get things organized

I got up this morning and went to get books. Good things I got used books, it's so much cheaper. I downloaded the syllabi for my three classes. Looks pretty intense. which prompted me to go ahead and pick up the books today.

I did a bit of accounts balance today. Good to know I'm not overspending at all. I think I have this shopaholic thing under control. For now...

I ran 3 miles tonight. 300 more crunches, and 30 more leg lifts. I'm feeling it a bit more. Had a pretty good dinner afterwards. I made some turkey meat sauce the other night. It's so good. Meat sauce with cheese tortellini, green salad with cherry tomato, crumpled fat free feta, with champagne pear gorgonzola dressing, and two really sweet navel oranges. I tend to eat a bit more after I work out. I need to reload on carb. My arm was shaking a bit when I started eating. I was able to function a lot better after I ate food.

Now I'm just sleepy. I work tomorrow at 1. I should try to get some things done in the morning. I do need to hit the gym again before work. I should go sleep.

should be sleeping...

I had an orange mocha tonight. I should have heed C's comment. omg it was nasty.... hahaha...

Uploaded a ton of photos. Easiest way to navigate is through the collections links. Awesome stuff that needs captions... eventually. Go look ^_^

http://www.flickr.com/photos/odrini/

I'm buying books tomorrow. I'm going to sleep in.... starting right now!

the verdit is in

2 A's, 2 C+'s, 1 C, 1 CR... 6 classes DOWN! 2.92 GPA. I don't remember the last time I had it that high... sad isn't it. I will do better for the summer session. It's easier for me to pay attention for a short session.

I'm working a couple days more the week after next. I guess we had too many people going on vacation that week. I'm ok with taking more hours. I want to make a bit more money to make up for the hours I didn't get to work last week. I figure it would be ok for week 2 of school.

I'm working on that diet thing. I only ran 2 miles today. Did 300 crunches and 30 leg lifts. Didn't tire myself out. That's the point. Do a bit of a workout, then go back to it again tomorrow. Day after day, that's what I want. I'm shooting for 20 pounds for the summer. I'm not as huge as I used to be, but I'm still too chunky. I looked at some of the new pictures from this weekend. I'm not there yet. I have a lot to work on. Just a little bit of thing at a time. Eat less, move more. One thing I really need to work on is to eat on time.

I'm working on uploading my Paris pictures right now. I already put them up once on yahoo, but they're closing that service some time this summer, plus flickr is so much easier to use. 25 bucks a year is not a bad deal for unlimited hosting. I want to take some of those pictures and make mini calling cards too. It cost about 25 bucks for 100 cards. I have one particular picture that got a few comments already. That color of green is great. Actually that's the picture I posted on the previous post. That is definitely one of the pictures I'll use for the cards. So I'm working on the pictures I took when I was in Paris last year. That's a whole lot easier to do because they are already separated out and rotated. The pictures were great... but it would have been a whole lot better with my new camera... lol. Maybe I'll go back again.

I've been really slacking on my crafty projects. I'm staring at all my supplies and feels pretty guilty about it. I have a few inspiration on what to make. I need to search through all of those pictures I took and just scrap it. I also have a gigantic amount of random bits and pieces of paper I saved from trips. I can totally use those. I'm thinking about starting a new binder with page protectors in it. That way I can sort out all of my crap and put pages together in a more systematic way. I have so much to go through.

I didn't sleep much last night. I'm pretty tired. The DNS server went down last night for a bit, comes back on intermittently. That was of concern because I needed to register at 5 am. I spent some time, until around 2 am, to figure out how to register over the phone. I registered for the class that only had 1 seat left... then it wouldn't let me get the other. So I got up after passing out for a few hours and went on campus to get that fixed. Apparently the system was glitchy today and the lady registered me for the second class. I paid for the registration, which was less then 50 bucks, and I need to get a parking pass later. I also looked up the books I need to buy. Hopefully I don't really need them... which I doubt... then I hope I can get the used versions. Those books gets pretty expensive. Come to think of it... I think I might go to the book store tomorrow to pick them up. Might as well.

I see myself opening up more space in my room. It's all about sorting things out and prioritizing. I need to find a space for my luggage too. It'll be a bit difficult... but I think I'll manage.

green

DSC00557
Originally uploaded by odrini

Finally finished uploading my Vancouver/Victoria pictures. Enjoy ^_^

Phone it in....

It was down again as soon as I made my last post. I managed to register for one class on the phone. The one with one seat left. It didn't let me get teh second class... so I passed out. I woke up at 8:30. The connection came up about 3 hours prior. I tried again, it saids I have a problem with my matriculation record. Dammit. I guess I have to go on campus.

On a much much happier note. Most of my grades are up. C+ for that one class I would settle for a D. WoooHooo! Only need my Finance grade. I suspect it'll be at least a B. Plus my lab class needs to post my pass, then I'm good. One sememster down! One more starting next week....

Guess I should get up now and get my "matriculation" issue fixed.

flip out

It's 2 am. I have to register at 5 am. Why am I awake? Because my internet connection went down about half an hour ago. How am I online right now? It came back 2 minutes ago. What did I do in between? I flipped out. Looked for different solutions to get back online so I can register for that one last slot open for the class I need. I finally settled to quickly register over the phone. Guess what, my connection came back. It was interesting. I shall go nap for a little less then 3 hours now.... *sigh*

laid back

I got up really late today. It's one of those days where I don't want to get up. Just plain lay there and do nothing.

I had a really strange dream last night. I had this sense of dread the whole night. I slept... but not too well.

I spent the whole morning fussing over my pictures. I'm still uploading them. I'm at about half way. HALF WAY! I guess that's what happens when I put them up on original size. http://www.flickr.com/photos/odrini/

I didn't get around to eat until 3. I finally realize I've been hungry since like 11 last night. I made myself a blendy fruit thing. The cup blender thing is pretty awesome. I'm one of those people who would eat noodles out of the pot. It's great... I drink right out of the blend cup. Yup. I saw the magic bullet at work last week... I think it was cheaper then what I've seen before. Oh well... I got the knock off a while back. It works great... so far.

The big lappy is dead. I can't get it to load the OS. I don't have the right software to fix it. Isn't that great? See what happens when I ask somebody to load some software for me on my flash drive? He puts half of it on there. Good times. Guess I'll have to bring it to work on Friday to run diag on it.

I don't know. It's just one of those days when I don't feel like doing anything at all. Tomorrow I start. I need to register for classes at 5. AM that is. Go to the gym after that. Need to do laundry. Get some cooking going. Clean the room up a bit. Get ready for the new semester. I do have a few days before class starts. There is a huge amount of things I can be doing.

I never talk about my travels too much. I like to let my pictures tell the story.

upload

I got the flickr pro account. I'm uploading pictures. I have about 1.7 GB from this past weekend to put up. It'll be a while. After that, I'll go back and upload pictures from Paris and such. Yeah. I like pictures.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

unpacked

It's amazing. Almost felt like nothing happened. I didn't really go around to shop this time. Our luggage was so empty it felt like we didn't go anywhere. I checked out all the pictures I took. Looks pretty great. I need to load them up tomorrow. Time to get the flickr account.

I'm hungry...

bed

I'm home! yay! I took a nap in my own bed earlier. It was great. I want to flop into be right now, but I can't. My unpacking tactic is to dump everything on there and sort it out. So here I am.... sorting out my stuff... joy...

tomorrow

I come home.

Got 3 grades already. Looks good. 2 left. 1 is at least a B, the other... I'll be happy when I pass. I don't find out until the 30th. Great. Starting class again on the 4th. Don't care to buy books until I really have to this time. I used like half of it this past semester. One of them was shrink wrapped till the very end... and they didn't even buy it back. Waste of money. I'll get it when I need it. 6 week sessions are going to be awesome. Get things over with very quickly. Instructors in the summer are usually a little more lax. Love it. Get it done... get it done...

Just checked my accounts and remembered.... I got paid this weekend! Yay! That brings me joy. I was able to put more money in my vacation fund before I left. Didn't spend any of it this weekend because I was traveling with company. I do plan to save enough to take a trip in August. Where to you ask? Well that depends on if I have a host... on the east coast... *hint hint* I do need to plan early, because I want to get a ticket off of my dad's mileages. Want to save as much as I can. I've never taken a trip by myself. Driving 3 hours by myself up and down the coast doesn't count. Anyway... that's a ways away.

Starting new habits when I get home. The whole move about more and eat less thing. I'll be fully in charge of my dining habits for at least a while. Trying to shop for clothes in Chinese malls are kind of depressing. Get myself to fit into it.... by August? lol.... I have a lot of deadlines. I guess I had to take myself one habit at a time. Organization, financial, now health and weight.

Other projects to start when I get home. Clean the storages and house plus make "living space" in the house. Yup. That is all. Nothing too fancy... just a lot of work.

Anyway... I should go rest... early flight tomorrow....

Orange Mocha Frappuccino

If you didn't get my title, go watch Zoolander. I'll be happy to lend you my copy. I walked pass a Starbucks tonight, and they had Orange Mocha. I almost walked into a door when I saw that. Which would be fairly embarrassing since it was a glass door in a trendy Chinese mall in Richmond... just south of Vancouver....

By the way... I'm out of town. I would share some pictures, but I forgot my 4-pin USB cable. I'll load them up later. I haven't even filled 1 card yet, and am still on my first battery. I suppose I could have done a lot better.

The weather is really nice up here. Warmer then I thought it would be. Which means just a hoodie is enough. My regular attire.

Hotel bed covers kills me. Some of you know I'm allergic to cheap detergent. I put block on my face, it's not sunburn, it's allergies. Looks like somebody ran some sand paper across my face.

I need to learn how to take a relaxing vacation. I think my legs are going to be too strained. I'm going to walk the rain forest tomorrow.

I feel so disconnect. I haven't touched my phone in 3 days. Lord help me. I have this anxiety. I'm not sure if it's from the lack of cellular radiation or something else. I'm just hit with a sense of dread once in a while.

Thank God I can still check my email... when the connection decides to work...

Finally got the in room network to work at 1:30 am... probably should sleep...

of bad tacos and fried chicken

Finished my last final this morning. Yay! Went to the store to pick up a few things, including a lens bag and the last of the filters. Now there is really nothing else I can think of to get for my camera... for now. There's nothing more on the wish list. Decided to cave into my taco and fried chicken craving. That's done with too... it was pretty nasty. haha... just have to remind myself once every 6-7 months. I'm officially on my summer vacation! yay!

I'm sleepy, but I need to pack. Haven't really done it yet. I also need to do some laundry. I got all my electronics ready. eeeehhh... sleepy...

I've hit that

KHAAAAN!

I Do

When I'm done with thinking, then I'm done with you
When I'm done with crying, then I'm done with you
When I feel so tired, then I'm done with you
Everybody feels this way sometimes, everybody feels this way.

And I do.
Wou can hear it, but I do.
You can hear it, but I do.

You're trying to convince me that what I've done's not right
I get so frustrated, I stay up every night.
You ask me for an answer, and I'm so tired and I'm up in the air.
Everybody feels this way sometimes, everybody feels this way

And I do.
You can't hear it but I do
You can't hear it, but I'm feeling this way just because you say

I will be ignored
I will be denied
I could be erased
I could be brushed aside
I will get scared, and I will get shoved down
but I feel like I do because you push me around.

And I do
You can't hear it but I do
You don't seem angry but I do
I do.

-- Lisa Loeb

Take A Picture

Awake on my airplane
Awake on my airplane
My skin is bare
My skin is theirs
Awake on my airplane
Awake on my airplane
My skin is bare
My skin is theirs
I feel like a newborn
And I feel like a newborn
Awake on my airplane
Awake on my airplane
I feel so real

Chorus:
Could you take my picture?
Cuz I wont remember
Could you take my picture?
Cuz I wont remember
Could you take my picture?
Cuz I wont remember
Could you take my picture?
Cuz I wont remember
Yeah

I dont believe in
I dont believe in
In your sanctity
You privacy
I dont believe in
I dont believe in
Sanctity
A hypocrisy
Could everyone agree that
No one should be left alone
Could everyoone agree that
They should not be left alone yeah
And I feel like a newborn
And I feel like a newborn
Kicking and screaming

Chorus

Hey dad what do you think about your son now
Ah hey dad what do you think about your son now

Chorus (x4)

-- Filter

Staring At The Sun

Summer stretching on the grass... summer dresses pass
In the shade of a willow tree creeps a crawling over me
Over me and over you stuck together with God's glue
It's going to get stickier too...
It's been a long hot summer
let's go undercover
Don't try too hard to think... don't think at all

I'm not the only one starin' at the sun
Afraid of what you'd find if you took a look inside
Not just deaf and dumb i'm staring at the sun
Not the only one who's happy to go blind

There's an insect in your ear if you scratch it won't disappear
It's gonna itch and burn and sting
Do you want to see what the scratching brings
Waves that leave me out of reach
Breaking on your back like a beach...
Will we ever live in peace?
Cause those that can't do often have to
Those that can't do often have to... preach

To the ones staring at the sun...
Afraid of what you'll find if you took a look inside
Not just deaf and dumb... staring at the sun
I'm not the only one who'd rather go blind

Intransigence is all around... military is still in town
Armour plated suits and ties... daddy just won't say goodbye
Referee won't blow the whistle God is good but will HE listen
I'm nearly great
But there's something I'm missing I left in the duty free
Though you never really belonged to me

You're not the only one staring at the sun
Afraid of what you'd find if you stepped back inside
I'm not sucking my thumb I'm staring at the sun
Not the only one who's happy to go blind

When I Grow Up

Cut my tongue out
I've been caught out
Like a giant juggernaut
Happy hours
Golden showers
On a cruise to freak you out

We could fly a helicopter
Nothing left to talk about
Entertain you
Celebrate you
I'll be back to frame you

[Chorus:]
When I grow up
I'll be stable
When I grow up
I'll turn the tables

Trying hard to fit among you
Floating out to wonderland
Unprotected
God I'm pregnant
Damn the consequences

[Chorus:]
Blood and blisters
On my fingers
Chaos rules when we're apart
Watch my temper
I go mental
I'll try to be gentle

[Chorus:]
When I grow up
When I grow up
When I grow up
I'll turn the tables

[Bridge:]
Don't take offense
Better make amends
Rip it all to shreds and let it go

I rip it all to shreds and let it go
I rip it all to shreds and let it go
I rip it all to shreds and let it go.

-- Garbage

Trends

I am a self proclaimed list addict. I make my own lists to check off. Just look at my page. So you can imagine my delight when I find the new Google Trends feature. The basic principle of this thing is to find out what people are searching for. Of course it has a set of filters that takes out all the spam and porn. It leaves a bunch of pretty funny results on there. It's funny what people want to find out. Right about now, the one thing people are more curious about is Stone Phillips. Yup, your friendly NBC anchor that's being "downsized". Ok well, I wouldn't know that if I didn't look at the list. I would love to know how the algorithms work on this thing. I can't imagine it to be awfully complicated, but it's not anything I would have thought up.

pause for a min... or two

Came out from my first final today feeling a little better I think. I don't think I did exceptionally well in the final. Which kind of sucks. I hope I pass the class. This is the sort of material that drove me insane a few years ago. I technically have until 7:30 tonight to take my other final. I doubt I'll take all of that. I still have to make notes for my finance final tomorrow. Thank goodness it's going to be an early one. I'll have the rest of the day to myself. Pack up, and really relax.

I walked out of this last final having a gigantic rant in my head. I decided against it. It's over with. If I pass, great. If I don't, I need to figure out how I need to do things differently next time around. It's not going to effect my GPA too much. I have at least 1 A to balance it out. Most likely 2.

I suppose I should focus on my next final. I have 2 hours to review it again. It's open book, so that makes me feel a lot better. I'm not too worried about it though. My grade on that is a hair under a B, and the range is ridiculously wide. As long as I put good efforts towards it, I'm guarantee a C. So I'm ok with that. As long as I never have to take classes from these two guys again, then I'll be happy.

Sometimes there are professors out there that has the delusion that he's inspirational. They crack me up. It seems there are exceptionally more of them in this school. Maybe they think because they have 20+ years of professional experience and a PhD we should be in awe of them. They don't try to understand where the students are coming from. Superficial. I feel like I was getting a better education at De Anza. One of my professor asked earlier in the semester as to why there is so much apathy from the students. I can argue that because we learn from the faculty. I had three professors that were great this semester though. I think the difference was they were actually teaching, as oppose to lecturing. In case you're curious, I think I'm getting A's in those classes.

a little ahead

I realize I have the tendency to get a little bit ahead of myself. Especially when it comes to a vacation only a short time away. Things today made me think of a few things about the way I work and things I need to change.
- I'm not very good at focusing on the task at hand unless it is due... like in less then 12 hours.
- My mind likes to wander.... consider that an early vacation.
- I just wrote a paper about how I potentially have bought the wrong laptop. Which I totally disagree with the rational explanation. If that makes sense.
- How I value things and how I THINK I should value things are totally different.
- I often bite more then I can chew. I need to break down all my problems and solve them one piece at a time. Funny... I think that's how my room got clean.
- Times seems to pass so slowly when I want my vacation to come, and yet it flies by when I'm trying to remember what a particular lecture was all about.
- I need to just work hard from the beginning of each term, so I can check out early at the end of it. Totally worth it.

It used to be so hard for me to come up with these things. I think it was because I couldn't picture myself in the future. In fact I can't really see too far into it. At this point I just have a whole bunch of short term goals and a few vague long term ones. I don't know how I will satisfy those long terms goals. I'm sure I'll come up with something. All I know is, all of those things I need to do in the short term will become the stepping stones for those vague future goals.

I feel strangely philosophical about how my life is going tonight. It doesn't always have to make sense.

Sleep calls. I have to get up earlier to do more reviews. When I sleep and have great dreams... time flies.

some plans in my head....

Ok, another reason why I want the semester to be over are all of these things I want to do. This is the first time I've been in the semester system since high school... and that's a lot longer then I would like. Another thing that's too long? The semester system. omg that dragged on for so long. I don't know. It was nice to not have that many classes during the week, and that I can finish a few more classes per term. It just feels like everything lasts forever. It's hard to believe that this semester is going to be over in two days. When did that happen? But then the next two days are going to feel sooooo long. It already does. I need this to be over.

It is in my nature to think up what to do next. I plan. That's what I do. The follow through takes some inspiration. I think getting success is a huge part of it. I get motivated when I see myself succeed. After Wednesday I think I'll get a bit of a boost. That means I've done something I haven't done in a while, finishing classes in a new direction. It feels pretty good. My whole goal now is to check off any many classes as possible in the shortest amount of time. Just want to get it done. After Wednesday I can check off a few more classes.

Check lists. It keeps me going.

See my little workout checklist on the side? It hasn't moved for a while. I need to start checking those things off. Seriously. I have this vision of me actually focusing on losing weight this summer. I want to have a flat stomach by around August. 2 months... totally workable. I've done it before. I can absolutely do it again. And of course... it's all about how picture it.

I have school this summer. 6 week sessions. More my cup of tea. 3 classes. People think I'm insane. Guess what, I get to check off a few more classes after just 6 weeks! Well ok, a couple more PE classes 5 weeks after that. Hey but I'll have a lot more free time then! woohoo!

Ok let's get back to my point. With all of that free time, there are a few things I really want to get done. First off, I don't have any good excuse not to exercise. Hell, I have a couple of exercise classes. I started reading the Best Life Diet book a while back, and I plan to finish it the week after I come back from vacation. Put my butt to work. I got some projects around the house I want to do. Cleaning out the garage comes first, then the storage unit. Clear some stuff out of the house... and put them in the new space in the garage (yes I know...) I want to work it so that I will have a patio to spend the rest of my summer in. So yeah... that's really about it. That's my big plan for the summer. Sounds pretty good to me... for now.

hermit

Yes yes... very few posts in the last couple of weeks. I've been busy. Trying to make myself study and all.... Watching TV for now... just a little break. 2 finals tomorrow... 1 the next day... so yeah... I want these two days to be OVER!!!! omg... almost there almost there... I"m almost in the clear... almost... almost... I really want to get out of here... *sigh*

tired

omg I'm so sleepy... work was so long this weekend. Study tomorrow, finals tuesday and wednesday... getting away on thursday... yay!

3 down

3 to go... jealous?

some ideas

Break time. Have some ideas. I want to work on the house a bit more this summer. I want to clean, pack things up, throw things away, reclaim some space. I especially want to work on the balcony. Clean it up, lay the furniture out. I'm thinking maybe new raised floorboards, and reuse the many many plant boxes we have. I want to change it back from storage to functional. Too ambitious? Maybe. Hang out in spaces other then my room? Hopefully.

knock knock

The killer tortoise

eye opening

I ran into a group of co-workers today and went to lunch with them. I had a gigantic gap in my schedule and that was well worth it. It's amazing how much I hear over the period of an hour and a half. So that's what hanging out with people is good for. Gossip. Yes, there are now a lot of things that I know and you don't. Ha!

Hey Twinky Winky, you can come out now

R.I.P. Jerry

**edited 10:49pm**

I got in a rather spirited explanation this evening about the life and death of Jerry Falwell. Here's the thing, the most "righteous" person in America dropped dead. Think about that one. What sort of religious implication does this have? You would think all of those "evil" people should be eradicated by what Jerry would call a God-sent plague, AIDS. Those people are the ones he wanted to drop dead... and he does first... What does it mean?

I found myself desperately searching for a meaning for this sudden turn of events.

I'm probably making too much of it. It is probably nothing but a passing of an American political giant for the last 30 years. This man made me realize how important free speech is, and how many ignorant people are still out there. We as Americans pride ourselves in our diversity, but bigotry is still alive and well. If nothing else, this person got somebody like me thinking.

free on monday

The final for one of my class is optional. I have a C+ in that class. I'm going to use that time to study for a couple others. Woohoo... that's 1 class down. Ok technically 2, I finished that lab class a while back....

get some inspiration

I went out for lunch with a couple of friends today. Then I went to a couple of places just to pick up a few things. I find that I get a little more inspired when I go out and see what is out there. Even if it was just the 3 to 4 staple stores I go to. It was good. Now back to studying.

The Reason

I'm not a perfect person
There's many things I wish I didn't do
But I continue learning
I never meant to do those things to you
And so I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
and the reason is you

I'm sorry that I hurt you
It's something I must live with everyday
And all the pain I put you through
I wish that I could take it all away
And be the one who catches all your tears
That's why I need you to hear

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
and the reason is you (x4)

I'm not a perfect person
I never meant to do those things to you
And so I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
and the reason is you

I've found a reason to show
A side of me you didn't know
A reason for all that I do
And the reason is you

-- Hoobastank

Connectile Dysfunction

haiku

Haiku (俳句, Haiku?) listen (help·info) is a mode of Japanese poetry, the late 19th century revision by Masaoka Shiki of the older hokku (発句, hokku?), the opening verse of a linked verse form, haikai no renga. The traditional hokku consisted of a pattern of approximately 5, 7, 5 on. The Japanese word on, meaning "sound", corresponds to a mora, a phonetic unit similar but not identical to the syllable of a language such as English. (The words onji, ("sound symbol") or moji (character symbol) are also sometimes used.) A haiku contains a special season word (the kigo) representative of the season in which the renga is set, or a reference to the natural world.

Haiku usually combines three different phrases, with a distinct grammatical break, called kireji, usually placed at the end of either the first five or second seven or last five morae. In Japanese, there are actual kireji words. In English, kireji is often replaced with commas, hyphens, elipses, or implied breaks in the haiku. These elements of the older haiku are considered by many to be essential to haiku as well, although they are not always included by modern writers of Japanese "free-form haiku" and of non-Japanese haiku. Japanese haiku are typically written as a single line, while English language haiku are traditionally separated into three lines.

the DS is not a team sport

Hey, the two fobby-probably-chinese-kids over there! Yeah you two, who are sitting across from the emo-kid-wannabe-with-a-bandana. I see one of you is playing the DS and the other is hovering over. Can you two not sit like you guys are cuddling? Not exactly a team sport there buddy.

good start

Couldn't sleep last night. I think I had a little less then 4 hours of actual sleep. Dinner was good. Had some really good conversations last night. Which was rare. I ended up bowling 4 games last night with a 128 average. A couple of games over 140 and a turkey. I did well. The quiz this morning is not going to be graded and my midterm can be dropped. Nice and relaxing day I think.

take some time off

I took the day off. I didn't really get too much done. That feels really good. I don't plan to stay out late tonight. I want to spend some time tomorrow to study, but that's about it. I probably could have done more. Studying is not all that fun. I don't write much when there's nothing pressing. I just like to do nothing. Anyway I'm going to dinner with some friends. Debating if I want to bowl at all. We'll see.

pain, a summer tradition

Summer is here, the shorts and skirts are coming out. I don't shave my legs... so I use other means. Neglecting this maintenance for a couple of months doesn't help.

could be better

Today is pretty laid back. I don't have anything due. The lectures are pretty easy. The weather is good. Too bad I have class tonight. I really can enjoy my afternoon better away from campus. My classmate did point out today we only have 2 more weeks left. I looked on the calender, and what do you know, 2 weeks and a day left. So soon! I'm not crazy about the fact that I still have midterms this and next week, and then finals. But this semester is almost over. I like that thought.

I would love to finish up that scarf. I'm in the second yarn already. I went through the first one really quickly, just need to finish it. I think I got a little bored.

PS2

If some idiot wants to have your PS2 or maybe you beat him or whatever... don't fight it. You can always get a PS3. How stupid is getting shot to death over a PS2? That's why I don't play console games anymore. I better be careful when I play Guitar Hero with other people.

viewpoint

I am one of those strange people who is more or less enthusiastic about my job. I really think it's because I'm not there that much and do not have a lot of responsibilities. Since I'm so chipper and helpful, they put me in the Viewpoint Committee. Viewpoint is a measure of how much the workers enjoy working at our establishment. I don't feel this years score was a true reflection of how people feel. It's way too high. Most people just gave 5's across the board just to get it over with. I have seen some improvements since the survey, but it's not enough. Motivation is a huge factor. It's not something a group of underlings can change. The only things I can think of right now that can improve the working experience is to bring a sense of community to the workers.

I am guilty of not communicating. Most people in the store doesn't know what it is we do when we wake up too early on a Saturday morning to meet. Sometimes we get things done. We had some great ideas last week. I brought up a few of them. We need a comments box. Which we have. Just needed to label it as such. We should decorate the hub. Put pictures and such on the cabinets. That is the only place where we can put things up. But of course, those things don't happen because we in the committee don't have the motivation to do so. Motivation really comes from top down, and that's another story.

I had a couple more ideas. I want to make the display more interactive. People can write on it. Add to lists, suggestions, votes and such.

A lot of pictures. We have a lot of pictures stored up already, we just need to print them. I'm thinking a new myspace group. People need to turn on the receive bulletin feature.

Taking email is a good idea. People want immediate response. I don't think the comments box thing is really going to work. Bulletin board type of thing is good.

I want to take suggestions from people. Collaborated suggestions. I want to know! Yeah I think I'll make a few more suggestions next time.

'Kozy

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1618506,00.html

Does this mean we have to like the French now?

beach weather

I didn't sleep well last night. It was just too hot and my fans too loud. Third night in a row I woke up at 4 am on the dot. I haven't seen the beach for a long time. I like it. Not for sun bathing. More for watching the waves. No, just the sounds of waves from a machine doesn't do it for me, I need to feel the salt on my face.

I think this little holiday I'm taking is good for me. I just need to get away for a few days. Take off. Somebody did point out I'm going to the wrong 'V' on this trip, East, not North. I still have another chance late summer. Maybe I can do it then. Just take off by myself. I got my own piece of luggage last night. Red, almost maroon. Stands out a little bit. I'll kick it around for a few days to see how well it holds up. I have my own bag to pack for once.

The idea of packing a bag is funny to me. For some odd reason, I can live off of the things I believe to be important enough that I can not do without. All in just that one bag. It seems amazing to me. Why do I need all those other things in my life if I can just live off of that? Think about it. I think this is a fair question to ask. What would you pack in your suitcase/carry-on? I know the first things I can think of are my laptop, camera, and phone charger (with my phone of course). I feel lost without those things. I won't be able to use my phone for a few days. I will most likely go through withdrawal. At least I'll have my laptop. It helps. I'll need a few change of clothes, lotion, and my toothbrush.

It's funny when people pretend they know about a sport during playoff time. It's just amusing to me. They get their terms all wrong. Not sure what they're talking about, but still want to be part of the conversation. I just smile and nod at those people.

There's a pink version of my laptop. Ok the Vista version has a rainbow of colors. But the pink.... it doesn't pair well with that big girl that uses it at school. I don't know what it is. It just looks wrong. I'm pretty sure she uses a Juicy Couture bag too. Just a hunch. Still looks wrong.

Two more weeks of school left. Yay! I find that I only need a D- to pass the classes. Yeah I'm pretty comfortable. I got a quiz back from Statistics today. My first perfect quiz. Got the extra credit point too. That pulls me back up to a 92%. If I do well on my midterm for 160 on Thursday, I might not have to take the final. I will still take it for the hell of it. It doesn't hurt.

I don't really care about basketball

Which part of that do you not understand? While I'm typing this, you're talking about the game of which I did not watch because I was busy watching the Sharks getting eliminated. I would also really love it if you don't keep repeating your questions. I'm tired of answering your questions. I've told you more then I should have. And you are too assuming. You like to tell me what I would like or not. You don't know how I feel. I can tell you how I feel, and you don't get it. What's the point? You hear me, but you don't listen. You make too many assumptions. I'm tired of getting the same old thing. I'm tired of the people I know. I seriously have only one friend that I still talk to and only drives me nuts when he's being a smart ass, which I find amusing most of the time.

I hate it when people ask me about school. Just leave me be. Besides my parents that is. I don't care if they ask. Other people. Stop asking me. It's annoying. I get this little flash of anger when people ask me. I pause, stare at them, and check if they seriously want to know or making small talk or just patronizing me. Why are people so interested in if my school is going well? Yes it's going well. I don't care to be the class scholar. I just want it to be over with. And me with a piece of paper to prove it. Do I really love the things I'm studying? No. Why am I in it? Because I need that damn piece of paper to prove my worth for some stupid reason, and I've spent way too much time to just give up. Which I already did once. I flipping hate school. I still do. It's just something I have to do.

Sometimes I wish I can say, yes, I'm trying hard. Truth is, I don't try. I get by. I'm always looking for something that would inspire me. Something that would motivate me to do things. I need that extra little something. The last time I got a lot of things done was when I was just mad at myself. I think I've gotten comfortable again. I know I can do better. As I said. One extra little push.

Sharks lost. I'm sad. There's always next year. But what am I going to do for the next month? Oh right, finish this semester of school with passing grades. I'm not worried. I'm in a pretty comfortable spot. I'm just not used to having such long periods of class because of the semester system. It feels weird to be able to drag things out. Sometimes I think I would have done well in English at UCSC. If I can write a whole rant about somebody close to me and he doesn't pick up on it, I'm pretty good. Or maybe he's just dense.

I find it funny sometimes how I can write about almost anything on here. I don't even tell my closest friends these things. This is honest to goodness what I think. And they don't know that. I write it for the world to see. I guess I'm testing out a theory. I let them know this is what I am doing. If they care about me enough, and have nothing to do late at night, they can read about how I think. I've tested this theory over many years. About two people reads this on a regular basis. Some people reads it because they want to "catch up" on my writing because I mentioned I was writing about 2 seconds ago. People I know are shallow. It feels like I'm having a conversation with myself and I don't care if people listens in on it. That's more like it.

space out

Today felt a little long. Got some work done, doing laundry, went out for a little bit. Didn't buy anything today. Amazing. Piggie is lay about, munching on hay, and watching TV with me. I like hanging out here sometimes. It is really hot today. I think I was going a little crazy this morning in the house. 45 min until puck drop. I'm already in my jersey. Waiting.

The new Martha Stewart line at Michael's is actually pretty interesting. I wish they had more stuff. It makes me want to bake cookies so I can use those packaging. The other thing they have is 18x18 paper and books. I was like... wtf? I can barely do enough for a 12x12.... 18x18? If I start doing those, it'll crush me. Those things are like books for giants! lol. They put a lot of things in clearance after they reorganized the whole department. I couldn't really find anything though. I did get some pretty good ideas on a couple of layouts. I realize if I don't use something I bought right away, I would have no idea what I got it for. If that makes sense.

At least I don't live in Kansas.

Sometimes. Actually a lot of times, this friend of mine pisses me off. He knows this. For years at that. He needs to learn how to shut the hell up. He talks more then he should. He talks about stuff he doesn't understand. He has to nag people. Annoying. I've told him on multiple occasions that he needs to stop getting his panties in a bunch. That's a weekly thing. I stopped doing it. I started ignoring him when he saids something stupid. He offended my friends roommate last week. He's a master at offending people. Beyond help. I'm waiting for him to get beat up. As for my other friend that won't stop complaining. It got to the point last week where I walked the other way so I don't have to be stopped on the way home to listen to him. Something to think about I suppose.

I've said so many times I need to stop complaining about these people, but I don't have much else to talk about. School is almost over. Work is work. I don't work that much, and don't actually have that much responsibility. I'm ok with that. As long as I can save up some money to travel, then I'm fine with that. My friend... well I don't really have many. Relationship wise, I think I'm still kicking myself about being in the last one for way too long. I was thinking when I was in the shower this morning. What had he ever done to warrant so much attention from me? Nothing. When I was in trouble, he didn't bother to help. He just watched me dig myself into a hole. I can't find myself trusting anybody. I think I'm looking for the one person to prove me wrong. Before that happens, I'll have to bury myself in the work at hand.

Yeah. I'm boring.

toasty sunday

Ah... the wonders of freezing my butt off on one night, and sweating like crazy on another.

Work was interesting. I got around to sell. Which was weird. I like bossing people around. At least I'm nice about it.

My laundry basket is really full. I need to do laundry tomorrow. All day long. Do some homework too while I'm at it I guess.

Suppose I should get some of my crafting projects going too. So behind. Greeting cards, layouts, deck. No reason not to work on it.

I'm done buying stuff for my camera for a while. I got the polarizer filter tonight. That's the last thing I need. Not going to get another bag. I capped off the spending at $591.95. That's how much I've spent on my camera stuff. Now to pay it off for myself. I'm already about $22 bucks into it. It looks like it's going to take forever, but it really isn't. I just have to be careful on what I spend money on. I am becoming such a control freak, every penny counts. I think it's a good thing on a lot of levels. It could potentially be bad. But at least this is really curbing my impulse buying. I'm forming a good habit. I think.

Go workout? I'm a little behind.

I feel like I should be spending my time doing something meaningful. Or interesting. I can easily find things to do. I always end up asking myself, what does it mean? A lot of times it means nothing. It's like I'm waiting for something meaningful to happen. If that all makes sense. I guess I've been feeling a bit bleh lately. I used to be able to talk about anything and everything with a couple of people. Due to one reason or another, I don't anymore. I don't suppose I can make friends with people who are naive, bitchy, have a short attention span, or all of the above (note: I am in fact describing multiple people). I think I'm getting used to people dissapointing me. I'm not really all that surprised anymore. The interesting thing is, it happens more now then when I was younger. You would think it opposite. I suppose people lose brain cells as they get older. I enjoy my time alone. I like writing. I like writing so that nobody reads it. If they chance upon it they'll go... oh my lord, is that what she was thinking of me? Which doesn't really happen because I don't really mention anybody by name here, and they are all dense enough to not notice I'm talking about them. I think I'm safe in that way.

I don't know where my motivation went. I lost it a long time ago. I have a little bit of it once in a while. But nothing really holds my attention anymore. I guess I'm still looking.

Brace Yourself

So you think
You can hold the world up by a string
With all that you have
And I will hold every part of you that I could hold

And I'm on...
And I'm on again
Brace yourself
With all that you have
Enough, I'm in love again
Brace yourself
Yeah...

So you feel anything and everything could be
All that you wanted
Stay with me
I'm in no condition to be
Alone

And I'm on...
And I'm on again
Brace yourself
With all that you have
Enough, I'm in love again
Brace yourself
Now...

On and on
So it's just your false alarm
Maybe I'll hold my breathe
And you'll be gone
All that you have... yeah...
All that you wanted...

So you think
You can hold the world up by a string
With all that you have
And I will hold
Every part of you that I could hold

And I'm on
And I'm on again
Brace yourself with all that you have
Oh I'm in love again
Brace yourself... now...

Brace with all that you have
Brace now
Brace with all that you have
Brace now

-- Howie Day

saturday (part 2)

It's only Saturday. Feels like Sunday. I haven't done my laundry for the week. I have like 3 or 4 cards I need to make. I'm still trying to figure out if I want to get the backpack. I'm thinking maybe I can just use my laptop bag and that might be ok. I just need something to protect my extra lens and a relatively small case for the camera itself. The rest of the stuff can go into side pockets. I'll go figure it out on Monday I think.

My new budget sort of sucks. It's like I'm trying to dig myself out of a hole. In a way.

saturday

I'm up early. I don't work until 2:30 and I'm closing. Watching game 5. Not happy about it.

The Hoff Drunk Video

Just find this amusing

straight trippin

Going to Vancouver and Victoria for a few days right after finals. I haven't been up there for years. I'm excited because I have my new camera. Havne't really thought up where to go yet though, destinations wise. Found a castle, museum and such. Really want to do outdoorsy stuff. That's the whole reason to get out to the Pacific North West right? The whole great outdoors thing. I want to do maybe one museum, if even. Something that talks about the natural history of the region.

Ok I found a site that sells a tour card, I've been using the list to look for the actual attractions -- See Vancouver & Beyond

Some sites that caught my eye:
http://www.where.ca/vancouver/
http://www.tourismvancouver.com/visitors/
http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/MainSite/default.aspx
http://www.capbridge.com/explore_vancouver_park/vancouver_bc_attraction.html
http://www.hellsgateairtram.com/index.html
http://www.vanaqua.org/home/
http://www.vancouverchinesegarden.com/index.htm
http://www.craigdarrochcastle.com/
http://www.moa.ubc.ca/

Yeah I know, kind of random. Not everything I saw, and not everything I will go. Just stuff that caught my eye.

I'm thinking I should get a camera backpack too when I pick up the rest of the filters. I'll look it up tomorrow at work.

p.s. I'm doing pretty good with picking song names for categories... haha...

progress

I got a little more creative tonight. Not too much, but it's a start. I took my squarish qoute bubble stamp from 7gypsies, stamped a stony gray card stock 7 times, and cut it out. I'm thinking stickers. On one of the skully papers from Marah Johnson. I laid it out. It looks pretty cool. But it's more like an art layout then a scrap layout. I haven't thought of a title yet. Nor have I thought of what to put in the bubbles. It just looks cool. It is so hard to put awesome paper to good use. haha...

huh?

I'm in this funky mood right now. I got home, (finally) ate food, really wanted to get something done... but I just feel funky. I don't know what to make. Feels like I'm in this creativity waste land here. Bah.

RPG on the go

Progress Quest is my friend...

out of sync

I can't really hear out of my right ear. I got up early enough this morning to take a shower, and that's what I get.

I feel empty. Meaning I forgot to grab breakfast. I don't have coffee this morning. Because I didn't go grocery shopping yesterday.

I had some trouble sleeping last night. I was awake every two hours.

I made the mistake of turning on my AIM this morning and actually replying. I don't fricking CARE about how your job sucks. We can't get 2 sentence in without him complaining about this and that on the job. I've had quite enough. And no. I would rather not come in to bug me at work. I have actual work to do. I don't like standing around and chat. Because if I do, you'd just start complaining again. I don't want to hear it.

My arms hurt. I played the wii yesterday. Then I went to D&B with my friends. My arms hurt. It was fun. I think I should pick up gift cards from Costco before I go next time. I've seen it before, but I never found a use for it. I think I can put it to good use.

Yeah I finally caved and played the wii. I knew I would like it a little too much. I can't buy it for a long while. That's what my next purchase is going to be with my reward certificates. Not like I can't afford it, but I don't want to spend my own money for it. My arm hurts.

I try to make a lot of plans and stuff... but I realize I still hang on to a lot of things. Take my phone for example. I have text messages from December. Yeah. It's not all that easy to erase them. I have to go through them one by one. If I try to delete all of them at once my phone freaks out.

I found yesterday that I really enjoy my time alone. It was nice to hang out with friends and do things with them, but I really really like to be alone. Especially when they are like a group of lost people. Anyway... enough about them for now...

clean it up

Cleaning my computer up a bit today. Trying to burn some shows. Probably make that thrid external drive for pictures. Yup. Installing some software. I think I'll leave the machine on later today to just defrag. It's going to be pretty bad.

Nothing cheers me up like Smithwick's on tap

*go reset alcohol counter*

I was J's bday today, we decided to take him to Todai. We all chipped in for his dinner... lol (fyi... birthday person gets free dinner). I went straight for the oyster, sashimi, and such. I ate my worth. Met up with a few people at the Elephant Bar. One of them still had to eat, so we all had birthday cake there. Then the birthday boy still wants a hard cider, so we went to the Duke. I don't know why I've never been in there before. I love it. I had a Smithwick's. My favorite. And that's it. No shots, nothing else. Yes, I have control belive it or not. Plus I only drink for special occasions now. It was a lot of fun today. I'm glad I didn't have to go to class and was able to join.

maybe end of this month....

may day

I thought we were going to have a quiz this morning in statistics. It's going to be on Thursday. I'm ok with that.

I got up early enough this morning to take a shower. I feel a whole lot better.

Good game last night. Can't wait until tomorrow night. It was so good I didn't care if Heroes was on. I did catch the last half. Whatever happened to that whole time-space continuum thing? Oh well... I don't care, the show is awesome.

Three and a half weeks of school left on this semester. I have a couple more papers to write, and a whole mess of exams. Not looking forward to it. On the bright side, I'll be done with 5 classes. Knowing I made a big dent on the amount of things I have to do helps. I have about a week and a half of vacation then it starts all over again. Summer session. Oh joy.