Old Couple

Friday, as I was driving to Borders to hang out while waiting for Ira to get off work, I noticed an old couple under an umbrella waiting for their turn to cross the street. After pressing the cross street button, the old lady quickly walked back under the umbrella and put her arm through his and leaned her head on his shoulder. Just her body language said a lot. It was like they were a young couple falling in love and on a date. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. As I drove past them, I looked at their faces, and they couldn't have been less than 70. Maybe around 75, and they looked extremely happy and content. No stress.

I hope that Ira and I are like that when we get that old.

In God We Trust - Part Two

Okay, let’s try this again.

A few days ago I received an email about our national motto, “In God We Trust,” being removed from Post Office walls. This upset me, and I posted the email for your consideration. (It’s the post just below this one.)

I received one comment, and almost immediately realized that I needed to explain my upset … ness.

Ya see, it’s like this; I’m fully aware that there’s a war raging in this country. Religion is under attack. You know that. There are those individuals who appear to delight in pointing out the letter of the law. They argue that separation of church and state insures not freedom OF religion, but freedom FROM religion. Legalistically, they could be correct. On the other hand, it’s my opinion that a belief in God was so imbedded in our founding father’s way of life that they couldn’t conceive of anyone being without it. And, as a result, they felt no need to spell out what, to them, was obvious.

That’s my opinion, and I could be wrong. But I don’t think so.

But that’s not what bothers me.

THIS is what bothers me. I don’t care if religious symbols and sayings in government have been around for ten lifetimes, five lifetimes, or two lifetimes. They’ve been around for MY lifetime! I take comfort in these things being prominently displayed in public places. This tells me that my country, the most powerful on earth, places the government under a HIGHER authority, and under a strict set of moral guidelines. And following these guidelines prohibit us from doing truly stupid things … like invading countries that are not at war nor pose any threat to us.

And THIS bothers me. Who are the people responsible for my symbols being taken away? They are, if you can believe in statistics, a small percentage of the people who live in this country – a VERY small percentage. Excuse me. I thought this was a democracy here! Whatever happened to majority rule?

On the other hand, my friend Nicki put it this way. “I guess what steams me is what steams you too -- that a vocal minority can get all het up about something that is not that important. God IS important, of course, but when I say "In God We Trust" I mean "I am trusting God that the path I am taking is the right path and that I am following His will and not screwing things up." Not "We are going to fight this war and we trust that God will win it for us." You must carry your belief in your heart, not put your faith in symbols or, well, false idols as it were. America was founded on freedom--freedom to worship differently, but also think differently. In England, you could go to jail for being blasphemous or speaking out against the king. We are so used to freedom of speech that we take it totally for granted--we take it as a RIGHT--and we forget that it's worth fighting for. Is the right to put the ten commandments up on the wall a right worth fighting for? If it offends other people--do you have the right to offend other people? Or be offended when they take your commandments down?”

So … whadda ya think? I’m looking for guidance here. I want to accommodate people, but shouldn’t there be a point where I take a stand – enough is enough. I’m told to be loving. I’m told to be meek. There’s a line from an old song that keeps coming back to me, “It’s not the earth the meek inherit, it’s the dirt.” I’m beginning to wonder if that could be true.

And how was your day?

LOST EXCLUSIVE: WORTHY OF ALL CAPS!

Secret sources, I love you. I read all the time in those addictive celebrity "news" items: "a source close to the Spears family said" or "an unidentified friend of Ms. Jolie confirmed" or "an insider at the scene of the Lohan accident overheard." I never thought I'd have one of my very own secret sources, but alas here we are. Yesterday I was given what appears to be the last two pages of this season's Lost. Take a gander at the two scenes and tell me what you think. It appears to be legit. And it drops some bombshells that I will let you discover. And if I spoil your Lost experience, I apologize. You must understand, though, this was too good to sit on. Here it is, click on it to make it bigger:


This Volume page comes to you courtesy of the West Valley View.

all i need is the air i breathe, and a place to rest my head.

Yeah listening to that One Republic "All (I need) song" AGAIN. Beautiful song. Today was a good day. I got my first NINE on my ap lit&comp inclass essay. My teacher made me so happy. I was so amazed when she read it out loud to the class that I read that piece of work. It was amazing. Gosh to think I could actually write a good paper in less than an hour. Truely amazing. What goes on in my head and through my pen, I don't really know. So I feel like making a fashion post. Havent done that in a long time. I was catching up on my fashion blogs and could not help but gush over some stuff.

I am sad winter is ending. That means the ending to leggings. And layering. And cute coats. And cute scarfs. And fuzzy hats. I love sunny weather but hot California summer is not great for fashion because everyone is too hot to care or looking pretty skimpy with their barely there tanks and teeny minis.

goodbye leggings...

I love the simplicity of her outfit then the POW of her blue tights.

And the boots are nice too.

Again white and cute blue tights. I love it!
Gawd I wish I had those colored tights.

Cool Girls....

Like the outfit but don't think the shoes really help.
Cute shoes but with the outfit, I would prefer simple heels.

Super cute way to wear white tights and t-bars.
I usually ahte white tights because they don't flatter the legs like black tights.

Simple look, easy to accomplish.
Inspiring color.

Cool guys...

So apparently the bowl cut is getting popular again for boys in Korea.
WTF. Not attractive. Not even G-dragon from Big Bang was attractive with that haircut.
But I like how this guy looks like he is the hottest shit around.
Interesting outfit altogether.

Just interesting hair.
Takes the meaning out of bed head.

Wouldn't you just want to eat up this cute guy?
Definetly. Sharp, young, and all around CUTE!

Kanye West is epitome of cool.
He really can dress.
Guys need to take a tip from him.

:-] Christina [-:

songs that i can listen to over and over.

I was listening to my little sister's mp3 today and we both download a ton of songs and she actually listens to them ALL and picks out the best ones and puts them on her mp3 so most of her songs are the best picks. Gawd my sister is listening to better music than me. Whenever I get on the computer I just play all my music in my files at random but for some reason I usually don't hear the new songs at random. For some reason, I like music but I usually tune out the lyrics. I don't always listen to the lyrics. I know it is dumb for those crazy music fanatics who know every word and every beat to their favorite songs but that is how I listen to music. I am more for the rhythm and the beat than the lyrics. I remember in middle school I had a friend who was crazy over Eminem and she knew all the lyrics to his songs AND when he would take a breath between raps. Pretty crazy right? I am a fan of certain artists but I have never been a CRAZY fan who stalks that artist's webpage/myspace/forum constantly. I really cannot focus so much devotion for one artist. I can be fangirly but looking at certain fangirls online on forums, I am a bit jealous. I can never be that devoted to an artist. I truely would love to meet certain artists but I probably wouldn't deserve it as much as some crazy fangirls who really obsess over them. But I do respect devoted fans. They have a passion for their favorite artist. And that makes me a bit jealous. I have never had a passion for a certain person ever. I think. I've had close feelings but not as near close as some people.

Anyways, back to lyrics. When I do actually stop and listen to the lyrics of songs, they are amazing. It opens a whole new world. I am really astounded by people who write songs. I wish I could. I mean first to think of the WORDS then to think of how the WORDS go with MELODIES and to make the WORDS COME ALIVE. It is truely amazing. And to think that those words that turns into a song actually brings a meaning to other people. It is crazy.

Well here are my little picks that I love.

I love the Strokes. Not a true passion but I have a great fondness for them. They are unique to me. They have this sound that bring memories. Julian Casablancas' voice reminds me of last year, sophmore year. It reminds me of Marie Antoinette (the movie haha), talking to Vivian (I listened to them after hearing them on her myspace), fall to spring, Amelie (the movie), Science of Sleep (the movie), going to Min's house, summer shorts.

Not sure where my little sister found this band but I like their sound. Though looking at their lyrics, they are a bit repetitive.

I really can play this song over and over again. Though I kind of get annoyed by their voices in most of their songs. I really love this song. I remember this being one of my myspace songs last year.

So I am slowly becoming a fan of Kate Voegele. Though to me she has a sort of country voice but she has more soul than twangy countryness. She has passion in her voice. And I love any ballady song with piano alone.

I like the original with Cee-lo too but here is a special version with Se7en. This is a really good dancing song. Gets me really hyphed when I'm in the car.

I am not a big fan of Jonas Brothers but I LOOOOOOVVVEEE THIS SONG!!! I know Jonas Brothers are really teen boppy and everything and yeah I did not really care much for them until I actually saw this song on Disney (YES I WATCH DISNEY...i have younger siblings). Pachia posted the actual version a couple posts back but here is the acapella. I like the regular version better but the acapella really shows off their voices. Though sometimes I get annoyed by Joe's kind of..."whiny" voice like how it isnt really smooth and sounds like nails on a chalkboard in the beginning when he is like "ooohh yeahhh" but t hen he breaks into the smooth " if the heart is always searching...". But yeah I am becoming a teeny boppy fan of them. But yeah the LYRICS to this song are freaking HEART TOUCHING. Love it. But yeah the second one is the FIRST VERSION when they were younger. Nick's voice is all undeveloped. How did Joe's voice get so annoying now?

That Apologize song does not do One Republic justice. After listening to several of their songs, I really like One Republic style. The style of their songs are similar with that slow powerful songs with great lyrics. I love the part "all I need is the air i breathe, and a place to rest my head". Beautiful song.

Dude, Maroon 5 are freaking sexy. Adam Levine's voice is freaking sexy. Augh this songs makes me want to make babies with this man. It has sex appeal. Haha. I like the song a lot.

I love music. They give me warm cuddly feelings. Augh must continue to study for mid-terms tomorrow :(.

-CHRISTINA

IN GOD WE TRUST

I’d love to tell you that the following article originated with me. It didn’t. It was emailed to me. Disclaimer aside, it gave me information I didn’t know, and evoked a response. Since you and I think alike on many issues, I thought it was worth sharing with you.

JB


LET'S DO IT!!!!! You may have heard in the news that the Post Office has been forced to take down small posters that say "IN GOD WE TRUST" The law, they say, is being violated. Anyway, I heard proposed on a radio station show that we should all write "IN GOD WE TRUST " on the back of all our mail...after all, that is our national motto and it's on all of the money we use to buy those stamps. We are the people and individually we must take back our nation from those who think that anything that offends them should be removed. ( I am personally offended by them, aren’t you?) If you like this idea, please consider participating. It has been reported that 86% of Americans believe in God. I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a mess about having "In God We Trust" on our money and having God in the pledge of Allegiance. Could it be that WE just need to take action letting the squeaky 14% see that we are not going to be silent anymore?

A Dream.

madworldLast night I dreamt that I was standing in the living room of my old house. I couldn't see my parents or brother but I was very conscious that they were close by, perhaps right in front of me. Everything was blurry, but I knew it was my old living room from the way it felt to be standing in it. In the dream there was a sense of sadness because I was dying. I was choking on a long

It's time..

..to get ready to go to our final walk through and receive the keys. We received word that is was funded yesterday and we are closing escrow today as planned. I'm excited and anxious. Today should hopefully be a good day. =)

Although I'm not sure cause I'm about to call the advice nurse to see if I need to come in and get antibiotics. I think I may have a sinus infection. I've been getting sinus headaches every morning lately. So far, I didn't get one this morning, but we'll see... it's still 8am.

No, I Have Not Forgotten You

I'm involved in a project - actually grinding out the kind of picky detail work I don't much care about, but do well.

But I'm thinking about you - and miss our conversations. So if you'll just hang in there for a day or two, I'll be back. Promise.

Jack

dirty photos.

I’m going on a myspace break. It’s lame that I’m blogging about it… but lately its just simply been making me feel lame— and possibly in every aspect that it can make anyone feel lame. But I’m glad that I’m taking a break. I’m glad I’m blogging about it. It’s been consuming my life!!! But I don’t want to delete it, no way! There are way too many memories on that thing. You’d have to peel off all of my fingernails first, before I delete it.

Anyways… it doesn’t matter, because it looks like I’m still procrastinating. But yesterday while I was doing more research on Richard Avedon I fell in love with this set of photographs! It’s called “In Memory of the Late Mr. And Mrs. Comfort” and was a fabled collection of photographs he created for the New York Times. It’s crazy. I also found out that the guy with all the bugs on him from the one of the photographs in my last post, was actually a beekeeper in Davis, California sometime in the 1980s. How exciting :) Anyways, here are a few photos I like from the photograph collection.

- PACHIA et les filles.

a gloomy sunny day.

I KNOW! I’m guilty.

Spring break has been keeping me busy.. and tired! I haven’t really been online all week, except for when I was at my aunts house. But those two days seemed to have passed by like *snaps* that! Anyways, break was good. I’m just sad that its over. Now I have to stop being lazy and move onto things like (ck said) ap tests, finals, sats, college! Ahhh! I’m just glad my finals aren’t any time that soon. Although I have a few tests this week, along with a term paper for photography due Friday that I totally forgot about :o But I’ll get things together. I always do, even if I have to pass pre-calculus and physics with a D and C again this semester (although I assure you that mistake will not happen again).

So the other day I was watching Hilary Clinton on demand. I felt like I needed to actually understand what was going on with the presidential candidates, so I saw a commercial about Comcast having a section on it and went to go watch it. It was interesting listening to all the different ideas she has set for America, and she actually won me over! But I haven’t been able to find Obama’s little section, so I can’t make up my mind yet. Although I’m pretty sure I’m not going to side with Senator McCain. My mom’s going to get her citizenship pretty soon, and she’s excited about voting for Clinton. She’s into the whole idea of a female for president, which I think is a little ridiculous. She should take into consideration all of the other aspects that the candidates have to offer, and not just Hilary being a woman. But she actually brought up some good points about her that made me understand why she’s going to vote for her.

Goodness. There's just too much going on in the world to fix.

BLAH! I hate school. I just hated today. It was horrible. I wanted to sleep in every class. I’m so drained that I have nothing to say anymore. I’m just worried. Really worried about everything! Does everyone go through these pangs of worried-ness during this age? I feel so weird. Like I need a longer vacation, maybe, I’m not sure. But my friend let me borrow her SATs book, so I’m glad about that. It’s so thick! Now all I need to do, is just go sign up for SATs. I don’t think I’m going to be able to go to that Kanye West concert anymore, because I’m going to be busy spending too much money on tests and a yearbook. I know my parents will get mad if I spend too much money.

Here are some pictures from that guy I’m doing my photography term paper on. Richard Avedon. He has some crazy pictures.

I’ll post up an entry with a bunch of pictures from spring break soon, when I’m not busy worrying about my life. I haven’t talked to ck for… five days!

-PACHIA :(

Art-Duel

O provocare lansată de mine mai mult ca să-mi mişc fundul către desen, "Bătaie între fetiţe" durata 2 săptămâni, am lucrat în prima zi vreo 2 ore şi azi încă vreo două, am observat cu stupoare că hârtia nu suportă CTRL+Z iar guma nu e destul de subţire, în orice caz ăsta e stadiul la care e acum:
1

O schiţă în MS Paint peste scanare ca să stabilesc incotro merg cu creioneala
2

Creioneala finală:
3

Art-Duel

O provocare lansată de mine mai mult ca să-mi mişc fundul către desen, "Bătaie între fetiţe" durata 2 săptămâni, am lucrat în prima zi vreo 2 ore şi azi încă vreo două, am observat cu stupoare că hârtia nu suportă CTRL+Z iar guma nu e destul de subţire, în orice caz ăsta e stadiul la care e acum:
1

O schiţă în MS Paint peste scanare ca să stabilesc incotro merg cu creioneala
2

Creioneala finală:
3

Drained

It was not what I had wanted to deal with. I am truly not comfortable until we get the keys in our hands. We have a date to schedule the signing first thing on Monday morning. We have had the worst service ever throughout this whole experience with BofA. It's such bull****. Our loan processor has the worst customer service ever, and there is no doubt that later I will be contacting his boss. And if I have to, his bosses boss, etc. I'm irritated and tired.

nooooo. my break is ending.

WHY OH WHY DOES SPRING BREAK LAST A WEEK? I am dreading the end of this weekend. Back to school and we HAVE FINALS. How horrible is that. Augh. Life is becoming sucky after such a beautiful week. I have a pile of homework to do and I am dreading to do it. I have to clean my room too. This is why I hate SUNDAYS!!!!

So I have wasted the last two days with this:

I am usually pretty late with social networks. I usually refuse to get them but I eventually give in. Whatever. Facebook is pretty okay. I just enjoy having superpoke wars. But now I am already bored with it. But I regret getting it after this break. Because I will probably end up hours on it along with myspace and soompi and not do my homework. You horrible people who make these addicting social networks and forums. YOU RUIN LIVES. Think of the grades that have lowered because of your addicting website. I think I have gotten steadily worse in school ever since I discovered the wonders of the internet back in sixth grade. All the hours I wasted not studying. Wish I could have slapped myself back then. Don't you just hate yourself when you realize how stupid you were a couple years ago and how you could have benefited yourself now if you have changed stupid habits like that. Yes I know that is confusing but you get the jist right.

Yesterday I spent an hour trying to fix the vacumn with my brother. I broke the vacumn, I don't know how but it broke. Well we were able to unscrew stuff and figure out what made it work and we fixed it. I was very happy to fix it. I felt so accomplished. Maybe I can even be an engineer. Yeah right. Well I went to Borders and I decided to buy two new books. AP PREP BOOKS. WHOOT. :(
Who the hell models for these books? I bet they have never taken an AP test in their life because YOU WOULDNT WANT TO MODEL FOR THESE BOOKS. Though I do life how culturally accurate they make these AP prep books by trying to promote diversity with covers with different ethnicities. I bet so that way those white supremist kids can say "ill buy the prep book with the white kid on the cover because it is better". Well I do thank the people who write these prep books because all the ap procastinators in the world would not be able to survive without them. Or else we would just have to read our textbooks. And that would suck. Though I can proudly say I read 95% of my AP US history textbook. And I am very proud to say I read like 96% of my AP World History textbook (except I skipped all the crappy inset pages). The AP World book was horrible and I cannot believe a college student can read it let alone a little sophmore like me last year. Sigh the things we do to get into college. I am sure there are kids out there sacrificing a limb or two for the college they want to get into. I am horrified at the college application system and all the greedy middlemen involved in the process. We have to at least pay like $60 for a freaking application even if we don't get into the college. How sucky is that. Very sucky. It is already horrible enough that our parents save since we are born for our college education, they get broke the first year we get into college. Well that is what student loans are for rightttt? Yep, the minute I get out of college and get into the workforce, I have to pay for the stupid ass degree that I worked my ass for. And for some people, they can't even get a decent job with their degree. They end up working at Verizon or for their parents' restaurants/dry cleaners (yes I know people who have ended up like this). Is this what America was made for?

So I read a book at Borders today (well I skimmed) about baby boomers and their good deeds and how so many of them are becoming philanthropists and the first page was on congratulating on the baby boomers for being alive for so damn long and for realizing that they are alive and kicking and they want to keep working. And it went on to talk about how the baby boomers were realizing all the problems in the world and they wanted to "fix them" like global warming and genocide and war in IRAQ. Well thanks baby boomers but you guys pretty much caused those freaking problems for us, generation X and Y. So it has been raining a lot in the mid-west states and why? BECAUSE OF GLOBAL WARMING. Yes weird weather patterns = global warming. Well Hanh told me a couple days ago that apparently all the baby boomers are asking for their social security money NOW (because they raised the age up and the economy is getting pretty bad) and they are all getting it this year. So pretty much the social security fund is pretty dried up. Great so probably I will be working until like 90 years old if I live that long. But I mean you can't live on social security alone for retirement, that is why I see like 50 year olds working at Walmart because the cost of living is not going to covered by social security and retirement alone.

Yeah and to complain about the education system in CALIFORNIA. So the budget has been cut again by Mr. GOVERNATOR. Yes and my english ap teacher told my class she spends at least a couple $1000s on just her classes alone for PAPER and other supplies. It is pretty ridiculous. And the governor tried to pass a univeral health care proposal for California? Screw universal health care, we need to educate the people first. My school is not that poor but even we are suffering under the budget cuts. Now think about the schools who are totally below welfare zones. Those kids have no opportunity and nowadays the only way to get into a REAL college is through aps, sat scores and extracurriculars and all of those add up with MONEY. And the UCs are raising tuitions like crazy and raising the bar on the percentage of applicants. UC Davis = school that most people at my school dont want to go to because it is so close to home only accepted 5% of their applicants THIS YEAR! WTF. Everyone go apply to UC Berkley next year so I can be like the only one to apply to davis. Maybe that will give me a better chance. I hate how everyone applies to 20 colleges that they don't even care about just to see if they "get in". It is a waste of MONEY and it is unfair for the kids who apply to FIVE college because they really want those FIVE colleges. And end up getting into ZERO while those kids with their 5.6 GPAS get into ALL 20. Life is unfair. Yes it is.

And my rant about life is over. Back to thinking about doing my synthesis essay.
So where has PACHIA been? She needs to update .

--CHRISTINA

Drillbitch Taylor wimps out

It’s no fun kicking a guy when he’s down, not in movies or movie reviews, yet here we are with Drillbit Taylor, a movie in which every character is just asking for a good punt.

The kicking victims of the movie are three nerdy youngsters who know no better than most movie nerds and are besieged by one of the most sadistic bullies to ever punch his way out of the womb.

The victim of my review is Owen Wilson, a usually funny guy who has fallen on hard times in the last seven months. I take no great pleasure in suggesting his shtick is getting a wee-bit old and that maybe a reinvention is in order. Let’s just hope his publicist shields him from what is sure to be a wave of bad reviews for this, his atrocious new movie.

Before I start really kicking Wilson, let me divert: Drillbit Taylor is an uncomfortably cruel comedy. Its main bully, a psychologically deranged young man named Filkins, is such a convincing miscreant that the over-the-top torment he rains down on teens much smaller and younger than himself is never funny, just ugly and hopeless. He’s so vile that the film doesn’t even give him parents: “He’s an emancipated minor, so really there’s nothing I can do to him,” the principal, a gutless wanderer of a school administrator, says to the boys who suffer under Filkins’ rule.

Filkins not only humiliates his freshman prey, but punches them viciously, runs them down with his car, and at one point uses their own bodily functions against them. He does it all with this mad snarl that is a felony in itself. As his harassments grow more severe I immediately thought back to Matilda, Danny DeVito’s lovable family film with a school administrator named Mrs. Trunchbull, who was vile in a comic non-threatening way. She had a closet with spikes, but the movie never suggested it could actually hurt anyone. Filkins is one step away from a capital crime, or a spree shooting, and the routine is not so cute.

He torments best friends Ryan and Wade. Ryan (Troy Gentile) is short and fat, and looks like a younger version of Seth Rogen (one of the film’s writers), and Wade (Nate Hartley) is tall and built like a wire coathanger. They’re nerdy and runtish, freshmen to boot, but their big mistake comes when they accidentally wear matching shirts on the first day of school, thus drawing Filkins’ wrath. Later they’re joined by Emmit, another runt who looks too small not only for high school but also middle school. Together they attempt to function at school in absolute terror.

Hartley and Gentile, who are either blessed with some genuine comic timing or a terrific editor on Drillbit, can be appreciated for the spunk they share during their tumultuous high school experience. Underneath their fear and hatred for Filkins you can tell these are funny kids, if only the movie would let them show it off more.

Gentile reminded me fondly of the little boy from Bad Santa. He has a great scene where he fights Filkins in an 8 Mile-style battle rap on the school steps. The chubby little tyke not only performs well, but wins, which of course draws harder punches later in the afternoon — “I guess rap really does promote violence,” Emmit chirps.

Tired of abuse, the boys pool their lunch money together to hire a private security guard. Guess what $83 buys? Not P. Diddy’s bodyguard, that’s for sure. Drillbit Taylor (Wilson) presents himself as a former Army Ranger, ex-special-ops recon paratrooper … something or other. Truth is he’s homeless and panhandles on Santa Monica Boulevard. The boys don’t know this and hire him. Drillbit sees it as a step up and begins swiping stuff from their houses when they’re at school.

Oh and then there’s a formula: Drillbit lies and lies and lies and then the lies catch up with him at the end. He loses his friends, his girl and then the cops want to arrest him. By this point, there’s a party where the boys are set for a showdown with Filkins, who is winning until … I’ll let you guess the end. At this point, though, if Filkins isn’t tortured and/or murdered brutally you’re going to be upset with anything less. You’ll hate him so much it should be a testament to Alex Frost’s acting, but then again he plays psycho a little too well.

As for Wilson, he plays idiot a little too well. Even worse, he’s on auto-pilot throughout Drillbit Taylor. At one point he seems to have nothing else to do or say so everyone takes turns hitting him in the face, which materializes into nothing. With all the punching, Filkins’ rage and then Drillbit’s kiddy-robbing scheme and all you get is a cruel, baseless comedy with no heart and soul. It reminds me of that Adam Sandler movie where the Sandler character has nothing meaningful to say so he goes to Central Park and throws sticks in front of the in-line skaters to watch them fall so he can laugh and point.

I guess I should be glad he didn’t kick them after that.

What a sport

Squeaky-voiced cupcake Leslie Mann is no amateur when it comes to comedy. Her moderate-sized résumé includes several hits (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up) and several bombs (Stealing Harvard, The Cable Guy) and then several pictures that fall somewhere in between the two (Orange County, Big Daddy).

She’s cute as a button in Drillbit Taylor, where she plays a high school English teacher who falls for a homeless guy pretending to be a body guard and substitute teacher. The movie rushes her into a sexual encounter so quickly and with such ease — “English, that’s my native tongue,” is apparently all it takes to get in her panties — that she comes off as a desperate slut, but Mann holds her dignity high even as Drillbit switches gears amid the 5th and 6th period classroom sexcapades to incorporate her sweet teacher character as something more than a kinky chalk-toting vixen.

In no way is this a bad review of Mann, who has, yet again, sweetened up a miserably written character. Maybe it's just a plea for a starring role out there with her name on it.

Nervous

Today is it. We should be getting a call from our escrow officer today to come in and sign the loan documents. Then we have to go get the cashiers checks and sign the documents. I'm nervous. Hopefully the money has cleared in his bank account already. I'm very excited that I keep coughing up green luggies. Hahaha.

There! I hope you're happy, now! I've worked a little sax into the Act!

People Are So Interesting. Part Six. Galloping stupidity in political decisions.

For the past month I’ve heard nothing on the news except how unfortunate and unfair it is that the Florida and Michigan Democratic delegates won’t be seated at the National Convention. If I understand it correctly, the decision was made to move the primary elections in these states forward by months, in order to directly influence the decision regarding who the democratic nominee would be. The Democratic committee declared that this maneuver was unfair, that these elections would not be recognized, and in the end – no votes would count!

In other words …

The decision was made by individuals in Florida and Michigan BEFORE THE ELECTION that the votes of a few million people would not count. This was not something discovered later. The thought at the time was that by holding an early vote – even one that didn’t count – a pattern would be established that would lead to the clear leadership of one candidate over another, thus making these two states to appear mature and wise.

That didn’t happen. The candidates are deadlocked, and the two states look amazingly both infantile and senile at the same time.

Excuse me, but this leads me to ask a few questions.

If there is such concern for the voting rights of the people in Florida and Michigan, wouldn’t it have been better to voice these concerns before the initial elections?

If there were no great concerns about the voting rights in these two states before, what changed? Who benefits by their voting again?

If it’s going to cost many millions of dollars to hold re-elections, shouldn’t this money be charged against the people who are responsible for the debacle in the first place?

If I lived in Florida or Michigan, who would I sue for cheating me of my voting right?

a lovely spring day

Song of that day:

Heard this song like a million times that day on the radio.
We said it will forever remind us of that day.
Hilarious to lip synch to.

Yesterday was a wonderful day. It was nothing out of the ordinary but it was very special. The weather was great. It was sunny but it wasn't too hot. The breeze was light and the the sky was a sight to see. Yesterday was what spring break stands for, peace and tranquility with friends. Yesterday I went to the American River with my closest friends and we had a BBQ/picnic. The day was just very chill. I loved it. I appreciated it very much and thank that I have so many good friends around me.

Well the day before, Michelle came over to hang out and we had to decide what we were going to wear for our day to the river. Yes we were lame but we wanted to dress cute to impress even if we didn't anyone to impress. Well we walked to El Super Taco with my brother and ate a huge meal. Surprisingly my dad came there with his two friends also but he had no idea that we had come there. I always see my dad at the randomness moments when I go out to eat. Well we decided to walk around and then we walked to Kohl's to just play around and try on clothes. Well we walked from El Super Taco to Kohls (not a bad walk, like 20 minutes? or less) and well the parking lot is very large (and new) and we were walking until we realized we hit a fence. It was a very weird area to put a fence. Why would you fence up half the parking lot? So we would have to walk all the way back to the sidewalk and around to the main street to go to Kohls. So I came up with a brilliant idea and decided we should just hop the fence. The fence was not that high, probably like a foot taller than me (i am 5'2). Well I went first and the easy part is climbing up. The hard part is putting your legs over the fence and climbing down. I was wearing a jean skirt and black leggings. Well I was kind of stuck with one leg over the fence and I just kind of jumped down and I did not die. I suceeded and I started jumping with joy because I could climb a fence. Well then I realized I had tore a HUGE rip in the side of my leggings. It was sad. I had to take them off and throw them away. Then Michelle jumped the fence after me but she had a harder time since she wore jeans (her favorite ones too) but she didnt have any clothing disasters. We tried clothes and then left. We walked home. I took Michelle through this really cool nice path that went to a bridge. Yes a random bridge in a little surburbia of houses. It was a great path and it was so beautiful with the shades of trees and everything. So Michelle and I figured one day I will show that "secret path" to someone who I really like. Totally romantic righhhhtt? Haha. Too bad the bridge is over a nasty little creek with the sides of the walls all graffitified. Well we went to my house and were totally exhausted. We just laid on my bed until she had to go home. Later Pachia came to sleep over. We watched some cute Korean movies until 1 am though we would have to wake up early.

The next day, we woke up around 7ish. We were tired as hell but we had to get ready for the day. My parents were going to take us to the river and we were going to meet up everyone there. Well Melanie had arrived while Pachia and I had barely started getting ready. Then Hanh and Mylinh arrived later. It took awhile to figure out what to wear. Then we went to go pick up Chrissa at her house and we were off. We stopped at McDonalds because my parents were hungry. We waited in the car while my parents ate because we were not that hungry. Hanh and I got into another stresssing talk about budget cuts in California, financial issues, college, etc. HAHA. That is what we always end up talking about. Well after that we were off. We got to American River first and we had to wait to see where Kimber wanted us to go BBQ and set up. Well we waited for the other people to arrive, we were by the water and THERE WAS A FISH. My dad really wanted to catch it. It was the hugest fish I had seen and it was very random. We thought it was a sign of something. Because the fish had come up so close to the shallow rocks where we were. But I didn't want to kill the fish. It was amazing. Well everyone arrived and we had to drive off to another spot. Well as soon as we could, we walked to the river. It was nice but not great for swimming. The current looked really strong in some parts. Well we went back to our spot and helped out a little for setting up. Then most of the time we were all laying around chilling, waiting for food. The hamburgers we cooked were AMAZING. Though we didn't have much vegetables, it was still good. Eating is just more joyful when you are eating it with friends in beautiful weather. We played a lot. In words, the day was not as "exciting" as it sounds but that day was just nice and simple. Just laying down in the sun was just bliss. We ate oysters, pork, chicken, and more burgers. The oysters were pretty awesome with this great sauce someone made. We were all addicted to eating them. At one point I went on a walk with little Christina, Harjot, Melanie, and Pachia. We took this path that had high grass on the sides. We just wanted to see where it led us. Little Christina took a video of us but I am sure it was boring since we had nothing interesting to say. We find a steep trail down to the rocks and I went down but everyone else was too chicken to go. They all kept saying they were waiting for me to fall down while I was going down. It was nice though. I did make it down and it was beautiful. I could not enjoy my time down though because they were all being whiny and wanted to go back. So I climbed back up. We stayed at the river from 9-4pm. We played volleyball and took lots of pictures. It was just nice. Well we packed up and my mom picked us up. The girls with me and I just chilled at my house and laid in my bed. Then we watched a movie and it was very cute but we were all so dead tired. Melanie fell asleep on the floor and we were just being lazy. It was a pretty perfect day.

The one thing that made me really appreciate the day was something Hanh said. We were watching the Korean movie, Crazy Waiting for You which is about four couples and the boyfriends are going to army for their mandatory two year military service. Well I orignally did not realize how long two years is. I was saying why is it hard for girls to keep loving their boyfriends after two years. But then Hanh was like are you crazy, two years is a long time. Well I was being silly and said, "Hanh we are going to be in college in two years." Then she made that distressed sound and said "we wont have any of THIS anymore". She pointed around and before my eyes I saw what she meant. No more of us all laying around watching movies together. No more being silly together. No more being lazy together. In the next couple of years, we are all going to be split up. It was a really sad thought and I had a little sink in my heart. I guess I was being naive to believe we would all be near each other to hang out. But even two hours away from each other is hard. But it is okay. This is why I try and treasure these memories. That is why it made me glad to appreciate that spring day. And the happiness we all shared. And the bliss.

Arriving at the Lake. Hanh and Me (look at little Christina)


I love pictures of jumping but I hate doing them.
This took us a million tries.
Pachia, Me, Chrissa


Chilling with Friends

I made it to the river,
though Harjot and Melanie were rooting for me to fall down
on the steep path.

Love. We are cheesy.

Mylinh, Me, Pachia

I totally would look perfect if I didn't have my eyes closed.

We look pretty cheesy here too.

Pachia wants to beat someone up.

Here's a better pic. Though hair = eww.

--Christina.