Slap me silly

Surprise! I hate surprises. I like cake and parties but not surprises. What do people get from giving you a surprise? They just prompt me to be angry later...

Shake & Bake

I woke up this morning after my birthday, not hung over, but to a strong earthquake. I have not felt an earthquake in a little over a year. I have been known to say that I like earthquakes and being upset by missing them. For example, that big earthquake last summer in Los Angeles, I was home, and as soon as I go back to LA in the fall there is an earthquake here. I think I like the idea of the earth shaking, because it is not something that happens every day, and for the most part they are small enough for me to feel safe. Well today I woke up to my cousin (the annoying one) screaming for my grandpa and running around hysterically...I have no idea what they are teaching them in school. I jump off my bed because I thought my grandpa had fallen or was injured, but he wasn't even home. My heart was racing. It turned out the earthquake was 5.8 with a 4.8 aftershock. I've been half expecting a big earthquake, because there hasn't been one in a while and I am not entirely convinced this was it.

16 (+7) candles

It's my birthday! I'm 23 now and I know I'm old. Today was an interesting day, because I woke up early (around 9:39 am) and my official birthday time was 9:52 so I was awake and actually watched the time for my official birthday to begin...no that's not lame. I then proceeded to play Mario &  Luigi: Bowser's inside story for the Nintendo DS for quite a while. I received various calls and text messages from esteemed people, including some of my close relations who apparently forgot it was the 29th, and remembered to wish me a happy birthday until long after they had first talked to me. At some point my grandpa took us all to dinner (about 15 people), this is definitely a tradition that never gets old. This year I chose to go to Sizzler because I wanted salad - yes I love salad just as much as I love soup. After eating way more salad and steak than I should have, we left and I and my boyfriend went to go watch Sherlock Holmes. It was a pretty good movie, but unfortunately my lack of sleep from the past couple of days, caused me to be extremely tired and during the last 15 minutes of the movie I dozed off...

I've heard so many good things about Avatar in 3D that although I originally had no intention of watching the film, I am now intrigued.

I realize I have not told about my Emerald Bowl experience, which is a big reason why I'm so tired but tomorrow, I promise. As of right now I have no plans for tomorrow which will provide my ample time to tell about one of the busiest days of my life. But since the events are not entirely fresh in my mind, I feel I will be missing plenty of details. Ugh! my memory is already failing me...

Title

I pretty much just got to my apt. I am a tired, I think I'm surviving on adrenaline. Ugh. Apparently, I have been told I'm rambling, so it would be fruitless to tell about my day right now, not to mention exhausting. Tomorrow...

Save me Sand Man.

Tis the season

I never thought I would feel this sad being alone on Christmas. I feel so pathetic sitrig here in the living room watching The Family Stone. Practice seemed especially long today but Dr. Bartner made it a little interesting, first he said "no other band would attempt to practice on Christmas day Eve." Then later he said "we are here, and there's the moon" ohh Dr. Bartner he has his moments.

I love this movie

Charlie Brown Christmas pt. II

It's Christmas and I'm alone at my apt watching Miricle on 34th St. I was at home quite comfortably this morning but I had to come back to LA this evening because I have band practice for the bowl tomorrow. My apt is awfully cold especially since I took off my new boots, which I love. I also got two gift cards, a knitted Beanie, a video game, a pair of slippers (that word really doesn't do them justice because they are like short boots) but no coat...not to mention that since I left home and my birthday is in four days I still have more presents :)

I still have to say that what I miss most is the atmosphere from when I was growing up with my entire family. Even if the feelings were fake, they felt real and I miss that. Besides the food this year was so non traditional, I guess my whole year was non traditional.

We are playing at Disneyland on Sunday then I get to go back home, where I will actually be able to go out on my birthday does the first time in two years. Haha but I probably wont go out anyways, because there is nothing to do where I'm from. As for right now I'm just sitting here thinking of Christmases past...

Near the fence

Right now I'm in Mexico...yeah. Anyways, I am at my uncle's house, I havent been here in a while and they totally remodeled it since I was here last, they added a whole story, its pretty nice. I observed a couple of things while I was here, whats funnier than a cat eating chicken? a Mexican family with a Mexican maid, funny? Haha yes I think it's hilarious, take that stereotypes. Also, at home I am a advocate of throwing your toilet paper in the toilet, in Mexico...NO (I forgot that). My uncle and I went to a drive through to buy a pizza, and I have to say that it was really really good, it must be the lead....

Annoyance in lane 15

I'm at Walmart right now doing some Christmas shopping and all I have to say is speedy checkout isn't so speedy. When did they raise the limit from 15 to 20? Besides I hate when people go over the limit, it's 20 not 23, and yes I count.

I'm getting a coat for Christmas but I'm going to have to wait until Jan

Nasty Christmas

Sometime early last week, my boyfriend told me about this toy his niece wanted that his sister couldn't find; enter Zhu Zhu Pets. Apparently Zhu Zhu Pets are the hottest selling toy this holiday season. When I searched on ebay a couple of days ago, the average price for the Zhu Zhu Pet was around $25, when the retail price is only $8. I went to about five different stores on many occasions to see if they had the toy hamsters; I continued to search for them even after my boyfriend got one for $20. I continued searching not because I wanted one but because I had not heard about them before and was curious to see what the big deal was about. Okay, so the real reason I continued to search was to prove that I could find one - the last popular gift I wanted was the Nintendo Wii, and I was able to get it the first Christmas it was out. Well yesterday and today I went shopping with my aunt, and today I found the coveted Zhu Zhu Pet at a Target, where I bought one, and my aunt bought four. So ha! again I am able to obtain the 'unattainable' at retail price.

My twin cousins (the annoying girl and her brother), who are both in 5th grade and in the same class, had an assignment to send a Christmas letter to one of their classmates. They received their letters in the mail today they have to be the funniest mean letters ever! I don't understand how their teacher, who was also my 5th grade teacher, did not read these letters before they were mailed.

I like to play escape games, and yesterday I felt like I was in an escape game. Escape from the Mall. However, in order to avoid any kind of trouble that is all I have to say about that.

Anyone want to take the light brown Zhu Zhu pet off my hands? only $30 dollars with two day shipping :)

Follow your nose

Why the hell do old folks insist on farting? More like, what are they eating? I'm at my cousins winter 4th grade pagent - no not the annoying one, and this grandma in front of me decides to let on rip. Really lady? There are other people here who want to enjoy the performance without your scent.

The day the music died

I have a headache. This is my second day home, and I feel like I'm at a rave. My brother keeps playing random songs but from my room all I can hear is the stupid bass and it sounds techno.

Not to mention I have a cousin (the one who ruined Thanksgiving), who likes to claim that singing is her passion...lie. She never wants to sing because she says shes shy, and when I did get her to sing, my ears wanted to fall off from her mediocre vibrato attempt. Haha I know shes still little but she likes to pretend she is the best at everything and it gets old. I think she should stick to annoying the whole family, she does it so well.

I went to Wal Mart today to go buy a tree but they ran out. So now I don't know where I'm going to find a tree, because this family run tree business didn't come to town this year. I'll get myself a little tree and put a giant ornament on top like Charlie Brown. On that Christmas note, I still don't know what I want for Christmas. The top thing on my maybe list is a charcoal or black coat, but I'm not sure about the length of type of coat - decisions, decisions.

I'm so glad the music stopped, my brother was starting to loop the same song.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

I finished for the semester and I can't wait to get home. So I got to class and sat through about 6 presentations before it was my turn, then I sat through about 5 more. I left class a little early because I had band today at four. It was raining and we had to learn a new pregame because only about half is coming back for the bowl. I need to be back Christmas day and I'm either going to fly to San Francisco or take the bus, but whichever form of transportation I use to get up there, I will use the other to get back, and then of the 27th we are preforming at Disneyland. For most of practice today it was raining and so my jeans were pretty soaked, but my socks were wet, which is the important thing. So right now I just finished packing all my things, and now I'm waiting for my dad.

All this excitement gave me a headache

Stick a fork in me, I'm done

No, I did not wake up extra early just to write a post, I have been up this entire time finishing my PowerPoint. I am happy to report that I am finally finished, and now I can finally go to sleep, even if it is only for 4 hours.

Note to self: I never want to see you pulling an all nighter to finish a project again [end not]
....wait why does this sound so familiar?

Soup's on - part deux

Ugh, too much soup! I just got back from Orochon Ramen, and the portion size is huge. No, I didn't special #2, because when we got there there was a group of people sitting outside and they looked miserable, apparently they were attempting the Orochon challenge...they lost. So I decided I'd enjoy my first bowl of Orochon Ramen. The spiciness order was from 7, which is the least spicy all the way up to Special #2,

which is pretty much death in a bowl. I opted for a number 4. Let me start by saying that the soup was really really good. The number 4, had just the right amount of spice without being overbearing. Needless to say my nose began running halfway through.I remembered a little late to take a picture, so when I did I had already begun eating the ramen, but you can still see how high the soup was when I started, I stopped eating shortly after the picture was taken.

On the way out I saw the picture of Adam Richman from Man v. Food with his empty bowl, I don't know how he finished all that soup. One day I will return and attempt to tackle the Special #2, I just need to remember to be very very hungry when I go.

It's raining. I love rain, it is by far my favorite weather. But I need to work on my PowerPoint right now, and I feel I'm going to go into a soup coma...

Coffee? No thanks

I'm still wide awake. Right now I am watching Pride and Prejudice the BBC/A&E 1995 mini series, by far the best adaptation. I also like the film adaptations to Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility both from 1995. I read Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility this summer, but would have to say that Pride and Prejudice is definitely my favorite Jane Austen book, I have lost count as to how many times I have read it. I'm in love with Mr. Darcy. I like all sorts of genres, and this summer I was on a reading spree, having finished seven books in a little over a month with three of those books being from the Harry Potter series. I also read a book by John Gilstrap entitled, At All Costs, which was a really good and fast paced book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. John Gilstrap also wrote Nathan's Run which I read in junior high, and re-read in high school - that was an amazing book. He has only written eight books, so I should be able to finish them all in the near future.

I really should try to go to sleep, I know I will regret it tomorrow, especially since I have a presentation on Friday...ugh

Soup's on

I love soup! I will try any kind of soup but I have my favorites (I can't list them all its a long list). But this sudden need to express my adoration for soup came moments ago when I ate a cup of Maruchan Instant Lunch. Again, I was working on my homework all morning and never got a chance to eat, so after I went to go turn in my paper, and discovered that it's still freezing outside, I decided to eat some soup to warm me up. One thing about my soup is that I prefer it to be piping hot, you know it's just not soup if its warm, I want to see steam, I want there to be the possibility to burn my tongue. Sure I will cool the soup off once on my spoon, but I have the option by then it's the perfect temperature. Yeah...I love soup.

Let us rewind to Sunday, before I watched a marathon of Man v. Food, that was the day of the TMB band banquet, it was a lot of fun, as I enjoy the banquet more and more every year. This year our banquet was at the Wilshire Grand in downtown LA.We had a three course meal which consisted of a house salad with vinaigrette dressing, a huge steak main course, and a banana cake/pudding desert. SIDENOTE: I am picky about my bananas. I HATE artificial banana flavoring. I also prefer my bananas slightly under ripe, because I don't like brown mushy spots [end note].

Overall the meal was good, and afterwards Dr. Bartner (our director) awarded the seniors their stadium blankets and some other awards. After he was done, there were some funny awards created and awarded by an assistant director. Once all that was complete we broke up into our respective classes and went to go pick up our class gift. Freshmen get this funny looking sweater, Sophomores get a really warm wind breaker (my far the most useful gift), Juniors receive a really nice jock jacket (like a high school letterman jacket), and Seniors receive a stadium blanket that is embroidered with their name and what not. I love my jacket, it is everything I expected! After we all got our gifts we took a section picture, and then were given the option to leave, or stay for the dance portion of our banquet...I don't dance, so I left.

That was the end of our season. Wait there's more, we are going to the Emerald Bowl this year, and the schedule looks crazy. So far I have to be back in LA by 6pm Christmas day, we leave at 4am on the 26th, after a couple rallies and the game we fly directly back to LA, and the following day we preform at Disneyland.

Speaking of Disneyland, I was just there last night. It was extremely cold, but it had the added bonus of a low attendance, so the wait times were not long at all. Again, my boyfriend and I waited in line for Toy Story Mania, this time I had a new strategy and I was determined to beat him, but guess what? the strategy didn't work, and again he didn't let me win. I'm sure there's a trick and I'm going to figure it out for next time. Also they were filming something in front of the castle which allowed me to get an empty picture of the castle after the crew left. I have no idea what they were filming but there was a girl with a light dress and about

ten people standing behind her, maybe a commercial? I don't know but I did go back to Fantasyland and eat at the Village Haus, where I saw Santa a couple weeks ago, and right outside I took a picture of the old Skyway building. Yes, although they closed the Skyway in 1994 the building and steps still remain. They have tried to hide the building by allowing the large trees to grow in front of it and placing food tents in front of the steps, the result 15 years later is a building facade only Disney can make. Although I was young, I remember the Skyway, and how it would pass through the Matterhorn, and although it seemed you were high in the air, pictures reveal to me now that it wasn't as high as I remember.I still think they should bring it back, I'm sure they can build something safer (and larger to accommodate the disabled. But of course stupid people ruin it for the rest of us, and I think an incident in April of '94, where a man jumped out of the Skyway into a tree, was the last straw...

I received the red cover for my phone today, and I just snapped it on about an hour ago, although I like the color, not the mention the peace of mind that my phone is somewhat protected, I still have to get use to the added bulkiness.

My tongue is still tingling from the soup :)

It's not supposed to be cold in California

I'm freezing! I don't know what is with the weather, but the last couple of nights have been extremely cold. According to Weather Bug (on my phone) it is 45º right now with the low of 39º. The worst part is that my apartment isn't warm at all, and I'm not joking it is probably about 50º inside, the maintenance guys just came today to turn the heater on, and although its on right now the warm air doesn't efficiently reach my room. I have pajama pants on right now and a sweater with really warm lining as well as wearing the sweater's hood. I also have the fan on right now on the warm setting...apparently ceiling fans have two settings, depending which setting it's on the direction of the blades change resulting in one setting circulating air downward (cool setting) and the other setting circulation air upward (warmer setting). I look like an Eskimo, but I am shivering a lot more than one of them would be. I have so much more to write about, and pictures to add, but right now I need to write a final paper for a class that is due tomorrow. I will probably sleep in a couple of hours and wake up "early" tomorrow morning to finish it.

I wish I had Special #2 right now, I know that would definitely warm me up

Don't eat when you're starving

So I went to go eat Mexican food. I never go to Mexican restaurants, but I figured that I could satisfy my craving for both seafood and spicy food. I ordered a octopus cocktail (seriously, octopus is one of my favorite seafood foods) and a ceviche (shrimp, not fish) tostada. In a way I feel I should have gone to Denny's instead. First of all the cocktail had no flavor what so ever, I don't know how many lime wedges and drops of hot sauce I had to add to make it taste decent. Second, since I decided to eat my cocktail first, the tortilla chips under my ceviche became soggy, and although the ceviche tasted good, the flavor did not compensate for the lack of tortilla chips and so I had to eat it with saltines.

That's what I get for trying a place with no costumers when I walked in, I should have know. Never again will I let a television show dictate my food of choice, but I still want to try that Special #2

Hungry? Why wait...

I'm so hungry. All I've eaten today is a pepperoni hot pocket, which I hadn't had in a long time and was actually pretty good. Right now I'm craving seafood. I haven't eaten seafood in such a long time and oysters sound really good. I'm not sure if I would be as hungry if I weren't watching a Man v. Food marathon. I've seen the trend for season one, sandwiches, seafood and spicy food. I saw the episode here in LA and now I want to go eat at Orochon Ramen, and attempt the special #2. Which is supposed to be this insanely spicy soup, which the owner himself refuses to eat. I know the only other person crazy enough to try this with me is my brother, who swears he likes spicy food.

Anyways, hunger got the best of me and now I'm going to go get something to eat, but I don't know what...

It's game day!

Right now I'm sitting around waiting for call time. I almost overslept AGAIN. I need to stop ignoring my alarm. I came to practice and the freshmen made breakfast. Apparently George Lopez is guest conducting us for the war medley.

I'm tired, long night last night

Charlie Brown Christmas

With Christmas approaching, and my own indecisiveness about Christmas presents, I thought I would list the worst presents to receive this holiday season:

The Snuggie - "Gee thanks, I have always wanted to wear a garbage bag but hey it has sleeves." After receiving blankets on three different Christmas' this is all I need, sleeves.

Anything used - This should be obvious, but just as bad is giving a new item that is two years old. FYI if you are going to give someone a blouse, remember to take out the safety pin from between the buttons which is a dead give away that the item has been worn.

Socks - Everyone can buy their own socks, and would probably prefer that to receiving it as a gift. I don't care if they have a Santa Claus and toe slots.

An obvious knock off item - I received a knock off Burberry scarf the same year I got a real Burberry purse and wallet. I wouldn't have objected wearing the scarf had it not been paper thin with a  coarse texture

Giant anything - Jewelry, chocolate, crayons/pencils, remote controls, sun glasses, these are all fine for gag gifts, but not for serious gifts. One year I got a huge pair of dangling cross earrings along with a giant cross necklace...The power of Christ compels me

Odd items - You know the ones that were bought on sale at Big Lots that show no real thought or effort, for instance a set of metal brain teasers

Jenny Craig gift certificate - Nothing says love like weight loss...no really, unless the person has asked for it specifically this gift is a definite insult

Anything with the price tag still attached - Really? I feel this only happens when the gift was bought at the last minute and there was a rush to wrap.

Now for the list of good gift ideas

Gift cards - I stated my love for them in a previous Christmas post

Toys - I still enjoy toys or electronic gadgets

Personalized gifts - an engraved pocket watch or glass items are nice to receive

Electronics - Who wouldn't like a new iPod, need a new pair of head phones, or an electric turkey timer

Books or Movies - Who doesn't like movies? But make sure the movie will be enjoyable to the recipient and don't give the L word to your grandmother. Similarly books are a good idea, unless they are books like The Secret or The Power of Your Subconscious Mind (books my mom keeps asking me to read).

Remember to check your voice mail frequently, I on the other hand rarely check my voicemail and so I had a collection of 11 messages, one being from the human resources department at DreamWorks regarding an internship

My day in pictures

My alarm went off, and I didn't wake up, for the purposes of today I woke up picked up my camera and snapped this picture, then quickly went back to sleep.

After I snoozed for an hour and a half, I finished yesterday's assignment and made myself a ham sandwich, while I prayed that my printer wouldn't run out of ink. Sidenote: Simply Lemonade is simply delicious.

I then got ready, rode my bike to school, dropped off my assignment and went to band. Here my section is coming up with a dance routine for the halftime show this weekend, yay! tenors, tenors, tenors. Haha and that's my sax sticking out.

After band, I ate with a couple of people in my section at the Lot (our temporary commons, while they build a new one).

After I went to the Lot, I rode my bike back to my apt. Up ahead is Cromwell field, which is our band practice field as well as home to our track and field team. Does this look a little like ET? or maybe me being beamed up by a UFO...omg more on that later.

Finally I get to my apt, and rejoice in the face that I have six tickets to the football game this weekend. One of the perks from being in the Trojan Marching Band is that we get 2 free tickets to all home football games, and when people don't use theirs, they can sign them over to you. So that's how I got six, not to mention they are in what I feel is the best section to sit, the end zone on the field. Jealous?

Showing my day in pictures was actually very difficult, because I would forget to take pictures or didn't really know how to show something in a picture. I feel this would be easier if I had someone else take pictures of me throughout the day. Hmm actually I know that if I let him, my dad would be willing to take pictures or record me all day...I don't let him and he still does it.

Ebay pulled me in today. I have not bought anything on ebay in over six months and today in the matter of a couple of hours I bought three phone related items BUT they were all free shipping. The first item I actually won, and was a red cover for my phone. The next two items I bought via buy it now for my brother, and his non-existent myTouch. Recently I have been shopping on Amazon but browsing on ebay today reminded me of some of the great prices you can find. However, on ebay you will experience shipping delays that you would not otherwise find with Amazon. I declare war!

Speaking of war, at band on Tuesday we received our new music for the halftime show this weekend, and one of the pieces is a WAR medley and guess who was at practice...the lead singer of WAR, who sang along while we played, Low Rider, The Cisco Kid, and Why Can't We Be Friends? If that wasn't good enough, tomorrow the entire band is going to be at our practice to run through the show because they are preforming with us at halftime. Wait there's more, you know who else is going preform with us at halftime? None other than Dexter Holland, lead singer of the Offspring while we play You're Gonna Go Far Kid.

On a sad note, my brother's fair project, a piglet name Ellah Moo, died of the swine flu....haha no not really, seriously she actually died of salmonella poisoning which makes me wonder how she came in contact with raw chicken. Unfortunately it appears that my brother won't be able to raise another pig for the fair but has the option of raising a lamp(chop) instead, but he doesn't like the idea. After reading about raising animals for the fair you may be wondering what kind of hick town I'm from, not hick, Mexican! and lets just say that agriculture is really big.

In the caption to one of my pictures today I mentioned a UFO. I had a crazy dream last night where a UFO was right above my house and it was shining a beam down. So this beam was like searching for something, and the more you moved the more interested it was in you. Needless to say one of my aunts couldn't stand still and *boop* up she went. In one of my first posts I talked about UFOs and aliens and how I don't believe we are alone in this universe. Dreams like this reinforce my opinion...

It's late and I should really go to sleep but I feel giddy like SpongeBob and his eager face. However, this post became much longer than I anticipated especially when I was only supposed to post pictures of my day, perhaps in the future I will seperate the posts, but oh well too late now

I think I pee'd my pants

Haha, no not really. Today was my first real day of college, well at least the first time I stay on campus this late. So last night I stay up doing an assignment until 3:30 am, I fell asleep then woke up in the morning and finished it. I then went to class and sat through three hours worth of presentaions, then my group presented for an hour. After class some classmates and I got together to work on an assignment due tomorrow. I just barely got back to my apt about half an hour ago, which means...I RODE MY BIKE ALONE IN LA AT 2 am. I was super scared and paranoid. I'm sure most people know USC is not in the nicest part of LA, and not to mention my apt is about 1 mile from campus, which may not seem like a lot, but its a scary. The streets were pretty empty, but I still peddled really fast to get here. Anyways I'm at my apt now, safe from the mean streets of LA. I do have to say that the university takes care of us, and there are security guards sprinkled on the street corners 24-7, I passed two on my way here. But it's still freighting none the less.

I think tomorrow I'll try something different, I'm goint to post pictures of my day instead. We'll see how it goes

Oh yeah, I figured out mobile posting, this is proof

Jumping to my doom

Have you ever had a dream where you are sitting in class in your underwater? Try being awake, sitting in class about to present and realizing you did it wrong.

Word Vomit - Don't lie to me!

I have no scruple in saying that I do not like Barack Obama. Personally, I'm still upset he won the election, and this is coming from a democrat. I do not believe he has done the country any good, but people just eat up everything he says. Nobel Peace Prize, really? What has he accomplished, definitely nothing worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. Lets face it a Democrat was going to win after eight years of...Bush...but that is a whole other issue. Lets get back on track now, I hate politicians and their empty promises! Obama once said that if elected he could take our troops out of the Afghan war; lie. In fact it was just released that Obama will actually increase the number of troops in Afghanistan by 30,000. That number is nearly tripling the number of troops that were there when he took office. He then promised that he would begin pulling troops in eighteen months...EIGHTEEN MONTHS, that's how long he said it would take to pull troops out of Afghanistan if elected into office. This of course will cost 30 billion dollars in the first year, who cares right? lets just continue to increase the national deficit. Now I'm all for national security, but I don't see this war having an end. The enemy looks the same as the innocent, and there is no way of successfully identifying either group. We need to bring our troops home, and the sooner the better.

Every Who down in Whoville likes Christmas a lot...

But I who lives west of Whoville, loves it best of all. Its December! I love the holiday season, by far the best time of year. I love the atmosphere, the movies, the presents. This leads me to my current dilemma, what do I want for Christmas? Now, I wouldn't want people to get the wrong idea, I'm not materialistic, I know that Christmas is not about the gifts, but my whole family keeps asking what I want for Christmas and I haven't the slightest clue. Not to mention that my birthday is right after Christmas (the 29th) and no one likes not getting anything on their birthday. In a way I do prefer gift cards, simply because I can buy myself gifts whenever I find something I like, but I know so many people who don't like to give gift cards. I do need a new laptop, and my dad was said everything short of promising it to me - I do love having the benefit of combining gifts. I already received one gift, my phone from my grandpa, which was the same gift from two years ago when I got my Blackberry.

My list so far is thus:
HP Laptop (right now I have a Dell, which has served me well for 3 years)
Amazon Kindle 2 (not 100% convinced)
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's inside story (I got a Nintendo DS lite last year)
32 inch TV

I know a couple of those items are wishful thinking, I don't really need a TV, but I couldn't think of anything. I could also just go with a lot of little things, for example customized cover for my phone, or a small Disney lithograph. I need a hobby, then I would have gift ideas.

I have band now, and I'm running late.

Brats in Spats

There is so much to cover. Where shall I begin...okay, so Friday I came back up to LA for band practice at 2 and was there for three hours. After practice I attended a basketball game, just to clarify, I used to play basketball but I hate watching the sport. The only reason I went to the game was because it was a required full band gig. Anyways, enough about basketball. Later I hung out with the rest of section for our pre-game tradition/rituals.

Saturday, I nearly overslept. Side note: Every Saturday morning we have band practice at 6:34 am, well my section call time is 6:45 - because we're cool like that - the freshmen bring breakfast and at around 7 am we have sectionals, then at around 8 we have a full band rehearsal. If you are late for the call time you run laps depending how late you are, earlier this year we had a freshman who had to run 21 track laps (equal to 5.25 miles). I have pride myself on never having been late to a Saturday morning practice, and this weekend I almost ruined it - end note. After practice I fell asleep, I woke up at around 2, ordered pizza and then got my uniform together for the game. Fast forward through four rallies, countless high fives, eighty-three steps down the peristyle of the coliseum, and a pre-game show, the game finally started. It was a good game, enjoyable to watch from our side. Of course the greatest play had to be with fifty-four seconds left on the clock, Matt Barkley threw a 48-yard pass for a touchdown (I do not need to defend this play, read here). Needless to say that after standing for eight hours I was tired, I don't remember anything after that...

Sunday, I ran a bunch of errands that ended with me at the Disneyland Resort. I love Disneyland during the holidays! First I went to California Adventure, it had been ages since I was there last - lie, it was a month (I tend to go to Disneyland far more than California Adventure, because I usually go at night, and CA closes early). For the first time I saw the completed Mickey ferris wheel with its' new lights, that change colors every couple of minutes. As many can guess I have an annual pass to The Happiest Place on Earth, and have gotten into the habit of not waiting in line for rides. Yesterday, I actually waited in line with my boyfriend for Toy Story Mania...he didn't let me win. I lost, it wasn't even close. I think my problem was that I was trying to aim for the smaller more valuable targets rather than hitting multiple larger targets. I'll get him next time. Afterwards we headed to Disneyland and pretty much froze. We got on all my favorite rides, provided there was no line, and for the first time this holiday season, we sailed around the world  on Its' a Small World. I love how they decorate the outside of the ride, but unfortunately I did not see the light show that is projecting on the building.

I still can't figure out how to successfully post from my phone, otherwise this post would not have been this long. On a positive note, the camera on my phone takes beautiful pictures.

Turkey poisoning

Anyone else go into a turkey coma? This Thanksgiving was different than others, because we didn't make any food. Let me explain, my brother had to sell ten raffle tickets for one of his clubs, the winner of the raffle would win a Thanksgiving meal from HomeTown Buffet. My grandpa, being a good grandparent, bought five of the raffle tickets at $10 each, he then proceeded to put the name of each of his grandchildren on the raffle tickets. As you can guess one of my cousin's names drawn, so there was out Thanksgiving meal. To be honest I was not expecting anything great, I have never liked HomeTown Buffet, but to my surprise the food was actually okay. However, I really did miss helping prepare the food in the morning, I missed out turkey, our mashed potatoes, our pumpkin pie. I guess I missed the tradition. In the end we agreed not to buy Thanksgiving raffle tickets again. Afterwards I went to my aunt's house and ate again with the rest of my family. Overall I enjoyed today.

I have band tomorrow so I'm going back to LA early and I'm so tired already.

Are you out of your Vulcan mind?

I just finished watching the Star Trek movie and I have to admit it was a pretty good movie. I have never been a Star Trek fan, nor do I have Trekkie friends, I am only vaguely familiar with the series, but it was a well done movie. I do have to say that the movie seemed a little long, about 2 hours, but it didn't feel like a lot happened. I am not saying it was a slow movie, but there were a lot of small events that contributed to only 1 or 2 larger events. I suppose that could be a description of any movie but I am not really sure how to explain it any better.

I GOT A NEW PHONE! I am so excited. I know it was only a couple of days ago that I wrote about getting a new phone and today it happened. I came home for Thanksgiving last night and this morning went to go renew my contract. I got the T-Mobile myTouch and I love it. To be honest, I was horribly lost at first and couldn't figure out how to import my contacts from my sim card, then I had some duplicate names because the phone sync'd to my gmail account, it was a mess. Anyways I finally figured it all out and I love the phone, I love the features, well I guess I love all the possibilities.

I hope everyone is surrounded by family and friends today, Happy Thanksgiving

Word Vomit*

I hate Freshmen! Ok well in band  we go by classes, so a first year member is a freshman, a second year is a sophomore and so on. I love my section, I think we have the best section in the entire band, BUT we have one blemish, one freshman that I wish would just quit. As a freshman you're supposed to know your fkn place! You know, no back talk, learn your music and don't get on older members nerves. Fail on all accounts! Anyways, this will be my last year in the TMB, unless I am unable to get a job after graduation, which in this economy is pretty likely. 

Thats me the little one in front, why don't we look happy? We had just finished the Rose Parade (thats 6 miles for those who don't know) and were now on our way to the Rose Bowl game. I started my day at 5:30 and didn't finish until around 10:30.

Tenors, Tenors, Tenors

*I will be using the Word Vomit title for all the annoyances in my life. So look out for those

I hate you Murphy!

Today has not been a good day, but I will admit that it is all my fault. AHH! OK so yesterday as everyone knows I competed in a beer pong tournament, read the previous post for details on that.

Mistake #1 Completing in a beer pong tournament when an assignment was due on Monday

Mistake #2: Taking a nap after the beer pong tournament

Mistake #3: Working on the assignment while finishing the second season of Weeds

Mistake #4: DECIDING TO FALL ASLEEP AT 1 BEFORE ANY REAL WORK WAS DONE

Mistake #5: Believing that the assignment could be completed in a timely manor the morning its due

So I set my alarm for 7:30 this morning, but I didn't actually get up until; 8:30, which wasn't too bad because I didn't have class until 2 anyways. So I start doing the assignment, granted I had no idea what I was supposed to do, but I finally figure it out, and so I was on my way. When I was about half way done  I find out from a classmate I was doing it all wrong! so at this point I had to make a decision, would I continue and make it to class on time or would I hurry re do it and try to beat the clock. Well I decided to go back and do it correctly and you know what? Time won. But in the mean time, I dropped something on my foot three times, lost my data once, bit my tongue twice and dropped strawberry yogurt on my carpet.

Well that was my morning, and I'm in class now hungry and tired. Is my stress over yet? Nope, I have an appointment at 6:30 to take my graduation portrait, which means I hopefully get out of class by 5 I have to hurry and bike back to my apt, shower and change, then bike back to campus to take this portrait.

It doesn't seem so bad on paper but in my mind this will take forever, and again I'm racing against time.

The only good thing to come out of this is that I am one day closer to going home for Thanksgiving. I haven't been home in over a month and miss my family. Also when I go home, we will go get a phone upgrade and I can finally get rid of my Blackberry. Let me clarify, I like Blackberry phones, just not mine, recently my battery doesn't last at all. The phone randomly shuts off and I have to keep it plugged in while I am on the phone. I know this might be fixed by simply changing the battery, but also when I have my phone in my pocket for a while, when I ride my bike the keys stop working and the phone is non-responsive. Anyways I think two years is long enough and I'm looking forward to getting the T-Mobile myTouch.

NOTE TO SELF: I never want to see you working on your assignment the morning it's due again

Beer pong the witch is dead

So I just got back from a beer pong tourney where my partner, Chris, and I lost horribly. Usually we don't do this bad but it was an off day. The good thing was that we never lost by more than 3 cups so in the end it wasn't too bad. Although I will have to say that both our opponents had some really good turns, and in the end a couple of explosions did us in. On the plus side a team from my section made it into the final four, but I just found out they lost in the quarter finals.

I'm tired, but I have an assignment due tomorrow and I should get that done, but I do feel I might be more productive if I took a nap.

I need a drink

Have you ever found out something about someone that makes you feel uncomfortable? What I found out wasn't particularly bad ,just not something I'm into. Too bad. There are only about 2-3 weeks left in the semester and I'm a little discouraged. I think I will continue to with the original plan regardless, and I'll let update the situation as soon as something happens.

Green eggs and hash

I just started watching Weeds, which airs on Showtime, but of course I'm watching it on Netflix instant streaming. For those who don't know Weeds is a show about a suburban mother who becomes the neighborhood pot dealer to supplement her income after her husband dies. The show is funny, and is being added to my list of regular shows. Showtime has got a great line up both past and present. Currently I'm watching Dexter, the Tudors, and I'm finishing the 2nd season of Dead like me, which is a great show and I'm pretty disappointed it only lasted two seasons.

There isn't much going on right now. The new Twilight movie was just released and I am not feeling compelled to watch it. I over the whole vampire thing, not to mention I've only heard bad things about the movie from people who have watched it. Am I wrong? Can anyone actually recommend the movie who isn't 12 or in love with Robert Pattinson? I am definitely more of a Harry Potter fan than a Twilight fan.

I still can't get rid of this cold, and I'm about to go run through fountains.

Save Tommy!

I just walked by Tommy Trojan and decided to take this picture. Dear Tommy is covered in duck tape to protect him from those vandals across town.

There goes my lung

I still have a cold. Its not getting any better, and I think I just coughed up right lung. Has anyone ever noticed that cough drops really don't do anything? I suppose they are fine for small cough annoyances but they are not effective when one is truly sick. I have found though that Arizona green tea with honey is great hot. Well they do advertise it on their bottles, so I tried it and it was amazing. Its all I've been drinking.

I read yesterday that the University of Georgia's mascot Uga VII died on Monday from heart related causes. Uga was only 4 and should have been around for many years. I'm sure every Bulldog fan out there is in shock and saddened at the loss of their mascot, and I would like to offer my condolences. I know if anything ever happened to Traveler VII I'd cry. Traveler is the best mascot ever! He runs around the field after every touchdown and we play William Tell for him at the beginning of the 4th quarter. Traveler is out there with us for part of band camp and is such a sweet tempered horse. This picture was taken at the 2009 Rose Bowl by my dad. Long live Traveler VII.

Anyways I have class right now

Fly me to the moon

Scientists recently discovered water on the moon, which was an important discovery towards the finding of extraterrestrial life. Since all living things on earth need water to survive, apparently scientists believe this is true of all living things everywhere. I don't believe this is true, and if there is life outside of Earth, as I believe there is, I'm sure they are managing just fine without H2O. Anyways, the possible existence of life on other planets or galaxies will always spark debate, but I refuse to be so egocentric to believe we are the only living things in the entire universe.

On a lighter note, I just finished watching an episode of Masters of Horror, which revolved around the idea that George Washington was a cannibal and ate young children. Since then a group of crazy people know as the Washingtonians continued this practice as they wore powdered wigs and dressed in colonial clothing.

The show was actually quite entertaining and reminded me of Tales from the Crypt - yes it had one of those strange endings - At the end of the episode it was revealed to the country that George Washington was a cannibal and so they took his portrait of the one dollar bill and added George W. Bush's portrait...

Speaking of killers, does anyone watch Dexter? That is by far the best show on TV right now.

Today I read that after 55 years the US Postal Service will discontinue its' service of responding to children's letters to Santa from North Pole, Alaska. Apparently a postal worker in Maryland recognized one of the volunteers as a registered sex offender and so, one rotten apple spoils the bunch. I am not sure why the USPS doesn't just check their volunteers instead of discontinuing this program. Speaking of Santa I went to Disneyland this past Sunday and I saw this man with a long white beard sitting inside the Village Haus (a restaurant in Fantasyland) with two other men. All I could think about was that this was Santa Claus with two elves (these men were average height). Well I can dream can't I.

Button, button, who's got the button

We have so much time and so little to do. Strike that. Reverse it. So this weekend I watched Up and it is the cutest movie ever! I cried. I was actually very surprised because I didn't think the previews looked very promising. But if I wasn't opposed to buying DVDs I would consider buying this one. I have a lot of free time this semester so I tend to watch movies or shows on Netflix - instant streaming is amazing - and I'm getting to the point were I'm beginning to watch independent films. I have to say that independent film makers do not get the credit they deserve.

I saw the strangest picture the other day. This picture of a baby elephant in the womb really shocked me. Granted this is not a real elephant but a model that was made to show an elephant in utero, its all part of a new National Geographic show called Womb Animals. I have always known that elephants as well as many other animals are mammals but I had never imaged an animal in the womb like this. The picture is a little creepy but there is something about a baby elephant I find cute.

I'm have a cold. I can't breath through my nose but it keeps running, its horrible. I am 95% sure it's a cold and not the swine flu. I actually know a couple of people who had the swine flu and I'm not worried about getting it, seeing that I've only had the flu once, and coincidentally it was after the only time I remember getting a flu vaccine. To be perfectly honest I do not know one person who is running to get the swine flu vaccine. News reports say that there is such a high demand for the vaccine, and as you know the media wouldn't lie...

Anyways I'm going to go eat some soup.