I am not very discreet.

So if you're ever telling me something shocking that you wouldn't want anyone else to know, and you haven't already said "if you breath a word of this to anyone I'll stab you with a spork," then it's a good idea to tell me to keep my trap shut.

This doesn't pertain to anything that happened recently, but I've been thinking back to situations that were very embarassing for other people because of my big mouth.

Also, someone needs to remind me ever so often that telling someone something that you're not supposed to tell anyone, and then saying "but don't you dare let on that I told you" still constitutes gossip.

Scotty...

Why do I...

complain so much?
get bored so easily?
get so emotionally involved?
say I want one thing when I really want something else entirely?
crave attention but claim I don't?
talk about myself all the time?
tell myself I'm happy?
let myself think I'm not happy?
still believe in fairy-tale love?
attempt to be transparently obscure?
obsess over my inadequacies?
ask questions that only serve to stroke my ego?

... Oh right. I'm a chick.

WARNING: LINK CONTAINED IN THIS POST IS HIGHLY STRESSFUL

How can a link be highly stressful?

That's what I was wondering when I couldn't fall asleep last night. It's been about a week since I watched the video, and it's going to stick with me for a very very long time. Which is a good thing, but highly stressful.

The video is about fur. It's aimed against a clothing company called Wet Seal, which hasn't taken fur out of their line of products yet.

Now... personally, I don't have a problem with fur. If you have humanely killed the animal, eaten all the meat, skinned it yourself, and used it to keep your 3 month old baby warm in the dead of winter in your log cabin.

The fur industry however, is evil incarnate.

Do Not Click On This Unless You Feel A Very Strong Social Responsibility To Do So.

I have a pretty strong stomach, and it made me queezy. My friend Mike, who beats people up for a living and is by no means squeamish, managed to watch the whole video, but will not do so again. I stopped it after I felt I had watched enough. I was about a third of the way through, I think.

I don't recommend that everyone who reads this watch it, but it was definitely something that I needed to see, and maybe it will help me sleep at night knowing that I may have done a little bit to open someone's eyes.

Alright guys...

Benson needs comments on his blog thinger, because he writes about nifty computery things that make me giggle and want to comment.

All the rest of you just need to blog more.

I need to figure out how to streamline my blog reading. I tried bloglines and didn't like that because I can't comment from there. The links on the side there are all well and good but... the whole LJ thing is giving me problems. Because I don't always check blogs on the same computer, and if I'm not logged in I can't see friendsded entries. But every time I log in on a new computer I get kicked off of when I logged in before. I don't want to glom it to a specific IP, because I move around too much.

The easiest way is to go into livejournal itself and read the friends portion of my own account. But then I still have to go through my links.

You guys are high maintenance!

Oh by the way. In case I haven't blabbed it to you already, Tyler and Katina are now officially an item. I was going to wait and let one of them post something about it in their *own* blogs, but they've apparently ditched the internet in favor of spending time together. Or so I assume. So there you have it.

Movies and Music!

Things that I need to see: Batman Begins, Herbie: Fully Loaded (yes I know, but whatsername isn't as bad of an actor as, say, Hillary Duff, and it's HERBIE), Madagascar, Bewitched.

Coming soon: Fantastic Four, War of the Worlds, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Hustle and Flow.

Music that I need to hear and/or have: Foo Fighters' and White Stripes' new albums (as per nathan's recommendation), more Chemical Brothers, more Franz Ferdinand, more Mars Volta, more Killers, My Chemical Romance, The Used, Thrice, Dixie Chicks, Lacuna Coil...

Okay, that list could get unbearably long so I'll stop there.

State Farm is giving me $$$$, woot.

Summertime

and the livin' is easy.

LA is a terrible place to live, but there are a few things that save it from absolute suckage. The obvious one is that you're smack in the middle of the media scene. Every once in a while you see Angelina Jolie walking down the sidewalk. Another is that people here are really quite friendly, for a big city. People smile and stuff, which I hear doesn't happen in places like New York.

Also, when you spend 99% of your time surrounded by people and dirt and smog, suddenly something that would otherwise be quaint or pretty or cute is stunningly gorgeous. Because everyone here spends 99% of their time surrounded by people and dirt and smog, it becomes necessary for a lot of people to find or create a haven for themselves. As a result, when you're walking down the dirty, smoggy, and people-filled streets, you often pass by little alcoves with beautiful ivy arches and little flowery vines, just kind of randomly scattered about.

The other thing that saves it is the jasmine. While LA doesn't stink as much as some places, it still has a certain persistent smell. Just when you think you can't stand it anymore, you pass a giant jasmine vine, and you feel like someone just dunked your head in a big fresh cloud, and pulled you back out again.

Best comment so far (pardon the languate): "Holy shit, nice haircut."

Ugh !

Next time I get a big head about how quickly I can replace hard drives, someone remind me that it takes me seven hours to replace the top case of an old titanium.

Thanks.

Oh, and the new apartment is pretty rad. I'll see about maybe a picture or two, if I ever have time, and if we ever get Ruth's computer set up in there.

Sprint be totally pwnz0red.

Yo, Homes

Sorry about the flood of long serious posts in the past few days. I went for like a week without any entries, because of limited computer access and limited time, and I guess things kind of built up :P

Today's news:

I'm now getting an average of 5 spam text messages a day. Sprint will be contacted and lectured some time in the next 10 minutes.

I can now replace the hard drive in a 12" powerbook in 17 minutes flat. Possibly with my eyes closed. I've been doing it a lot in the past few days, for some reason.

I can do a 15" display that way too. More like 19 minutes though, because the display itself has a few more cables to disconnect and connect than the hard drive.

I don't work on ibooks much though. Just enough to know that taking the case off is even more frustrating than taking the case off the powerbook, which is moderately frustrating.

Off to call sprint. Bai bai.

Update on the 'rents.

I've been a little quiet on the status with mom and pops for a while, and I just got some news a couple days ago. I know you guys like to hear a little something every once in a while, so this is that entry.

For those of you who aren't aware, both of my parents have had more than their share of illness. My mom has been battling breast cancer that metastasized in her spine for about 5 or 6 years now, and my dad has Hepatitis C. We have no idea how long he's had it, but he found out about it about 4 years ago, and about 1.5 years ago started a year's worth of treatment for it.

The updated status on mom: they never operated when it first metastasized because of the location of the cancer cells, and instead did a few rounds of heavy chemotherapy to get rid of it. A few months ago they told her that while it hadn't gone away, it was safely contained. They took her off of the heavy chemotherapy (which she had to travel 3 hours to a hospital in Seattle to get) and prescribed a less invasive oral chemotherapy for her to take. She will take this for the rest of her life, but the symptoms are nowhere near as severe as what they were pumping into her before. Hopefully this is an end to the real danger.

The updated status on dad: he was put on the interferon treatment for a year, and was told that if it was working, it would work. What I mean by that is, they did testing mid-way through and said "good news, it's working. This means when you get done with the treatment, it will be completely gone!" Yep, that's right. It's not. I have no idea where they're going to try to go from there.

So to be totally and completely honest, both situations leave me feeling not at all satisfied. Doctors tend to do a lot of reassuring, whether the truth is reassuring or not. So that's a litte ball of discomfort in my psyche right now.

I may have gotten some of the details wrong in this post, but this is the gist of it. My parents don't actually ever *tell* me what's going on with this, so some of it is second-hand. I'm 90% sure about 95% of the information here though.

I'm so hot.

I love it. I don't quite think the pictures do it justice though.

Easy Relationships?

I told Lauren I'd post in regards to her post on worthwhile relationships. It's something I've never really thought about too much, but what she said really clicked. Or at least seemed like something worth thinking about.

Shayna, my best friend in the whole wide world, has kind of an interesting history with me. When we first met, I actually thought she didn't like me. We were acquaintances through mutual friends, and only ever spent any time together because of group activities. Over time, and through a few bits of junior college drama, shayna and I started doing just about everything together. When we were on the ASC together, we were pretty much attached at the hip. One prime example of a relationship that took off slowly, but was irreplaceable in my life.

On the other hand you have Nathan. Nathan and I hit it off pretty quickly (just as friends), and it didn't take us long to become pretty good friends. Not nearly as good as we are today, but pretty good. It's just gotten better from there.

In LA, it's a lot more complicated. People are always busy, and everyone about 10,000+ people apart. Getting time to get together is difficult, especially with just a couplefew people. Perhaps it's just because I don't have a car, but at this point it's not a matter of whether I click with someone really quickly, it's a matter of whether or not we ever actually see eachother.

Stuffy Stuff

Pay close attention to today's date, my friends. Exactly three days ago, my "little" sister turned 16. Scary, eh? She's a beautiful social butterfly, without the normally accompanying airheadedness. I sent her mini roses exactly four days ago, so that she would receive them while at school. The result was satisfactory (three hugs, I think she said).

Exactly two days from now my boss will be moving into his new apartment. Exactly six days from now my sister and I will be moving into our new place. My sister and I have our moments (she's a little dirty-phobic, and I'm... not), but at the very least we're good about yelling at eachother when we don't like something. In this case, that's a good thing. I've never been real good with the whole subtle hints thing. Sometimes I just don't get it, but sometimes I think I actually subconsciously ignore it, because I feel like I'm being coerced. I'd much rather someone just tell me straight out what they want me to do. I don't really think this is one of my best traits, but it's there, for now. So rooming with Ruth is going to work out swell, I think. I'm pretty sure rooming with Rose is, too :)

My sister Ginni is working on a funny book, and keeps calling me and reading it to me and making me laugh. Aimee and Jay are having a little baby girl in October(ish), and they're having fun bouncing names around. Mostly they enjoy coming up with a name and then exploring all the possible ways that name could be made fun of in elementary school. Thankfully, Aimee has convinced Jay that they're not going to name the child Wargallow.

Like Me!

I had a discussion with a friend the other day, and an interesting topic came up. You've probably had a conversation almost identical to this in the past. It goes as follows:

Me: [Frank] sent me a nifty thing today
Him: I don't think [Frank] likes me very much.
Me: eh. He likes to keep things very light, and you tend to take things seriously all the time, and it bugs him.
Him: Yes, I do take things seriously. I don't have any problem with [Frank] though.
Me: Don't let it worry you.

It's fairly obvious that all people like to be liked (unless you're Joe, in which case you're going to be contrary just for the heck of it). However, sometimes it just doesn't happen. There are some people that you don't like, and it's not necessarily through any fault of their own. Or your own, either. Some personalities just don't go well together, like my friend and [Frank]. There's nothing wrong with either of them, but [Frank] doesn't like him. He's not hostile towards him, they're just not friends.

Some people also have personalities that don't mesh well with very many people at all. Others have personalities that most people automatically are drawn to. If you're one of the former, that's just poor luck, but you shouldn't worry about it.

I used to get rather upset at the thought that someone might not like me, and went back and forth between blaming myself for not being good enough and blaming them for being close-minded. But sometimes it's just nobody's fault, and it's time to accept it and move on.

FINALLY.

Got the call today, confirming that we have the sublet we've been looking at. In case I didn't mention it before, this lady acted really interested in us, all that stuff, I went to see it, it was great, I told her I'd call her later, she said okay, we'll get things figured out then if you're still interested.

Then when I called her back later to tell her we did want it, she said "oh, by the way, my roommate doesn't actually know if she's moving out or not yet."

She was supposed to tell me friday, then sunday, then I called her monday and she said tuesday. But she finally did call, and we will be moving in on the 20th.

So incredibly glad that's over.

Ditched Again

Yup, I skipped beach football. I'm a heathen.

And Fescoe is mad :( I don't think I'll ever be the same.

I'm feeling people-deprived. I should have gone to beach football, but I was being lazy.

You might be happy to know that my mad posting marathon seems to be slowed. Doesn't seem to be as much exciting to talk about lately. So if you really love me, talk to me on aim, msn, or yim. I'm easy.

EDIT: Almost forgot. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, to my truly huly Julie. May your animals always be cuddly and your enemies quake in fear.

Alright, ladies of LA

You all need to understand something. Right here and now.

When summer comes, I can understand how one might want to cut down as much as possible on the layers. However, there's a line that you really really should not cross.

DO NOT believe that you can get away with going bra-less under a loosely fitted cotton shirt. It DOES NOT WORK.

I've said my piece.

Piratey things

Like painting daisies on a big red rubber ball.

I have very little news of any sort to give anyone. I'm very busily being frugal, and getting in as much overtime as possible.

Dax came back, after being gone for a week in Montana. I think I've realized that I spend a tad bit less money when he's not around :/ Not sure what that means.

Sorry I missed dollar dinner last night, I did get the e-mail (and the phone message, when I got home. I just happened to leave my phone at home yesterday, for the first time in, like, ever.) but had no car so I would have had to bus out there and then walk, and not knowing exactly where it was, I was nervous to do that. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE FORGIVE ME, I'LL NEVER DO IT AGAIN I PROMISE!!

hehe, I don't even know how many of that canvas group read this, but I felt like explaining anyways :)