Pop bottles

Goodbye 2008, hello 2009. :D what are you gonna do with your extra second tonight? http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/12/31/leap.second.new.year/index.html

Gripping from beginning to end.

So now that I have a week left of freedom, I pretty much did everything I wanted to do for my two weeks off for "winter vacation" until New Years Eve of course. I had a wonderful Christmas with my best friend that consisted of good food, alcohol, good company, Guitar Hero, alcohol, Guitar Hero and alcohol. In that order. I love how I went from trashy to classy in a matter of days. One day it was hard liquor, the next day it was wine. It's so strange how wine varies in tastes. Sometimes it tastes like straight alcohol, and other times it tastes like apple cider. Maybe I was duped? Anyways, the whole point of this blog was to talk about how since I'm off, maybe I should occupy my time with a book until New Years Eve. When I started my Freshmen year of college I tried the whole reading for fun thing in between classes and it worked out just fine. I'm not sure how it happened, but as I advanced in school all of that kind of faded away. The last book I read for fun was The Truth About Diamonds by Nicole Richie. I know, completely mindless, but mindless reading can sometimes be good. And it actually was a really good book. It was funny. Cheeky. Unlike many other celebrities, I actually believe she wrote this book by herself because she literally wrote how she spoke. Anyways, I turned my room upside down looking for that paperback book. I then remembered I lent the book to a friend that I no longer speak to. There's absolutely no way I'm getting that book back, so now I'm going on a frantic search to see if I could read it somewhere online. There has to be a website. If anyone knows of one drop it in my comments! Or if you happen to have the book, let me borrow! I'm so annoyed with my laptop right now. I have to hold the charger in the right angle in order for it to charge. VERY annoying. So anyways, I've been reading a lot of year end count downs online regarding entertainment and it seems as though every critic agrees with how boring entertainment has been this year. It was a very long year, and truth be told i can't even remember any events that happened before August, but reading those count downs really did remind me how much of a dud entertainment was this year. The Dark Knight was a stand out hit for all of the count downs that I read, but I didn't even see that. A little side note: I read that 2009 will see zero super hero movies. That's odd given the fact that they've been thrown in our faces every summer since like 2003, or whenever the first Spider Man came out. I've had it up to here with reality shows and "entertainment". Hopefully things will be more eventful in '09. But until then I'll be searching the web for The Truth About Diamonds.

We're one in the same, so you're just as strong as me.

Today was one of the most rewarding days I've had in a long time. I'm not too into Christmas or the holiday season, but this year I felt like it was most important to give rather to recieve. All year long I buy what I want, but there are some people that can't even do that. People that look just like me. Today I saw first hand that I could very well be someone in need of so much in life. Today me and my ma went to a church to help give away free groceries. It took me a while to really understand the concept though. I was about 45 minutes into bagging the groceries when I realized, "Oh, we're not giving them one meal today, we're giving them groceries." Slow I know, but the concept is something that I've never heard of nor witnessed. All in all I had such a good day despite nearly severing my finger off and bleeding all over the place (luckily no blood touched the food). All the blood on my Ed Hardy sweater and my Rock & Republic jeans meant absolutely nothing because these people were so grateful for a free winter scarf. In other news..I've randomly been dog sitting for a week now. Check out Rotti in his little faux fur animal friendly hoodie ;D

If I only had a brain.

Oy, I should have surgically removed that brain and implanted it within my skull when I had the opportunity. This is going to be a stomach ache. >=\

Cakes & pie! Cakes & pie!

So lately i've been on a baking kick. I dont know what's gotten into me. The only thing I could cook are desserts. me making real food is impossible. Let's see, this week alone i've baked brownies, pie, and cinnamon rolls. And they weren't even for Thanksgiving! i'm ridiculous. So Christmas is about to be amazing. Spending it with the best second year in a row. This is becoming a trend I see. More than likely i'll be baking then too. Gingerbread men seem appropriate, and of course the usual cookies for Santa. I think I'm actually a 65 year old grandmother stuck in a 20 year old body?! I don't know. I'll make a great dad. :)

Okay, okay, okay you will never stop it now.

Love it. He's a singer now. basically. Just don't expect to walk away from this in a particularly good mood.

Ay bay bay

So today was a real productive day in regards to school. I have never worked this hard in school. ever. As I near the end of the road of community college, I can't help but be excited about transferring out to the bay. Everyone said i'd be in the 13th grade forever (community college), it was weird because I kind of believed them at one point. The word was, nobody ever makes it out of community college in the two years that you're supposed to. When I got there I saw how right they were. When I was a freshmen in high school, I saw the seniors at that time at my community college! There was definately a time when I thought to myself that i'm getting nowhere in school. I wasn't necessarily going to drop out, but I definately wanted/needed a break. Well I never took that break, and right now i'm certainly glad I didn't. In a way, taking a break was like giving up, and I so wasn't about to do that. Ever since the Fall of 06 i've been diligently in school, and it wasn't until now that i'm finally seeing the pay off. I honestly never saw myself in college. I knew I was going to get there and complete it someday. Now that it's a reality and i'm getting closer and closer to completetion, it's a real crazy thought and i'm flipping out over it. Flipping out in a good way. Everyone that's been to school out in the bay tells me I won't come back the same, and that people in the bay are "crazy". Uh oh, does that mean i'm going to come back talking to myself and scratching in a straight jacket? While i'm on the subject of school I was thinking that when I get out to East Bay I definately want to join some kind of club. I haven't been in a club since high school, and basically when I get out there i'm going to be the big loser on campus with no friends haha, so that would help me make some. :) I would also love to study abroad. England maybe, because i've always wanted to go. That would be pretty rad and a great experience. I've seen all these places in pictures, I just need to see them for myself. Oh, and get a cute little Londoner to show me around. ;) So besides school..today I was informed of an Obama blog. I guess he's going to start blogging as soon as he starts his term. That's exciting! So after you read my blogs, you should go and read his. change.gov. I just checked it out. It's pretty blah blah so far, but I'm sure once he officially gets in office it'll be more exciting.

elevenseven

Not done reading it, but so far so good. Found some typos but hey, they whipped it up in a day. ;D

Who can take tomorrow, dip it in a dream?

To start out, my voting experience was an absolute disappointment. Being that this was my first time ever being able to vote, my ma and I woke up extra early to excercise our rights to vote. 6 o'clock a.m. to be exact. Mind you, the polls opened at 7 a.m. I have to say, waking up early is never on my to do list. Due to my excitment of THEN Senator Barack Obama's potential presidency, and of course my first year ever voting the excitement was overwhelming. Ma and I hopped into the car and made the long 1 minute journey to the polling place. Conveniently it was right around the corner; But hey, i'm impatient! Right when we got there an elderly man asked for our assistance carrying boxes and the such to the polling place area. Surprisingly I wasn't annoyed, as elderly people often do that to me. In fact, if I would have found out sooner how to volunteer at a polling place I would have been more than happy to do so. In a surprise turn of events, carrying those boxes was the most productive and meaningful thing I could have done in regards to the election that day. you'll later see why. Being in an area with a large group of people could be interesting. Blank stares, awkward conversations, forced laughter, the list could go on and on. One man in particular was an interesting guy. after cracking jokes about me vigourously texting on my sidekick, as middle aged people often so do, I really got to know how many people have more in common with others dispite age and lifestyle differences. He told me about growing up in the 60's and in his words how "radical" his views are. He got really upset with a guy who wore a McCain/Palin sticker to show his support. To not give away who he was voting for, he also literally pointed out a girl wearing an Obama shirt saying they need to keep their presidential choices to themselves, and how much that angers him. He was really careful not to give away who he was voting for, but it was apparent that Obama was his presedential choice. He and I definately share the same views of during the voting stages, maybe it's not a good idea to give away your choice of who you want to see in the White House. I believe it's kind of tacky, but after the election have at it! Finally at 7 on the dot the polls were open. Those elderly poll workers sure are prompt. Upon checking in, I thought it was going to be a long drawn out process. Just give a name and an address and you're in there. Only problem, my name and address wasn't on the list. How could this have happened?! at that point my whole disposition changed. You mean to tell me that my first chance of voting can't be now because a simple fuck up on someone elses behalf? I've been registered since 2007, been getting mail to my house months since then, and I'm not on the list?! This isn't me trying to get into some club or party, that in the rare occasion my name isn't on the list ;), but this is my right and only chance to vote and now I won't be able to do that. Well, that wasn't the real case as I quickly learned. Since my name wasn't on the list, I was now to vote provisionally. Talk about a gray cloud over my head. I was taken to a little table to fill out the provisional form and all I could think of was "omg, my vote isn't going to count". Before I could get any further in my thoughts, I asked the elderly man helping me what exactly does voting provisionally entail. Of course he tripped over his words and tried to sugar coat. Nothing he said made sense. I asked a much younger poll worker, and with a smile on his face he fed me the same b.s.. They both were projecting uncertainty. I did my own little investigation of provisional voting. Basically what I learned was, if the race was really close, then they would count all of the provisional votes. And even if they were counted, only the first 20% would be used. I'm no voting expert but that's what I found. I could be wrong. I got my voting sheet, chose my candidate but then noticed I only got three of the many props that were trying to be passed. The most important prop that I wanted to vote on, prop 8 wasn't even on my ballot! kick me when I'm down. My name wasn't on the list, I had to vote provisionally, I wasn't given all props AND on top of all of that my vote basically won't be counted. I turned my ballot in, snatched my "I voted" sticker and went to school. Day ruined. Well, it was ruined all the way until 9 p.m. when I first learned of Obamas presidency! All night I was glued to the t.v. and internet as to not miss a thing in this election. I would have felt all kinds of emotions if Obama would have lost and I didn't get to put my vote in. When I finally learned Obama won--WOW. I have to say last night was one of the best nights of my life. By no means am I an emotional person, but the feeling of pride and joy that took over me can't even be explained. President Barack Obama means so much to me I can't even put it into words. I look up to him in many ways. He's our President. A President should be an admirable man, or woman ;). But oddly enough, I've never viewed a President in that way. Everytime I think of Obama I think of the image of him as a child with his mom first. It's so powerful to me. It's like wow, you really can do anything you want. He's a true inspiration to me, and I feel so empowered as him as our President. Despite my voting fiasco, yesterday was a great day that I will remember for the rest of my life. Seeing my ma turn to my pa holding his hand with tears in both of their eyes saying "we lived to see this" will forever stay with me. Seeing my middle aged teacher stumble in class, forgetting his briefcase with two of our english papers, one including a mid term looking haggard because he "stayed up partying until 4 a.m. because of Obama's victory" will always stay with me too! haha. This is a change we all lived to see. I can't wait to see what the future has in store. :D