They were uber super.

by Andrea H.
Last things first, I saw Harry Potter opening day with my friend Kylee and we fargin' loved it to death. She hasn't read the books but has watched the movies, so it was kind of fun having her there sighing "Oh, nooo..." and gasping when she didn't know what was going to happen next.

Thoughts on the movie itself: extraordinary, thrilling, captivating, and emotional, and I really do appreciate them chopping the last book into two movies because then they don't change so much of the book to fit inside two and a half hours of film. I haven't read the Deathly Hallows in a fair amount of time, but for as much as I can remember, the movie was quite true to the book. There's nothing worse for a novel fan than to have the movie change too much.

Now for first things last, I wanted to mention the boy in Spanish class again. The other day, he mentioned that he worked at the police department on campus, which is why he was going in the same direction as me, as he insisted that he wasn't following me, hahaha.

Anyway, after class the following day, we walked out and he asked if I wanted a ride to my car. Then I looked over to the left and I saw two of his police buddies waiting for him with one of the golf carts I've seen people drive around on campus, and I was thinking, "NO WAYYYY, COOOOL!" because I'm a square. I totally accepted and that's when he said that he's their boss, so it was pretty neat being chauffeured across campus at night, even if it was freezing cold and my teeth were chattering behind a big smile on my face.

Out one day.

by Laina
No, it isn't a good thing at all that I've gotten used to waking up at five every morning. Because I know you just asked.

Well, a couple of things. I decided to hang out on campus at the cafe for some good eats and an essay writing session. Also cool beans, two friends from my organic chemistry class last semester popped up and sat with me. We reminisced, talked, joked, and I was eventually commissioned for a portrait. It was good to see them again. They're very good, smart people.

Then they had to leave for class and I studied Spanish some before the test that took me fifteen minutes to complete. I'm always the first one done, but today when I started rustling my papers, the boy who sits next to me noticed me getting up and started collecting his things to leave, as well.

Abs, is this going where I think it's going?

Maybe.

We ended up walking across campus as it was getting dark, discussing class and asking about my job, because we just happened to be going in the same direction until I reached my car where he wished me a good evening. Which would all be fairly innocent if he hadn't seemed to deliberately leave the classroom the same time I did. Am I reading too much into this little happenstance?

Anyway, I'm not quite sure what to think about him yet...

Like a man.

This has been a pretty good week. There's been considerably low stress levels and it is truely blissful.

I'm sleeping a lot.
I'm getting off from work on time for my short shifts.
I finished my writing assignments for this month.
I don't have Spanish class today.
I made a new drawing. Used some methods for keeping proportion and it mostly worked out. Yay!


We went out to dinner yesterday for my step dad's birthday.
I went on a little shopping spree today:

cream-colored lace peasant top
3 ribbed turtlenecks (purple, dark brown, and medium grey)
black floral lace tights
silver leggings
simple white camisole
black faux leather jacket
black boot slippers

...all for $108.78 (as opposed to $254). I do love Kohl's.

Harry Potter is on the to-do list. I managed to get opening day off from work, so I have the capability to go to the midnight showing if I wanted to. I just don't want to. It would completely screw up my sleep schedule since I have to get up at 5am every morning.

I'm also manning up pretty well about moving out of state next year. I remember feeling anxious about leaving home, but now I'm kind of looking forward to it. Hopefully everything will turn out well enough.

Just cuteness.

Sea otters hold hands when they sleep so they don't drift apart.

Boy, do I.

It's been so long! But it's only because I'm radioactive with laziness.

I got in a bit of trouble at work the other day. Apparently we aren't allowed to hug other employees. But hugs are my favorite. Mm. It was a sad day.

Luckily, my classes are just as easy as I thought they were. I managed 100% on my last two exams. Really, though, it'd be hard not to.

The bathroom renovation is going on slowly but surely. My step dad is the only one working on it besides the occasional electrician, so he had to do all the demolition, construction, painting, and tiling so far.




The cabinets have been installed and the floor tile is in. The shower is taking so long. Apparently the style my mom chose is way difficult to do, so we'll see how things turn out. There'll be a white grout for all the tile in the end, so they'll all really pop.

I also managed to take a few photos of flowers I bought from the store. In some of them, I used my bokeh trick by having something reflective behind the subject via crinkled aluminum foil. It was an interesting experiment.


My brother calls every Sunday from boot camp at Fort Benning, Georgia. I can tell he misses home. We've been exchanging letters, and while he has so many exciting things to say about what he's learning, all I have to write is that one of my Sims characters has mastered all skills. I'm such a dork.

Kinds of dread.

by Mervecan Saral
That boy I was talking about before and myself have come to a conclusion about what to do. I suggested that he discontinue wooing me, although hugs are okay on the occasion. But then when we hug he asks, "Can I woo you today?" ... Asking to woo me alone is wooing me. I am much too weak. But the time away has helped... he's not an obsession anymore, so that's good. ._.

I'm currently trying to plan the weekend of my graduation. Who I'm going to dinner with afterwards, who I'm going to hang out with the next following days... I want to go with a couple of my friends to San Francisco and roam about. But I also need to spend time with my dad and grandparents who will be visiting from southern California and Arizona in order to congratulate my achievements.

My mom baked some bread the other day, and I think it's time to chow down. For some reason, because I really cannot see the connection, that sentence reminded me of a line in a video I cracked up over. Oh, so funny.

But before I go, I thought I should tell those of you who miss Granma that his tire blew out, so while he was waiting for it to get fixed up he visited the workplace and I got to chat him up a little for the first time since he was let go. He's taking microbiology at school and is working in security at a retirement home. I've found that I'm remarkably over him--he seemed significantly less charming and more homely, but that's not to say that I wouldn't want to remain friends with him. He just has a problem responding to emails. Not that I'm sending any more.

Not at all adequate.

by Andrea
A couple of things.

The bathroom is being renovated, and currently there is no drywall and no floor. Yes, I can see the dirt beneath the house from the hallway. I'm cataloging the renovation process via photos, and I'm sure I'll post them up eventually. Maybe. My step dad is doing most if not all of the work and said that it will probably take about a month to complete.

My mom had the most excellent idea to purchase about a dozen croissants from Costco, and I have been happily consuming them for breakfast and lunch. They're especially fantastic after sticking them in the oven for about seven minutes. Ooooh.

The engine light turned on in my car, so I went in to have it fixed up at the dealership I bought it at, since it's free to. I sat a whole 2.5 hours in the waiting room slowly masticating various vending machine treats and hot cocoa, but was pleasantly surprised to find my car washed, as well, by the end of it. Thank you, Nissan people.

I play Restaurant City on Facebook because it's super duper, but of the twenty friends who have glanced at the game at least once don't ever play. There's no one to send me the ingredients I need! It sucks! Befriend me, and play Restaurant City so that you may gift me with almonds and coffee. Pleeeeaaase.

I'm going all Hollywood.

It's like a portrait-drawing frenzy, whoaaaa!


This woman is supposed to be Gene Tierney. Hottt.

I've noticed how, on DeviantART, the photos or drawings of mine that I really love are never popular to the DA community, while photos that I think are not very spectacular freaking explode with views and favorites. It's very peculiar...

So there's this boy at work who I like and he likes me, but he's not single despite the couple's off and on relationship problems over the past couple of years. I feel very conflicted about how to behave around him now that our feelings are out in the open, and I'm sure he's conflicted about what to do next. It's all rather complicated. I never meant to become attracted to him--he was just a friend up until a couple of months ago when the ritual hugs were prolongued and became more affectionate. Although, I think that was of his initiation... Oh, bother.

Like the '30s.

Whoaaaa, new drawing!


It's supposed to be James McAvoy. My mom insists that it really does look like him (and she's usually pretty honest about my works), but I don't believe it. Regardless, it's a portrait of someone.

I'm starting to read a book I purchased for my mom as a gift. I don't know if she read it or not... Maybe she tried but couldn't continue? Who knows. But I'm giving it a try--it's called Christine Falls. I'm on page 49 and I still don't know who Christine Falls is.

Work today wasn't bad at all. It was really slow and we were very productive, so there was a heck of a lot of down time and joking around. I was moving a trash can and noticed how heavy it was, commenting on it to Johnathan. He shrugged, and I gasped, "Is it a dead body?" Johnathan nodded seriously, and then I said, "You know dead bodies are supposed to go in the compost, not the trash." We busted up laughing for several minutes. That line should be in a movie somewhere.

Ah, good times.

Rant.

by Abdulla Al Romaithi
My brother left for bootcamp at Fort Benning yesterday. We held hands in the back of my car on the way to the recruitment place. I was tearing up a bit, but I don't know if he noticed or not. Maybe it's too soon to get all emotional for his eventual shipping out to some sort of combat zone? I'll see him again at Christmas after the three months of basic training. I don't know. I'll miss him a lot.

I'll be handing out my reference forms for the applications I've decided to start sending out soon. My old anatomy and physiology professor from several years back who moved to Arizona is my top choice. He remembers me well. I mentioned him before, actually, he emails me sometimes. Weird, right? Heh... but he offers really good advice and encouragement about medical school and all that. I know he thinks rather highly of me:

Study and take that MCAT! That's an order!
Haha. Kidding. I've learned to let other people tell you no...
but never limit yourself.
That's your pep talk :o)
Yep. He's a good dude.

Now, I'm sorry, but I have to be really immature right now and say that growing up is stupid. Yes, stupid. You have to be required to get a job and be miserable in order to support yourself and your family. What is all that about? We need to change the system so that there is no misery.

I mean, labor forces are always complaining about how technology is taking their jobs in the form of robots. Well, yes, that is a problem in this system, but in a system where there was ALL robots doing ALL jobs, then no one would have to work if they didn't want to. People contribute to society because they want to make a difference in the world, not because they have to in order to stay alive. No one would be miserable. Everyone gets equal shares of wealth, and no one is dying of poverty or starvation or malnutrition. Honestly, it's not that difficult a concept to understand.

Loads of loads.

Everyone has been out of the house this weekend, and I've been using that time to be as lazy as possible before my mom starts harrassing me to get on with my research for all the papers I have to write this semester. I was browsing YouTube a lot and was reminded of my attempts at manga when I was in middle school and high school. Needless to say, back then they didn't turn out so great. I had only just started drawing and didn't learn much about nothing.

Anyway, I was reminded by these how-to vidoes by a guy named Mark Crilley, who has his own channel on YouTube dedicated to drawing manga. He's very talented, making it look so easy when it really isn't. Much of drawing has to do with intuition, but he tries to narrow down the basics for a bit more structure. Here's what I came up with after watching one of his videos, surprised that it turned out well enough after a couple of attempts at the eyes, the most difficult feature.


The hair was surprisingly easy to draw, but I think that's only because I'm used to knowing how hair behaves in drawing realistic portraits.

I drew the structure to the right after I finishing the portrait on the left in order to show you guys what Mark Crilley was suggesting in order to keep proportions straight. I'll probably put up a step-by-step entry on Mix Tape once it's my turn to post something on art.

Well, I finally saw Vampires Suck with my friend Leslie. It was really, really funny, especially when you're not a fan of the cast of Twilight or the ridiculousness of it all. Then we had some teriyaki chicken bowls and headed over to her house so I could take her portrait! Yay, I finally had a model to use!


And then I went to the park during sunset and took a few pictures. One of them came out really "wow" because I can't come up with another term for it.


I can't wait to graduate.

Diaries of a what?

by beadriana
A journal or a diary has always been with me, hidden in my nightstand under some magazines or in plain sight in the arrangement of books I have set up on my dresser. When I was little, I'd keep receiving newer journals and diaries to use and so I never got past more than five pages of writing before switching to another.

Once I was in my freshman year of high school I started writing in my latest journal after three years of not. Now, every once in a while when something important in my life happens, I pick it up and write. It helps me vent things that are inappropriate for the blogging community, either family issues or things I'd like to remember reading back on my life. It's not often we look back on our blog entries to reminisce about the good old times.

I'm mentioning all of this because I have the compulsion to write in it again. I have something I need to vent out, but I can't here. It's too complicated, I'm sorry.

This upcoming semester shouldn't be too difficult for me to keep up with blogging. Work has agreed to bring down my hours so I could have time to write this huge research paper, among other things.

Lastly, I thought I should mention that I finished reading Mockingjay today and have to admit that I officially cried over every book in the trilogy. Because I'm an idiot who really gets into what she's doing.

You'd have never guessed.

by Andrea H.
I can't believe myself. I'm reading Twilight again. And it's not as if I actually have time to finish the entire series or anything before school starts for me on Tuesday. There isn't. Just enough for the first book and perhaps half of the second, which I am not at all interested in reading. It's my least favorite of the lot. I'm rather too fond of Edward to be deliberately devoid of him for the better part of the book.

My other thought before this urge was to reread Harry Potter, but my friend Michelle finally returned the Twilight books back to me after a year when we got together for lunch the other day.

Poor girl, we were exactly alike in middle school. She hasn't changed a bit, but I have noticed how much I have now that I'm foiled beside her. I'm more independent and grown up than I was, and I'm much less shy. Much, much less, but she still is, and we share a bond of middle school alikeness that she seems to cherish so much from the evidence of her hesitant goodbyes. I feel so heartless to say that I don't feel like the bond is as strong as it used to be for me. I don't see her very often, and I've changed while she hasn't. It makes me so sad. Can anyone relate to how I feel about this?

My mom has let me down yet again about these trips to places I would love to go to. That is, the whole museum tour of Europe. It's not going to happen, but I can't blame her because it's a matter of money. The trip would be so expensive and with all the projects we're working on around the house and other things, now is just not the right time. So instead, we're planning on taking a trip to Washington D.C. next April. According to my mom, the place is teeming with amazing things to tour and admire, so hopefully it won't be a complete let down. I was so very excited to see Europe, but it looks like I'll just have to do it some other day when I can pay my half in full.

The local park doesn't hold much of a variety of flowers at this moment in the season, nor any new ones, but my brother and I still went and I still managed to take photos that I'm rather fond of, even if the general population of DeviantART isn't.



I included the last picture because it's of a tree that resembles an elephant. It was so bizarre.

Does anyone else admire Lily Allen's music? I don't personally listen to it on a regular basis, but when it ever crosses my path it always makes me smile because she's so very offensive in a so very upbeat way. Plus, her voice is amazing.

I made it just for you.

by Michal Huštaty
Remember that cute brown and pink dress that I bought for an upcoming wedding? Well, I just now realized that I own a scarf that matches perfectly with it and is even formal enough. Total effin' coincidence.

I'm feeling really good right now... A bunch of nice things are happening, so it kind of overturns most of the cruddy stuff.

1. Last sunday at work at 5:30 in the morning, Johnathan asked me if I like anything at Starbucks. "A vanilla bean frappaccino or a raspberry hot chocolate, yes." So he bought me a raspberry hot chocolate. Made my several days. Plus, Tracy wasn't there that morning. Yay!

2. My mom is making me go to the gym, now. She's paying for the membership and I need to get back in shape, so I say why not. Anyway, I grab my old tennis shoes from the corner of my closet and realize once I'm at the gym that the soles are literally disintegrating all over the floor and equipment. It was the most hilarious and tragic thing I had witnessed all day. Consequentially, I threw them out on the way to the car and my mom bought me new $150 running shoes that same day. Good thing they're very comfortable.

3. After all these months, I finally finished my interest statement essay letter thing! YAY! Now I just need to set up some sort of job shadowing session before sending off my applications.

4. The other night, I had fourteen hours of sleep. It was heavenly.

5. I have a new drawing! The nose or mouth could probably use some revisiting, but I'm really happy with the rest of it.


6. We have a bunch of new hires at work, most of which bother the hell out of me, except for Rusty. His handsome face and quirky sense of humor distracts me from my opinion of his work ethic.

Yes, I'm alright.

by Nikoline
Graduating is a pretty big deal after being in school your entire life. A little celebration is in order. Well, my mom came up with the idea of a museum tour of Europe. WHAT?! AWESOME!!!

Yes, I am so unbelievably excited to go to Madrid, Paris, and London. Of course, it's not all said and done--my mom needs to make sure that she'll be able to get the two weeks off from her new job.

Meanwhile, my own job is a flump. If that's a word. I used to look at my job as being either good or bad depending on who else is there that day. But now that all the cool people have gone or switched departments, it's always super lame and nauseatingly excruciating to endure a shift. My back pain that I get from working is not masked by any delight to be near awesome people because they are not there. I cannot work with my boss and many of the newer employees. I need a change, but I don't see any forks in the road any time soon.

Today I got together with a friend of mine who is transferring to UC Berkeley in two weeks. We went to go see The Other Guys. It was pretty funny. Not as funny as Dinner for Shmucks, which was freakin' hilarious. But she returned the Twilight saga I lent her to read over the past year and recommended The Hunger Games, although I'm not sure she was too convinced by its supposed greatness.

No productivity this week, it seems, outside of my joining a gym today for the sake of my mom's satisfaction. I haven't written any more of the essay. I've just been editing homes and towns on The Sims 3, music hunting on iTunes to find Au Revoir Simone, A Girl Called Eddy, and Maria Taylor, as well as browsing YouTube and finding charlieissocoollike singing on his ukelele, nerimon ridiculing the Twilight book, hilarious Old Spice guy q&a sessions, and a video of Jackie Evancho singing on America's Got Talent.

Frankly, I'm a bit bored. I ought to watch Inception again.

PS: William was fired already, hahaha. Silly William.

But they're back now.

by Mari
The last two days in this house were spent just to myself. My folks were out of town and my brother was staying at a friend's house. The whole atmosphere of the house seemed to change when there wasn't anyone else there--a bit eerie. Perhaps the house is haunted? My brother saw a ghost here once.

ANYWAY! I've been fairly productive. Granted, I haven't written a single word more on my interest statement for medical dosimetry programs whose applications are due December 1st, BUT! I went to school to buy my textbooks for the fall semester as well as a parking permit. I paid my bills. I read the new Naruto chapter. I got my tire pressure checked because the light was on. I watched Kick-Ass (it was really, really funny). AND! I went to AAA for some discounted tickets to Six Flags.

Yep, I'm going to Six Flags tomorrow. With a friend of mine, her name is Jade. Cool name. I might name one of my kids Jade some day.

The other day I was in the break room, minding my own business, sitting at the table in the corner kicking sudoku's ass, when one of my coworkers whom I do not often converse with was compelled to inform me that I have been asked about.

"Yeah? By who?"

"One of the new hires. William."

"Huh."

"He was asking if you were taken. I didn't know. Just thought I should tell you."

Well. Now every time I see this dude at work, I'm wondering what to do and experimentally how long it would take for him to chat me up more than "So... sudoku, huh?"

Don't really know anything at all about him, except that he's had four years of college. So. Yep. *cough*

Anyone looking forward to "Vampires Suck"? I know I am.

Great things.

Despite having to get up at 4:15 in the morning, I've had a most excellent day today. Apparently I was so funny at work this morning that I made Johnathan laugh so hard his abdominals hurt. All that happened was my tiredness and his asking if I partied last night, because he just knows how much I party (none at all). My witty remark: "SO. Hard." And he just started busting up. I don't know, it probably wasn't that funny, but in the mornings, you get happy-tired and therefore easily amused.

Then I got off from work at 10:00, horray for a short shift! I had the rest of the day to do whatever I wanted. Of course, we already went out to see Inception yesterday (which was mindbogglingly amazing!), so I wasn't going to go out again. Instead, I drew a portrait since I had an urge to. It turned out okay. The eye on the right keeps bugging me, though. *twitch*


Also, my mom and I went shopping a few days back just for the hell of it. Walking into Kohl's, my mom turned to the left, spotted a dress that would look really cute on me when I suggested that we shop for the wedding we shall be attending in September. When I tried this dress on, it fit perfectly everywhere. That almost never happens. After buying the dress, we lugged it around the mall through various shoe departments to find something that matched. I was initially looking for flats, but my mom convinced me to try heels, something I never wear... But they aren't so bad, really. I tried them on and ended up buying them. Ensemble:


I'm actually looking forward to wearing a dress. How bizarre. Anyway, I decided that it would also work as my graduation outfit--a bonus.

Also, I managed to be slightly productive today and get started on my interest statement for applications to medical dosimetry programs for next year. I feel awkward boasting about myself to a blank page.

The only bad thing about today is that the alarm clock woke me up from a dream of Granma and I couldn't help muttering, "No... no..." into my pillow when I realized it wasn't real.

Your mother is a hampster.

Some coworkers have been bugging me over the past couple of months to submit an entry to Costco's Photo Contest this summer. I finally broke down and went through all of my photographs to find something that might catch someone's eye. I tried to go by works that are popular on DeviantART, but I have my own preferences. The photo I chose ended up being something not entirely original, but so very pretty to me:


The other options I was considering to submit were more original but less flawless as I think the flowers I chose are. A baby dove and a house:


And after the fact, my mom told me about two more baby doves abandoned by their parents that are still hiding out in our backyard. So, consequentially, I had to take their pictures.


They were scared out of their minds with me so close to them, I could tell, but they didn't budge at all.

Also, here are randomly some other photos from when I went to my grandparents' house for a barbeque this past weekend. The ribs were soooo gooood.


Monty Python's Spamalot was fantastic! Knowing The Holy Grail almost by heart, I had a kick out of the fact that they ripped off most of the lines from it and I could mouth the words along with them. But it wasn't just a bunch of ripped off lines, no, the songs were SO funny. They even had a song with a duet singing about an overly dramatic duet song that goes on for much too long.

I've been having a change of heart about work. I need to get out of there. And if not out of the store, at least out of the department. And I need to move out of the house to get away from all of these family problems. The bigger problem is that I need to stay with my mom now to get enough cash to keep myself housed for when I need to not work during the medical dosimetry program I'm hoping to get into for next year since it will be so rigorous. So, however much everyone in this household would love for me to get the frig out, I can't. Rather unfortunate events that everyone is just going to have to get over with.

Well, my mom is making me go to the store and purcahse chocolate chips to make cookies. Honestly, I'm not so bothered by the idea. Adios.

On random repeat.

by Mari
I received this award from the rice-krispies-eating wonder, Lizzie. Thanks, woman. Although, I don't really like the idea of forced awards, if that makes any sense. It's the same reason I don't enjoy holidays, because they're so forced. But never mind me. It's the thought that counts.


The rules:
1.) Get very excited that you won. YAYYYY!
2.) Choose ONE of the following options of accepting the OMB award.
a) Get really drunk and blog for 15 minutes straight or for as long as you can focus.
b) Write about your most embarrassing moment.
c) Write a "Soundtrack of Your Childhood" post.
d) Make your next blog post a vlog (video post). Basically talk to the camera about whatever you want.
e) Take a picture of yourself first thing in the morning before you do anything else (hair, make-up, etc.) and post it.
3.) Pass the award to at least 3 (or more!) other bloggers, but don't forget to tell them!

I was tempted to go with E since it's the simplest, but I look and sound unrecognizable in the mornings. Sleep does terrible things to my body. The other option was B, but I never remember my embarassing moments. Probably to block out the memory of things so traumatizing. So instead, I'll try to interpret what C means, because I only have an idea.

Does C mean "write a list of songs from the years you were a child" or "write a list of songs that represent how your childhood was"? I think I'll go with the first option, starting from when I was 6 to the time I was 18, one for each year for songs that were very memorable to me.

1. 1995 - "Kiss From A Rose" by Seal
2. 1996 - "Who Will Save Your Soul" by Jewel
3. 1997 - "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind
4. 1998 - "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion
5. 1999 - "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None The Richer
6. 2000 - "Smooth" by Santana featuring Rob Thomas
7. 2001 - "I'm Like a Bird" by Nelli Furtado
8. 2002 - "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton
9. 2003 - "Swing-Swing" by All American Rejects
10. 2004 - "Only One" by Yellowcard
11. 2005 - "Look What You've Done" by Jet
12. 2006 - "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies" by Panic! At The Disco
13. 2007 - "The Great Escape" by Boys Like Girls

That's it! Not very eventful, but brings back a lot of memories. I'll pass this award along to Scarlett, Driae, and Kait. Sorry for being so forced. <3

Today I shall be going to see Monty Python's Spamalot! I'm pretty excited. I requested today off, and I'm glad I did because it's the only day off I was given this week from work. Kinda sucks!

Also what kinda sucks a lot, Granma was let go. He didn't make the probation period because management wasn't fond of him for some reason, even though everyone else thought he was a great worker. I cried for about ten minutes under my hat when I found out, because I thought I'd never see him again--a repeat from when he was laid off in December. But after that cry, I felt fine, like it's no big deal. So far, he's not entirely ignoring my emails, but I still feel like I really won't see him again. My regret is that I never got a picture of the two of us.

Letting me down.

I haven't been posting because however much I'd prefer to write cheery posts, I have been cheery-less. Example? Today I was looking forward to going to San Francisco with my mom to take pictures at the botanical gardens and whatnot, and yet when I wake up this morning, asking her when we shall be leaving, she says, "It's too late."

Me: What? It's only 9:30.
Her: No, if we go to San Francisco, we have to leave by 8:00. If we leave now, we'd only be there for four hours because we have to leave by 3:00.
Me: But why can't we stay later?
Her: No. No way I'm getting stuck in San Francisco. I hate getting stuck in San Francisco.
Me: Well then why didn't you wake me up this morning?!
Her: I wasn't thinking about it, I had things on my mind.

For freaks' sake. I was royally pissed. I'd been looking forward to today for about two weeks, you know? So then she asks me if I'd rather go to a bunch of the parks around town instead. I say, sure. But then once we get back home from the grocery store, she changes her mind again. "It's too hot out, let's go tomorrow first thing in the morning when it's cool."

If there's one thing you don't do to me, it's give my hopes up, and she gave mine up twice today. TWICE.

*sigh*

I drew a new portrait. Only took about thirty minutes, but it's ODDLY reminscent of my mood.

A little better.

by Sabina
I feel like I cheated today or something. I slept in until 10:00 (late for me), had potstickers for lunch, and ate plum tart for dinner. I went shopping late in the afternoon before my mom got back from her hiking trip, and I didn't get back until 7:00, well after my mom ever makes dinner, so all that was left was the plum tart that my brother didn't want for some reason. Because it was delicious.

There's just something about being alone in your house that makes you want to get out and go shopping. No? I'm not one to spend a lot of money or have shopping urges, but that characteristic of mine seems to have changed this year. Really strange.

It might also be because I've realized how drab my wardrobe is. All I ever really wear are plain, solid t-shirts or tank tops (however brightly colored), jeans, converse shoes... the occasional graphic T, or long sleeve v-neck. But nothing really girly or flirty or fun. I never wear skirts or dresses. Or pink. Or heels.

I grew up as a tom boy, playing sports, running faster than the boys, dissing the arts and crafts sessions with Girl Scouts... and in retrospect, I think I was a bully in elementary school, but just to the boys I had a crush on. We weren't allowed to have crushes back in those days--boys were supposed to be icky, still. Nobody ever said aloud that a boy was "cute" until middle school.

So anyway, the last couple of years have been spent trying to change that, little by little, to become more interesting via apparel. I haven't had much progress. But today, I bought a cute white and red floral skirt (so proud of myself), an orange tie dye bandeau top, a flowery blue babydoll top, a plaid red roll-tab shirt, brown and grey leggings, vera wang aviator sunglasses, and two strapless bras, which I am surprised to admit I love more than bras with straps. I thought I would have a hard time with them, thinking they'd slip all over the place, but they fit so well and don't budge at all. Here are just a couple of those items:


The next couple of weeks should be fairly eventful for me. Tomorrow I'll be spending the day with a friend who used to be a coworker nobody could stand. It's rather surprising how much people change in the workplace, because even though she was really annoying to work with, she's a really fun person to be around. We'll probably be going out to lunch and then stay up late with a movie marathon.

For the fourth of July, I'll either be going to Six Flags with two coworkers and their girlfriends or with my mom to a barbeque at my grandparents' house. It depends on what my coworkers want to do, since two others already flaked on us. Flakers.

Also, I'll be attending two plays with my mom. One is called Love Child and the other is Monty Python's Spamalot! I'm looking forward to both. We'll also be going to San Francisco to hang out for a day, taking pictures at the botanical gardens and visiting art museums. Should be a blast!