Internet Dead Zone

This is commentary on how the summer seems to have put a lot of blogs, including ours, to a stand-still. I hope all our readers (...and writers) come back after summer's over!

Missing

I've been taking up blogging duties recently while my sisters have decided they're taking a summer break apparently. I decided to take revenge.

And ohhhh, it was a sweet.

Oh Yeah, I'm an Artist...

Hello, all my lovely fans! aka Hello, world!!!!

Kidding, kidding.

So this summer I have two internships. I think I already mentioned this. And I've been doing a whole lot of work. Well, I've been slacking and haven't posted any of my work up lately. Sorry, guys.

Below is a promo I did for a band. It's for a show tomorrow actually. I illustrated it and everything.

It's to be used on the web. It was not printed.

Enjoy!

Mac Mini Mania

I am a PC.
(Scratch that.)
I was a PC.

Back in the day, I was strictly PC. What was this new apple thing people were always talkin' about? I liked my comfortable Dell and all its familiar things like toolbars and start buttons.

But as a student graphic designer, I began to go to the school computer labs a lot and was forced to work with Macs. I was a little frustrated. Where's the start button?! What's Garage Band?! What the hells is up with this dashboard crap?! But as I got to sophomore year, I got used to it. I got used to the speed. Used to the amazing applications that come with it for free. Used to the built in antivirus that actually works.

I was getting tired of my stupid Dell laptop. But Macs are so expensivo!!(I meant to put that "o" there because I like to pretend I know other languages) My boss told me if I wanted to get a Mac so badly, I should just get a Mac Mini on Craiglist for like $300.

It was like the word of God.

So I got one! I went to this creepy doctor's house and bought his Mac Mini for $340! It has a dual processor, 2 gb of ram, and already has a built in DVD burner! What a deal! I mean it's not the most impressive piece of machinery, but for $340 that's great. It was worth the possibility of bloody doctor murder!

My boss has tons of Mac Minis, because they're fairly cheap (half the price of a Mac laptop) and they can do whatever you want. He uses one to watch movies on, one to control the music in his office, one as a server, and one just to design on.

As you can see in the picture above, you really can use it for anything!

I was playing with mine all day today. There's all these awesome widgets you can download for free online. You can have a widget that's just a monster dancing. That's it. C'mon! HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!

PS. That picture's a joke. Just in case any weirdos out there thought it was real. Hehe.

A Bloody Anniversary

Me and my Petey Bear celebrated our anniversary this past weekend. It was great. He made me this terrible chicken curry dish and we traded gifts. We ended up vegging the whole weekend and rented a few movies.

First, I chose this random movie that was just released on DVD. It's called The Road and stars Viggo Mortenson. I scanned the synopsis and it was an apocalypse movie. Me and Peter love those kinds of movies so we grabbed it and put it on. Oh dear. It was pretty good. But it included terrible things like suicide, death, rape, cannibalism.... very depressing. Hm, not a great anniversary movie...

Next, I put The Box on. I always wanted to see the movie since I've seen the trailer. It was so mysterious! Well...that was the weirdest friggin' movie I've seen since Space Odyssey 2001! I still have no words to describe it. But again, it had things like suicide and death! Bah! Can we not escape it?!

After that, Peter wanted to watch Law Abiding Citizen because his friends kept telling him how good it was. Sigh.. Once again, it was good, but there was so much death and rape!! Why oh why!

All our movie choices were so terrible it was laughable!

On the bright side, at least it's a weekend we'll never forget. Literally, those movies were haunting...

No One Sippin' on Lemonade Here!

Mothers, Mothers, Mothers. What to say about ours? All I can do is shake my head. If you want a visual, she's teeny, has boy short hair, and has a Chinese accent.

Tara has recently informed me that the couple times she's asked my mom whether she likes my boyfriend or not, she's said the same thing:

"Aw, Peter. He does everything for her. Everything! She needs to learn how to do things for herself!"

I'm just putting the pieces together now and realizing that with my mom, first impressions are key when it comes to boyfriends. She gets an idea about them from the beginning and she sticks with it. Luckily with Huz, she always just said,"He is a good boy." Tina wasn't so lucky. She said, "He knows how to talk."

I realize now that I blew it in the beginning. I really wanted her to like him so I always told her things he did for us or the house, saying things like:

"Mommy! Look Peter mopped the floors after the bbq!"
"Guess what! Peter washed the car!"
"Peter already took out the garbage."
Peter, Peter, Peter

I forgot to mention that while he was washing the car, I was making him lunch. Or while he was mopping the floors, I was picking trash off the floor and wiping down tables.

I wasn't sippin' on lemonade, Mom!

Sigh... [Shake my head]

Lost Without LOST

I was truly lost without LOST.  That show was awesome beyond words.  The ending was perfection...no one better say otherwise or I WILL throw a beet at them!  Anyway, just retiring this LOST tribute banner.  Aren't we cute all disheveled?  We should totally get lost on a island!

Note: I'm Not Racist

Recently, I've made the terrible choice of watching Prince of Persia in theater. Why? Well, we went to the theater to watch Karate Kid (My boyfriend dragged me, I swear), but it was sold out. We debated over Get Him to the Greek and A Team, yet somehow we ended up buying tickets for this movie...

But I'm not writing this post as a review. I am simply commenting on how movies like this like to take a Caucasian actor, slap a stubble on his face and beads in his hair and call him Persian. Has all the Persian actors in the world been sucked into a black hole? If they have, I haven't heard anything about it.

The actors even have English accents in the film. I mean I'm sure Persians learned English from England, although I doubt in that time period.

This all reminded me of a movie I saw a while ago. Anyone remember 10,000 BC?

All the characters supposedly in a tribe in 10,000 BC were completely mixed in ethnicity. It was like a United Nations poster. Know how they made them all seem like they were the same? They all had dreadlocks.

I mean I know they can't all go as far as Mel Gibson had when he did Apocalypto or Passion of the Christ, but C'MON HOLLYWOOD! You could do better than that!



Although I'd like to note that Prince of Persia has pretty good graphic designers on their pay role.

Nervous Parenting

Let it be known that I'm notoriously spontaneous and the fact that my boyfriend can also have these tendencies does not help matters at all.

I've recently just come back from a vacation at the beach. I saw hermit crabs and suddenly had a romantic idea of owning two little ones with that bf of mine. I was on the fence about it. When I asked my boyfriend if he wanted to get a couple with me he said, "Yeah, sure. Sounds good." That did it. All doubts went out the window and my eyes were starry with romance. We got them as soon as possible.

Lord all mighty.

Don't doubt that I love Theodore and Pigby, but holy bajesus, they are not "easy and affordable to care for" as oh so many people claim. I feel as though the general public is under the impression, as I was, that all hermit crabs need are some food and water. My eyes weren't twinkling for long! As soon as I google searched those bad boys, I knew I was in for it.

Here's an image of a proper tank:

This doesn't even list a hygrometer I had to get also to measure humidity! We've already spend over $200 on these suckers.

So here's the truth. They need a humidity of at least 70 or they can't breathe properly and they can slowly DIE. They need the temperature to be 80 or they'll DIE. They need salt water to bathe in or they'll DIE(I don't know if they'll actually die because of that, but I wanted to keep the pattern going.).

For the past week, I have been a nervous wreck. I eat, sleep, and breathe worry! (Literally. I just had it for breakfast earlier.) I've been struggling to keep the humidity levels over 70. Just this morning it was 60 then it dropped to 30! I've been laying in bed fretting because my poor babies can't even BREATHE! I haven't even had time let them crawl on my shirt or throw a ball around with them or embarrass them in front of their friends! I've been researching and researching, doing everything the websites advise to no avail! I've had dreams! Dreams no normal 20-year-old should have! Not only about how they can't breathe, but also that I don't have any shells. Websites say you should have at least 3 extra shells for hermit crab so they can change to their pleasing. If a crab wants to change, but can't find any suitable shells (let alone any shells at all!) they can get stressed out.

But I won't end this ranting post on a sad note. In the past few minutes, while writing this post actually, I figured out how to keep the humidity levels up. I simply covered the top with a piece of scrap cardboard. I feel intellectually (and physically) beaten by a piece cardboard.

I can't make fun of Tina and her worried husband anymore. I've now been begrudgingly shoved into their category (several years too early I might add) of being a nervous parent.

PS. Look at the time. It's 8:43 am. I've been know to sleep til noon. Sigh...

The 3 Witches

Several years ago, I picked up the first book of Nora Roberts' Three Sisters Island Trilogy at a book warehouse sale.  The trilogy is about three witches whose ancestors created the island as their sanctuary.  However, through tradegy, these witches lost their way and each other.  The first book titled Dance upon the Air focused on the witch who had never been on the island but found herself drawn to it.  She was completely unaware of what she was and had never met the other two.  When she finally arrived on the island, the other two witches sensed it and knew instantly.  It was a feeling.  I imagined it like a shock wave...or like an electromagnetic pulse.  The pulse began when and where the witch stepped foot onto the island and then traveled outward until it touched the other two witches.

(This is just a tiny peek into my crazy head.  Scary, idn't?)

Ever since I read that book, I have always remembered that imaginary.  I already forget most of the storyline.  But I will never forget the fantastic vision of that moment when the third witch arrived on the island.  These witches...these sisters in arms finally felt complete.  Each was one part of a whole.

I think of my bond with my sisters in the same way.  They make me whole.  No matter where we are, we have that connection.  But it is only complete when we are together.

All three of us had our time away from home...away from each other.  Tina and I went away to separate colleges.  Tina moved out of state for a couple years in early 2000.  I almost went to law school in DC but decided against it.  The main reason was because I didn't want to miss any part of my sisters' lives.  I didn't want to miss Carmen and Rachel growing up.  I needed them.

Now Laura is in college, away from home. Whenever Laura comes home from college, I joke to her that I can sense when she enters the state's border.  I get that same imaginary.  The pulse.  I even have a sound effect for it.  Hehe.

And who knows where Laura will be after college. I imagine her as the witch in Dance upon the Air.  When Laura finally comes home, Tina and I will instantly feel her presence.  We will just know it.  Because she completes us.  She completes me.

*tear*

My F-List

I am a very faithful and loyal wife.  But I would totally cheat on Huz with Bradley Cooper.  But it's okay.  You see...he's on my list.  Ya know, the list of five celebrities you're allowed to sleep with.  It's from an episode of Friends where Ross, with Rachel's blessing, came up with his own list, which he even laminated.

 

Well, this weekend, Huz said I could have a list too.  It all started, while watching the movie Valentine's Day, I declared to Tina that I would totally DO Bradley Cooper.  Haha. But hey, I am a good wife. I had to get permission from Huz first.  To be fair, I let him have a list too.  =)

 

 

As this is very very important, I've been thinking super hard.  Who should I put on my list??  I mean, there are tons of celebrities that I love like Simon Pegg, James McAvoy, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, just to name a few.  But they wouldn't be on my list.  Only major hottie mchotties would do.  Finally after days of soul searching, I have my list!  I'm not laminating it.  But I think putting it on the Internet makes it official.

 

Here is it:

 

Bradley Cooper - *Drool* You ever notice his sexy voice?  Well, I did.

Ryan Gosling - Only really liked him in The Notebook.  But I don't care.  Sigh...  

 

Alex O'Loughlin - From the shortlived Moonlight.  He is a hot aussie. I love it when he's all broody.

Jason Dohring - Logan from Veronica Mars.  A real bad boy with layers.  I wanna be the woman to change him!

Zooey Deschanel - Huz said I'm allowed to have girls on my list.  Tehe.  I have a huge girl crush on her.  I'm gay for Zooey Deschanel!

 

P.S. Do you have a list?  Who's on it?

P.P.S. I kid!!  I would not sleep around.  It's not like it could ever happen anyway.  Tehe.

Internshiperizing!

Yes, I like to add "izing" or "izer" to everything I do. It makes it sound so much cooler.

So this summer I got two internships! I'm learning a lot and learning fast. So far I've worked two weeks, and I've gotten a promo card printed! It's for a bar/restaurant that books bands to play for their upstairs. This is a promo card listing the bands playing for the month!


I got the prints. This is a 4.25x6" card and was also resized for a 11x17" poster. My boss gave me a couple and I'm so excited I want to hang it on a wall!

Laura Lies!

Laura is a liar!  She has broken our unspoken vow and left our sisterhood shattered.  Shattered, I say!!  The betrayal, the heartache.  Laura, how could you?  How could you?!?  LAURA LIES!

 

No, seriously, she does.  I am not just making up drama.  Really!  I found out that my dear little sister...

 

...Brace for it...

 

Tells me what I want to hear...or at least what she thinks I want to hear.  I was shocked!  SHOCKED!

 

How did I find out something so despicable??  So grotescue.  I spit on it! 

 

On my way to Tina's house one time, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things.  I bought already-made cornbread to eat.  Laura tried some and said it was really good.  I was like really...I thought it was kinda dry.  And she said no, it's really good.  Then I think I mentioned I bought it from the grocery store.  Then she asked you didn't make this?  And I responded no, and she said oh, then never mind...it's not good.

 

WHAT???  She does this ALL THE TIME!  I know, shocking, right??

 

Another time, we were out shopping.  We were looking at various things at the store.  For some reason, I pulled out my sunglasses and asked Laura if she likes them.  She took one look at me and said Eww.  I was like Why?  What's wrong with my sunglasses?  And she was like oh, those are yours...I mean they are nice.  HA!  Nice try!

 

Then it got me thinking of the other lies she undoubtedly told me.

 

What about that dress with the crazy print that Laura said she loved on me?  Lie! 

 

How about my butternut squash soup that she said was delish?  Lie!

 

What about the strappy sandals that Laura claimed wasn't "too much"?  LIES LIES LIES!

 

So here I am to spread the truth about Laura's lies.  The truth shall set you free!

In One Ear and Out the Other

OMG, Huz just doesn't listen!  He drives me crazy!!

But to tell you the truth, he probably says the same thing about me.  I noticed recently that we are terrible at listening to each other.  I get really perturbed by this.  Okay, I guess sometimes I am kinda cryptic, but he should figure it out, right??  I mean, I give tons of clues.  Tehe.

Like today, I told him I had to pick my prescription up from the pharmacy and asked him to go with me. He asked which one?  I told him it was the CVS on my way home from work. I think I even told him what route it was on.  We also drive by that CVS all the time.  Then when we were in the car and heading there, he asked it's the one near your work, right? What??? Was he listening at all?? My work is more than 20 minutes away.  Why would I make him drive all the way there?  The CVS I was talking about is only 3 minutes away.  What the heck! 

Although when I thought about it later...I realized he was willing to drive 20 minutes to take me to the pharmacy.  And didn't really complain.  Awww...

But he still drives me nuts!!

This isn't the first time.  A couple weeks ago, I emailed Huz at work and asked him to stop at the supermarket for a few things.  I told him I was going to make dinner.  Here is the relevant part of the list, word for word:

- Sweet Italian sausage
- 2 green peppers or red if on sale
- 1 onion
- Italian bread loaf

Obviously, I was going to make Italian sausages and peppers.

Anyway, later that day, he called me from the supermarket and asked me if I wanted green peppers.  I said yes, I want two but get red peppers if they are on sale.  He said that they weren't on sale.  So I said okay, don't get them.  He said okay, I won't get them.

He came home...without any green peppers!  He said you only said to get them if they were on sale!  I said no, only get red if they were on sale.  Argh!  We go back and forth like that for a few minutes.  Then I exclaimed, "What the heck did you think I was going to make for dinner???"  He actually responded "I don't know!"  He is exasperating!  I made him go back to the store and get green peppers.

So I realize this turned into a post blaming Huz.  So here is another story where we were both equally at fault...or at least that's what I say. 

A few weeks ago, I planned on stopping at DSW after work and told Huz to meet me in that shopping center.  It is on his way home, so I thought we could go to dinner in that area.  I got to DSW earlier than him and was looking around.  Then I get a call from him.  He asked me if it was the DSW near Target.  I said yeah.  Then he asked on routes blah and blah?  I said yeah yeah.

He called me again and said he was at the Target and asked me where the DSW was.  I told him the DSW was on the other side.  After a few minutes of me trying to give him directions, we realized he was in a totally different shopping center.  I was like why don't you know where DSW is??  Haha.  I realize that's a stupid question...only we women would know where shoe stores are located.  But still!  He drives by there every friggin' day.  I asked him to meet me there because of that.  Why would he drive completely out of his way???  I don't get it.  Then of course, he started pointing the finger at me.  He said I asked you if it was on route blah and blah, and you said yes.  Well, I wasn't listening, okay??  The DSW was on some route, and I thought that's what he said.

Okay, so we are both guilty of not listening.  But I think it's more his fault than mine.  He didn't get all the clues I left for him.  And and and he's a stupid head!

The Blind Playdate

My 4-year-old daughter, Rachel, recently had her first playdate. I have been holding off since my oldest didn't have hers until she was 6 years old and in kindergarten. It just didn't seem fair parading Carmen's playdates in front of Rachel and not allowing her to have any. Well, I called one of her preschool friend's mom and set up a playdate. What was supposed to be a 3-minute conversation became a 19-minute one. I said we should meet at a playground. All of a sudden we're talking about going to some indoor play yard. I ask for directions to her playground and it takes her awhile to figure it out. After finally giving me the directions, she mentions playgrounds that might be closer to me, but she doesn't know the locations. I feel like screaming, "Come on, woman, can we just stick to one thing here?" She just seemed to keep getting sidetracked. The 19-minute conversation left me regretting setting the playdate, but it was done, and I think it's for my Rachel.
The day of the playdate arrives and we're meeting them at 10:30am. My daughter is so excited and asking every 15 minutes whether we're going yet. I tell her, "They're probably just waking up," and "They need time to eat breakfast." Appalled she says, "They didn't eat breakfast yet!!!" This is only because we've been up since 6:45am. Right after Rachel's playdate, I was planning to go out with my sisters. I wanted to dress up a little since I never get to. It was almost 10 o'clock. I was deciding what to wear still. Should I wear two different outfits for the day? I didn't feel like changing again and I didn't know if I'll have time anyway. I didn't want to wear make up for the playdate either, but for the sake of time I got all "dressed up" for my playdate. When I asked my daughter if it was too much, you should've seen the look on her face when she gave me a definite yes. She also said I looked too make-uppy. Her words, not mine. As I was driving, I knew I was probably too dressed up for a morning playdate and maybe felt a little self-conscious about it. Jokingly I put on sunglasses, and in the rearview mirror asked Rachel if it was better, she said yes and told me to keep it on. 4 years old and already embarrassed by her mother.

Well, we finally arrived, and no, I did not wear the sunglasses. To sum it up, Rachel had a great time and the mom wasn't so bad. Conversation was steady, even though it died down a little after the first hour. She seemed friendly enough. Will we do this again? Maybe, but not for at least another month. Afterward, I was thinking first playdates are almost like blind dates for moms. You've never met this person and questions undoubtedly will cross your mind. Will conversation be awkward? What will we talk about? What should I wear? Will I even like this person? Will it be a torturous 2 hours? It really wasn't so bad, and I found a great playground because of it. Did I mention the huge sand box? Totally worth it.

Baby Gaga

I had to share this video.  A 12-year-old boy does it better than Lady Gaga!  And he is a cutie pie.  Watch the girls in the background.  They can't believe what they are hearing.  Greyson is amazing!

Bad Music

When people ask me what kind of music I like, I always respond, "bad music."  You know what I'm talking about...top 40s, Britney Spears, ooncha-ooncha-ooncha.  Although I call it "bad," I'm not ashamed.  I love that stuff.  I wanna sing along to words that barely make sense and shake my booty to that beat.  Haha.

A couple weeks ago, I thought the airwaves were sorely lacking in some good tunes.  One R&B song blended into the next.  Every other song was Lady Gaga.  And I draw the line at Miley Cyrus.  No thank you.

But then suddenly, there was some new tuneage on the radio. Yes!  Finally.  These are some of my favorites at the moment.

"If We Ever Meet Again" - Timbaland feat. Katy Perry

Timbaland - New Music - More Music Videos

"Nothing on You" - B.o.B. feat. Bruno Mars

B.o.B - Sucker Free - MTV Shows

 "Your Love Is My Drug" - Ke$ha

Ke$ha - New Music - More Music Videos

This is a just a sampling of the bad music I love!  I don't care.  It's so bad it's good!  You know you love it too!

P.S. I started this post a week or so ago.  I didn't even have time to finish it.  Ugh. I've been crazy busy at work.  Working days and nights and weekends.  It should die down soon, and we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming.

My Mother's Day

I have to say my Mother's Day was uneventful, but that's exactly how I wanted it. I told my girls that the only thing I wanted for Mother's Day was for them to play nicely together. In other words, "Leave mommy alone." I actually spent the day watching movies on TV. First I found "Bridget Jones' Diary: The Edge of Reason," then I watched "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," and finally "The Craft." All great movies by the way. This might sound extremely boring to many of you. But do you know the last time I've enjoyed a movie marathon? I can't even remember. My girls were wonderful through all of this. They played kitchen, My Little Ponies, and Potato Head, and hardly fought. Admittedly, I can't be entirely lazy, so I did clean out my drawers and put away my winter clothes. But all this was done in front of the television. So all in all, my Mother's Day was pretty awesome and totally uneventful, just the way I like it. To all the mothers out there, I hope you were blessed with peace and quiet on Mother's Day.

May the Fourth Be With You, Followers!

Laura's Blood on a Page

In my last creative writing post, Tara decided to become Hitler again and comment on me and Tina's post titles and their lack of creativity. Well I say OppositeOfHail Hitler!

I wrote this poem for one of my last assignments for my creative writing class. I just took my final, so my homework posts are over with! Sorrow. This poem is very personal to me. It's actually a poem I wrote in high school, and I completely rewrote it. Enjoy!