It Is A Truth Universally Acknowledged...

That I suck.

No, I didn't do any laundry today. However, I am currently in the process (umm... blogging about soon-being in the process) of separating my laundry into PILES... so that... oh I don't know... if a magic laundry fairy comes to visit me this weekend... it just might get done... I don't know... wishful thinking I guess.

I put on "Lost in Austen" because, well, it's sooooo September 2009, and the music takes me back to a slightly different time. No, I'm not talking about Jane Austen's Georgian England... but wherever I was in my stage of life back then. Isn't it weird how 6 months can seem like such a long long time ago?

I'm wearing a Metric shirt that I got from my visit to California (from the maker of the graphic designer for Metric at the time) back in August of 2006.

I'm grabbing the love handles that formed sometime between Fall 2007 and Fall 2008.

I'm looking at the pile of clothes that need to be done by NOW in 2010, but haven't been separated into ready-to-go laundry piles yet! URGH! Time to stop procrastinating!

Updated just a short while later (read: not enough time to have done anything but hang up 4 dresses): Goodnight.

Things To Get Life In Order

Here are some things I need to do in order to get my life back together... it is currently in shambles!

1. Do laundry. I've been saying this for days.

2. Finish my damn book, or at least read SOMETHING.

3. GO TO THE GYM, DAMMIT! You were doing so well and then you fell off... and you said you'd get back on, but alas, you did not... and you SUCK.

4. You bought a Bible... read it.

5. You got yourself an "adoptaplatoon" penpal... WRITE TO YOUR PENPAL!

6. Focus.

7. Fucking lose that weight already you lazy ass mother HEIFER! (See what I just did there?)

8. Get inspired again.

9. Cook more... that one time was nice... DO IT AGAIN!

10. STOP TALKING TO YOURSELF VIA BLOGSPOT! KTHXBYESENS!

On a slightly better note, Buddy and I bought our tickets to Boston today! I know, I know, I was JUST THERE a year ago... but Jenny's graduating! I have to! :)

The school she's graduating from

Just another something I'm looking forward to seeing again... the beautiful flowers! :)


But of course, most of all, I'm excited to see my JenJar! ("Oh heyyyy!")

Does This Make Me A Supergeek?

I saw this on digg and it cracked me up and I kind of super love it and want it for myself (... when the time comes, of course). Then there are the comments... my favorite part about digg... because everyone is so damn snarky. Here are my top 3 comments:

1. Let's hope there isn't a 404
2. Quick upload, loooooong download ;)
3. At least we know there's no trojan involved here.

Overheard in the Doctor's Office

More whiteisms that I just do not understand...

LC: What time is dinner?

Me: 5:15

LC: Oh, so we gotta leave like right after.

Me: Yep!

LC: We gotta shit 'n get...

The Stiffest of the Stiff Drinks

The Finch-Takahashi/Biles-Finch wedding reception was pretty fun. Probably the most laid back wedding reception ever. You pretty much couldn't tell who the grooms and brides were. Anyway... their wedding favors were pint glasses with the above graphic on it and you were able to get all you can drink beer. Lisa and I spent a large portion of our night chatting with Mr. G. Good ol' Mr. G. Probably the most phenomenal teacher of all time (if you don't believe me, you can have a lengthy conversation about it with my brother, David). Johnny didn't really have any luck at finding any ladies to hit on that night... I think he was scared they might've been related to me... I think Johnny's favorite part of the night (aside from the free all you can drink beer) was when my cousin's little boy Collin gave everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) a hug before he left! SO. CUTE!

After the reception a few of us headed to Hotel Icon, where the newlyweds were staying. We had some drinks in the bar, talked about wealth and prestige, talked more about Mr. G and his greatness (and in contrast, the shittyness of myspace band promoters at SXSW), watched Thu fall asleep on top of two ottomans, and let Val rest her poor, tired feet. They, however, kicked us out at 12:30. So... they suggested another bar: Warren's. My brother immediately said, "Oh yeah. Good place. They serve stiff drinks." Stiff. Drinks. So... we went there. The bartender was NOT happy that 10 or so people just came in. You'd think she would be, but she wasn't... maybe cause we moved tables... but what did it matter to her? It wasn't busy... and we were business. Bad business on her part. Anyway... she was a douchebag. Mrs. Warren was a douchebag--moving on. After the hassle of dealing with her, Johnny and I started giving David a hard time saying that after THAT ordeal... these better be some STIFF drinks. He set out to prove himself right. He asked for some amaretto sours for Val & me and specifically said, "light on the sour, heavy on the alcohol..." and Mrs. Warren sassily replied to him (I imagine that she scoffed, but he never specified), "You're new here, aren'tcha?" Or... something condescendingly annoying like that. He told her, "Actually, no." He told this story a couple times so I know it well. Anyway... the point (and there is a point) is that they were the STIFFEST amaretto sours I've ever had in my LIFE. IN. MY. LIFE! (Like the Beatles!) Then he got Johnny a... whiskey diet? I think? HOLY CRAP. STIFF! STIFF LIKE... well not like a feather... (which is light) but as a BOARD! (Any girl who was once 11 knows what I'm talkin' about!)

I believe me, Johnny & Val shared a cig outside and talked about the wonders of teaching (will I ever know?) and probably other stuff but I cannot at this time recall what it was. We ended the night with Thu, once again, falling asleep in his chair, the male Finch and the (now) two Biles sharing a wedding night cig together and Johnny and I crashing at Val's family's condo in midtown. Overall the best part of the night were all the questions that were considered (if not answered):

Which last name on the pint glass belonged to the Japanese bride?

Why does Johnny hate Morrissey so much?

What were Peter & Donson going to do at home alone together?

Should 401ks belonging to hard-working retired teachers be protected?

Which is worse, a lifelong teacher dedicated to education or a myspace band promoter?

Did anyone want to spray paint Solange's name (pronounced: So-long-gay) over Beyonce's face on her mural?

Is Beyonce, in fact, as good a singer as people make her out to be?

How do you play Michael Jackson's game on Sega Genesis?

How the HELL do you play the "casino" stage of Sonic the Hedgehog?

Is Val's family Persian?

Does Val's family have a maid that comes in and makes the king sized bed PERFECT?

But the most important question of the night that was, indeed, answered was:

Where do they serve the stiffest of the stiff drinks?

Overheard in the Doctor's Office

Is this something people say?

Me: Hey ____, how are you doin'?

Patient: Oh, well... I'm hangin' in there like a toenail!

**I realize this isn't so much gross or rude like I often portray my patients to be... but it was weird and unexpected. I really do want to know though, is this like... a white-ism that I'm not familiar with?

Johnny's Progress With Making The Stars

Because I know you were all curious about Johnny's star-making progress, here is a photo. I contributed to about... 5 of them. I hope to have much more at my next star update.

The Party Planning Committee's First Party

After LC and I talked about how we should start our own party planning company (The Party Planning Committee?) I decided that we needed to plan Nia's first bday party. I sent Eshe an e-mail. She has yet to respond. This is my inspiration board for Nia's bday party though... so I'll send it to Eshe and make sure she's on board (with the board?) If she's not, then... I will find some other poor little girl who has a birthday coming up that I can sic my party on.

*I hope y'all noticed the stars... Johnny Pham has agreed to supply us with thousands of stars. He has one month... an ENTIRE SPRING BREAK OF STAR MAKING! This is like when Zack made Lisa make friendship bracelets for their business. But then Jessie, Slater & Kelly left and made an AWESOME VIDEO for Buddy Bands!

Johnny Pham and a Book Exchange

Explaining a book-exchange system to Johnny is almost as bad as an uninterrupted block of text.

"Say that this little scheme of yours continues all the way until the last persons--the last people who have books. What if you're the last person? You don't get any books. You don't fucking get any books. No one's going to send you any, because you were the last person to get the letter... so it's a shame. It's just a shame."

I explained to Johnny that actually, the last person could still send it to anyone else, and theoretically, they should have at least 6 books to choose from to send to that last person. So... he realized it's actually a never-ending book exchange.

Now he wants to do a start-up for the book exchange. "We would make so much money as a start-up, but then we'd have to stop calling ourselves a start-up."

Thursday nights at its best. Also, we can't believe that there are still banned books... and Johnny thinks history should be eradicated from our required curriculum now that google is our brain.

Overheard in the Doctor's Office

I guess it's back to the future for her...

Patient: What's the date today?

Me: The 11th.

Patient: [slowly writes down the date on her paperwork] '01?

Me: '10.

Patient: [stares blankly at me]

Me: ... '10.

Patient: [continues to stare blankly at me]

Me: ... '10...?

Patient: [yep, still staring]

Me: Twenty-ten. ...'10.

Patient: [still unresponsive]

Me: It's... 2010.

Patient: [raises eyebrow (as if she is just doing this to humor me) as she writes '10 on her paperwork]

The Cause of Peace and Brotherhood

As I read more and more of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s autobiography, I become more and more amazed. I dog-ear pages where he says something particularly moving or still relevant. I have to be very conservative in this dog-earring of pages, cause if I wasn't, my book would be impossible to back with all it's dog-eared pages making it fatter and fatter at the top.

Anyway, I'm only maybe... 3/5 of the way through the book. It's been slow. Not because it hasn't been good, but I think mostly because I'm... a slow reader. I like things to sink in. I can't skim. If I even start to FEEL like I skimmed, I usually have to go back 2 pages or so to re-read to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Do you guys know how many times MLK had gone to jail? A lot. Like, a lot. At first it was just things to keep him off the streets and off the pulpit--traffic tickets, stuff like that. Then it was for violating injunctions on protests (despite the fact they were peaceful protests). He's spent time in a Montgomery, Albany and Birmingham jail. He also wrote a super long letter to some "don't-rock-the-boat" ministers & rabbis that had criticized him for coming into Birmingham and trying to stir up trouble. He wrote about 16 pages (well in my book) worth as a rebuttal to what those ministers and rabbis had said about him in a paper. All he had were scraps of paper and the margins of the newspaper to write on. He. Is. A. Badass. Is it okay to call an ordained reverend a badass? Whatevs. What's done is done.

Anyway, my inspiration board for today heavily features the Reverend King. The top right photo is probably one of my favorites. MLK just got convicted of "violating the state's anti-boycott law." His wife, the beautiful, faithful, loving, caring, nurturing, steadfast Coretta Scott King is seen giving her hubby a giant smooch after his conviction. He later wrote,

"Ordinarily, a person leaving a courtroom with a conviction behind him would wear a somber face. But I left with a smile. I knew that I was a convicted criminal, but I was proud of my crime. It was the crime of joining my people in a nonviolent protest against injustice. It was the crime of seeking to instill within my people a sense of dignity and self-respect. It was the crime of desiring for my people the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It was above all the crime of seeking to convince my people that noncooperation with evil is just as much a moral duty as is cooperation with good."

See? Badass. In the middle, you see a photo of Rosa Parks. Also, a Grade A Badass. The middle is MLK with a photo of one of his biggest inspirations, India's Mahatma Ghandi. He practiced what he preached--nonviolent civil disobedience. Without Ghandi's trailblazing efforts to overcome his opposition through nonviolence, who knew if the leaders of our civil rights movement would've known to take the same steps?

If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as "rabble-rousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies--a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare."

I can quote this man forever, but you see my point. Ever since I started reading this book, I've constantly tried to find arguments and parallels and instances where things Dr. King had said were still relevant today. While almost everything regarding race relations that he says is indeed still relevant today, I found a lot of what he said applicable to the struggle for LGBT (GLBT?) rights. I'll end this blog with one last thing that MLK said that really sparked something in me. I've always been a proponent of gay rights (omg, can we just fricken let them marry already?!) and what MLK said makes me really want to get out there. And... it also makes it disappointed in the church for not spreading the message of love when it comes to homosexuality. Then again, I've read (and seen banners) for a group at the UCC called "PRISM" and they are a group for LGBT (basically all non-heterosexual) Catholics who meet every Monday. I think I'd actually really like to go to meetings, just to learn more. Yes. I'm going to do that. Anyway, here's a few more words from the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

There was a time when the Church was very powerful--in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. [...] Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.
Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood,
Martin Luther King, Jr.

*All excerpts were taken from The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Edited by Clayborne Carson. If you're interested in this novel, you can purchase it here!

107 Seniors, 107 Accepted Into College

Stories of success, especially success against all odds, are always moving and inspiring to me. Congrats to all 107 of these college-bound young men! They (along with their family and friends... and hell, their hardworking educators) should all be proud!

Click here for the full article.

Let The Color Scheme Arrive!

Today, I am inspired by two things:

1. Mates of State's "Get Better" - Mostly the lyrics, "Forget all your politics for awhile, let the color scheme arrive!" and "Everything's gonna get lighter, even if it never gets better!" Which inspired me to think about my second inspiration of the day,

2. Colorful Balloons. Ever since the Valentine's Day dinner scene that Carrie & Miranda had in the SATC movie, where the ceiling is completely filled by balloons, I've had this obsession with bunches and bunches of balloons. Up certainly didn't help my fixation with these colorful air receptacles.

The following mini inspiration board (fashioned quickly during my lunch hour) was made with photos from: here, here, here & here (clockwise from the top left). I love color.

I Hate Flash! Like, A Lot!

So a web design master friend of mine told me that websites just shouldn't use flash anymore, now with the advent of the iphone and other mobile web devices, flash just isn't practical. I loathe trying to look at website and finding that it's in flash and I therefore cannot view it on my iphone.

Now, even though I'm on a badass new imac (courtesy of my boss) that supports flash, I still get annoyed when I come across a flash-infested website. Yes, infested. That is how I feel about it. I have already always hated flash. Mainly because I'm a highlighter. I compulsively highlight as I read online and I can't normally do that with flash enabled text. For example, as I re-read what I just wrote to make sure it made sense... I highlighted. That's for a whole other post completely.

Anyway. For all you future web designers out there. Please. MAKE IT STOP!