a couple of expensive charges they thought would go unnoticed in my bank account. Awesome.

This was just NOT my day. -_-

time flies

2007-05-01T23:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, just so everyone knows, yes, I am alive. No, I haven't fallen off the edge of the world. I've just been really busy, and the fact that the internet connection at home here in Bakersfield is STILL only 56k has sorta taken away all interest in "being connected" all the time. Meh. Let me just say that job searching has got to be THE single most hateful pastime ever.

That said, I have found ways of remaining happy with life. There's DDR, of course, as well as hanging out with my friends, but my latest addiction is Kingdom Hearts. Everyone raves about it, but I haven't had the time (or the PS2) required until pretty recently. Now that I've seen it in action (and beaten it finally), I gotta say that it is one of the most entertaining games I've ever played. Sure, it's not as challenging or whatnot as Halo or Gears of War, but the storyline is very fun and interesting and seeing classic Disney characters fight and interact in an RPG is awesome. I can't wait to pick up KH2 when I get my tax refund, and KH3 when it comes out.

Speaking of beating the game, I always like to watch the credits; mostly because there's usually some cool music and/or small cut scenes, but also to see who the voice actors were. Now normally, there might be one or two "big" names in the cast, but I was surprised at this one. It's pretty common knowledge that Haley Joel Osment voiced the main character, Sora, in KH2, but it's because he also voiced the same character in the first one as well. It's also interesting to note that Hayden Panetierre, whom Heroes fans know as Claire Bennet, voices Sora's "girlfriend," Kairi. Up until I started watching Heroes regularly, I hadn't really heard of this girl, but now it seems like she's popping up everywhere! Lol. There are a couple of other big names on the list, but I can't remember them now.

crash and burn

2007-04-05T08:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, that was fun. I finally crashed around 1630 yesterday, got up for a couple hours (from 2100 to 2300), and then went back to sleep until 0800 this morning. :D All finished, just need to get through these two finals, which is easy considering all I have to do is put up my projects and be done. Then I'm going to pack and clean today so I can hang out with my friends tomorrow before we all leave on Saturday morning. Fun!

...and counting!

2007-04-04T14:51:00.000-07:00

I've been awake for about 32.5 hours now, and still going strong! I just finished both of the projects I had to finish for the two finals I have tomorrow. Once I'm done with that, I'll be officially done for the semester! YAY!

I'm riding as far as Vegas with my roomie on Saturday morning, where my mom and brothers are going to meet me to get me the rest of the way to Bakersfield. I CAN'T WAIT TO BE HOME FOR THE SUMMER!!!!!

all night long

2007-04-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

So, I've been awake now for 27 hours, 49 minutes, and 30 seconds. So far, I still have plenty of energy and I'm going strong on my last two projects. Yay me.

passive aggressive...ness...?

2007-03-29T14:49:00.000-07:00

So I think I've figured out what the deal with my roomie Viola is. Judging by what she said last time, my guess is that she thinks I'm lazy, and so lately she's been finding ways of getting back at me without being flat-out mean. Ever since clean checks last weekend, I brought my mattress out into the front room to sleep out here at night, since my room is a mess of packing boxes and such and I really don't feel like doing much about it since I'm leaving in a week anyway and I'll just have to redo everything. Besides, I sleep better out here because the cool air actually gets to me, and I don't feel like I'm going to fall off all the time. At least, I would sleep better. See, Viola isn't taking any classes this semester, and she finally has an internship all lined up, as well as housing and everything she needs. So she doesn't need to be on the internet constantly, yet she is. All she ever does is get on the deviantart website to browse through and favorite artwork that she likes. Now, I'm not criticizing the total waste of time that it is, because Heaven knows that I'm constantly online wasting time as well. But I go to bed at a decent hour because I work at 8 in the morning and I still have classes and stuff for another week. What I object to is the fact that she stays on that freakin' site sometimes until 2 or 3 in the morning, or never goes to bed at all, and she sits out here in the kitchen doing it, KEEPING ME THE FREAK UP WITH HER. I asked her why she doesn't do what she does in her own room, and she told me it's because she doesn't want to keep Alex up, who sleeps in the same room as her. Oh, so you prefer to keep me up instead. Thanks; thanks a lot.

I'm STILL trying to figure out what I did to piss her off, because she WILL NOT talk about things with us. We ask if there's anything we can do for her. "Oh no, I don't want to be a burden." We get her treats while we're out just for the heck of it, as gifts. "Oh I'll have to get you something now to pay you back." She won't tell us her age or birthday, "nothing's wrong" when something clearly is, etc. She refuses to let us be her friends. Well, that's fine. You go on being Miss Priss and stuck-up and pretending to be nice, but I'm pretty good at telling the difference between it and the real thing, and I'm getting sick of trying so hard to be friends when you clearly don't like me, and just play at it.

Sorry for the ranting, but this is getting old.

a little nit-picky, aren't we?

2007-03-22T22:38:00.001-07:00

I think I've finally hit the breaking point with my roommate Viola. She's from the Ukraine, and so communication is sometimes a bit difficult, but this is more than just that. For instance, she's just a bit too pushy sometimes. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing, because I know her heart is in the right place, but for crying out loud, when I say I don't want to do something, I have my reasons and pushing me will only make me grumpy, whether I finally give in or not! A good example of this is the one class, an online class, that she took this semester. In order for her to get an A, she had to recruit a certain number of people to participate with her in 8 spiritual discussions throughout the semester. Naturally, she turned to us, her roomies, as a first option. She asked if I would take part in it, and I politely refused because I've already done it several times, and I really didn't want to do it all over again. But she just kept pushing, and so I kept politely explaining to her that I'd already done it more than once, and really didn't feel like doing it anymore, until finally she had to go and give me the guilt trip over it being a wonderful experience and I'm her roomie and yadda yadda yadda. I could see she wouldn't take "no" for an answer, so I eventually gave in and did it. Again. Now, I don't mind the easy A now that all's said and done, but the bottom line is she is constantly, albeit subtlely, pushing and shoving and making me feel guilty over stupid things!

Take tonight for another example. We have "white glove" clean checks in my dorm this weekend because next weekend is General Conference and the weekend after that we're going home. There are four "jobs" in the apartment, and four of us, and since I had some free time tonight, I wanted to get a head start on things. Not wanting to just take the easiest job and leave the hardest stuff for everyone else, I chose to scrub down the bathroom. I have plans tomorrow night, so I wanted to get my part done so I can go hang out with Lindsey and still get a good night's rest so I can do homework on Saturday and Sunday. Anyway, I got it all scrubbed down nice, except for the floor and my room, which I'll do tomorrow so that they stay nice for the actual check on Saturday morning. Then Viola walked in, and I apologized for the mess from all the stuff I pulled out of the bathroom so I could clean all the surfaces, at which point she looked all upset. She told me they had decided to draw the jobs out of a hat, so to speak, and wondered why I hadn't waited. I told her I didn't know about that decision, and that I wanted to get a jump on things and not be up all night tomorrow. She went on to say that the reason they had made that decision was so that no one could just claim the easiest job and leave everyone else with the hard stuff. I told her that's why I chose to do the bathroom, and she was like "well yes, but that's an easy job." Excuse me, what? Yeah, she really said that. And you know what? I'm over it. I'm just sick of her making me feel inferior. She has major issues that would take too long for me to go into, and that would just be sinking to her level. So I'm over it. I've ranted, it's out of my system, done. Let her be the stuck-up brat she chooses to be.

Flickr update

2007-03-11T20:55:00.000-07:00

I just uploaded a bunch of pictures to my Flickr account. Worth taking a gander if you feel so inclined.

Also, the early entrance into Daylight Savings Time kind of threw me off temporarily. >_O Why is it that so many of you people out there wanted more of it so badly?

I'm Back

2007-03-07T13:06:00.000-08:00

Got back from Utah a week ago, bringing with me a nice little cold. :| I'm just glad it wasn't anything worse, seeing as my wonderful cousin, Stephanie, didn't mention the fact that she had bronchitis until *after* she'd been hanging around all day long. Stupid girl... *mutters* But that's another story and we won't go into that.

Fortunately, even though I'm still a bit under the weather, things are better overall. Friday night was a well-deserved, wonderful evening. My roomie's mom was in town, and so she drove us around all night. We went to Broadway Revue on campus, then went and got some really good Chinese food at a restaurant I hadn't been to before, then went bowling for a little while, then went and had Cold Stone ice cream. Cake batter with gummy bears. Mmmmmm... :]

Grandma

2007-02-23T11:35:00.000-08:00

Nothing ever was the same for my mom's parents ever since the car crash about 4-5 years ago. Grandpa never did walk again, and barely was able to talk sometimes. Grandma had already showed signs of dementia/Alzheimer's, but the accident seemed to quicken the disease's progress and she ended up in the same care center not all that long before Grandpa passed. Then she was "officially" diagnosed, and it's just been rough since then.

Last night, she passed sometime during her sleep. The best way to go, for sure, but it's still hard. I see it as pretty bittersweet though; on the down side, we will surely miss her, and now all four of my grandparents are waiting on the other side. But on the plus side, neither she or my grandpa are alone anymore, and she's no longer suffering from memory loss and such. She was actually doing better than usual, according to one of my aunts, and so it was definitely a shock to get the phone call from my mom this morning. But I'm so glad that it will bring our family together again to reflect on all the good memories of both my grandparents.

I'll be in Utah for a few days. Everyone be good, and please, take advantage of every opportunity to tell your loved ones how much you love them. You only have them in this mortal realm for so long, and even though we see each other again in Heaven, it's a long time in between to wait.

Update #2

2007-02-10T19:24:00.000-08:00

Well crap, I should've known it wouldn't be that simple. It's my fault, really, for being so naive. When I asked the guy if I'd still be part of the family plan and just have to sign a new contract for me, he said yes. We both misunderstood each other, because in order for me to get the deal on the Razr, I'd have to split off and *then* sign a new contract, thus paying ~$50 per month instead of just $10 for my line. So I'm not getting a new phone until June, when we can upgrade and renew our contracts all together. In the meantime, I've taken my current phone apart to let it dry for awhile. Maybe it will resurrect like my mom's old one did. I think I blogged that a long time ago, if you're interested in searching. :]

I'll also probably be getting a calling card because it's driving me nuts not having long distance. :|

Update

2007-02-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

...so it wasn't *right* after I got back. :P

Turns out my poor old LG VX3200 is officially "toast". And that's a direct quote from the guy at Verizon, which I find hilarious because that's the exact word everyone's been using. Lol. I also find it hilarious that I knew exactly what to try before going in (removing the battery, pressing and holding shortcut buttons), and so I kept telling him "oh ya, I tried that already". :] I also mentioned that someone else had mentioned something about taking out the bottom charging port, but he was just like, "uhhhh, I dunno who told you that, because we can't" and we both laughed.

I must have been the easiest sale they made that day, because he asked if I would be interested in a replacement, and I replied that I had already been planning on it just in case. I totally threw off his sales pitch because he paused for a second before asking what I was looking for. Heh. I love it. The offer for upgrading is a $100 pink Razr with a $50 mail-in rebate; I'm sold. The only trick is that I have a California number that I would really prefer to keep, or at least get a new California number since most of the people on my contacts list are from Cali. In order to do that here in Idaho, I would've had to go to Idaho Falls, half an hour away. But luckily my mom was already planning on going to the mall in Bakersfield today, so she's going to get the phone there, work out all the details since we're on a family plan, and mail me my new phone ASAP. YAY! I cannot wait to not be cell-less anymore. :D

Also, I spent the day with my aunt and uncle and their little 2-year-old. We went shopping, ran some other errands, and then went to Green Canyon hot springs last night. Soooo nice and relaxing in this cold. But at least it most likely won't get as cold as it has been again until next season. It's been reeeeeally nice, in the 30's and 40's rather than the negative 20's and 30's.

Vista

2007-02-09T14:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm on a computer that has the new Windows Vista OS installed, and I must say, it's pretty nice. I haven't done more than just surf the web and such, but it's been without any hitches and it's all shiny and pretty. :] Might have to look into it once I get a new laptop...eventually...

Oh, and I'm off to Verizon for either a fix for this phone, or a new phone altogether. Updates when I get back.

insert nonspecific expletive here

2007-02-04T17:19:00.000-08:00

Well crap. My cell phone luck continues to amaze (read: frustrate) me. About a year and a half ago, my parents finally decided to get a family plan with Verizon that includes them, my brother, and I. Only a little less than a month later, my cousin decided that she didn't already have enough crap of her own that she had to take my stuff, including my cell phone, and lie about it, knowing there was no way for me to prove it and that her mom wouldn't believe me. Great. I'd already used my well-earned money on a brand-new phone, so I was quite limited on funds for a replacement. Luckily, the Verizon here in Rexburg had a used phone that one of their former employees had used. Unfortunately, she had also *abused* it a bit. :| But I took good care of it, bought a new cover, and only dropped it once or twice quite by accident. By my guess, it's probably 3 years old now, so it's been a pretty good phone, all minor complaints aside.

Well, to get to the point, for whatever reason, it decided that tonight was the night to take a turn for the worst. I was trying to eat my ramen and cradle it under my chin, but I guess it got tired of me eating in front of it, because it took a nose dive into my bowl. Now, there wasn't really anything left, so I thought it would be fine. Wiped it off, made sure there wasn't anything in the battery chamber (there wasn't), and then tried to apologize to my mom on the other line, only to find that i couldn't hear her. Not because I'd lost the signal, mind you, but because it just wasn't sending or receiving any vocal feedback. :|

Symptoms (it's an LG VX3200):
Says "- Car Kit -" at the bottom instead of "- Vib and High -".
No beeping noises when I push buttons anymore.
No ringing OR vibrating when someone calls.
Caller can hear it ringing on their end, but neither of us can hear each other when I answer. (This goes for when I have the hands-free hooked up, too.)
Pressing and holding the * key no longer sets it to silent/vibrate.
Phone thinks it's charging when the cord is NOT hooked to it.

Does anyone have *any* idea of what I can do?!?!?! I already tried removing and re-inserting the battery. :|

Winter Sports

2007-02-01T12:51:00.000-08:00

First of all, I have a confirmation on Rush Hour 3 in the form of a teaser trailer on YouTube. Why must they assault my ears with Chris Rock and Jackie Chan singing!??!?! >.< Lol.

Secondly, I'm slacking off in my posting again, so I think it's time to bring the blog back up to speed.

Last Saturday was pretty fun, I must say. A group of us from my LDS ward went up the hill past the ever-progressing temple to a currently snow-buried agricultural field that has a good sized hill. It happens to be perfect for both types of sledders: the funloving and the insane. Which type am I? Heh, well...I plead insanity on grounds of letting myself be coaxed into taking the insane run first. I now know better for next time. See, the fun end of the hill was nice and long and semi-shallow; just steep enough to keep a sled going all the way to bottom at a decent speed. The insane end, however, was short and steep enough to literally be a cliff. Everyone who had gone down by the time I took the challenge had done just fine. We were using inner tubes, as regular sleds were out of the question for the sheerness of it. We decided to try a new technique, putting a smaller, regular-sized tube inside one big enough for several of us to sit around so that we wouldn't fall through the middle. Well, it didn't do much good, because when they pushed us off, they threw our weight off. Rather than keeping the weight to the back, which would have kept us all successfully on and safe, all our weight ended up on the left side, where I was on the very outside. All I remember is seeing the edge, starting to go off of it, and then my face was planted in the snow, and I somehow ended up on the right side of the jumble of all of us. It was kickin' rad, but I paid for it starting later that day. I found out how I'd fallen by the soreness I felt all along my right side and my entire neck. I'm all better now, fortunately, and I once again didn't break any bones. Next time, it's the shallow run for me.

Saturday was also the Best of Guitars Unplugged, which is always fun. The performers who made it in were pretty good, though the ones who did Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars could have done a bit better job in my honest opinion. The lead singer was just off-key enough to drive me insane, and their backup instrumentation was lacking. But meh. Great job for putting themselves out there in front of a thousand or more of us, their fellow students. I'm gonna work on a number for next Fall's concert. Hopefully they'll let me have a bass from BYU Provo and a 12-year-old drummer. :D

Also, I'm finding myself being "fired" far too often these days. You all need to be more convincing/specific/whatever when it comes to certain things!!! I'd have made a bigger effort to watch it, despite the lack of TV in my apartment, had I only known!!! (*cough*Heroes*cough*)

Studentation

2007-01-20T18:31:00.000-08:00

I'm proud of myself. It's Saturday, and I've actually been getting my homework done. :]

Also, new post over at My Artistic Approach. Enjoy and PLEASE leave comments!!! T_T

Lucky Number '07

2007-01-19T13:20:00.000-08:00

This is really gearing up to be *the* year of the entertainment-goer. Let's see what's upcoming for this year.

Bridge to Terabithia (the book was good, so I'll give it a shot, anyway)
Ghost Rider (Nic Cage dissers should watch Gone in 60 Seconds again)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (CGI take on the old school stuff)
Blades of Glory (jury's still out, but worth a shot)
Awake (how does Hayden Christensen always get paired with the hottest chicks?! :P )
The Bourne Ultimatum (sure to kick butt, as the first two did)
Evan Almighty (still haven't seen Bruce Almighty yet...)
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (haven't seen the first one yet, either...)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (for reasons of "duh")
The Kingdom (Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner)
Ocean's 13 (can't argue with three of the best-looking and most talented actors in the U.S...oh and the movies have been good as well)
Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End (Cap'n Jack Sparrow for the win!)
Ratatouille (director of The Incredibles going for another animated score)
Rogue (I thought Jet Li was done doing action movies...!)
Shrek the Third (yay, another Shrek flick)
The Simpsons Movie (in 2d!! :P Again, for reasons of "duh")
Spiderman 3 (Venom!!! O_O )
Transformers (who doesn't want to see this live action!?!!!)
Wild Hogs (Tim Allen as a biker?!)

Also, I've heard rumors of a third Mummy being in the works, as well as Rush Hour 3 and a sequel to National Treasure.

ALSO also, the seventh and final book of J.K. Rowlings' Harry Potter series is coming out sometime in June or July. I'm so excited

Chomp chomp chomp...

2007-01-19T13:10:00.001-08:00

GAH!!!! Dear Heavens, make it stop...MAKE IT STOP!!!! What is it with music majors and chomping their gum!?!!! I can hear my roomie's chomping all the way in the living room, and she's in our bedroom with the door shut! And my old music major roomie did it too! Hasn't everyone been taught that chomping is a disgusting habit?! >_<

It's cold!!

2007-01-13T11:16:00.000-08:00

My dad called me a couple hours ago just to harass me about Rexburg's current conditions and our forecast. What a jerk. :P

It is currently 12:17pm, and the temperature is -2*F, but it feels like -12*F with the wind chill.

And it was even worse than that earlier! I was wearing a hoodie, a heavy coat, thick gloves, jeans, and thick socks, and I could still feel the bitter cold through it all. My legs and butt were numb when I got to work and when I got home, and it's only about a 10-minute walk. :| I really need to get some thermal bottoms.

And I swear, if I hear just one Californian whine about your "cold", 40+* weather... >.< Lol.

TGIF

2007-01-10T13:41:00.000-08:00

This semester totally gives new meaning to the mainstream saying. As I said, the break was too short, and more than ever I'm looking forward to the very much lengthened summer break.

I'm only taking 4 classes (plus an art seminar that I attend one Thursday out of 3-5ish), but my schedule sucks! Work from 8-11am, class from 11am-5pm on MW, 11am-6pm TT. Each class is 2.75 hours long (they're all "studio" classes), and the small break between classes that I have will be taken up doing homework and/or attempting to get a quick lunch in. Kill me now. X.x On the plus side, I already feel more productive than the past couple of semesters, and there are quite a few more people I know and/or recognize since we've had classes together previously. That includes having both guys from my home ward in one class, and one of them in another. Kinda cool. I just wish their younger brother, who's about my age and just got off his mission this past summer, would decide to attend this campus rather than the Hawaii campus. But he's a beach bum, and Hawaii is gorgeous, so I guess I can't blame him. I keep telling him snowboarding isn't all that different from surfing though... :D

Anyway, I'm taking typography and book arts on MW, ceramics and head drawing on TT. We're already well underway in book arts; we've made two books, and I just need to take the first one and use the stack paper cutter in the media center to finish it. I should take pics and upload them of the one I finished yesterday, cuz it's pretty neat. I can't believe that I actually made it myself. O.O

Merry Chrismas, Happy New Year, Happy Birthday, etc...

2007-01-02T18:54:00.000-08:00

Well, that break was entirely too short. :| But I did make the most of it and it seemed to pass slower than just a week, so it's not so bad. Plus, I have nearly six whole months off between semesters this summer to look forward to. Score!

In the meantime, Christmas was really nice. I'm so glad my mom decided to change things at the last minute. We were just going to all get money, but since my mom already knew what we were each planning to spend it on, she went out and bought it all and we ended up opening up presents after all! It just wouldn't have been the same otherwise; we'd have had to wait to go out and buy everything the day after Christmas instead of having it all there to play with on Christmas Day, which would really have sucked. I got exactly what I wanted, and then some, so it was a good year. All I really wanted was a PS2 and Dance Dance Revolution with the feet controls like in the arcade, which was my big gift. I also got a couple of figurines to put on my desk, and I had a little money of my own to buy an Energizer brand battery charger that came with 8 AAs and 4 AAAs, as well as another version of DDR that I like better than the newest one because the music selection is better. There was also the standard chocolate orange and some other candy, and my mom made me another pair of pajama pants. They're cute and toasty warm. My friend David gave me the entire Samurai 7 series and let me borrow his Mobile Suit Gundam series as well, and my friend Amy and her husband Matt got me a portable heating range. Even though I'm not in Rigby Hall anymore, I'm sure I'll find a use for it. :)

Best Christmas Ever. ^_^

Lizze's Car -or- What I Consider to be my First Practical Automotive Exam

2006-12-21T11:00:00.000-08:00

I went over to my friend's apartment yesterday to wish her Happy Holidays and such before she went home for Christmas break. Turns out she's got a car now; an '82 RX-7! (And me without my camera...) Anyway, when I got there, she had the battery hooked up to a charger because it's been having a hard time holding a charge. The hood was up and the poor car is such a dirty, dusty mess, but not in bad shape overall. I mean, the thing's older than me!

Anyway, I got to put my knowledge to the test as I helped her figure out why it wasn't starting, because it's got a brand-new alternator and the battery fluid levels had just been checked recently. Turns out that the problem was just that it doesn't like the cold and it's nearly 25 years old, so that would do it. We pulled out the choke, pumped the gas, and got it to start, then let it idle for a bit to let the alternator charge the battery.

Next, there was blue smoke coming out of the tailpipe, so I checked her oil, and while it was still a good color, she was pretty low. But apparently that's just the way it happens so her dad had sent her an extra bottle of oil, and we put that in.

But then, as she tried to back out, it wouldn't go into gear and it made this horrible noise when she tried to put it in reverse. I got in, and turns out there was only about a quarter of an inch of non-free play! The clutch wasn't disengaging at all. So we went and got some brake fluid, filled up the little reservoir at the very top right of the engine bay, and pumped the clutch pedal for about 20 minutes, let it rest, and lo and behold, there was resistance again when we went back out about 15-20 minutes later. w00t! I'm so proud of myself. I passed the test!

It's such a neat little car and it's really in pretty good shape for an '82. I'll have to take a pic or two of it after we get back from break. (And I'll be asking to take it for a test drive as well. :D )

Hiatus

2006-12-16T15:41:00.000-08:00

Blarg. Haven't had much to talk about lately. But I do today!

Fall semester is letting out pretty quick, as in like, Wednesday. But in light of the fact that my dorm had a "white glove" cleaning inspection today, I am already completely packed up and ready to move into the new dorm, and all ready to go home for Christmas, even though my ride back to California doesn't leave until the 22nd. :| I am SO ready for my bro to move out and GIMME MY FRIGGIN' CAR ALREADY!! >_< I can't wait 'til I can leave whenever the crap I want to instead of having to hitch a ride with someone else.

Anyway. It feels good to have much less stress in my life and be able to just kick back for a day. Christmas party tonight and I'm stoked. ^^_ Later, all. Have a great day.

Halo 3 teaser!!!!!

2006-12-05T18:15:00.000-08:00

A spot/teaser for Halo 3 aired last night during Monday Night Football, and I'm so surprised there's been relatively little hype over this! The only reason I know is thanks to the guys over at Red vs. Blue.

All I can say is that it looks soooo good thus far. Way too short...we need more footage soon, you hear me Bungie/Microsoft!?!! Lol.

Click here to see the kick-butt goodness! (And Master Chief as a kid? *gasp* )

Line Rider

2006-12-03T20:50:00.000-08:00

Perfect for the winter months. It's a game where you draw a track for a little sled dude. Some of the ones people have done are pretty awesome!

Go here to make your own. And go here to see some of the ones other people have done.

It's awesome stuff!

Christmas 2006

2006-12-03T11:16:00.001-08:00

For Christmas this year, my family has decided to do things a little differently. My parents decided that instead of buying us gifts, they're giving us $100 to spend on ourselves, and $20 to spend on each sibling, or just give the money to each of them. Needless to say, we've all decided to just give each other the money, but there's a catch. We can't just do the traditional stick-it-in-a-card-and-say-Merry-Christmas thing; we actually have to put some creative effort into giving them the money. My mom suggested things like a treasure hunt or hiding it in a cookie or something to that extent, but my immediate idea was doing artwork for each of them and giving it to them with the money. My mom agreed that it's allowed, so I'm putting my artistic abilities to work. Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, I haven't been more in the Christmas spirit than I currently am. I'm giving of my time and talents and it's really fun!

I'll be posting progression of the artworks on my art blog. There's one up today, so go check it out! ^_^

don't get mad, just get even

2006-11-20T13:26:00.000-08:00

I'm a nerd, but let this be a lesson to all of those, geek, nerd, or otherwise, who never really learned about the Golden Rule. For the record, the Golden Rule is as follows: Do unto others as you would like done unto you.

This was on a PS3 seller's listing (edited for content):
i went out wednesday afternoon to the local walmart to start camping out. when i got there, there were already 12 people ther so i got in line being number 13. i talked around and found out the first 6 people there had been there since monday, total hardcore nerds all planning to keep them. bragging about how only they should get the system since theyve been there the longest. how they are so dedicated and how if you dont want to do the time, you shouldnt get a system. generally being complete [punks]. good for them. we had a hours to pass so we became friends and played some cards and whatnot. the 6 guys in front kept to themselves and didnt associate with the rest of us. we were cool with each other leaving the line to get food, bathroom, smoke, etc since we all knew each other and as long as they were back in 30 minutes. i was about to leave to go buy some KFC for a good number of us and when i stepped out of line, one of the nerds shouted that if i left, i would lose my spot. the other guys told him that they were vouching for me and that i was just getting food but those 6 [jerks] didnt care. they said i leave, i lose my spot and that was the rules and they would call the manager (they had his number) to come out and enforce it. i said whatever and stayed in line.

a few hours later, the manager came out and told everyone that there were only going to be SEVEN available. they have them in their store and theyre not getting anymore. he told the people after # 7 they should leave if they wanted to not waste their time. me being number 13 should have left but i didnt, i wanted to stick around for a little bit more. everyone else left except me and the 7 other people that were getting it for sure. so the day goes on and i try to make friends with the nerds. i play mario kart on the ds with them and talk to them about the games they were getting. about an hour or 2 later, i tell im gonnna head home since im 8 in line and theres only 7 ps3s. one of them made some stupid joke about if i leave the line then i aint getting back in!! har har. so as im about to leave, i tell them im going to the vons next door and if any of them wanted any food or coffee and id bring it back to them. one of them said yea and all the rest like sheep followed and said yes too. they were gonna give me money but i told them it was on me since theyve been out here since monday. the 7th guy in line wanted some food and coffee and i told him id buy some for him also.

so i go to vons and buy 8 coffees, some food, and some x-lax laxatives. i bring it to my car and put some laxatives in 6 of the coffees and seperate them from mine and #7s. i pull back to walmart and bring all the drinks and food upfront. i give #7 his stuff and then the coffees with laxatives to the 6 nerds annd wish them good luck and go back to my car. i park it around the corner so i can still see them.

about 30 minutes later, #2 and 3 in line get up and it seemed like they were yelling to the other nerds. they both ran into walmart. seconds later (i guess all nerds have the same biology) #5 gets up and runs across the parking lot and into the trees and bushes somewhere. #1 is scrounging for this portapotty type thing he'd brought with him but he is squirting everywhere and all over his pants and their sleeping bags. he runs into walmart. at this time, i start my car and drive back to the walmart to claim my spot in line. when i get there #4 and 6 are gone but i dont know where. #7 is laughing his [butt] off so hard and i just smile at him. i call up 5 of the other people that i had made friends with that were in line with me ( i had their phone numbers cause i was gonne buy to food for everyone) and told them to get back to the walmart ASAP and get in line. Meanwhile, me and #7 threw all their [stuff] into the parking lot and i claimed my spot as #1, him as #2. 4 and the people i had called arrived and got in line just as 1 of the nerds came running back and got #7. he started yelling saying they need their spots back. we all told them to [back] off, out of spot, out of line. it was all of us against him so he didnt say [anything]. the nerds came back and tried to start some[thing] but we just laughed, we told them it was their rule and to go [clean] themselves and clean the [crap] off their pants. the called security and security came. security man was like [what the heck] is that [freak]in smell and looked at the nerds with [crap] all of them and kicked them off the grounds screaming [LOL]. so that is how i got my ps3.

Proof that the world is getting worse

2006-11-18T18:50:00.000-08:00

http://www.planetboredom.net/video.php?id=2944&cpg=2&cid=&pid=

Basically, some guy dressed in a purple fur coat and purple-with-leopard-print hat and sunglasses waits in line for a PS3, buys it, walks out of the store triumphantly, and then promptly drops it on the ground while another guy smashes it with a sledgehammer. All in front of the rest of the crowd who have been waiting in line forever, and some of whom won't even get one because there weren't enough made to begin with.

Here is what I have to say to them:
"Way to waste 600 bucks on an overpriced, underproduced product that millions would pay you at LEAST twice the retail for, and for what? Just to piss people off? Yyyyyeah. Way to waste the two brain cells you had to rub together."

Oh, and apparently they bought TWO. They're auctioning the other off on ebay. I hope no one bids on it. >.<

Stop! Police!

2006-11-13T16:50:00.000-08:00

The nerve of some people is beyond me. It snowed for the second time here in Rexburg on Saturday night, and so my old roomies and I decided to have some fun and build a snowman. We got three good-sized balls all ready, but then Lizze decided we should make it a 4-layered snowman, so we added a fourth to the top. As we were deciding what else to do with it, she cocked her head to the side and said "you know, it looks just like the Pillsbury Doughboy." We all looked at it again, and sure enough, it did! So, we proceeded to give him arms, a face, and a belly button, and we took some pics of our new friend. No sooner had we gotten an awesome group pic, when this random guy, way too old to be a freshman, comes running at it yelling "stop, police!" We all giggled and made "oh noes!" faces, thinking he was just messing with us. But no. He kept right on running, tackled the Doughboy, and then kept going, leaving us to stand looking at the wreckage in shock. Not only that, but they drove by again, yelling "hah! Who got the last laugh?!" What an immature jerk. We rebuilt the Doughboy, but it wasn't nearly as good as the first, as you can see.

Pics are in chronological order, left to right, top to bottom. Click for high res.

classes

2006-11-09T14:17:00.000-08:00

Well, I signed up for next semester's classes last night right at midnight, just to make sure the ones I need/want didn't fill up before I could get a chance. I was looking at my weekly schedule and thinking, "dang...what the crap was I on when I decided to be an art major!?" o_O I mean, I know college is supposed to be hard work and all, but here's the rundown on my schedule. Assuming that I actually am a good student and go to class every day and really apply myself at all my homework and projects, I will have zero free time during the week, and possibly not on the weekend either. Work from 8-11 in the morning, class from 11am-5/6pm depending on the day, homework/projects, try to squeeze in something to eat somewhere in there, sleep, repeat. >_<

It will be worth it to have a degree, but it's times like these that I seriously wonder if I'm doing what I'm supposed to be. I mean, the prophet has said that it's good for women to get a degree, but the summer/fall before I started attending BYU-I, I had the chance to be hired onto my temp. job in the State Farm mailroom and I could have been set, pretty much. Did I feel the Spirit wrong? Was that my ideal choice, or is there still more for me here and I just need to stick it out? I mean, there are all kinds of awesome LDS returned missionaries up here, but I have yet to go out on a date that wasn't with an FHE brother "just for fun." I mean, that's half of why I came up here: to find my match. But at this rate, I'll be graduated and have a job back in California before I so much as date anyone seriously.

What thinkest thou, my friends?

my creative side

2006-11-08T11:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I took Frank's advice and made a new blog for all my art stuff. I'm working on converting/uploading some stuff, and then I'll post the two flyers I've done, as well as some of my favorite photos. I'll be taking more pictures from now on as well, just as soon as I find my stupid battery charger. This camera drains regular batteries like NONE OTHER, I tell you... >.>

EDIT: first batch uploaded to My Artistic Approach. Enjoy! Please leave comments.

meebo

2006-11-07T07:12:00.000-08:00

I've been having a hard time getting past my school's server with the Yahoo and MSN plugins in Trillian lately, but my friend just introduced me to meebo.com, which is basically the same thing, except all in one browser window. So when I use tabbed browsing in FF, it saves space on my activity bar on the bottom! It's a neat little IM program and I think I'm sticking with it.

all is not lost

2006-11-02T14:22:00.000-08:00

Well, despite the rumors that they've canned the movie adaptation of Halo, apparently they're not entirely true. They haven't given up completely on the movie, they're just having troubles with budgets, like all movies with potential for greatness do.

LA Times article

So it's not going to be as soon as we hoped, but it will eventually happen. And as long as Peter Jackson remains at the reins of the project, I'm confident it will be very well done. Because seriously, if they mess this one up, I'll be very sad. :|

Rant of the Day: Holiday Tunes before Thanksgiving!?

2006-11-02T09:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm all for listening to Christmas music all year long...intermittently. My favorite radio station in Rexburg usually plays a great variety of music, kind of like Pirate Radio in Bakersfield. Then all of a sudden, as soon as it is no longer Halloween, time seems to skip two whole months. They jump right over November, my brothers' birthdays, and Thanksgiving, and skip right to Christmas. All day, every day, from now until January 1st, three of the radio stations that usually play nice listening tunes are only going to play Christmas-related stuff. It would be semi-ok if they played every single Christmas song ever recorded, because there's enough that they would probably never have to repeat any one song from now until January 1st. But no, they play the same renditions of Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman multiple times a day, and there's only so many times you can hear any one song before you start throwing things at the radio and calling them with requests for something...ANYTHING else.

EDIT: That reminds me...Troy's birthday is on the 6th. Crap! I'd better hurry and get his card in the mail!