The Slightly Off Blue Plate Special

I'm 21

2009-01-15T11:21:00.001-08:00

Yay!

And the president's almost done with his awful reign. bigger YAY :)

Welcome to 2009

2009-01-01T18:50:00.000-08:00

Welcome to 2009. A year of change, so we all hope.

I have only a few resolutions, and I'm making one's I can much more easily stick to:

1) Go to more random cafes and gay bars with my roommate (the latter being easier since I turn 21 in fifteen days).

2) Make as much progress on learning to play my guitar as physically possible.

3) Save some money for once.

If I think of more, I'll add them, but my current food coma is making thought difficult.

Happy New Year! <3

In the span of a year...

2008-12-28T12:55:00.000-08:00

It’s been one year since I thought twice about life, and what a year it has been....

I was in a near-fatal car crash days after Christmas last year. I spent a few days in the hospital with my mother, and had fifteen stitches in my forehead. Nothing compared to my cousin who was with us. I was rescued from that hospital in Oregon by someone who sat waiting for me to ask him to come; something I will never forget. I learned, from my mother, how to be unbelievably optimistic and high-spirited, even when life isn’t so great—or when your pelvic bone is fractured in four places. I’ve learned that every one of your extended family members truly does care, even if they don’t always show it, or neither do you.

I went from Mexico on a ship to Berlin on a plane, and I do regret long trans-Atlantic, sleepless flights surrounded by stinky old ladies.

I was made Maid of Honor for a wedding a little less than two years from now and the idea of helping planning someone else’s wedding sounds absolutely fabulous! I love you, Maria.

I have sold my last childhood horse, and I terribly miss those big dark eyes consoling you when life is tough... like an enormous dog.

I’ve learned who your true friends are and who are the people that fill your life simply for good ol’ entertainment. I’ve learned who is to be trusted and who you should keep your guard up with. I am beginning to understand how you stay close to just a few friends for so many years and let all the others that weren’t tremendously important take their own paths, wherever they may lead.

I’ve learned that it is best to keep the negative people and things out of your life, if possible—and if not, to smile and keep going without a second thought.

I’ve learned that jealousy is a good thing and so is awkwardness, as they both seem to be endearing and signs of true affection.

I am beginning to learn the responsibility behind child-rearing, albeit my child has four legs and a fur coat. Even if they don’t bite or shed, I’m nowhere near ready for a two-legged monster.

I am beginning to learn why it is so many people stay closer to their mothers as they get older. I fear not so much losing touch with my own father as becoming one of those mothers, having to explain why.

I have spent my first Christmas with just my mother, and although it was quiet and small, it was still wonderful.

And I loved, lost, and tried again harder and longer than ever before, and I regret none of it. And I’m certainly not done either.

It's been like 2 months and I don't even know where to begin

2008-12-21T16:15:00.000-08:00

First things first, for my (very few) followers, sorry nothing has come out of here in two months. I can't honestly say that I was overly consumed with school or work or any of that, I just seriously lacked inspiration.

So as I sit here, just home from work (on a Sunday, yes) and it drizzles quietly outside, I can't help but think about these past few months...

Of course my puppy is growing larger and larger all the time. He, Carl, now weighs 50 lbs and his mother only weighs 70. He's going to be a very big boy... On Friday my mom brought Carl down to Berkeley for a little urbanism break-in. He was quite shy, to say the least (he'd get tired or scared and just sit down suddenly, ripping my arm out of the socket as I kept walking). But I think he'll fit into Berkeley quite well once I finally have a place where I can actually keep him--everyone who walked by was like "Oooooh my God! What a cute puppy!". He got more attention than me, but that might be somewhat of a benefit somewhere down the road.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, instead of battling the crowds on Black Friday, my mother and I went to a guitar shop in Yorba Linda, California, which happened to be the same location that my grandparent's real estate office was. So we sort of had an "in". That and my uncle who went with us had bought two guitars there, which helped me get a free case. Booyah. Anyway, I walked out with an acoustic Fender, all wood, and it's gorgeous. I just have to learn how to play it. Unfortunately, during the end of classes and finals, my guitar/case turned into more of a storage surface than anything else. I feel bad for that. I will have to get a stand so my guitar can actually stare at me and make me feel really guilty for ignoring it.

I broke 10,000 songs, too. That was quite exciting. And in the spirit of it being the end of the year, and since all the music blogs I follow are doing it, I will crudely construct my Top 25 Songs of 2008, in alphabetical order because I'm bad with deciding on order (I'd make horrible mixtapes if I was forced to do so) and because I just want people to know these songs, some of which are a lot more obscure than others.

25. The Wave Pictures, "Just Like a Drummer"

24. Thomas Tantrum, "Why The English Are Rubbish"

23. Santogold, "I'm a Lady (feat. Trouble Andrew)

22. The Republic Tigers, "The Nerve"

21. Ratatat, "Shempi"

20. Passion Pit, "Sleepyhead"

19. Okkervil River, "Lost Coastlines"

18. Noah and The Whale, "5 Years Time"

17. Mother Mother, "O My Heart"

16. M83, "Graveyard Girl"

15. The Last Shadow Puppets, "My Mistakes Were Made For You"

14. Kings of Leon, "Be Somebody"

13. Kid British, "Elizabeth"

12. Islands, "Creeper"

11. Hot Chip, "One Pure Thought"

10. Does It Offend You, Yeah?, "Being Bad Feels Pretty Good"

9. Damien Jurado, "Caskets"

8. Cut Copy, "Strangers In The Wind"

7. CSS, "Move"

6. Crystal Castles, "Vanished"

5. Cheese People, "Catch U"

4. Chairlift, "Territory"

3. Bodies of Water, "Under the Pines"

2. Blind Pilot, "One Red Thread"

1. Anavan, "Boom"

Once again, those aren't in order of my preference. And for some arguably better top lists, check out these blogs:

Music For Kids Who Can't Read Good and I'm Waking Up To...

I'll close with a something one of my professors said this past semester:
"There are fires you must light, but do any burn within you?"

I promise not to go two months without writing this time.

iTunes has psychic powers

2008-10-22T17:31:00.000-07:00

I keep my iTunes on shuffle most of the time and just let it go while doing something else, homework for example, skipping songs I don't really want to hear. Pretty normal behavior, I'd say.

Well just now, a new song started playing and after the first few seconds I thought, I don't feel like hearing Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl". Just as I was about to switch it to the next song, I realized I was wrong, it was the The Supreme's "You Can't Hurry Love". (Listen to them, the beginnings are eerily similar.) So I left it be since I love The Supremes.

Then the next song came on (still on shuffle). It was, I kid you not, Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl".

Creepy? I'd say so.

I'm a sucker

2008-10-16T18:26:00.000-07:00

for remixes and covers. So this got me all giddy!

"The 08 Covers Mix"

Funny or disheartening?

2008-10-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

Listen.

http://www.bpmdeejays.com/upload/hs_sal_in_Harlem_100108.mp3

My first thoughts are often scary. or hilarious. depending on how cynical you are.

2008-10-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

I'm a Berkeley student. I get the Daily Cal every day. I get it for the Sudoku (recent addict, I'll admit), not for the news.

But I do glance at the headlines. And read the Sex On Tuesday article (on Tuesday), which sometimes I think should have a content warning at the top for freshmen, and I'm certainly not conservative.

One of today's headlines caught my attention. At first it made me do a "wait... what?!". Then I was cracking up (at myself and at the horrible headline). Here's what I read:

"Study: Terrorist Attack Would Yield Fewer Votes For McCain"

Now you probably already know what my first thought was.... Oh my God! Is the Daily Cal advocating a terrorist attack towards McCain? Assassination?!

Then I thought, now wait a minute, killing off McCain would certainly yield fewer votes, but perhaps too many fewer votes. It'd be too suspicious. A conspiracy theory, if you will, courtesy of UC Berkeley's daily newspaper (although the fact that it's a Berkeley paper would actually make the incident that much less surprising).

Then I read the article (not straight to Sudoku?! gasp!) and soon realized that my coffee-less, up-since-before-the-sun brain wasn't functioning quite right. Or maybe it was....

[read the article here if you still don't understand what the headline is really referring to]

I Have Fifteen Minutes Before All Hell Breaks Loose...

2008-10-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

I'm puppy-sitting this weekend for my mother.

Actually it's more like mommy-dog/at-chewing-stage-puppy/fed-up-cat/fat-horse/house-for-sale-sitting. Needless to say, the chances of me getting homework done this weekend are slim to none.

So these two puppies (Carl, who is my pup, and his sister Stella) are downright irresistible... when they're sleeping. When they're awake, they're like two little monsters, complete with the teeth and toxic-waste smells.

I have never cleaned up so much shit & piss in my life. I have no idea how my mom puts up with this. Thank god I'm not getting Carl for another 3 months or so... (insert evil laugh) That's him snoozing up above. Cute huh? I'll try to take a picture when they're awake and playing. Oh wait, it'll just be a black blur.

If only they were a little older, I'd teach Carl some annoying trick while my mom is living it up in Vegas with her girlfriends. You know, as retaliation... for raising my puppy for me...?

2 bands. TOTALLY different.

2008-09-30T17:35:00.001-07:00

So I'll be quasi-cliche here... the boys of Kings of Leon are gods!!

At first I wasn't too thrilled by their new CD, Only By The Night (except for the pre-released single "Sex on Fire", that's a hot song), but then as I was walking home from class today, "Frontier City" came on. The song is one of the slower ones off the new album -- usually I'm not as big of a fan of KoL's slow songs -- and I had it absolutely blasting. I could hear no one and nothing else.

So I'm walking along, watching hippies play music on the sidewalk, kids skate past me, and people deep in conversation, and I felt entirely removed from it all. It was incredible. I couldn't help but smile. I felt like I was in a music video. Great experience. These sentences are getting shorter and shorter....

Listen to it.

Next up, a band I've been following (with my ears, I'm not a groupie by any standards) since they started up at the Univ of Colorado in Boulder. Now they're based in Hollywood and currently doing a tour in Europe.

Putting Iglu & Hartly in a genre is damn near impossible (partially cause I'm absolutely horrible with genres!) but I'd say they're a cross between hip-hop, altrock and indie rock melodies. Please correct me if I'm wrong... I need to fine-tune my genre-placing skills.

Here's how one person phrased it:

"Tom Petty meets The Pointer Sisters in a neon karaoke bar in Tokyo singing Tina Turner. The music is a sonic milkshake, a genre blending, culture-defying laser show. Synths, raps, explosive hooks, colorful bridges, sailboats, inspiration."
Over the years I've been downloading their songs one by one as they put them up (like on Myspace). Now they've released & Then Boom and even though I've been listening to the songs for quite awhile, I still love them.

Check them out, they're crazy boys.

Wrath of the loo

2008-09-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

I wrote this a little over two years ago and thought I'd revive it. Rereading it, I almost can't believe I wrote it. :)

--------------------

If anything, nod and get a laugh...

The Toilet: A fixture for defecation and urination, consisting of a bowl fitted with a hinged seat and connected to a waste pipe and a flushing apparatus. a.k.a. privy, john, lavatory, chamber pot, commode, urinal, latrine, and finally... crapper.

Alright, so I've given the dictionary definition of a toilet. What's the point, you ask. Well, let me just put it out there: Toilets are scary and rule our lives....

The Prehistoric: You know the ones with the wood handle, decorative patterns, and strange pastely colors.... Now tell me, why would something that we shit in ever need to be this elaborate? And what makes it worse, is when you find these types of toilets in an ancient house belonging to some old person and it has a padded seat cover. Eww. Oh, and can't forget the fact that they flush so slowly that your dead goldfish could revive itself and flop back out before ever going down.

The Over-flower: Arguably one of the more commonly experienced bad toilets, this one is known to overflow at any moment. So you do your thing, flush cautiously, then stand there and watch the water. You watch it rise... and rise... and rise... then you helplessly exclaim, Ahh shit! You dive for the valve as the water is just starting to seep over the edge. So then the next time you go to flush, you're downright scared to do it, and you end up getting in the habit of avoiding this toilet. You'd rather walk a little further to the next bathroom in your house just so you don't have to take the risk of dealing with another overflow. You never know what tricks these toilets might have up their seats....

The Grungy: Just plain disgusting. No one knows when the last time it was cleaned and it definitely shows the evidence. Nothing's more thrilling than going to the bathroom while thinking of the possible sewage monsters that may climb out of the toilet at any moment to bite you square in the ass.

The Porta-Potty: Every time we step foot into one of these smelly, repulsive capsules, there are many things that instantly pass through our heads. Get in, do what you have to do, and get out as quickly as physically possible. But the worst fear of all, the one that always crosses our minds: the dreaded tip-over. We've seen it on Jackass, we've even considered doing it to our friends, but when the time comes when you might be the victim, oh no! It's now a mortal sin! [This, of course, may also be a consideration: click]

The Public Bathroom: Who knows what infectious bacteria are growing here! We all know we should use the paper seat covers, but when in a hurry, squatting is the way to go. (Perhaps this one relates best to the gals out there....) But we always hear different 'scientific' finds regarding the cleanliness, or perhaps the lack there of, of public toilets. Or about the likelihood of catching some disease by simply firmly placing your booty on it.

The Self-flusher: Alright these just completely freak me out. Nothing is worse than these damn toilets flushing while you're in the middle of doing your business! It's like an ass-washer... one you'd rather not experience. Or you manage to get the one self-flusher that won't flush. So you're in the stall, staring at the toilet, moving this way and that trying to trigger the sensor. Then when you realize that's not going to work, you start searching for that itsy-bitsy little button that can manually flush it. Unfortunately for you, this particular toilet lacks such button. So you just turn around, walk out of the stall, and hope that no one sees and thinks you're an unsanitary fool.

And finally, drum roll please...

The Permanent Park Porta-Potty: (thats a lot of "p's") At least you don't have to worry about it being tipped over on you. Even so, it reeks, it's dark, it's dirty, and it lacks any form of sanitation (God forbid it has any toilet paper left on the roll).

Let me tell you a little story about a park porta-potty...

A couple of years ago, while visiting my grandparents in Oregon, we went to a national park/trail for a bit of exploring. Our group consisted of myself, my parents, my grandparents, and my aunt and uncle and my cousin. We walked the trail for a good two hours and finally reached an enormous waterfall. We took some family photos and whatnot, and then headed back to the trailhead.

When we got back to the parking lot, we decided we should all use the restrooms before leaving because the drive back was at least two and a half hours. Everything went fine (as going to the bathroom usually does), until we look over and see my uncle prying a huge branch from a tree behind the men's room. We all stand there giving him and each other weird looks when my Grandpa walks over to inform us that my uncle managed to drop his brand new digital camera down the toilet. His plan: fish it out with the branch (it was in a case with a strap).

So my dad walks over, figuring he'd give a helping hand once he got past the hysterical laughing fit. He entered the dark bathroom and immediately walked out, laughing even harder. Apparently the stick my uncle had fetched wasn't long enough. Plan B: lower himself down into the toilet and grab the strap himself. By the time my dad had gotten over there, my uncle was already halfway down the toilet (somehow; I'm still not too sure how he managed to fit).

Well my uncle eventually reached it, pulled it out, and emerged with the shit camera. He removed it from the case, dripping (I'll let you use your imagination here), and immediately headed for the dumpster. After he had already flung it into the trash, my aunt realized that because it was in a case, they could probably still rescue the memory card and get the pictures. So now my uncle was dumpster diving...

Once finally retrieving the camera, removing the memory card and cleaning himself off (with wet wipes that some nice old lady provided... while desperately trying to cover her own laughter), my dad and I came up with an ingenious plan: Why don't we leave the camera sitting on a stone pillar near the parking lot. Once the sun dried it off it would look fine. Then someone would come along, pick up the camera thinking it was accidentally left behind, but would then realize,

Wow this camera stinks!

Wait... I thought it was "copy paste"

2008-09-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

I admittedly have some music that I don't actually know I have. And that's an understatement. But I can't feel too bad. Nothing's better than stumbling upon a new gem (thank you shuffle) while laboring away over a painstakingly tedious homework assignment.

Today's find actually came about while I was hunting down an mp3 version of James Houston's remix of Radiohead's Nude (which is absolutely incredible, by the way). On some random guy's blog, I caught a glance of the words "Cut Copy" and thought, that's awfully familiar... Well off to the iTunes I went, did a little search, and sure enough I had a song by Cut Copy. It only had 1 play though. How sad.

So I listened and instantly wanted more. More more MORE! (I am a music addict, after all.)

My recommendation: their album from this past March, In Ghost Colours. Especially "Feel The Love". It's pretty happy :]

Goal. (a.k.a. GOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLL!!!!!)

2008-09-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

I have decided to write more. More often. With more wit. And wittiness. Is that the same? Eh, whatevs.

Let me know if I'm failing at this.

Ikea Adventures Round... eh I've lost count

2008-09-19T16:43:00.000-07:00

Went to Ikea yet again yesterday. I like going during the week: you can actually find parking and there isn't eight million young couples with five kids each running about. But I went to exchange the cover for my sofa I bought last week. I got to the last cushion and the damn zipper broke on me. Thankfully the large woman behind the desk was quite friendly. Probably had to do with the fact that I was the only one there, much to my benefit.

So while I waited for my exchange to be brought out, I ventured into the Ikea maze, where I am shrunk down to a mouse trying to find the cheese, better known as the cash register. I had actually also gone to find myself a coffee table, so being that I have been to Ikea one too many times, I knew exactly where I was going. I lingered about the "economical, chic" tables for a bit, jotted down the bin and aisle number (we all know how that works), then headed for the cafe. I had apple strudel on my mind...

There were several groups in the cafe (which is actually quite tasty, and cheap... the cafe, not the people), the most hilarious being the the collection of Swedes... how fitting. But I was faced with a dilemma. See, when I eat in a public area, I don't like to have my back to the entrance. I mean, what if someone came into the Ikea cafe with guns blaring?! I'd be utterly vulnerable! On the other hand, this Ikea has enormous windows facing the Bay and a view sounded quite lovely while I ate my Swedish meatballs and apple strudel... alone. So I chose the view. What were the odds of someone taking their rage out on Ikea, anyway? I mean, unless you get lost in the maze, there's not much to hate.

When I finished I headed towards what I like to call the stomach of Ikea, that is, the warehouse. On my way there, I became completely aware of something I experience in almost every public place: men over the age of 35 staring at me. I don't mean to be vain, but for God's sake! leave me alone! My solution, which I have fine tuned over the years: be a total spaz and be completely oblivious to everyone. Now I'm not the kind to run into people and act like a total moron, but I figure if I just completely avoid eye-contact and act like I'm on a mission (to find that perfect $15 rug--a very important mission, indeed), then they'll be more inclined to leave me alone. That or I'll just be so blissfully ignorant that I will convince myself no old creepy man is watching me from behind the row of lamps....

So I finally get through the maze, find the stomach, locate Row 12, Aisle 45 (which was waaaaay at the end; I felt like I was going to have to check out in Sweden), heave my perfectly boxed coffee table onto one of those amazingly fun carts, and do the Tokyo Drift to the cash register. The best part, though, was when I went back to Returns to pick up my sofa cover.

When I got there, a couple was attempting to negotiate with the woman who had helped me before, who had suddenly become not quite so nice. From what I could tell, they were trying to return a perfectly okay ottoman, the complaint being that it simply didn't go with their decor. I thought, Oh my God, people... get over it. You paid what? $30 for that? Give it away! The employee would have none of this, though: "No one wants to buy something that has already been lived in... on.... I can't take it unless it has a defect."

Man: "Well what if I bring it back in the box? You'd think it was new."
Employee: "No we wouldn't. We open the box. We'd see hardware was missing." (In other words "You think I'm a moron, do you? Well let me tell you something mister, just cause I work at Ikea don't mean I can't tell what's new and what isn't. I haven't been getting used shit all my life. I know what new looks like, thank you very much!")
Man: "But--"

Then the best thing ever happened. The woman put up her hand in the man's face, stopping him in his tracks, then she looks at me over his shoulder and says, "Your item is over here, sweetheart". I laughed (internally) and played uber nice and sweet and gracious, gathered up my "item", then skipped out. Actually, I more rode the cart out to my car. Why are those things so fun?! ...And incredibly obnoxious at the same time.

Oh Ikea, how you make my day.

Summer Tunes

2008-08-29T21:12:00.000-07:00

I haven't written in ages, I know. So since summer is over and classes have started once again, I thought maybe I should put up some of my favorite music from this past summer. First up are 2008 albums that I listened to most this summer with my favorite song(s) listed. Second is older albums that I still played all through the sunny months, again with my favorite song(s) off those albums. And finally are older singles I love (not a fan of the whole album). All are in favorite order.

Enjoy.

New Albums:

City and Colour, Bring Me Your Love
"The Girl", "Confessions"

Santogold, Santogold
"I'm A Lady"

Lykke Li, Youth Novels
"Little Bit"

Does It Offend You, Yeah?, You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into
"We Are Rockstars"

Weezer, Weezer (The Red Album)
"King", "Cold Dark World"

Hot Chip, Made In The Dark
"Ready For The Floor"

Islands, Arm's Way
"Creeper"

Ben Sollee, Learning to Bend
"How to See The Sun Rise"

The Raconteurs, Consolers of the Lonely
"Salute Your Solution"

3OH!3, Want
"PunkBitch", "Colorado Sunshine", "Richman"

Favorite bands that haven't released anything recently (with my top songs by them listed):

Sparklehorse
"Piano Fire", It's A Wonderful Life
"Pig", "Ghost of His Smile", Good Morning Spider
"It's Not So Hard", Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly of a Mountain

Pinback
"Good to Sea", Autumn of the Seraphs
"Grey Machine", Offcell

Slightly Stoopid
"Zeplike", "Closer To The Sun", "This Joint", Closer To The Sun
"World Goes Round", Everything You Need

Built To Spill
"Conventional Wisdom", You In Reverse
"Carry The Zero", Keep It Like A Secret

Digitalism
"Echoes", "Idealistic (Original Mix)", Idealism

The Radio Dept.
"Ewan", Lesser Matters
"The Worst Taste In Music (Extended)", Pet Grief

The Sounds
"Rock 'n' Roll", Living In America

The Wallflowers
"One Headlight", "6th Avenue Heartache", "Three Marlenas", Bringing Down the Horse
"Closer To You", Red Letter Days

Singles that are great but aren't brand spankin' new:

Califone, "Bottles & Bones (Shade and Sympathy)", Roomsound

Broken Social Scene, "Bandwitch", Broken Social Scene

MGMT, "Time To Pretend", Oracular Spectacular

The Knife, "Heartbeats (Jose Gonzalez cover)", Deep Cuts

The Prodigy, "Hot Ride", Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned

TV On The Radio, "Staring At The Sun", Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes

The Moldy Peaches, "Anyone Else But You", The Moldy Peaches

Ladytron, "Seventeen", Light and Magic

The Puppy Sagas

2008-08-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

Friday evening, our rottweiler, Elsie, had her first litter. Just two pups, a boy and a girl. See photos of them here.

Hill-Billying It Up At Ma's Place

2008-07-25T09:39:00.000-07:00

After my week in Colorado, I had one day to get things back in order at my apartment, then I headed out to my mom's place an hour north of me to house/pet-sit for the weekend while she and her friends do whatever is they do in Vegas... trouble if you ask me....

Wednesday wasn't too bad. Wasn't the typical near-100 degrees that my mother somehow endures every day. Also wasn't quite as smokey as it has been due to the approximate 1,400 various fires burning in California. Poor state. :( Like a damn inferno. Apocalypse maybe? Yea, probably, knowing our luck.

Then I woke up Thursday morning, turned on the faucet upstairs, and the water just died. I thought, Great, the water's off and mommy's not here to rescue me. Then as I tried more faucets around the place I began to realize that I just had zero water pressure, resulting in basically not having running water in the house. So after I called mom, called the water company (and dealt with the quintessential Mrs. Bitch), and was told that the likelihood of getting someone out to check out this problem was undeterminable (BS!), I had to resort to alternate means regarding acquiring water... and cleansing myself.

Now if you aren't already aware, I am a shower freak. If I don't get my shower, I'm a miserable, pissed off mess that should NOT be asked to do anything. So my "shower" on Thursday consisted of dumping a bucket of water (which took a good fifteen minutes to fill) over my head. No shampoo, no conditioner, no shaving. I was not a happy camper, to say the least. And the fact that it neared 100 degrees that day did not make the situation any more bearable. Good thing my dog doesn't care too much about how I look and/or smell (to a limit on that latter one, I'd assume).

So on Friday, Mrs. Bitch finally sent someone out to evaluate our little dilemma, someone who was actually quite nice, thank God. We were then informed that the pump in my mom's well would have to be replaced. The pump that's approximately 200 feet below ground, that is. The pump that would cost around $2500 to replace, that is. Well good thing my mom's just renting and doesn't have to cover this herself! :P

By this time, though, I had figured out my "showering" process and came out decently clean the second time I gave the ol' bucket a chance. But living out of buckets of water that take damn near forever to fill isn't much fun. I mean, I don't have a dishwasher in my apartment, so washing dishes by hand is nothing new to me. But having to do all this without running water is just a royal pain in the ass!

We were told by Victor, the water pump repairman, that they would either come back Friday afternoon or definitely on Saturday and that the project would take about 5 hours to complete and would require a large boom to remove and replace the pump. Well they didn't come back Friday and I was a little less than pleased, to say the least.

But Saturday morning at 9:30, though, Victor and his crew (consisting of one other guy who didn't speak English and Victor's son, who was all of 12 years old) pulled in, ready to work. Only two hours later they were done and I heading straight for the shower. Happy ending, right? Not quite.... As I started my shower, I soon realized that the water coming out was hardly clean (or "potable", as they say... stupid word, in my opinion). I think I have bad karma. :(

It's funny how instances like these really make you appreciate the small things. Like running water.

Return to the Motherland (The Land of Goats)

2008-07-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

This past week, I made a spontaneous trip to Colorado to see my dad, my friends, my pony, and my mountains.

It wasn't nearly as exciting and adventurous as my Berlin trip, but I did eat octopus, if that counts for anything. And I saw a 6,000 sq. ft., $6 million apartment. Yes, that's right, apartment! It was ridiculous. It had it's own elevator, toilet with more buttons than my phone, and antique panels from China. Wish I had an elevator...

Other than that, just spent some time with my dad, Sarah, Vincent, and Mike. I didn't see everyone I wanted to, cause most were busy with work. :(

It's funny, though, how you start to realize where home really is. It's the Bay Area for me now. Perhaps even forever....

Here's some photos. There'll be more soon.

Oh, and I made $60 and we went swimming... illegally ;P

Berlin photos

2008-06-18T23:46:00.001-07:00

Just a note...

all the photos from my Berlin trip are up on my photo site

There are quite a few, but who cares.. at least I'm not asking you to read something more :P

Day Thirteen: Last full day as a tourist in Berlin

2008-06-16T15:55:00.001-07:00

June 15, 2008
Location: In line at the Reichstag
Local Time: 12:40am
Home Time: 3:40pm

It is (or was?) my last full day in Berlin and I must say, despite all the fun and how quickly it all went by, I am glad to be going back.

I’m honestly quite tired of fighting the crowds of other tourists, and avoiding the insane soccer fans, and the walking, of course. That, and I miss my princess bed.

So as my last day in Berlin, Brentt and I only went to two tourist sites (because we were tired and sick of the tourist bit). First, we went to Checkpoint Charlie, which really wasn’t that exciting. The dilapidated Communist museum next to the checkpoint was actually more interesting… partially because of its poor state.

Then, we headed to the Reichstag—which is the Parliament building—and stood in line with way too many other tourists in order to go through security, be smashed into a huge elevator, and taken up to the glass dome, where you can walk up an inclined spiral ramp to the top. It was neat, but I was just so burnt out that it probably would have been a lot more interesting earlier in my visit.

After that, we dealt with train complications (and quasi-obscene German youth soccer fans) and went to a café in a rather sketchy area (in my opinion).

Then, for my last-night-in-Berlin-dinner, we met up with Brian and went to this snazzy little German restaurant that has apparently gotten a review in the New York Times (uhh… woo!). It was really good, but definitely the most expensive meal of my trip. Luckily, though, I spent just the right amount, and now I only have loose Euro change left. Thank God, too… the conversion rate is bad enough, what am I supposed to do with left-over Euros.

So that’s that. My first trip to Europe and it’s all a bit of a hazy blur. But what can I say, I got to see pretty much all of Berlin that needs to be seen, went to apparently the hottest club in the world (according to Brentt & Brian), ate incredible, relatively cheap food, drank fabulous German beer, met some fantastic people from all over, and picked up a bit of German.

What more could I ask for?

Day Twelve: Laughing at the Rococo ridiculousness of Frederick the Great

2008-06-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

June 15, 2008
Location: Sanssouci palace in Potsdam
Local Time: 8:11pm
Home Time: 11:11am (make a wish!)

Today was my last day as a super-tourist in Berlin and it was spent making remarks about the excessiveness of the Rococo style.

After another waffles and ice cream breakfast, Brentt and I took a regional train out to Potsdam. The train was nicer than the local system; it was really smooth and pretty fast. Only thing was a bunch of German poser thugs were blasting crappy techno music on the train. It was funny listening to them since American lyrics, though, especially considering they probably had no idea what the lyrics actually meant.

Once we got to Potsdam, we took a bus from the train station to Sanssouci palace. [As a side note, Mediterranean tourists are so damn pushy! It was ridiculous!] And that’s when the unbelievably excessive amount of walking commenced.

We started off going through the women’s wing and the kitchen/wine cellar wing of the palace. Then, while we had time to spare before the main tour, we walked over to an old windmill that is still in use to grind flour. It was neat going up in the windmill because you could get right up next to all the gears… and risk losing a finger or two (something the US would most definitely not allow).

Then we headed back to the palace and went through the audio-guided tour of some main chambers. It was pretty…. A lot of gold and overly decorated if you ask me, though. It was kind of funny, though, cause at the end of the tour, you walk through a “servant’s quarters” and there’s a massive painting of the Kaiser by Andy Warhol. I told Brentt that apparently the servant had very modern taste.

We then walked to the “new” palace, which was deceivingly far away. Like when you left Sanssouci, the new palace looked a lot closer and a lot smaller than it actually was. But it was unnecessarily enormous and unnecessarily far away. The only reason why we went all that way though was so that Brentt could show me this ballroom that was completely decorated in seashells. Talk about gawdy….

When we finally got back to Sanssouci (impressively without collapsing on the way back from utter exhaustion), we caught the bus to the station and unhappily dealt with a very crowded train ride back to Berlin.

Then, for dinner, we made our own spatzle! It wasn’t quite as good as the nice German restaurant, but it was a good experience. Then, afterwards, we went to a wine place where you pay a Euro for a glass and get your own wine. Then at the end, you pay what you think is fair (but they do kind of keep tabs on you). Very Berlin, according to Brentt.

Day Ten: WWII & Shopping!

2008-06-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

(Friday) June 13, 2008 (dum dum dum)
Location: Oversized places
Local Time: 9:30pm
Home Time: 12:30pm

Today was the day of walking. And rain. And experiencing oversized… things.

We started off at Potsdamer Platz, which was pretty much just an enormous plaza with various “sites”. One of these sites was the Sony Center, a shopping/movie theatre area. What was cool about the center was the quasi-canopy over it. Just a neat space.

Next we walked over to the Holocaust Memorial, which is an entire city block filled with a bunch of concrete blocks of various sizes that you go through on paths that sink below street level. It was really cool because it had just rained and a lot of the blocks had water droplets all over them.

Then we headed to/through Tiergarten, an enormous park just past the Brandenburg Gate. Brentt told me that following World War Two, all of the remaining trees (those that hadn’t been destroyed from bombings) were used for fire wood. So that means that the lush forest that the park is today is entirely composed of growth from the Second World War onwards. Pretty impressive.

But also unnecessarily huge. It took forever to get through the park. And by the time we got halfway, to the Berlin Victory Column, we got rained on. But the park was quite beautiful… a great sanctuary in the middle of Berlin.

Once we got through the park, we walked over to one of the main shopping areas, which is also where the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is located. The church was bombed in WWII and wasn’t renovated or torn down, but remained as a memorial, like the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in Japan with the Genbaku Dome. It was neat, although pretty sad. (A lot of WWII remembering today….)

Then we did a bit of shopping! Wooo! :D

We went to an enormous department store-like place called Kaufhaus des Westens, or KaDeWe for short. But it was more than a department store. It had everything! Even more than Macy’s! There was a whole level completely dedicated to food items. It was pretty funny, and disturbing, to see the “American” section. Every other section had fine delicacies and snazzy foods... the American section had cheese wiz and other crappy processed foods. We are viewed so highly by Europeans….

Then, for dinner, we went to an Indian restaurant. It ended up being by far the best Indian food I’ve ever had. It was incredible.

Day Eight/Nine: Museuming while recovering from a night of drunk dancing (too much info)

2008-06-12T15:16:00.000-07:00

June 12, 2008
Location: Mitte & Hamburger Bahnhof
Local Time: 10:15pm
Home Time: 1:17pm

The touristy-ness has most definitely commenced. And my lack of energy serves as proof.

Yesterday (Wednesday), once Brentt got out of class at around 4pm, we headed to Mitte, the central area of Berlin. We paid way too much to go to the top of the TV Tower, which was originally a Communist structure, but got an amazing view of Berlin and took some fabulous photos. Thank God we didn’t have to climb stairs to the top or I would have most definitely died—going up the elevator, you could feel the pressure change.

After that, we walked across Museum Island, where we got to take some photos of the Berliner Dom, a famous cathedral in Berlin, and the Altes Museum, which I learned way too much about in my architecture history class… so it was kind of cool to actually see it. Then we walked down Unter den Linden, where we saw the Neue Wache (a memorial to the victims of World War II) and the monument to the May 10, 1933 book burning by the Nazis in Bebelplatz.

Finally, after passing about four hundred souvenir shops, we finally reached the Brandenburg Gate. It wasn’t particularly exciting (it was actually more entertaining to see the random embassies near the gate and their ridiculous looking “guards”) but was pretty impressive in size.

When we got home, we attempted to make a Thai curry chicken dish, and by we, I mean Brentt. Then, around 10pm, we headed over to Brian’s to begin another long night… which ended at approximately 4:30 this morning. Clubs here are so much better. They actually play real, danceable music, not just mainstream hip-hop over and over again. It’s fabulous.

Today, we woke up at noon, got ready, and went with Brian to a café to “wake up”… it didn’t work so well. Then we slowly made our way over to Hamburger Bahnhof, which is the contemporary art museum. It was neat to see some famous pieces, especially by Andy Warhol. And the Hamburger Bahnhof is one of the old remaining (former) train station in Berlin. It was a neat building. We were going to go to the Altes Museum, but our adventures from the night/morning before were starting to catch up with us.

So we got food.

We went to a fantastic pizza place, where we each ate our own whole pizzas. Mmmmm…. Afterwards, we decided it was best to call it a day and have been lounging, sipping white wine since.

[Note: The photos I took from the TV Tower pretty much all have to be Photoshopped… so they might go up later, but I’ll put up ones from today for now.]

Day Six/Seven: Squatters, The Wall, and more food

2008-06-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

June 10, 2008
Location: So many places, my feet are killing me
Local Time: 11:15pm
Home Time: 2:15pm

After a day of not much (Brentt had class, so it was a bit of a lazy day), we headed out at about 10:30pm to Kunsthaus Tacheles. It was originally a department store, but had been taken over by squatters. Now it is a series of bars, art galleries, and random spaces absolutely covered with graffiti and “street art”. Behind the building, the lot is filled with sand and there are beachy-like bars there, too. It was a fun experience, seeing the artwork and whatnot.

One funny thing that happened at Kunsthaus Tacheles… Brentt was showing me around the place—through the various floors and galleries and bars and whatnot—when he remembered a catwalk underneath one of the biggest archways in Europe. So we went back through one of the bars, through an elaborately decorated (but hardly noticeable) door, and onto the catwalk. It was cool being up there because it was so dark and no one could see us. When we went to go back, though, we found there was no handle on the door and it was locked and despite all our knocking, no one heard us. We were locked out.

On the other side of the catwalk was another door that led to a part of the building that seemed to be unused. But we didn’t really have any other option. Luckily it was unlocked and we were able to go down the deserted, spray-paint scented stairway, and discreetly exited out into the “beach” area. Whew!

Today, once Brentt was done with class, we headed out to what is left of the Berlin Wall. It was interesting to see, even though the graffiti/art on the wall is constantly being “renewed”/worn away. So clearly none of the original art is there, but some that was done by the artist hired when most of the wall was torn down has been kept in relatively good condition.

One thing that was interesting was when we got back on the public transportation, we sat across from an old man who looked German (at least I thought so), and it occurred to me that there are quite a few people here that not only experienced the wall, but WWII and Communism in the East. It seems so surreal to think that all that had occurred was still essentially in our generation’s lifetime (and/or the preceding two or so).

After that, I got to experience paying to pee. I had to pay 50 Euro cents to go to the bathroom, which really wasn’t all that nice. Such a joke….

Then we went to a street that Brentt said was relatively well known and had some Italian food for lunch. While we were waiting for our food, we roughly planned out the rest of my days here—deciding what touristy things we should do and when. On the way home, we did a little bit of shopping… apparently I’m collecting postcards to be used as art in my apartment.

For dinner, we went to a “real” German restaurant and it was absolutely fabulous. I got Wiener schnitzel, which was not nearly as scary (or disgusting) as I had always imagined it to be, and Brentt got Spätzle, which is a kind of potato dumpling/noodle with onions and mushrooms and cheese. It was delightful. But incredibly filling; we left quite a bit and had to pass on apple strudel, which was unfortunate.

Once we had sat digesting for long enough, Brentt got the “brilliant” idea to run after the sunset… literally. We caught several subways as quick as we could, hoping that we wouldn’t emerge from the underground to find the sun had gone down and it was dark. But, of course, it was still up and plenty light out. So we high-tailed it to Victoria Park, Berlin’s largest park with the highest “hill” and a statue to Queen Victoria, to see the sunset and briefly listen to hippies/yuppies playing Indian music.

So now we’re back at Brentt’s “flat”, which is what I’ve decided I will call my place in Berkeley from now on, recuperating for tomorrow… another day of walking. Sigh….

Day Six: Ich bin ein Berliner

2008-06-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

Not too much happened today (Brentt had class part of the day), but just wanted to make note that some photos are up on my [other] website. I will add more as the week goes on and more happens....

Day Five: There was a bratwurst massacre at Slaughter Lake

2008-06-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

June 8, 2008
Location: Schlachtensee “Slaughter Lake”
Local Time: 10:15pm
Home Time: 1:15pm

Today began with potatoes and eggs. Perhaps too many potatoes. But it was a good, hearty breakfast.

Then, at around 2pm, we headed out for an hour’s worth of public transportation. We joined up with Brian and one of his roommates, Anja, at one of the train stations about halfway through our journey and continued on with them to Schlachtensee, otherwise known as “Slaughter Lake”. Once again, we set up Brian’s wee little barbeque and started some bratwurst, which turned out to be probably the best bratwurst I’ve ever had. That’s Germany for you… even their cheap supermarket bratwurst beat our American ones.

Another of Brian’s roommates, Felix, joined us after awhile and he, Anja, and Brentt went swimming in the lake while Brian and I took a little nappy. It was absolutely perfect. The temperature was perfect, there just the right amount of light coming through the tall trees, and it was relatively quiet considering how many people were there.

It was also a perfect German cultural experience… i.e., nudity. There was lots of naked-baby-ness and plenty of old lady boobies… and some other even less pleasant things. But what can you do? It’s Europe.

At around 8pm, once the place had really cleared out and the bugs had begun to take the peoples’ places, we decided to clean up and head home. I still can’t get over how light it stays till 10:30 or 11pm.

Now Brentt and I are just relaxing (amazing how being lazy in the sun can be so exhausting), listening to all of Berlin scream whenever a goal is made in some soccer game and what we assume (and hope) to be fireworks are set off absolutely everywhere.

Photos should start going up tomorrow, so keep an eye out. http://lauren115.multiply.com/photos

Day Three: Dancing the night away

2008-06-07T08:24:00.001-07:00

June 6, 2008
Location: Various places in Berlin
(currently 5pm on June 7)

My first full day in Berlin was an interesting one, to say the least. It started off with sleeping in… until 2pm. I was jet lagged and apparently Brentt was just tired. It was nice though. Once we had gotten up and showered and whatnot, Brentt’s friend Brian came over and we went and had waffles and ice cream. mmmm :)

After “breakfast”, we went to a Turkish market with Brian where he bought a ton of food for under 10 Euros. It was chaotic and super claustrophobic (pretty sure I got run into and run over at least a dozen times), but was a fun experience. When we got back to Brian’s apartment, we prepared our purchases for our little picnic.

So we hauled all our goods and supplies to a nearby park, set up our barbeque, and made very yummy vege-wraps. We enjoyed some chatting and watching locals while drinking cheap Berlin grocery market beer. It was pretty entertaining watching a group of Turkish guys build this enormous fire in their tiny barbeque then cook elaborate shish kabobs. By the time we decided we were cold and were ready to go, it was 10pm and only somewhat dark out. The days are kind of strange here, daylight-wise.

Brentt and I then went back to his place and got ready to go out to a club for “London Calling” night. When we were ready, we went back to Brian’s to join him, his roommates, and some other people that were visiting, then our big, noisy group headed out. It was 2:30am.

The club was only 6 Euros to get in and was overflowing with gay guys, but it was a blast. I met Jenny, a school friend of Brentt and Brian’s, who was lovely and we enjoyed being straight girls amongst a ton of gay guys. After an unmentionable amount of drinks and much dancing, the club began to empty out. By the time we were finally done dancing and exhausted, Brentt, one of Brian’s roommates and myself headed home. As we left the darkness of the club and made our way up and outside, we realized it was light outside. It was 6:30am…. We had literally danced till the sun came up! :)

On our way home, Brentt and I grabbed chocolate croissants and pretty much fell asleep with crumbs still on our faces.

When we woke up, it was 4pm. This lifestyle is going to wear me out.

Day One/Two: The Flight(s)

2008-06-05T15:36:00.000-07:00

June 4, 2008 / June 5, 2008
Location: Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
Local Time: 11:00 AM
Berkeley Time: 2:00 AM

I can now wholeheartedly confirm that old people and children are one in the same.

My flight started off on a fairly decent track: We were taking off and there was an empty seat between me and my fellow row occupier, a civil engineer who was friendly, but not too friendly, not too talkative. And that’s when the decency ended. I swear to God it was as if I was placed on a plane that departed from an old folks’ home. I was in an aisle seat right next to a service station and let me tell you, it was just like sitting next to the kitchen in a nice restaurant—doesn’t matter how fancy it is, you still see/hear/smell/feel everything!

So every single time anyone over the age of 55 passed by said service station, they peered in, made sure no attendant was looking, then snatched up as many drinks, candy bars, little packs of almonds, etc., as they possibly could, as if those robust old farts were starving! And needless to say, that only made my inability to sleep on planes even more apparent. Every time that damn curtain swished, it managed to brush against me. And the chitter chatter of the flight attendants was mind-numbing.

The worst, by far though, were the two old hags sitting behind me. The younger one, if you could call her that, was the daughter, so I assumed. Every 10 minutes or so, she would get up, lifting herself out of her seat by pulling on the back of mine, walk three steps over to the service station, peek in, and ask the poor attendant for yet another worthless item that she really didn’t need. By the sixtieth time she got up, I was about ready to tell her to sit her old ass back down and press the little button on her armrest that looked like a human being so that the attendant, who wouldn’t pull on my seat, could walk the three steps over with yet another glass of water for Mrs. Demanding.

The mother (again, so I assumed), who had to have been 115, was indescribably more ridiculous. Whenever she had to get up to use the “lavatory”, which was approximately once every hour, I could feel her back there pushing and pulling and heaving and God knows what else… using a damn pulley to hoist herself out of her seat. And when she finally came back fifteen minutes later, it was even worse. She would hit the back of my seat, bellowing “Excuse me! Excuse me!” until I was forced to put my seatback in the upright position so she could flop back down in her seat, all the while pulling my seat back towards her.

So I spent the first six hours of my approximately ten hour flight reading almost an entire book and rolling my eyes in utter frustration of the pure absurdity of aging foreigners.

It wasn’t until the last hour and a half that my poor eyes finally started to give way and I somewhat dozed off. But now I’m in Amsterdam for about eight hours and my body is wondering what the hell is going on. Until now, I had never experienced jet lag and I now understand how absolutely horrendous it is. I feel like my body is hitting me from the inside, screaming “Why won’t the sun go away?! Make it go away!” I swear there wasn’t one minute during that flight where it was actually totally dark outside, and the fact that we flew over Greenland probably didn’t help, where I’m guessing it’s the time of year where they experience more daylight than dark. Perfect.

So now that I’m in Amsterdam, where it is light, and my body thinks it’s 2AM, which is quite logical, I feel as though my brain is about to stop functioning. So why don’t airports have beds? Then again, I’m so afraid of missing my flight that falling asleep is pretty much out of the question. That means, by the time I get on my flight to Berlin around 6PM local time, fly to Berlin, meet Brentt, probably get food (and hopefully a much needed, hearty drink), get back to his place, and do some catching up, I will have been awake for around 30-35 hours.

Kill me now.

P.S. So far I have seen a Buddhist monk get “randomly chosen” at SFO security and sent through the scary sucky-noise-making machine, and an Amish man rather excitedly roaming about the Amsterdam airport…. I didn’t even know Amish people flew….

And my ass is sufficiently numb. I’m going to have to sleep on my stomach for awhile.

Ch-ch-ch-chaaaanges

2008-05-23T12:09:00.000-07:00

It's been quite awhile since I've really written anything, but the semester only ended yesterday. I was pretty busy what with the end of classes, papers, finals, and family visiting. But now I'm halfway done with Berkeley and it's a surreal feeling (I remember the idea of college itself seemed like something that would never come).

But now the papers are over (for now), the finals passed effortlessly, and the family has all gone home. Unfortunately, now friends are heading home, too. Some will be back for summer classes, and most will be back in the fall, but my lovely Maria is leaving tomorrow and will be in Ireland for our entire junior year :( So we're heading to San Fran today for our last adventure for awhile.

The family visits went pretty well. Got to see Mary, who is doing fantastic!, my cousin Chris, from Colorado, Aunt Mary, Grandma & Grandpa, and my wonderful cousin Michelle, here all the way from the Philippines. She stayed two weekends with me and we had waaaay too much fun :D Hopefully it won't be years before I see her again. Maybe a massive graduation or a wedding or something will come up :P

As for changes, well there's quite a bit going on around here. My current roommate is moving out at the end of the month which means two things: (1) I'll be getting a summer roommate, and (2) the apartment will be entirely in my name! It's so weird to think this place will be aaaallll mine. Kinda scary, too. In the fall, my friend Brentt is moving in with me, which should be a blast. Also, I'm going to be applying for a job at Anthropologie this weekend, so hopefully I'll have something set up to do once I get back from my little vaca... which is Berlin! :D

Yup, that's right, I'm going to Berlin for two weeks in June. I've never been to Europe and since Brentt is there studying for the year and, thus, I have a place to stay and someone who knows the area, I figured, what better time to go than now? So in a week and a half I'm off for some sightseeing and other, less "honorable", activities.... Don't worry, I'll be back in one piece with tons of photos, ready to take on a new roommate, a new job, and a summer full of chillin' with all the buddies.

Now I'm just hoping this summer doesn't get as hot as it was a week or so ago... 100 degrees with Bay Area humidity might just kill me...

One of the coolest things I've ever seen on the internet

2008-05-20T09:38:00.000-07:00

Stumbled upon this and dropped my jaw. Holy bloody hell this is so beautiful and efficient and amazing... It literally goes off the computer screen it's so expansive

http://audiomap.tuneglue.net/

I could play with this for *hours* and, of course, get zero studying done, which is probably what will happen... blast!

Advertisers are getting clever...

2008-05-02T16:02:00.000-07:00

New baby in the family

2008-04-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

The little girl with mommy Annie
[approximately three days old]

Road, from nowhere

2008-04-06T10:24:00.001-07:00

My road of life
Is a winding, crooked mountain two-lane
On a dried-up, dead-flat plain
Another drives ahead of me
A glimmering spec on the horizon
Forever the same distance away
As though I’m not gaining any ground
The rest is silent
Except for my murmur and my music
Few signs line my road
There are no street lamps to guide
No guardrails for the just-in-case
No traffic signals to dictate
But there are no cross streets anyway
No coyotes to run across
No hitchhikers to give me grieving stares
As I speed by
Raising all dust but no hell
Then I pass one last sign
My heart drops out the bottom
And my brows furrow with lost expectations
“Next exit, 100 miles ago”

Cruise Log

2008-03-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

Day 1: Surprise, Surprise

The first day of our vacation adventure begun at 4:00am (4:45 for my mother) on Saturday, March 22, 2008. In a mad dash of showering, preparing, and finishing packing, we managed to haul all our luggage (or rather I hauled all our luggage) downstairs and outside my apartment by 5:27am to wait for the shuttle to take us to the Oakland Airport. We got checked in at OAK and headed for the security line. And we kept walking and walking and walking, until finally we reached the end of the security line, which wound back and forth and outside in the still dark early hours. Luckily it only took half an hour to get through security and after a quick breakfast, we only waited a few minutes to board and pick our own seats on Southwest, which was a new experience for me (the whole picking your own seat business) and quite interesting.

When we landed an hour later in LAX and headed for the baggage claim, we walked right past the little old ladies holding the “Princess Cruise” signs. My mom said we would get our baggage first then go back. So we stop by the baggage carousel and I look around and notice a festive looking Mexican sign with our last name written on it. Then I look at the faces of the people holding the signs and realize they are my aunt, uncle, and cousin. They said they figured they’d pick us up and take us to breakfast before taking us to the port instead of us sitting around in the airport or on a bus waiting to be allowed to board. So we got our bags and walked out to their car. When my uncle opened the back of their car, everything clicked. In the back of their SUV was four suitcases… they were coming with.

When we arrived in San Pedro, where the cruise ship was leaving from, we still had a few hours before we could board, so we cruised around some shops and ate at a local joint that all the local fishermen told us to go to… of course it took an unbelievably friendly mailman to actually tell us how to get there. At about 12:30pm we headed over to the ship, which was awfully hard to miss, gave the chaotic mess of people our luggage, parked, and headed to check in. When we checked in, they gave my mom and I our card keys. Mine had a hole punched in it: under 21.

Once we finally got through many lines and checkpoints and security checks and “candid” photos and people you could hardly understand, we found our staterooms, unpacked, and headed for the mandatory safety drill where you sit with everyone, listen to a recording, then “practice” putting on your lifejacket. We then headed up on the very top deck to sip Mai Tai’s (that whole “absolutely no drinking under 21 onboard” rule didn’t last long) and watch the ship take off. It took some impressive maneuvering around a dock, a navy ship, and two barges, but we finally made it out of the harbor.

Once that was all over with, we changed and headed to our first dinner, where we met our very friendly waiters, Antonio from Portugal, and Sergio from Chili. After dinner, my aunt, uncle, cousin and I went to the welcome show where we got a taste of the ship’s song & dance group, comedian, and head entertainment director (can’t say I know what his official title is). Then my aunt and I checked out the Skywalker Bar/Lounge, which is located high above the ocean at the stern of the ship (i.e. the back).

Day 2: The Day of Lobsterness

After we woke up at a relatively decent hour, we all headed to the buffet for some breakfast and brainteasers that my cousin had brought along. I think I might have won. :P We then wandered around a bit to “take care of some business” (i.e. make appointments at the spa and check out what the daily sale was, which was jewelry).

I then headed to the decks for some much needed sun.

Too many hours later (although I did take a break when we went through a fog bank that dropped the temperature considerably), I headed to our stateroom for a little catnap. When my mom got back from where ever she had been, I realized that I was reddening quite nicely. We showered and dressed for the formal evening and headed to the main stairs to meet our family at the Captain’s cocktail party. While we were waiting in line to have our photo taken at one of the photo stations, I suddenly felt very lightheaded and the next thing I knew, I was on the floor. Apparently my fainting in a very public place was rather graceful…. At least I can do something decently. My mom and I headed back to our room where I collected myself and regained some color in my face. By now I had successfully (and evenly) become a lobster. Red everywhere but where my little bikini was.

At dinner, I decided that I’d go ahead and start trying some things. I had lobster for the first time—a lobster caviar dish. Can’t say I’m a real big fan of shellfish, but it wasn’t so bad. After dinner, we went to the cheesy song and dance production, and after that I walked around the ship for awhile. For some reason, walking around has been very soothing for me. I found that if you go to the back of the ship on the Promenade deck on deck 7, you can get about 50 feet or so to the water. The roaring of the engines and water was very relaxing. It made it seem like you were on a different ship, since deck 7 was deserted by this hour and the noise completely blocked out any other noises. Great for thinking… or zoning out. I then headed back up to the Skywalker Bar and watched old people dance to contemporary music, which was quite entertaining. I talked with a guy from Vancouver for a bit, then wandered around some more and finally headed to bed.

Day 3: Hole-less keys and the French

Day 3, Monday, was eventful. It started with our steward following up on the leak we found in our closet. He informed us that it was a greater problem than just in our room and that we would be relocated… two doors down. Once we had moved, they gave us new cardkeys, and great news: my new card didn’t have an “under 21” hole punch in it! Woo hoo! :D

We then had breakfast in the buffet again, followed by triple berry daiquiris on the deck while watching Cabo sail by. I then went for a lovely facial, which cost way too much, but what doesn’t? Besides the food, of course. I then found my mom and aunt relaxing on the back deck and challenged them to a few games of ping-pong. I lost.

While we were out on the back, we caught a few glimpses of two schools of dolphins several hundred feet from the ship. It was amazing to see so many of them jumping up out of the water. They looked so tiny so far away.

Before dinner, we had a little cocktail party of our own on the deck of my relative’s stateroom. We then headed to dinner with our own bottle of wine in hand and had our waiters and the head waiter join us in a little toast. They then brought us a cheese and fine deli meat appetizers, which was not only quite nice, but we realized that we were the only table that got this. We’re so special!

At dinner, we also got to see bananas flamed in Banana Foster, had our Chilean waiter help us pick out another fantastic wine, got three desserts each (our waiter gave us each an unordered crème Brule), and I ate a snail! Yes, that’s right, I ate escargot…. Even I never thought that would happen….

By the time we were ready to leave dinner, my mom and aunt were sufficiently giggly. I don’t know if I should be proud or ashamed to say that I hold my drinks better than my mother, who has been drinking for a very long time… at least compared to how long I’ve been drinking, or even alive for that matter. The five of us then headed to the Princess Theater for the comedian show. His name was Steve Moris and he was fantastic. Apparently he has done tons of things relating to the entertainment world, including playing with the Beach Boys for quite awhile. Very cool. He was hilarious. Oh, and I had me a White Russian. Lovely.

I think I have finally gotten used to the rocking of the ship. It’s very good at making you sleepy. The dining room is at the back of the ship, where the motion of the ocean is especially noticeable and I have almost fallen asleep at dinner on multiple occasions. The water today was unusually flat, though, but it is quite obvious it’s getting warmer, too.

Day 4: Tropical Puerto Vallarta

Tuesday started earlier than the others so far, at 7:30am. I woke up in excruciating pain… my sunburn is at the painful part. After a hasty breakfast, we headed out to Puerto Vallarta. As soon as we got off the ship, we were greeted by a couple in elaborate costumes and headdresses with enormous feathers. We posed to have our photo taken and as soon as I turned around, a lady walked up and placed a macaw on my arm. Her name was Rosita… the bird, that is. She was sweet and gave me a kiss… again, the bird, that is.

Since my mother has been to Puerto Vallarta many times, she took us to old town. We caught a taxi in the marina and he drove us through tiny, ancient, cobblestone streets. We then walked to the office of the lady that owns the “casa” where my mom and her friends stay every year, but she wasn’t there. So we walked up to the house of a friend of my mom’s who owns a little jewelry shop. There I bought a pretty turquoise ring.

After that we walked down the Riverside Café where we enjoyed some appetizers and mango margaritas. While we were there we spotted three iguanas in the tree and one baby one. They were enormous! Before we got there, I bought a pretty little dress from one of the sidewalk vendors. We also cruised the local vendors, where one told us he had “more Mexican junk” for sale. Then we went to the bar next door to the Riverside Café and sampled tequilas. We tried the place’s specialty, a fruit flavored liquor, and a coffee flavored one. They were really good, and tasted nothing like the crappy tequila we drink in the US.

Then we headed down to the beach. We were going to go parasailing, but we were running short on time. So we grabbed some chairs by the El Dorado and began the vendor process. One after the other came up to us selling all sorts of crap. My mom, aunt, and I bought straw handbags, my cousin bought my aunt a cotton cover-up thing and a pretty mango snack/treat. , and my mom and I bought some hammered silver jewelry. Then we caught a water taxi back to the ship. That was a much better experience than a regular taxi, even though it was $50. Our driver was nice and would slow down whenever I tried to take photos.

At dinner, I ate shrimp (against my will… I just really don’t like shrimp all that much) and I had rabbit for my entrée. It was actually pretty good… tasted like chicken. Unfortunately, my uncle didn’t join us…. He decided to sleep off the tequila instead. Afterwards, my aunt, mom and I checked out the tropical party on deck, but they were way too giggly for me, so I took a bit of a walk. I went back to our cabin to freshen up, but decided I was far too tired to head back out. Maybe another night, when I don’t have to get up early the next day and walk all over Mexico again.

Oh, and I finally found some decent lotion with aloe, which I have been smothering on relentlessly. My red body is finally starting to fade a bit, but my chest is already peeling. Let me tell you, when it comes to bad sunburns, you really only do it once. It just isn’t something you want to deal with again if at all possible.

Day 5: High Above Mazatlan

Wednesday was our second port day in Mazatlan. We started with breakfast in the buffet, then split ways once we got off the ship. My aunt, uncle and cousin went kayaking, but my mom and I didn’t sign up in time, so we hit the streets. First we caught a little cab/cart to old downtown, which we briskly walked through due to its minor sketchy-ness. Once we made it to the beach, we walked along there for a bit. At one point we watched a man dive into the water, barely missing the rocks. That was impressive.

We then caught another cab to downtown Mazatlan. We told our driver we wanted to go parasailing, so he dropped us off at Joe’s Oyster Bar, the exact restaurant the owner of the tequila place in Puerto Vallarta told us to go. Good coincidence. We walked through Joe’s to the beach where we were directed to the “manager” of one of the parasailing teams. He strapped a lifejacket on me, gave me sporadic instructions, then I was off. It was absolutely amazing. And incredibly easy. Up there, you could see for miles. I just wish I could have taken my camera with me. I even had a bird flying along side me for quite awhile. When I got back, all the guys working the parasailing told me I had a perfect landing.

Once I was done with parasailing, I was going to get a henna tattoo, but all of the vendors were way too overwhelming, so mom and I just went into Joe’s Oyster Bar, where the vendors couldn’t go. At Joe’s, we sat up on the ledge/bench looking out over the beach and had a few beers and some quesadillas. Very relaxing.

By then we were getting pretty tired (and hot) and kind of bored—Mazatlan just wasn’t quite as pretty as Puerto Vallarta… much denser, I think. So we walked along the main street by the beach for a little bit, then caught another cab back to the ship.

Once on board, I took a bit of a catnap then got ready for the evening. First we had an illusionist/magic show, which was pretty good but kind of cheesy. After dinner, I was still very tired, so I opted out of the Crew Talent show and crashed early.

Day 6: Cabo Wabo

Thursday was our last port day, in Cabo San Lucas. I woke up super early because there was a very bright light outside, but it looked rather strange because beyond that light it was very dark. At first I thought we were sitting next to another ship. So I got up, looked outside, and realized that the lights on the utility deck outside our window were on, but it was pitch black beyond that. It was 5:45am and I had to wake up at 6…. I hate that.

At 7:30am, we all met and headed for the tenders that would take us to shore since the ship is far too big to go in the marina. When we got to shore, we asked someone where a good place was for breakfast and we ended up eating really good egg wraps at Captain Tony’s. After a peaceful breakfast, we cruised the stores along the marine and watched my uncle gawk over Harley Davidson products at the store in the local mall. We then walked along the main boulevard and went from one street vendor to the next, buying more Mexican junk.

My uncle then took us to the very popular Cabo Wabo Cantina where we had a few drinks and played some poker. At noon we had to start heading back to the ship already because it was a short day and the ship was scheduled to leave at 1:30pm. It was already getting very hot, though, and after three days of walking and fighting off vendors, I was ready to go back.

When we got back to the ship, we got to see Los Arcos, which was quite beautiful, and as soon as we rounded the point, the wind picked up. (And the ship is still rockin’….) I was then going to go to a little wine tasting thing with my mom and aunt but as soon as I got back to the room, I totally crashed and didn’t wake up till it was time to get ready for dinner.

This evening was the second formal dinner, which was fun to see everyone dressed up. Dinner was lovely as usual—no bizarre foods tonight, though. After dinner we went and had our photos taken, which we’ll probably be suckered into buying. Then we saw a ventriloquist, which was pretty cheesy but still fun. And finally we ended the night with a champagne waterfall hosted by the head maitre d’.

My burn is getting better. Less peeling going on, more intense pain when I put globs of lotion on my chest…. I think my newly exposed skin is just being overly sensitive…. Other parts of my body are starting to peel a little bit, too, but not nearly as badly as my chest. Plus, I think my chest peeled too early and will therefore probably peel again. This is turning out to be very unfortunate…. And I’m getting itchy. Geez….

Day 7: Nauseating

Friday, the last full day of our trip, started out late. We all slept in and got ready at a leisurely pace, which was nice, although rough seas made the morning a bit tummy-tumbling. I had a small lunch but then returned later to the buffet with my mom and aunt to get a month’s fill of glorious desserts. The dishes were so elaborately decorated and beautiful, I almost didn’t want to eat them. But everyone else was, so I did too.

Once I had found my family before the dessert expedition, we bought far too many photos that were taken throughout the cruise and my mom bought me a beautiful necklace from one of the boutiques by Swarovski. We then went to one of the bar areas to figure out some business (including our big bills), read, drink, and play cards. After that I finally checked email after a week, which was kind of strange… a lot of junk mail.

Rough seas made the whole day a bit difficult. It was also overcast and cooler, so most people stayed inside. They even closed the pools because the water was moving too much.

Before dinner was the last show and the comedian who was the focus of the show was absolutely hilarious. At dinner, I once again ate shrimp without even being asked/forced to do so… I’m so proud of myself, even though I didn’t really enjoy it. Then the waiters paraded around over a dozen baked Alaskas, which were fantastic. We also celebrated my uncle and cousin’s birthdays, which are both next week. By the end of dinner, we had definitely had our share of food and drink!

We finished the night early because we still had to pack and because we have to wake up very early to be off the ship by about 7:30am. In the morning, we’re taking my family back to Yorba Linda, then my mom and I are driving back to the Bay Area in her new car—my uncle’s car that he sold to her. So we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow… hopefully the 5 stays clear all the way up.

So I’m not nearly as red as I was before, but my whole body is beginning to peel. It’s satisfying and disgusting at the same time. Pulling off skin is oddly gratifying, like shedding the old. On the other hand, though, looking like a snake isn’t exactly attractive. And I’m not soft like I usually am. Quite sad.

I am ready to be home though. It is nice to get away, but you do begin to re-appreciate the regularity of life. Plus, the rocking and sudden lurches are really starting to get to me.

Setting Sail

2008-03-20T17:02:00.000-07:00

At 5:30am this coming Saturday (March 22nd), my mother and I will be picked up by a shuttle bus. We will then be shuttled to the Oakland Airport. From there we will fly to LAX and then catch another shuttle to our awaiting private ship.

Haha I wish private...

Almost, though. My mom and I are going on a cruise this next week to the Mexican Riviera for Spring Break. It is my first cruise and really my first real spring break trip. I'm pretty excited and it's much needed. Hopefully I'll return tan and full of glorious food.

So far, my mom has planned shopping in Puerto Vallarta in the old town where her and her girlfriends go almost every year. In Cabo we're going horseback riding on the beach, which will be good for me since I haven't ridden since August. In Mazatlan, we're exploring on our own, which should be interesting.

There is a downside, though. I have to take homework since I have a paper draft due practically the day after I get back. :( Oh well... I'll use it as tanning time by the pool.

Stuff White People Like

2008-03-07T08:40:00.000-08:00

As a white person who likes to poke fun at the peculiar ways of other white people, I have struck gold via an email from Very Short List, a new website I signed up on that sends an email every day regarding some quirky tidbit of randomness located in the abyss of the internet. What did they send me this morning, you ask? Well funny you should ask! They sent me information about a new blog called Stuff White People Like. It is absolutely hillarious, and unbelievably true.

Here's what Very Short List had to say about it:

Richard Pryor would be proud

Until recently, it was difficult for lovers of farmers' markets, modernist furniture, and Wes Anderson movies to find a common forum to dispassionately discuss their passions. Luckily for them (and so many others), the not-quite-two-months-old blog Stuff White People Like is at their disposal.

Stuff White People Like is the brainchild of 29-year-old L.A.-based (but Toronto-raised) copywriter Christian Lander, who, daily-ish, and at once ironically and seriously, is assembling a far-reaching yet stingingly accurate list of items that (upscale) Caucasians do tend to be fond of, including public radio, Mos Def, knowing what's best for poor people, and threatening to move to Canada.

Amusing writing aside, the subversive fun of the blog is that it's not talking about race per se but about a certain socioeconomic subset (labeled "yuppies" back in the 1980s) that, in this Viva Obama age, can be satirically lumped together as "White People." Here's hoping everyone gets the joke.

Mom in Mexico... who do I complain to?

2008-03-04T18:59:00.000-08:00

Not much more to say than what's said in the title. It is weird though, when you start getting in the habit of IMing your mother. It's a lot like chatting online with a friend, especially when she (mom) starts using abbreviations and IM slang. So when she's out of town for 13 days, I feel a little lost since I've gotten so used to talking about every single pointless issue that crosses my mind at any point during the day, as I typically have my laptop attached to me (there's always texting, too).... But she's contactless! :( Between the four friends that are down there, they have one satellite phone between them and that's "for emergencies"... i.e. don't call me, I'm on vacation.

Okay, that's my little rant. Gotta complain to somebody right?

No more SAD (Singles Awareness Day)

2008-02-14T19:30:00.000-08:00

As I was leaving for my afternoon class, I noticed a bunch of boxes on the table in the lobby of our apartment building, and like any normal person, I checked to see if any were mine.... And one was!

A flower box.

So I ran it upstairs, opened it, and found a dozen BEAUTIFUL roses from Matt! When I got back from campus, I was able to truly appreciate my flowers. They smell absolutely wonderful.

So even though I can't spend Valentine's Day with my valentine (he's on duty today/tonight), I know he tried. :) And he did a spectacular job.

Happy Non-SAD everyone!

Surprise Surprise

2008-02-10T19:51:00.000-08:00

Today is my boyfriend, Matt's, 21st birthday and the poor boy had to spend it at work on duty for the Coast Guard. I didn't know what to get him for his birthday (impossible task) and was frustrated that I couldn't see him on his birthday.

So I decided to surprise him. :)

On Saturday I talked to a friend of his who is also in the Coast Guard and his friend helped me get set up to get onto base today and surprise Matt. When I got there, one of the officers walked me to where Matt was. He was walking in front of me and as we walked through the hall of the barrack he yelled, "McCready! Don't let this happen again!" When I walked around the corner, Matt had the most terrified look on his face (he thought he was in trouble). "Tell us before you have visitors." Matt was like, "I didn't know she was coming." The officer just laughed, and was like "I know. Happy birthday."

I like surprising people... and bringing them lunch when they're starving because they "forgot" to eat lunch... silly boy... :)

Birthday Photos

2008-02-07T15:04:00.000-08:00

Although my twentieth birthday was almost a month ago, now, I just posted some photos I took from my birthday.

No, I did not go on any exciting adventures. No, I did not see anyone besides my roommate on my birthday. No, I did not open lots and lots of presents.

What I got for my birthday was a beautiful bouquet of flowers and tons of hidden birthday notes (courtesy of Nicole, my roommate). [click]

I must say, turning twenty was quite uneventful... and has been so since. Nineteen was exciting... second year of college, two of my good friends go abroad, mom moving, suffering through studio, meeting a fabulous boyfriend, car accident... you know, the basics...

Okay, back to pretending I'm actually doing something relevant...

Up and running again

2008-01-31T11:16:00.000-08:00

A representative from Apple called me last Friday to inform me that because they were having a hard time locating a part to repair my laptop, the estimated delivery date was February 7th.... Or they could just send me a new one.

[WOOOHOOO!]

So we (my dad was helping me settle everything with Apple) finally got a hold of them Tuesday morning and by midday yesterday, I had a brand spankin' new laptop. Pretty quick, Apple, pretty quick. Then I get an email saying my laptop had been repaired and shipped Wednesday.... Does this mean I'll have two rather expensive computers? And one was essentially free? That'd be pretty sweet. Only problem is, the DHL tracking isn't working, so it's a game of waiting to see if another laptop shows up or not.

But still, my many photos are gone, which is sad, but which might also provoke me to extensively redevelop my photo archive. Hopefully with two photography-related classes and still being on the photo team of the Blue & Gold Yearbook, I won't have a problem doing so.

Well, best I get back to being a good student and not fall behind in my many readings just because I finally have a computer again.

Laptop-less.... again

2008-01-15T13:36:00.000-08:00

Once again I am without a laptop. Although I don't blame it on my wonderful little mac like I used to blame my HP. It's off getting... err... a nose job or something like that :)

In the meantime, though, the bestest boyfriend a girl could ask for supplied me with a tv that looks oddly out of place in my room and his xbox... for dvds (cause I can't say I play video games). It is kind of boring since not a whole lot of people are back in Berkeley yet, but once classes start up again, I will look back fondly on my days of doing absolutely nothing.

On another note, today is my 20th birthday. Woo, go me! :) I got a nice wake-up call from a local flower company letting me know there would be a delivery for me today. At about noon I got the most beautiful flowers from my aunt Mary, uncle Mike, and cousin Taylor. Oh! And when I actually woke up (more like around 10), I discovered tons of little "Happy Birthday" notes hidden throughout the apartment by my roommate, Nicole... she's so clever. [I'll put up some photos once I get my laptop back]

Which reminds me... I'm pretty sure I lost all of my photos and movies trying to back things up before I shipped off my laptop. It was a really stupid mistake on my part, but the way I figure it, in a few years, hopefully I will have taken enough new photos that I will have forgotten about this horrible mistake :(

Alright, well back to doing nothing and being a lazy bum...

A storm blew in

2008-01-04T10:38:00.000-08:00

High wind warnings and a constant downpour is making the requested trip to my mother's very unpleasant sounding....

I posted tons of photos from our Thanksgiving trip to LA and our Christmas trip to Oregon.
The Phocal Point

And here is a link to the site for my cousin, Mary, with updates on her improving progress.

Let's hope I don't blow away or catch a cold today...

Damage Control

2007-12-31T12:40:00.000-08:00

It's absolutely amazing, and also quite depressing, how life can change so unexpectedly.

It has taken me about three days to muster up enough energy to retell everything in words. I've had to tell tons of people over and over on the phone what happened, but for some reason writing it down is far more daunting. More permanent.

-----------------------

This year, my mom, my cousin, and I drove up to Oregon to celebrate Christmas at my grandparents' house. It was quite lovely, though a bit cold. But who doesn't like relaxing by the fire? On Friday, we left for home (we all live around the Bay Area/Sacramento), because I had to get ready for my trip to Colorado, which my plane left in the afternoon on Sunday, December 30th.

That didn't quite go as planned. We left my grandparents' at about 10:30am to face about 150 miles of snow-packed road. My mom was driving, going with the flow of traffic, doing nothing wrong, when we started to fishtail a bit. She tried to correct it but we lost control. The car (a Ford Explorer) spun and we drifted sideways into oncoming traffic. We missed the first car by a few feet but weren't so lucky with the second car. I don't remember anything immediately before realizing we were fishtailing, so I figured I had fallen asleep watching a movie on my laptop (this was to my benefit as my body was relaxed and I didn't tighten up before impact, thus making my later soreness not as bad as it could have been). And I don't actually remember the other car hitting us, but it sure did happen.

When I came to, people were coming from every direction. We had been hit on the right side, and my cousin, who was in the front passenger seat, got the direct hit. I was sitting behind her and our doors were bent in, unable to open. Exactly what happened is starting to fall out of sequence as the days go on, but I do remember many things quite vividly. I remember someone trying to get to me from the other side of the car -- he opened the left rear door, threw out everything that was on the seat next to me, and went to go throw my laptop out but I was able to stop him and he put it in the seat pocket behind the driver's seat. I remember having blood all over me, and having someone give me a towel to hold to my face. I remember seeing my sunglasses under the seat in front of me. I remember my mother not knowing where we were or what had happened. I remember people preventing my cousin from moving, despite the fact that she was unconscious. I remember being freezing and people continuing to pile blankets on me. I remember calling my dad and handing my phone to a stranger to tell my father what had happened. And I remember him talking to him, though I don't remember what was said. I remember calling my boyfriend, Matt, and remember him not believing me at first. I remember a lady holding my hand, weeping, and saying "Jesus" over and over again (this was a very interesting moment for me, as it was the only time I stopped shaking...) I remember seeing semis inching past our car as I assumed people helped to direct traffic. I remember seeing firefighters and remember being removed from the car but don't remember seeing my mom or cousin being removed, although I thought they were taken out before me. I remember being put in the ambulance, my clothes cut off, and my vitals taken.

I remember being brought into the hospital -- seeing only ceiling tile after ceiling tile, being led into a maze I would never know how to get out of. I remember being put on a bed and a nurse coming in to take off my jewelry and help clean me up. I remember a doctor numbing my forehead, which was when the trauma caught up to me and I finally broke down. I remember him getting the glass out of my forehead and putting in the 15 stitches. I remember seeing my mother being rolled by on a bed. I remember the doctor telling me my cousin was being flown to another hospital because they were not equipped to treat her injuries at that hospital. I remember seeing my mother for the first time in her ER room at about 6pm... four and a half hours after the accident.

I have not seen my cousin since 2pm on Friday, December 28th.

--------------

When things began to settle down, my grandparents and my aunt, uncle, and cousin finally arrived at the hospital, taking the same dangerous road we did. My mother and I were taken to a room upstairs to begin recovery. Besides the damage to my face and some bruising, I was essentially fine. My mother, on the other hand, had fractured her pelvis in three places. My uncle and grandfather soon headed back up that road 30 miles to the towing place where our car was taken, and in the middle of the night they got as much as they possibly could from our totaled car.

The next morning, my uncle rented a car and he and my aunt and cousin headed back to near where my grandparents live, which is where my cousin was flown to. On the way up, they stopped at the towing place again and got everything else out of the car. While they were there, the family that was in the other car were also there and they returned all of our things that had been put in their car. People are amazing.

At this point we began to consider out options for my mother's recover. She would not be able to handle stairs for awhile, so my grandparents' house seemed the best option. But because I was the only one conscious or entirely remembered the accident, the thought of going back up that highway terrified me. My mother offered the idea that perhaps the hospital could give me some medication for when we left, but the idea of being sedated was out of the question. So Saturday afternoon, I took my chances and asked Matt to come get me. He arrived late Saturday night after his first driving through snow experience.

Midday Sunday, we went out to my grandfather's Hummer and started to sort through what was there, taking back with me what I could. The damage was frightening. We had tons of stuff in the back of the Explorer after receiving so many presents for Christmas. Boxes and bags were torn open like a bear had gotten at them. My suitcase was practically bent in half. My purse was covered in blood. And some things weren't there, but my aunt had said they got everything else the second time at the towing place.

The most amazing thing of all was my laptop. It had been on my lap when the accident occurred and I swear I remember it sliding off onto my feet. Well when I finally saw it for the first time, not only was it covered in blood, but the poor thing has a bit of a bent back. It won't close all the way and I thought all was lost. When I finally got home, plugged it in and let the battery catch up, my Mac turned right on... and pulled up everything I was doing when the accident happened! I was amazed! What a trooper.... So for anyone who says Macs aren't as good as PCs... yea right!! Mine survived a car accident!

Unfortunately, though, I had to cancel my trip to Colorado. My dad took care of my flight and said that United gave me back all of my frequent flier points and even the $5 to make the flight!

As for my mother and cousin, well they're both still in Oregon. My mother and grandparents got back to their place Monday night and every time I talk to my mom, it sounds as though she is in good spirits, despite her injuries -- although that may have something to do with the pain killers.... And last I heard, they were still trying to get my cousin out of the induced coma, although they say she's doing a lot better. I know she'll be fine.

I am just so unbelieveably lucky to have only suffered the minor injuries that I did. And I'm so lucky to have a boyfriend like Matt who is willing to drive seven hours through snow to bring me home. And I am so lucky to have such supportive and understanding friends and family at a time like this. I thank everyone for your best wishes. And if there's anyone back in Berkeley who's bored, find me... I have three weeks to recover and do nothing...

Happy... erm... whatever you celebrate

2007-12-25T10:39:00.000-08:00

To be politically correct, Happy Un-dominational Holidays to all my friends and family in California, Colorado, Germany, and where ever else any of you might be :)

I miss everyone and hope I get to see as many of you as possible during my winter break

Enjoy your day of festivities, however you may spend it.

Much love,

Lauren

and...

2007-12-20T12:48:00.001-08:00

I PASSED PHYSICS!!!!!!

WOOOOOO!!!!

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....... DONE!! :D

2007-12-19T15:38:00.000-08:00

Finished my third semester... feels like my tenth. Tedious.

I Dreamt a Dream of Dreaming

2007-12-11T12:35:00.000-08:00

I haven't talked to my friend Vince as much lately as I would like to. But he inspired me this morning in the form of a quick email. About dreams.

"Dreams of Flying" Jan von Hollenben

I don't usually remember my dreams, nor do I think I even dream. But I remember two from last night. As I was talking to Vince on IM earlier, I thought I only remembered one, but now I recall another.

Both were very short. Just instances.

The first one I must have dreamt sometime in the middle of the night (is dreamt even a word?). I remember I was putting on make-up. More make-up than usual. And my boyfriend was watching me and kept asking over and over, What are you doing? What are you doing? After awhile, he starting asking it in a rather concerned tone. Then the dream ended.

The second one happened right before I woke up. I dreamed that my hand was hanging over the side of the bed, holding a glass. I don't remember if there was anything in it, but it was just like a juice glass, something simple. Then I felt it sliding out of my hand and all of a sudden there was a huge crash as the glass hit the floor and shattered. I didn't have enough energy to look over the side of the bed to see what was the condition of the glass, but I soon came to realize there never was a glass.

Ahh dreams... how they can confuse...

Now I recall, though, I remember my dreams when life is going well...

You shook me all night long

2007-12-05T14:21:00.000-08:00

This morning was our final review for the architecture class I took this semester. In preparation, there was a lot of computer drawings to do and a massive model to make. The drawings were due last week, which was good to have them out of the way. But the model was due this morning.

This means that for the past four or five days, studio has been a hopping place. I chose to enjoy my weekend (went to the beach!) instead of laboring away in studio for hours. But this kind of hurt me in the long run.

On Monday, we had lecture starting at 9am. Then at about 10:30 we went up to studio and I got working right away on my model. Because I knew I was behind, I was on a bit of a caffeine and adrenaline high and was working like a maniac.

Well my high eventually ended, but I kept being unbelievably productive. I labored away until 7pm -- through my physics lecture and discussion and a yearbook meeting... oops -- when my roommate, Nicole, found me and informed me that we should take a break, go home, and make pancakes and eggs. That was a wonderful break. And those were some damn good chocolate chip pancakes.

Then we reluctantly returned to studio and suddenly it was 12 hours later. Yes... we went home in the drizzling rain as the sun was coming up. I slept for two hours, went to class, then went back to studio... till 1am.

But we're essentially done (they gave us the last two days -- Friday and Monday -- off). Unfortunately, though, I'm very burnt out and I still have a paper I need to write tonight :(

Friday Night Enlightenment No. 8

2007-11-30T16:33:00.000-08:00

The Storyteller

1) “The Mariner’s Revenge Song”
The Decemberists, from Picaresque

2) “French Cafe”
Sarah Noni Metzner, from Daybreak Mourning

3) “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits

4) “Bricks”
Tunng, from Good Arrows

5) “Solsbury Hill”
Peter Gabriel, from Shaking the Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats

6) “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1”
The Flaming Lips, from Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

7) “Stroll With Mine”
Begushkin, from Nightly Things

December 10 -- The Day I Will Once Again Be Able To Breathe

2007-11-29T13:24:00.000-08:00

There's about a week and a half left of classes. I will return with something (at least mildly) more "smart" then. That is, assuming I don't die between now and then... or cut my finger off while making a model, which is always a concern...

Slightly frosty memories

2007-11-20T12:48:00.000-08:00

I saw this photo several months ago somewhere online and I thought about it again this morning. It reminds me of a Thanksgiving quite a few years ago....

Just about since my family moved to Colorado, we (my mother, father, and myself) have spent Thanksgiving in southern Colorado with family that lived down there. The drive was always long -- 6 hours exactly if dad drove, which was usually the case -- and because of the time of year, usually consisted of rain, if not snow, too. One year, probably four years ago or so, we took my dad's truck down and because of all the salt and gravel on the roads, when we finally arrived, the bottom half of his truck was essentially black. But we arrived late at night, so that just had to be left alone.

When I woke up the next morning, though, and looked outside, I wasn't entirely surprised to find my dad washing his truck, as its cleanliness was a bit of an obsession for him. What was surprising was the fact that he was washing his truck when it was about 10 degrees outside! By the time he was done washing it, it resembled something like this....

It was, by far, the shiniest and slipperiest vehicle you've ever seen. :)

Ha!

2007-11-16T08:41:00.000-08:00

2007-11-15T20:03:00.000-08:00

I recently got the new(ish) album by one of my favorite artists, José González. Like always, his songs are fantastic, but that's not the point. I was voting for the PLUG awards when I noticed that one of his songs of the new album was nominated for best music video, so I watched it...

(I don't really think the pig-man is beautiful, but the video is touching.)

On another note, I finally received my subscription to Juxtapoz magazine. It's an urban art magazine with some very very bizarre pieces. (Casey you should really check this out. I think it would be fantastic inspiration for the direction some of your pieces are going.)

Yea, I know it's been awhile

2007-11-14T21:43:00.001-08:00

But I've been busy!

Aside from having that massive architecture history paper due last week, we had an architecture midreview this morning. The entire class was like a bunch of zombies (my roommate pulled two all-nighters in a row and I really don't know how she's even alive, nonetheless functioning). I didn't have to pull an all-nighter for this one -- actually, I haven't had to pull any this semester, thank God -- but I did only get 3 hours of sleep last night... and I'm feeling it. I could have gone to bed when I got home from my physics lab at 6:30, but nope. Had some reading to do first. It never ends, you know...

But now that that midreview is over and there really isn't a whole lot left to do with our designs, my arch history paper really only needs some hefty revising and not much more actual smart writing, and that I only have one more paper for my writing class which is on something I have no problem with doing a little research on, I really feel like things are finally winding down and I can breathe again. Although the fact that I'm hanging onto my physics grade by a thread doesn't help. :( (Hopefully dad doesn't read that part...) It's okay though, I know quite a few people who have had to take physics twice... well, architecture students, which is probably a key issue... such as that we really don't care about physics...

Okay, that's a sufficient amount of writing considering my fingers really aren't working all too well. Few shout outs though, cause I feel like doing so:

Casey, hope the truck sell is going well and you get what you're asking. Then, you know you have to come visit. :)

Mom, hi. Oh, and I realized I forgot to look at those make-up brushes at Target the other day :P

Vince, I MISS YOUUUUUU!!!!! Why haven't we talked in ages?! I don't even know if you're still alive. Who is helping you navigate your life if it's not me you're debating these issues with?!

Sarah, EEK! New Years + your mad cooking skillz = happiest Lauren :D

Maria, you may only be in the Netherlands one more month, but that's one more month closer to me.

Brentt, why aren't you coming back in one more month? Oh, that's right, cause I'm coming to visit in May. lol

And Matt, I don't think you read this, but I hope you weren't accused (of utter nonsense) by any more animal rights activists and/or cranky liberals today.

Alrighty, enough jabbering to people who I don't even think read this.... Goodnight my lovelies :*

Film Music Composers Bother Me

2007-11-08T16:05:00.000-08:00

I'm laying in bed, wrapped in tons of blankets ('cause it's freakin 57 degrees here!), attempting to write my paper for my Architecture History class.

My paper is on Roman Baths and their heating systems, so I thought it would be appropriate to listen to the Gladiator soundtrack (not really, it just came on). As the track is playing away, I suddenly realize that it is unbelievably familiar, and not just because I have probably heard this song before. Then I realize, this sounds exactly like the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song! Why?! Why must composers essentially plagiarize each other? (Clearly I'm writing... when else would I be concerned about plagiarism.)

Don't believe me? Get the track "Barbarian Horde" -- or just listen to it somewhere -- from the Gladiator soundtrack. Hans Zimmer is the composer. Then go to about 5:30 in and that's when it begins to sound exactly like Pirates of the Caribbean.

AND! another song that uses this, though not one of Hans Zimmer's, is "Dauntless" by the band Delorean (off their self-titled album). Except they rock-ify it. Actually... it's pretty sweet. :) [To listen to it, click here and scroll down. The tracks are listed on the left hand side of the screen and it's track 9.]

Okay, back to writing about the Romans' strange obsession with nude public bathing...

(A note of chronology, though, Gladiator came out in 2000, the first Pirates of the Caribbean was 2003, and this Delorean album was released in 2004... and technically, although the soundtracks are both composed by Hans Zimmer, they do have different artists--or would it be directors?--so who is copying who here?!)

Quick write before I turn my soul over to physics

2007-11-05T19:59:00.000-08:00

After I picked my mother up from the BART station today and she took me back to campus, I headed over to the architecture building to get a copy of Adobe Illustrator and download it onto my laptop. As I entered the building and headed for the elevator, I ran into my two architecture class professors, who were also waiting for the elevator.

They recognized me, said hi, and it was all good and dandy. Then the main professor asked me how the class is going for me. I shrugged and said it was a lot of work. He told me (jokingly) to get used to it, as it is the life of an architect. That's when I informed my architecture professor that I didn't actually want to be an architect.

His response: "Good for you!" (with a hearty chuckle)

He then proceeded to ask me what it was I wanted to do then, and I told him I wanted to design cars. He got all excited and said, "Ooo! That's what I should have done!"

I think I'm on my professor's good side now :)

(That's very good in that class... Who knows how the grading system actually works....)

Off to Mommy's House!!

2007-11-03T19:55:00.000-07:00

If I were a small child, this place would be fantastic! Boxes everywhere... hardwood floors prime for sock-sliding... a great big field to run around in with the doggie.... God only knows the possibilities!

But my minor case of OCD has resulted in my serious desire to unpack EVERYTHING!!! Although, I don't think I could possibly do that in one day.... Perhaps I just won't go back to school... Oooo there's an idea!

That would be pretty humorous though: mom returning to everything where it shouldn't be. (hehe... time for me to be mischievous...).

Alright, time for me to actually do some homework :(

(By the way, I don't actually have OCD.)

Sighhh-h-hhh-hh/hk!/hhhh-hh... ...?

2007-10-30T23:28:00.001-07:00

I know this is my third post today, but I just thought I'd throw it out there that I hate earthquakes.

I was working away on my model (which I later found out we shouldn't be doing because they (the TA's) sent us the plan at the wrong scale...) when all of a sudden the house a-started a-shakin'. I hate it because there's nothing you can do. It's short enough that by the time you get up to take some kind of cover, it's over. But it's big enough for you to want to curl up in a little ball and whimper like a dog.

Needless to say I was a little jittery afterwards. Never know if there'll be aftershocks... :(

My relationship with shoes is a love-hate relationship

2007-10-30T19:37:00.000-07:00

I love. They hate.

I love shoes, and what do I get in return for this love? Pure, utter pain!!

Not only do the damn things completely beat up my poor feet (except for my trusty flip-flops... knock on wood), so that I now have permanent scar tissue on my heels in an attempt to protect myself from the wrath of new shoes, BUT, as I was rearranging my many shoe boxes today (and trying to fit in the remaining ones that my mom had just brought to me today), one fell and completely smashed my finger. (that was a really long run-on sentence...) And I don't just mean smash like stub. No no. I mean break my nail. And I don't just mean chip my nail and I run off crying like a wimpy little girl. No no. I mean I think half my fingernail is bound to fall off. And I about passed out. And it will be gross.

And that was by far the worst paragraph I have ever written since I've known what a paragraph is. Cutting out pieces of cardboard for yet another model cavemanizes my brain. :(

And I think it's about time I cut "and" out of my vocabulary...

Pity me?

2007-10-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

This weekend is going to suck.

Actually, back up, Halloween is going to suck. But that's okay. Since the end of Trick or Treating (not for all mankind, but for... well me), Halloween just hasn't been the same. Despite the fact it drove me mad, there's nothing quite like returning home to find your father sifting through your candy stash taking out only the best ones....

But why, you ask, will my weekend suck? Well, I suppose I will be seeing my glorious dog (and cat), and will be escaping Berkeley for about a day and a half. But I will be there (there being mom's crib), submersed in a ten-page draft of a paper whose sources haven't even been opened. Then, I will be suffering the wrath of studying for yet another physics midterm that has better odds of making me fail than I have of getting a decent meal sometime in the near future. Pathetic, I know. But I am in college... Not quite what you see on TV, huh?

So yea. Did I mention that I'll be in Colorado during Winter Break? Yes, December 30th to January 9th. So I must see people. Must.

Okay. I should be productive now. Good day, friends! :]

Feeling Quite Retro

2007-10-28T15:22:00.001-07:00

At the beginning of the semester, my roommate, Nicole, showed me this site all about Polaroids. People submit theirs and some are amazingly cool.

The site is Polanoid.net

I like this one. It makes me think of people conversing.

Friday Night Enlightenment No. 7

2007-10-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

World Traveller (with a Latin focus)

1) "Budos Rising"
The Budos Band, from The Budos Band II

2) "Mirando a las Muchachas"
Mexican Institute of Music, from Méjico Máxico

3) "Postcards From Italy"
Beirut, from Gulag Orkestar

4) "Una Palabra"
Carlos Varela, from Nubes

5) "C'était une histoire d'amour”
Édith Piaf, from L'intégrale 1936-1945

6) "Il Testamento di Tito"
Fabrizio de André, from La Buona Novella

7) “Melodía Del Río”
Ibrahim Ferrer, from Mi Sueño

I think I just experienced a musicly-provoked heart attack

2007-10-23T16:44:00.000-07:00

Why did I not know about this sooner?

Not only is that Thanksgiving weekend (yea, thanks a lot pilgrims), but I highly doubt mom's going to approve a flight to London in a month's time for a concert that I probably couldn't afford if it was my dying wish and that I probably can't get tickets for now anyways.

Oh wait, I would have had to register for a ticket... and have won. So throw that idea out the window.

Dammit music obsessions. Why must you plague me so?!

Friday Night Not-so-enlightened-ment... plus it's Monday afternoon...

2007-10-22T14:49:00.000-07:00

Help.

I need ideas for genres I can use to make my weekly lists.

Be creative. Don't just give me something like "Techno", cause that's lame. Plus, how would I ever pick 7 techno songs? I need a way to limit that down at least a little bit...

On another note, we finished our second project (of three) for the semester in my architecture studio class. The entire class spent the weekend in studio. It was unbelievably brutal... and worthless. There's nothing like wasting your life away building little models, doing hand drawings, and spending way too much time on computer drawings for a 10 minute review where they completely butcher your work.

AND I missed a trip to Napa Valley with my mother, grandmother, aunt & cousin because of this. Thank God I don't really want to be an architect.... Although every day I wonder why I don't just change my major to Art Practice and get to paint all day.... I'm really starting to consider it. I mean, I would be spending money on something I consider more worthwhile, something I'd actually want to keep past the class final, rather than chipboard and a ton of printing. :(

So there's this big building, and.... its shadow discourages me.

2007-10-15T22:27:00.000-07:00

a.k.a. I can't study for my architecture history class.

Memorizing a bagillion buildings from pre-1000 CE (which is AD for everyone outside of those that care about being historically political correct) to basically the time of dinosaurs is only mildly daunting. I have a smashingly lovely stack of flashcards that are cursing me under their breath... out of the corner of my eye.... (Yea, I'm aware that that doesn't make sense....)

So I have an attention span of a... newt. Can't really say I know what a newt's attention span is, but that sounds about right. Wait, a newt is a little amphibian, right?

Okay, that's enough BS for now. I really should memorize where the Great Ziggurat of Ur-Nammu is, when it was built, and by whom.... You wouldn't happen to know would you? (You being the general mass public that, quite bizarrely, has the desire to take my midterm for me...)

Our Bum Sign: "Please help. Will give hugs & kisses in exchange for time."

2007-10-15T00:27:00.000-07:00

My roommate and I have been so bogged down with midterms, projects, and papers (most of which are actually for the same classes), that we have had no time to go buy groceries. Money is not the issue. Actually, I take that back. We'd accept monetary donations, too, if you don't happen to have a time-travel machine.

It really is quite pitiful. The only thing fresh we have is cheese. And isn't that mold to begin with? We have an overwhelming supply of coffees and teas, though, in case the moment comes when human evolution allows to actually survive off of caffeinated drinks, much as most college students already so naively assume. Oh, and we could bake a wonderful cake. If we had milk. And hadn't already eaten the entire container of frosting.... But that's another story....

And knowing that my mom will be here in a matter of days with a (personal) form of transportation makes it very tempting to prolong this food-less episode. (Assuming I had time to end this episode, in the first place.) Nothing is more discouraging than the thought of lugging back bags of groceries on foot. Or worse, on the bus.

I don't know if I can go that long concocting hopeless meals though.... Hurry up, Mom. :(

Okay, time for me to put my mind to sleep (as it has clearly been operating on full power for approximately fifteen hours, as is evident in my ever-so-slightly sarcastic and cynical writing)....

p.s. I cleaned out the shower drain tonight. That was gross. Dad would be proud.

Complete Summer Recap Via Photographs

2007-10-12T22:16:00.000-07:00

[click]

come on, how can you resist that?

Berkeley fashion is undeniably pretty bizarre

2007-10-12T19:43:00.000-07:00

Shot photos of a fun little fashion show on campus the other night. Here are the results.

Please leave comments to help me improve [or boost my confidence] :)

$0.99 tracks are the cheapest... right...?

2007-10-12T13:34:00.000-07:00

I've never been a huge fan of the band Radiohead, aside from "Creep" or "Fake Plastic Trees", but I just found out that they are taking a revolutionary stand in the music world, and because of that, I am now a huge fan.

Some of you may know that Radiohead did recently come out with a new album, although I suppose that could be phrased more as "is in the process of coming out with a new album", and that their albums are not sold on iTunes, which seems to be where most of us get our (legal) music. So upon doing a little research to find out how I could go about obtaining this new music, I stumbled upon a very very interesting tidbit of information... namely, the album has a customer-generated price tag.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Their album, "In Rainbows", is currently only available through their website (it may come out in CD form in early 2008). It can be purchased in two forms. The first is as a deluxe box set sort of deal with cds and vinyls, but that has a hefty price of about $80 USD. The second way is you can purchase a code that then allows you to get a download of the album, DRM-free (i.e. you can share it legally!). The best part, when you go to checkout on their website, you get to name your own price for the download. Don't believe me? Go see for yourself.

But, of course, the album (which was released for download only two days ago on October 10th) is already circulating file sharing programs. That's alright though, because sharing was obviously encouraged. :)

So haha, take that big music labels! What are you going to do now? Your profits are in our hands now! :D

A Colorado Peach's Photoshoot in California

2007-10-10T21:45:00.000-07:00

Vince demanded photos, here's what I've got.

(I am being silly, of course.)

Really...?

2007-10-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

So I just sat down in my physics lecture and a girl comes up and sits a few seats away. Pretty damn normal, right....

Then I realize there's a somewhat strange smell coming from her general direction. I look over and she's eating a cucumber whole, like it's an apple. That's not at all strange, I suppose... so long as the condition is she's a hippy in Berkeley.

Ugh sometimes I really wonder if this is really the right setting for me...

Be Warned!

2007-10-08T00:15:00.000-07:00

I have moments of psychic... -ness... (I guess that's right) and the other night I had a dream about an earthquake.

I don't remember exactly how the dream went -- so don't ask -- but I do remember being around a lot of people I knew, then all of a sudden there was shaking, screaming, and everyone running for cover (i.e. doing the whole huddle and cover your head crap we learned in elementary school). This can mean one of two things:

1) My life is getting shaken up and things are about to change, or
2) there's going to be a big earthquake.

So considering my history of being right, be careful. :]

Almost Famous?

2007-10-01T20:00:00.000-07:00

Tonight, at the monthly Blue & Gold Yearbook meeting (blue and gold are Berkeley's colors in case you were unaware), I was informed of some very important information that my lack of obvious realization and utter oblivious-ness prevented me from seeing.

We were shown a copy of the 2006/2007 yearbook that had just recently arrived. It, no doubt, looked pretty snazzy. Very clean, with spectacular photos (thanks to us brilliant photographers). Then the chief editor told me something that I should have noticed from the moment she held up the sample book. The cover photo, which is of one of the bear statues on campus, is my photo. Oh my gosh! right?!

I feel so accomplished :)

[I don't have a photo of this, but the yearbook is getting a "photoshoot" this weekend...]

Lack of comments...

2007-09-27T23:01:00.000-07:00

is depressing Lauren.

:(

Spontaneity

2007-09-27T21:34:00.000-07:00

So my mom woke up this morning and decided she'd fly out from Colorado to see her lovely daughter for half and hour today.

Haha well not quite....

My mom did fly out today from Colorado for just the day, but it wasn't really to see me (though I'd like to see it was). She had to meet the owner of a place she's considering renting out here and had just enough time to swing by Berkeley and give a quick hug.

The peculiar thing was, when she got here, it really didn't seem all that strange to be seeing someone who is normally in a completely different state, that I haven't seen in about a month, and that I really only communicate with via phone or email. I guess I'm already getting used to the idea that I'll be seeing my mother a lot more often again once she moves out here in... a little over two weeks. (wow!)

The other spontaneous thing today was the weather. I left this morning in a tank top and shorts and by mid-afternoon, a switch to jeans and a sweater (at least) was very necessary. I'm not ready for Fall in the least bit. :|

Friday Enlightenment No. 6 (Super Deluxe)

2007-09-21T17:21:00.001-07:00

The Calmer Side of Classic Rock

[Since I have not posted a Friday Night Enlightenment in ages, I have decided to super-size this week's edition. Instead of seven songs, there will be fourteen! That's like a two-for-one deal! Enjoy!]

1) "Here I Go Again" [this video is by far the most hilarious... the 80s hair is killer...]
Whitesnake, from Whitesnake

2) "International Feel" [no mp3/video found, listen to in iTunes or WMP]
Todd Rundgren, from A Wizard, A True Star

3) "Sunshine (Go Away Today)"
Jonathan Edwards, from Jonathan Edwards

4) "Hotel California" [music starts at about 1:20 into the film]
Eagles, from Hotel California

5) "The Weight"
The Band, from The Band: Greatest Hits

6) "Piano Man"
Billy Joel, from Piano Man

7) "Vincent"
Don McLean, from American Pie

8) "Baby I Love Your Way"
Peter Frampton, from Frampton Comes Alive

9) "Under The Milky Way"
The Church, from Starfish

10) "Tears In Heaven"
Eric Clapton, from Unplugged

11) "In The Air Tonight"
Phil Collins, from Phil Collins: Hits

12) "Angie"
The Rolling Stones, from Jump Back '71-'93

13) "Dialogue" [click the play button in the "Listen" box]
Jackson C. Frank, from Blues Run The Game

14) "If You Were My Man" [this is the only track that you can right click and "Save Link As" for a free mp3]
Linda Perhacs, from Parallelograms

Just a note, a lot of the links go to live videos that are often times poor quality. The best way to listen to these songs is in iTunes or Windows Media Player. The song that will be the most difficult to find is #14, but the link I have provided goes to a mp3 (so if you want that song, I'd go ahead and save it now while it's still around). Tracks #2, 13, & 14 were featured in Daft Punk's Electroma and can be downloaded as a bitTorrent with the other songs on that (unofficial) soundtrack from here. Just follow the link at the end of the very short article, then on the next page scroll down and click the free option.

But I'm straying, so just enjoy the classics from this week.

So.... where's the natural disaster?

2007-09-21T13:25:00.000-07:00

Hearing sirens in Berkeley is a daily occurrence, if not hourly. But it just so happens that on a nearly-daily basis, a fleet of sirens blares through the area in full force, running down small children and old ladies on their way to save the day.

Now every single time this happens, when it sounds like there's sirens coming from every possible direction, I instantly get this image of some major disaster happening and I'm utterly ignorant of it. Campus might be ablaze.... A riot of very opinionated, liberal students may have erupted.... An earthquake could have just split our beloved stadium in two.... Some super-psycho homeless guys are on a rampage through Berkeley.... You just never know!

Right, well that's my bit.

Low Moral: Creep

2007-09-19T17:50:00.000-07:00

There has been an undeniable lacking of photo-related posts lately. (My apologies, Vincent.) But my camera has literally not seen the light of day since I arrived in Berkeley. Not having a laptop prevented me from uploading, and I haven't had a chance to get into my yearbook photo assignment.

But since I really don't have any photos to talk about, I thought I'd share something from one of the sites Vince sent me the other day. It's an animated music video and is really quite impressive. Read the little explanation on the page and you'll understand why I'm impressed.

Plus it's to a fantastically sad song. :)

Low Moral: Creep

Enjoy.

Professor Lauren's Lecture on Acquiring Music

2007-09-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

Alright, enough about laptops and their issues.... Let's get back to more important matters.

The other night I was spending some time with friends and we got to talking about how to go about finding music. It is true that it is a daunting and time consuming task. But in the end, it definitely pays off. So here are some of my tips (and tricks) to finding music you actually want to listen to and to broadening the horizons of your music library.

1) Start with the classics.

This means that if classic rock is a genre you like (which should apply to everyone) start with the biggies. Beatles, Rolling Stones, Zeppelin, CCR, Doors, Hendrix, Tom Petty, etc. Get the songs that made the Greatest Hits cds, then add on the one's you personally like. Getting whole cd's can be a bit much, but there may be some artists that you feel you have to have it all (which is Beatles and Zep for me).

2) Get the music of your generation.

For my generation, this is the music of the 90s. Basically, when you start coming up with a list for this category, think about songs that, when they play, everyone in the room will go "ahh man, I loooove this song!" For my similar-generation readers, think grunge (Smashing Pumpkins & Nirvana), or for the hits that you can't seem to remember, consult genre cd's. This one really helped me get started with 90s music.

3) Love a movie because if it's soundtrack?

Well then google the movie, find the soundtrack, and get the songs off of that. My personal favorite thus far, Garden State. Oooo that or Eternal Sunshine.

4) Put down the iPod and listen to the radio every once in awhile.

Say you're in a checkout line at a store and you hear a song playing in the store that you really like. The thing is, you don't know the artist and definitely don't know the title of the song. Well if there are lyrics, no problem. Just catch a line of the lyrics, write it down or stick it into your phone. Then when you get home later, google the lyrics (make sure to put it in quotes), and see if you can't find the song that way.

This is great for people like me who rarely listen to the radio. It opens your ears to the newer stuff out there that you don't already know about. Or to those few mainstream songs that do actually sound pretty cool.

This also goes for commercials and tv shows. I've found that commercials can be one of the best places to find new music as they're always trying to find the newest stuff, too.

5) Now you're ready to branch out.

If you're comfortable doing so, of course. Maybe the classics are just, well, getting a little worn out. Or the mainstream stuff on the radio just isn't doing it for you (that and the fact that every other person is listening to it -- meaning you hear the same song at least a dozen times a day -- can be a bit aggravating). You have a few options now.

- Subscribe to some podcasts.

If you want to get into the indie/underground scene, I'd recommend IndieFeed podcasts on iTunes. There are many different genres within IndieFeed and all give new and upcoming artists.

- Search around for some music websites.

Again, for finding out about newer artists, or perhaps just less-known-about artists, get into some music sites, which are typically blogs. My favorite by far is Audioversity. They feature so many different genres and have so many free downloads (right click the song links and select Save As...), sometimes I get behind in their posts. But can't complain there.

- Meet people with similar music tastes.

Maybe you'd rather not venture into the world of virtually unheard of bands and super indie pop. Maybe you'd rather stick with what you've got but do actually want a bit more. Then might I suggest getting into a music-peer program, such as Last.fm or iLike (the latter is currently only compatible with iTunes). I especially like iLike because it's a sidebar in iTunes and whenever a song plays, it gives you related music you own so that you can quickly create playlists, gives suggestions for other songs you might want to buy (from iTunes), gives a list of free Garageband downloads, and shows other people on iLike who also listen to that band. Here's my iLike profile if you join (i.e. you should add me). :]

6) Go CRAZY!!

Last but not least, don't be afraid of what people might think of you based on your music library. If you like cheesy dance songs from the 90s, go for it. If you like 20s Big Band, by all means, listen to it! If you secretly adore boy bands, download all they've got (though I would personally suggest refraining from doing so....) Plus, these songs often make for fun party music. Or an interesting conversation in the least.

My secret musical loves: dance remixes and crazy psychedelic (see these fools for a fantabulous example of the latter).

[This post was inspired by a conversation with Angelo & Adam, and since you guys seemed to be such fans of funk, here's one you'll get a kick out of: "Falling in September"]

Success

2007-09-18T09:13:00.000-07:00

My laptop has landed!

Literally.... It traveled from China to Alaska to Tennessee to Berkeley in a matter of 3 days or so. Impressive.

So I spent basically all of last night playing with my new lappy and getting as many of my programs that were compatible onto it as I could. That was only somewhat successful. Regardless, what a beauty! :)

Alright, just though I'd inform that I'm no longer in a rut (got to get ready for another day of classes). But I want to that Nicole & Austin for letting me use their laptops during the past three weeks. You guys are life-savers.

Very Brief Update

2007-09-13T20:32:00.000-07:00

1) The White Stripes concert that was supposed to be next Friday here in Berkeley got cancelled. I'm very very disappointed about this as I was really looking forward to it, but the upside is I am getting refunded. Woo.

2) My laptop STILL hasn't shipped. It's supposed to ship sometime between today (obviously not going to happen) and the 18th.

3) FedEx came today at 2 and even though the package they were delivering didn't need a signature, they couldn't leave it for "security reasons". So my peaches are floating around in FedEx space, getting further and further past ripe... :(

4) I already have a project due for architecture on Monday, so this is going to be a longggg weekend. Thankfully, no all-nighters... yet....

5) I think that about covers it. Miss everyone in Colorado and can't wait till I can due a valid update and truly contact people once I get my snazzy new laptop! YAy! :D

Explaining to myself that there's more to a lightswitch than simply On and Off

2007-09-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

As a person standing, sometimes undesirably so, on the edge of being a perfectionist, it is with great pain and difficultly that I admit the following:

My life is in organized chaos and the lack of stability is, well, unsettling. I no longer control what lies outside the realm of my bedroom door. The only regularity I still possess is the hourly changing of my classes. And anyone would agree with me that this hardly suffices as adequate.

I begin to contemplate my ever-changing definition of family, home, belonging. if I were asked, I'd simply be left with staring blankly back at my questioner.

I no longer control what is happening twelve hundred miles away. In fact, I hardly know what is even happening. I must accept my sole ability to focus on my here and my now. One day at a time. One foot in front of the other. One sock before one shoe.

So as I lie on one of the few comforting surfaces that still welcomes me, subconscious begins to overwhelm me and I slowly drift away. As I float off into a much more peaceful world, I fail to realize, I fail to comprehend the true fact of the matter, the true fact of my living reality.

[9.4.07]

(I have disabled comments on this post for a reason. My apologies.)

Update on, well, everything

2007-09-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

So as you may have guessed, my laptop crashed.

This occurred last Thursday afternoon, resulting in a near-screaming conversation with a man whose English was well less than perfect and the decision that $600 to repair a laptop that's been significantly less than adequate almost since the day I bought it is simply not worth it. In other words, because my HP laptop was four days out of warranty, they (HP -- or the man with bad English whom I was conversing with) gave me the option of having it repaired for approximately $600 or making an attempt to repair it myself via telephone aid. I knew the latter was fruitless as my laptop was experiencing the same issues it dealt with about six months prior, which had resulted in sending it in for a System Board replacement (pretty serious, if you ask me). And $600 is ridiculous considering we paid a little more than twice that to buy it! And replacing it, since I was a very dissatisfied customer, was out of the question, according to his "supervisor".

So after telling the man that this was completely unacceptable, and that I would most likely be buying a laptop of a different brand, I hung up and resorted to crying to my mother, yet again, about the stress my lame laptop was giving me.

Dramatic, I know.

The next step was then figuring out what to do, as I was currently computer-less. Forget my HP, I need something that actually works! So I started the inevitable laptop research. It's a daunting job, comparable to suddenly realizing you have to buy a fantastic, new car, but have absolutely no idea where to begin your search. I requested Consumer Reports reviews from my grandmother (as she is subscribed to CR and that would be my easiest, and cheapest, access). Then I turned to other online reviews and soon realized that essentially all new computers come with Windows Vista. All except for Apples.

For those of you who don't know, Vista is the new version of XP and yet, at the same time, the utterly pathetic version. It has taken years for the developers to get Vista to the point where it is sufficient enough just to release on the market, but it still just sucks. XP was perfectly fine. More than fine, XP was fantastic! Now they've turned to a horrible combination of XP and Mac, a combination that was just never meant to be (kind of like breeding two completely different species... not gonna work...)

So I decided that because Mac was the only OS not using Vista and because half the programs I use/will be using (like Photoshop, iTunes, etc.) are Apple programs, a Mac was the way to go.

[Upon hearing this, though, my friend Austin cried out that I was a traitor and had fallen to the dark side, but that's another story.]

So after getting an approval from my financial supplier (i.e. Dad), I made plans to visit the Apple Store in San Francisco with the intentions of returning with a new laptop. Well, that didn't go quite as well as I would have planned. I got there alright (although BART was ridiculous because the Bay Bridge is closed for Labor Day weekend, so it was a 9-car sardine can) and had a decent "business" conversation with the very nice and rather attractive Apple guy, but I then became aware of payment issues when he informed me that they actually had to swipe a card, they couldn't just plug in a credit card number, which was my Dad's initial plan.

So back home I went, on another crowded, awkward train, found a friend with a computer that I could use, and placed my order for a new Macbook Pro. Yay! :D

Now I just have to wait for it to actually get here. And in the meantime, I'm "practicing" with my roommate's Mac. :)

As for my newly retired HP, I somehow have to find somewhere that (cheaply) recovers lost data, as I don't remember exactly when I last backed up my hard drive, though it wasn't long ago. Then the hard drive has to be cleared and it's then being sent off to Dad to be repaired. Then who knows what'll happen to it.... Good luck little piece-of-crap HP!

So I can't wait for my new laptop to arrive and I get totally absorbed with setting it up to my "preferred specifications" and taking hours upon end to install all my programs and completely overwhelming the poor thing like I always do. (Haha I'm bad like that.) I just hope that all my programs work. Switching between a PC and a Mac sure isn't easy....

Alright, back to finishing Harry Potter and being totally lazy on Labor Day (should be Lack-of-Labor Day).

Mayday!!!

2007-08-30T17:14:00.000-07:00

Laptop crashed! If contact is necessary, please CALL/TEXT/YELL AT ME ACROSS CAMPUS only until further notice!

Thanks,

Lauren

And may my laptop finally go to hell! >:(

(Oh, and series posts, such as Friday Night Enlightenment, will be temporarily suspended. My apologies.)

I need some fine wine and you, you need to be nicer

2007-08-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

Actually, I mostly just need more money and more hours in the day.

I know, I know, asking for longer days is almost unheard of. But my days are so long now that classes have started, I literally don't have enough daylight hours to get things done. My classes go till 6pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, and before I know it, it's 9! I can't even begin to imagine what winter's going to be like (if it weren't for the time change, I think I might be walking home in the dark from campus).

So, it's the end of Day 3 of classes of my Sophomore year at Berkeley and I'm already utterly exhausted. Day 1 started at 9am with a cozy little architecture lecture in an entirely concrete room. After that, from 10-1, we had studio (we being the glorious students that make up our architecture class). It was the first day of classes and already we were instructed to head on outside and start drawing details of a site. Believe it or not, we're already truckin' along on a project! Then, from 3-6pm I had physics. Don't worry, it wasn't one massive three hour long class. Lecture was an hour then there was a two hour discussion afterwards, which ended early, thankfully. Our physics teacher is pretty cool. His jokes are actually relatively funny, though it is physics, so staying awake is a bit difficult. As for our TA (teacher/ing assistant -- although we actually call them GSI's, or Grad Student Instructors), he had some really funky name and barely spoke English. Thank God my roommate just took the class over summer and can help me in times of turmoil.

Day Two was significantly lighter. I started at 11am with my reading & writing class (a.k.a. R1A) which is a Theatre, Performance, & Dance Studies class focusing on "Performing Terrorism". Yeah I don't really know either, but it sounded interesting. Then at 12:30 I had Architecture History in a 400-person lecture. Now, I'm really curious as to who really wants to take Architecture History besides architecture students, and we really only take it because it's required of us, but it was actually pretty full. Once class ended at 2, I journeyed with some fellow architecture studio students to one of the local art stores to blow even more money on the course. Don't even ask how much I've spent so far on books and supplies.

And in case you really care to know, today (Wednesday, or Day 3) was like Monday schedule-wise, Thursday will be like Tuesday was, and Friday will be wonderfully easy with only two one-hour classes that are four hours apart.

But another thing that happened yesterday that was somewhat exciting, at least for my out-of-California readers... we had an earthquake! Woo!

So I was sitting in the living room of our apartment with my roommate and two of her friends yesterday afternoon. We were having a snack, reading and discussing the various fashion magazines we have laying around, and recuperating before we went on our art store adventure, when all of a sudden if felt like some massive person was walking on our roof. It was like someone grabbed the sides of the building and shook it. Not violently, per se (as I would most likely not be writing this had it been a earth-shattering earthquake -- haha, nice pun, Lauren). It was a strange sensation, though. We all looked at each other with that look of "I'm not the only one feeling this am I?"

But sense then, no rumblings. Whew.

I guess then, the conclusion to my short story is:

- I can't get enough done in a day,
- I'm broke,
- and I have experienced my first earthquake in our top-floor apartment in a building built in 1918.... You figure out the look on our faces when it started to shake.

I hate my laptop

2007-08-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

I've only had it a year and I already feel like I should be replacing it.

I have had to send it in to HP twice now (which may have been a result of buying a product that was brand new on the shelves, i.e. not a whole lot of consumer experience). Regardless, that's a bit too much trouble for one year.

The first time, which occurred in March this year, was the most dramatic. My laptop would try and try but just could not turn on to save its life. So HP had me send it in telling me that the turnaround time could be up to like a month or so. Fortunately it was less than a week. In the end they replaced some pretty major parts and my laptop came back feeling like it had just been on the long, relaxing vacation it deserved (not that it actually did deserve it, in my opinion).

The second episode happened over the summer. For some reason, one day my laptop decided that it wouldn't allow one of my external speakers to play. Unplug my laptop and plug something else into the speakers, and they worked fine. Plug my laptop back in and put a ton of pressure on the area just to the left of the touchpad, then maybe everything would work fine. But that doesn't actually work for me.

So I sent it in again and almost a month later I finally get my poor little laptop back with a new soundcard and some new casings. Woohoo HP.

Luckily, this all occurred under warranty.

Now... no warranty, and no wireless. My wireless card has been lost in the abyss and no matter what I do to attempt to revive it, I fail miserably. I've tried updating, uninstalling and reinstalling, restarting way too many times... all to no avail. Essentially, my laptop is no longer even aware that there is a wireless card somewhere within its depths.

So now my options are limited. I sent an email to HP asking what I should do, and if they tell me I have to send it in, I may not be able to do that if it costs me an arm and a leg since I didn't buy an extended warranty for it. I could try taking it to the geeks at Best Buy and pray to god they're as geeky as they claim. Unfortunately not having a car makes getting to and from Best Buy a tad bit difficult.

My other option: chuck my laptop out the window of our third story apartment and say there was an earthquake and apparently a windowsill isn't a very safe place to keep your laptop. Oops!

So my question to my few readers: Anyone want to recommend a laptop that has been their well-behaved slave since the very beginning? I don't know if I can really afford a new laptop right now, or how to go about getting rid of/selling the one I have now, but I honestly can't put up with this anymore. Please help. (Or donate! That would be fantabulous!)

OR! If there's anyone out there with insane computer knowledge that would like to lend a helping hand... I'll buy you lunch or something. :]

Issues

2007-08-25T12:55:00.000-07:00

My laptop apparently hates being wireless.

I'm always having issues with my wireless card and today it just doesn't want to reveal to me why it's acting up. And the best part, my warranty just recently ended. So if I can't manage to fix this myself, I'm SOL or very poor.

This is going to be a long school year....

[Edit 1:38PM; I seem to have resolved the issue. (whew) So now you don't have to worry for/with me.] :P

Friday Night Enlightenment No. 5

2007-08-24T22:42:00.000-07:00

What's with that hippity-hop music?!
[for Casey]

1) "Sunshine"
Atmosphere, from Sad Clown Bad Summer Vol. 9

2) "Farewell Wenches (Outro)"
Supreeme, from Supremacy

3) "I've Been Down"
Sweatshop Union & Mad Child, from United We Fall

4) "Locksmith (feat. Sage Francis)"
Macromantics, from Moments In Movement

5) "Way of the Light (feat. Vursatyl)"
Gift of Gab, from Fourth Dimensional Rocketships

6) "Early Morning Silence"
Glue, from Sunset Lodge

7) "None Shall Pass"
Aesop Rock, from None Shall Pass

Also, note that I'm putting links on all the songs that I can find. If the link goes to a Quicktime player, know that if you right click the link and select 'save link as...' you can get the song for free (unless it's just a short preview version, then you probably won't want it).

Trip photos up

2007-08-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

Just an fyi that the photos from my drive to Berkeley are up. I added them to my earlier post and they're also all up on my photo site.

Take a look. :]

My first Ikea furniture assembly experience

2007-08-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

Was a royal pain in the butt!

I thought Ikea furniture was supposed to be a piece of cake to assemble. Not mine apparently!

Here's the re-cap: On Tuesday, my mom & I hit up Ikea because I was in need of some kind of dresser/drawer system and a small table for my wonderfully glorious printer. The table was easy to find. $14.99 and all I had to do was screw the legs in. Yay.

The dresser was another story. Not that expensive, but unnecessarily heavy.

After we finished at Ikea, I heaved the 70lb-ish box into the back of our rental SUV alongside the massive box my desk from Pier 1 was still in. When we got back to my apartment later Tuesday night, and upon opening the Ikea box and realizing there were far too many pieces for any dresser to ever have, we opted to just carry my new desk up in pieces and in trips.

Despite my plans to sleep in Wednesday morning, I was forced to wake up at 7:30 in order to bring up my new dresser, again, in trips. An hour later, I finally decided to start putting it together, completely ignorant of the fact that it would take me 2 hours and far too much effort to get it completely done.

In the end, only one screw and one nail broke (so there's a screw missing, the nail wasn't very important) and one of the drawers sufficiently sticks. But that's all okay, it looks good. And my life's a little more organized, which makes me happy. :)

Speaking of finishing, I just about finished getting my room together last night. I just have some things left to put up on the walls and a bunch of papers to go through. But my new featherbed is in place, all my art stuff has their own little cubbies, and all my electronics are up and running. Hard to believe I was even able to get all my crap into one room.

So today, I'll take care of that and I'll finally get to those photos I previously spoke of. Since some of you are already bugging me :P

Alrighty well it's 9am, I just got out of bed, mom already deserted me to go look at more towns in the Bay Area with a realtor, and the trash trucks are doing a fantastic job waking up all living creatures in a one mile radius. I think I'll find food....

Wowzers!

2007-08-20T19:59:00.001-07:00

Today was eventful. And quite literally. Not like my post from last night, which was overflowing with witty sarcasm.

We woke up very early this morning (5am), got ready, and headed back to the Rancher Cafe, like I said we would last night. Then we hit the road and faced hours upon hours of straight road... without a single car on it. It was one of the most bizarre things I have ever experienced. Had it not been for the very occasional highway sign, I'd almost be concerned we were going to Nowhere. Luckily, though, the only thing we almost hit on these excessively long stretches of incredibly boring road was a jackrabbit. It was HUGE!

We hit some heavy traffic just outside Delta.

The first leg of today's trip, from Delta, Utah, to Tonopah, Nevada, was my mother's responsibility. And since we woke up so early, I slept through part of that. I think the most exciting part about that leg of the trip was making fun of cheesy road signs, contemplating what it would be like to live on the beef farms that are actually in the middle of nowhere with no other human contact besides your family and workers, why there was so much haze, and avoiding hitting the enormous oversized load that was parked on the side of the road with cop escorts.

That's a mega-oversized load!

Then in Tonopah, we switched, and I got the better half of the deal. :)

The first fantastic occurrence of my drive: We're heading up a mildly winding road -- again with zero cars on it -- when we see a sign that says "Dips, next 5 miles". I think, "Dips? Like bumps?"

Nope. Dips. Like someone took the road and just laid it down over these tightly packed little hills like a stretch of carpet. Dips like a cushy roller coaster in your car. Yes, the kind of dips that make your stomach rise and sink that you loved so much as a kid. Needless to say, I was then experiencing an uncontrollable giggling fit. And when we got past this five miles of dips, I wanted to do it again. :P

The next exciting bit: Yosemite National Park. (So basically I got the curvy, mountain roads leg of the trip. Yay!) I couldn't remember if I had ever been through Yosemite -- well more like my mother couldn't remember if I had ever been through there as a wee child -- but it was still amazing. I had no idea that half of it was essentially massive rocks! So neat!

Then after that, we hit miles and miles and miles of orchards. I know that's not that fantastic, but when you're from Colorado and the only agriculture you're accustomed to is corn, wheat, and barley, it's pretty damn fantastic.

Finally, at around 6pm or so, we finally made it to my lovely little apartment in Berkeley. This was when I discovered the incredible job my roommate, Nicole, has done with the place! Once I get my part of the apartment back in livable order, it will be quite the little pad.

But then my mother and I were stuck with the entire car to empty out and lug up three flights of stairs. Now at the end of this grueling process, we have now plopped down and despite our hunger, I have a feeling we're not going anywhere any time soon....

Ahh open country roads...

Zero Hour

2007-08-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

As fate would have it, I'm (meaning my mother & I) at a Best Western hotel in The Middle of Nowhere, Utah.

Not literally, of course. Actually the town is called Delta. But the irony is that it is the quintessential middle-of-nowhere town.

Driving here on the "highway" into the town, we pretty much drove through a dust bowl. That was thrilling. Oh, and we saw dairy farms. Exciting, I know. But we got in at about 7:30ish, although we would have liked to have driven farther and later (plans changed, unfortunately), and the front desk lady here at the hotel informed us that there was only one (yes, one) place open on a Sunday night to eat at. Good ol' Ranchers Cafe on "main" street. Mmm mmm greasy.... Now I just feel like shit and my stomach is beating me up from the inside. Fantastic.

So now that we're back in our hotel room, and obviously enjoying free but slow internet, we're finishing off a "homemade" apple pie, listening to rowdy little kids splashing in the pool, and trying to determine how early we actually want to get up. We have a long ways to go....

Tomorrow we do plan to hit the road early -- after heading back to that yummy cafe for another greasy meal -- and hopefully we'll be able to make it into Berkeley before too late. Then we'll have to face the inevitable fact that we must haul all my crap up three flights of stairs. Maybe we'll do that Tuesday, instead.

In the end it will be beneficial, though, as I have an incredibly comfortable bed waiting for me. Queen size, to boot!

[p.s. There's some creepy person whistling outside our hotel room. Locals scare me.]

Bye-bye, my favorite square!

2007-08-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

I'm about an hour away from leaving Colorado, there is a massive pile of boxes, bags, and random loose stuff littering our living room, and my room that I have occupied for approximately 13 years is ghastly empty.

Ahhh the process of officially "moving out".... Quite depressing if you ask me.

Yesterday I had to say goodbye to all two of my good friends here in Colorado and my dad. That took a lot of energy out of me. Not to mention the fact that I spent a majority of the day, and half of last night, packing up my life.

I have a feeling the drive out there is going to be a perfect talk-free, music-blasting, and zoning-out opportunity.

Now I have to load up the car, tidy up my bedroom (since, of course, we have an open house today), and say goodbye to all my beloved pets. Dog, cat, and horse.

So here's my final farewell to good ol' Colorado (the square I was previously speaking of) and all that has associated it to my life. And for all my friends who remain here, know that you're more than welcome to crash at mi casa if you ever find yourself wandering the streets of San Francisco. (Or if you ever just feel like visiting, that works too.)

Much love & much thanks,

Lauren

Someone shoot the photographer already

2007-08-17T23:57:00.000-07:00

It is common knowledge, at least amongst photographers, that one of the main reasons why a photographer is, well, a photographer, is because they are behind the lens. But every now and then, a photographer must be photographed. (How do you think self-portraits come about?)

I have been subjected to this many times, often against my will, by my fellow photographer and friend, Vincent. But this time, the outcome was quite positive. And Vince got the practice he wanted.

So to view the outcome of this photo shoot, head on over to my multiply site, The Phocal Point, and you will be dazzled by his masterful photo-taking skills... and my beauty. :P

Oh, and if you leave comments/feedback (which is strongly encouraged), leave it not only for me, but for Vincent, too, as he is very curious to see how people react to his photographs. Thanks!

Here's a sampler:

Friday Night Enlightenment No. 4

2007-08-17T22:45:00.000-07:00

Bouncin' Up & Down In Your Chair

[Just a note, if you click any of the links at all, make it #7, the video it too hillarious.]

1) "The Underdog"
Spoon, from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

2) "Young Folks"
Peter Bjorn and John, from Writer's Block

3) "Your Beauty Is A Knife I Turn On My Throat"
Eagle*Seagull, from Eagle*Seagull

4) "My Party"
Kings of Leon, from Because of the Times

5) "Silver Tiles"
Matt & Kim, from To/From

6) "Speaking In Tongues"
Eagles of Death Metal, from Peace Love Death Metal

7) "Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games"
Of Montreal, from The Sunlandic Twins

*** Happy listening!! ***

Foot Fettish

2007-08-13T16:20:00.000-07:00

First things first, I do not, I repeat, I do not, have a strange obsession with feet.

On the contrary, my feet have developed an uncontrollable desire for new, fashionable shoes, which has spread to the rest of my body, overtaken the wiser part of my brain, and seized possession of my wallet. In other words, I can't stop buying shoes.

Since I got home at the end of May, I have purchased more shoes than I'm aware of. Luckily -- although perhaps it is more unfortunate -- I've only kept five pairs.

I know, only five....

Perhaps sharing my shoe purchases isn't particularly significant, but it's exciting for me. You see, this year, I will be able to (well, more like I will have to) take my entire shoe collection with me back to school. I have the closet space now and hopefully I'll have the outings to sport them. Hiking around our hilly campus in 4" heels just won't fly. I may fly... down a flight of stairs....

But then again, maybe I won't have to have spiffy events in order to wear my snazzy shoes. My friend Austin and I have already agreed to wear our amazing shoes even to the most mundane places. Just for shits & giggles, of course.

Jeffrey Campbell blue leather flats.

Report dark red heels.

Dolce Vita white leather slingbacks.

Banana Republic red canvas wedges
(incredibly comfortable despite their heigh!)

Dolce Vita red canvas low wedges.

[Apparently I'm really diggin' red this summer....]

168 Hours

2007-08-12T23:35:00.000-07:00

One week from now, I will be sleeping in some bed, at some hotel, somewhere in the middle of Utah.

Exciting.

Friday Night Enlightenment No. 3

2007-08-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

Rock On Meaningfully

1) "Messages"
Velvet Revolver, from Libertad

2) "Put It Out For Good"
Amy Ray, from Prom

3) "Knights of Cydonia"
Muse, from Black Holes and Revelations

4) "Night At the Knight School"
Thee More Shallows, from Book of Bad Breaks

5) "Luca"
Brand New, from The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me

6) "Fully Alive"
Flyleaf, from Flyleaf

7) "Paper Thin Hymn"
Anberlin, from Never Take Friendship Personal

Growing Up Like A Middle School Kid

2007-08-10T08:59:00.000-07:00

My mother recently told me about a phase I went through in middle school. She said I kept dropping things and running into things, like I wasn't entirely aware of my own personal space... or rather how much space I took up. Apparently, I was experiencing a dramatic growth spurt.

Well lately I have been running into things, left and right. Just the other day, I hit my head at least five times, three of which were on my closet door at various times of the day. And trust me, these were not intentional -- I'm not that crazy.

I keep dropping things, hitting my elbows on door jars, not lifting things high enough when I move them, so they naturally run into something themselves. Most of the issues have been in regards to my head, although I can't say that's the better situation.

Does this mean I'm experiencing a growth spurt then? At nearly 20?! Okay, more like 19 1/2... but still!!

It's kind of exciting, but also incredibly strange. I mean, if I did grow, which way would I go? Up? I don't know about that... I'm pretty comfortable with my height. Just as long as my feet don't get bigger! That would be incredibly awkward, and if they did, none of my new shoes would fit anymore and that would be truly tragic!

The upside: I haven't stubbed my toe yet! :) [knock on wood]