Whoa whoa...

Are spammers getting way way too high tech or are real readers asking for an RSS feed to the DB?

Hm...hard to tell. These spammers are good. They promise macys and starbucks cards. They have really interesting articles they want you to read. They post porn for you to click on. They are a high tech bunch, they are. And now...posing as interested readers?

Dot dot dot. The plot thickens.

I'm usually not one to get out of bed to write a brilliant idea down...though now looking back I should have. For some reason I always think I'll remember it with keywords or numbers or something that proves to be useless in the morning.

I had a good blog post that I was too lazy to get out of bed to write down. It had something to do with relativity...the intricacies of one thing relating to another at certain points in time. It was really brilliant at the time, but now I can't seem to remember the exact brilliantness of it. Since then, I"ve left a notebook by my bed for such instances of laziness. Let's hope that works.

It's weird with this layoff...things are happening slowly rather than all at once. It's stretching the sadness for far longer than I wish it to be. Things are just sinking in at a slower rate. Today I realized C is moving in a week. Possibly less. People moving away always makes me sad. I'm sure I've posted something about it in the past, so I won't repeat myself.

This is a bit late, but i recently went to the newly renovated observatory and found it to be quite inspiring. Maybe it's something to do with the spectacular view or the notions of the great big universe, but I just found the place really inspiring and really, just lovely. It really is a lovely place to be. Then again, I guess I had low expectation of this place having gone there as a kid. Back then I found the place boring, the planetarium show lame and uncomfortable, and probably had too short of an attention span to enjoy the view.

There was one particular moment while I was watching the planetarium show where LITERALLY, the light bulb went on above my head. (Ok, insert light bulb SH joke here...yadda yadda) But the lady in the show posed a question that I had thought about before but just for some reason, at that moment in time, it all made complete sense. It was a strange sensation. Can't say I've had many of those light bulb moments...it was really strange, but totally refreshing.

Currently listening to Rufus doing Judy. He's just fabulous. Would've loved to see this concert live. But the cd is just as good I suppose.

Oh goodie. Just finished up my internet traffic school. One ticket fixed, one more to go! As you can see, last year was not my year as far as cars and tickets go. Two traffic tickets, a tow, and...less luck with the parking? Hm...well, this is a new year. (Even though i started it by running through a red...eek.)

Got the new sia album. Awesome, as expected.

Today our channel went off the air, and was replaced by THE OTHER channel. Nothing was said, no ribbon was cut, no goodbyes cried. POOF, it was gone just like that. The only remnant left was the text crawl across the screen, something about the old becoming THE OTHER, and what THE OTHER was all about. No one could stand to watch it for more than five minutes. Not even I, a person who enjoys the type of content shown on THE OTHER. THE OTHER has now become the enemy, though it was only an innocent bystander. It's been a sad and somber week. People packing belongings. Empty offices. Speculations of past and future. Nailbiting nervousness for a fellow comrade who has only til the end of the week to stay in the country less she finds a sponsor. News of people moving. Moving far. To the east. coast. And I. I am left to watch all the mounting tension, the "see ya laters" and the K.I.T.s...the sad though optimistic goodbyes. For I was lucky enough to have been kept on for three more months. Who knows what the next three months will bring? Desperation as it charges to an end? New possibilities? Boredom? Increased productivity?

This is the part where the music swells as we cue the "boom" sound effect and quickly snap to black.

"Next time...on Daily Banterings...."

(And this is the part where you come back each week to find out what happens. I know i'll be on the edge of my seat.)

OMG OMG OMG.

I almost died just now. I just ran a red light on the way home. And I didn't even realize I was doing it until the car that could've hit me blasted his horn at me. I could've caused a major accident. All because I wasn't paying attention. My head was up in the clouds.

Dear Drivers of the intersection and the universe: I am so very incredibly sorry for my carelessness. I did not mean to cause you alarm and disturb your world on this peaceful sunday afternoon. I will be paying attention next time I'm out on the road.

I want to shout it from the rooftops!!

JANUARY IS NATIONAL VOLUNTEER BLOOD DONOR MONTH!!

Yes, it should be every month of the year. But for some reason, it is january. It has been way too long since my first donation, it's a good time to go back. Who's with me!

So apparently 2008 is THE year. The year that people I KNOW are getting married. People I KNOW!! Sure I've had friends get married. One here, one there. A year at a time. But it's looking like this is the year. I think everyone goes through "the" year. And it never comes slowly...it's all at once. So far, the people around me that are getting married: Mr. Diaz, Mr. Hawkes, Mr. Deines, Mr. Ha, Mr. McNiff, and the newest addition to the family: Ms. El Dessouky. And four of those are getting married in September. It'll be a busy fall. That is of course, if I'm invited. HA! If not, I won't have much to worry about. :)

It's raining cats and dogs outside! Thank goodness for that. I wish it wasn't so loud though. Makes it kinda scary...

Wow, guess everyone had the same idea i had this evening.

I went into trader joes today at 6pm on the dot, and it was PACKED!! Guess everyone wanted groceries after their first day back to work. I overheard somebody say "it's like no one was able to buy any food yesterday (so they're doing it today)!" Not so, my friend, not so. Grocery stores were opened yesterday, on the first day of the year. THEY WERE! Yet, everyone decided to wait til today. I guess maybe everyone was too hung over from new year's eve to shop for groceries yesterday. Lame.

I don't know if i'll be able to stay up for them tonight, but all the late night shows are coming back. I'm interested to see what they do. I hope the writers stop striking soon. It's going to start raining for the next week or so, and there will be a lot of drenched people out there. I feel bad for them. Someone said somewhere that the writers have lost more salary on strike than they would've earned with the deal they wanted. I mean, i don't know the details of it all, but it must be such a blow to the writers to hear this. And the person who said it and got it repeated over the airwaves probably wanted to do just that: sink the hearts of these writers and make them second guess what they're doing. War...what is it good for? (well, other than stupid reality shows...) Absolutely nothin.

Please. For the sake of good tv and the industry, kiss and make up already.

On a related topic, I was laid off today. More to come.

Well, leave it to the incredibly gay man-boy to give me a fantastic new cut. Or at least I thought it was fantastic at the time. Why is it you can never replicate your freshly cut salon hair? What was fantastic when he spun me around in my chair before we both jumped like little girls at my glee has now turned into this...mullet-esque wig like concoction. No, it's not him at all, it's just my hair. My uncooperative hair. So, as always...I'll give it a few more days to let the new DO settle in. In the event of any long term uncooperativeness - I've got several winter hats in queue.

So I have returned from the far east. Nothing to blog on that yet...if ever. My inner blog voice rarely emerged on this trip, therefore, little writing was done. According to my sister, I am still suffering from jetlag (as i write this at 1:24 in the AM.) At first I thought i was over it until she said, really? Don't you NOT want to wake up until late in the morning? (why...yes!) And, don't you NOT feel like sleeping until late at night? (why...yes yes!) The diagnosis? Jet Lag. That explains it! It seems as though i've been suffering from jet lag for several years now.

Why is it in the movies or on tv, people always fall in love so quickly? It's always love at first sight. To answer my own question: for practical reasons, i guess. No one's got the time to sit through a whole courtship, especially when dramas are only less than an hour. But in movies, many times: boy sees girl from window, girl sings song, and boy immediately falls in love with her. I'm talking about one movie in particular, but you can apply this formula to many movies. And then yknow, drama ensues, boy loses girl, ffwd to the end, boy reunites with girl, all is grand, and they live happily ever after. I'd like to see about movie about the ever after part. The part where they move in together to their new castle loft in the downtown village, and then really start to get to know each other. He finds that she has bad personal hygene (which is unfair to be critical of since everyone back then had bad hygene), and she finds him to be just a farm boy, not fit for the hip castle loft in the village. They find out that they're not so hot for each other after all, and that maybe their love was soley based on that first "look" and that first song. And then maybe they'll have wished that they didn't rush into things so quickly and that their love maybe wasn't based on that first glance, but rather, on his delutional state from not having eaten for days, and from her lapse of judgement due to not getting enough oxygen to the brain after being locked up for so long. (Plus she was singing at the time, which takes more oxygen away from the brain and uses up what little energy she had from not getting out and doing her daily calisthenics.) Then they'll have to go their separate ways, but not before deciding who gets to stay at the castle loft. But i digress.
My point is: ok. I lost my point. Perhaps i'll circle back to this another day.

So, last day of the year. I probably should spend some time on goal setting and personal achievements for the upcoming year...but I'm not going to. At least not today. I already know this year will start with a less than stellar start. But that's not to say I'm letting that dictate the direction for the rest of the year. There is hope that things will turn out fine, if not better than expected. Stellar could still very possibly be on the horizon.

For now, I'm wishing on the stars, and hoping for the best.

Happy New Year.

Ok so i realize haven't been keeping up with this. And, I'll also be out of the country for the next two weeks or so, so this could be my last post for a while. So let's make this worthwhile, yea?

First things first.

The Chipmunks movie. I KNOW it looks horrible. I KNOW it looks like another Garfield movie. I KNOW that animated creatures should not live on the same frame as live actors (except for Roger Rabbit, which I haven't seen, but heard was good?). I KNOW that we've all heard the alvin...Alvin...ALVIN!!! bit and know it all too well and it's..well, it's kinda lame. I know all this BUT. But i just have to say that the way they animated the chipmunks make them look really darn cute, and..and c'mon it's the chipmunks! Who didn't love the chipmunks? Who doesn't have their christmas album? Don't lie, you know you did. Mine is on tape, and if i still had a tape player, I'd be playing it right now as I type. So, even though I probably won't be seeing it in the theatres, I may..MAY just have to put it in my queue when it comes out on DVD.

Still no luck with writing that one great song. Or even a good song. Several band names in the queue though.

Geez, this is sad. My last post for a while and all I've got is chipmunks and no song? Boy this blog has hit rock bottom. Please come back in the new year. I promise it will be better. It'll be filled with new adventures overseas, movie reviews, what LAX is really like on Christmas eve, and perhaps a review on a toilet themed restaurant. Yes, you read me right. You'll just have to come back to see whether i'm pulling your chain or not. But really, I can't make that stuff up by myself, as great as you think this blog might be. I just really can't.

Happy Holidays to All, and to All a Goodnight!

Wow. How great was this years Victoria's Secret Fashion show???

For those of you that missed it: They had a whole collection dedicated to my man Magritte, and Dali!! A bunch of eye ball, umbrella, top hat, clouds type of images incorporated into their outfits. So awesome. I love weird shit like that. And the show is not just women walking in underwear. Ok...it kinda is. But they really think about each outfit, they're almost like costumes. Really well designed costumes that show off the VS line really well. It makes their stuff look really cute, not kinda tacky like when you walk in the store. This model had a green cape on that made her look like a christmas tree, so her sparkling bra and underwear were like ornaments on the tree. It's brilliant!! It's really a great marketing idea.

And, um, how much do we all want to be Heidi Klum? Geez! She's a gorgeous model, she has her own hit show, she looks fantabulous after having 2 kids, and she can actually sing! She did a duet with hubby Seal, it was pretty good.

Ok, I'll stop gushing now.

Also, today I received an email from a Dr. Sung Puckett who informed me that "Girls do not like you because your dick is too small." Thanks for the heads up Dr. Puckett. I can't believe you would actually take the time to tell me something so pointless. It's like making a housecall! Swell. I hope you enjoy your vacation in the Deleted Items folder.

How do people write songs? And not just any song, but a GOOD song. I just can't figure it out.
I wrote a song once. It was crappy.
So then i tried to disguise what i was actually writing about in the form of...cars? Was it...selling cars? Maybe I was a salesman selling a car? Buying a car? Something like that, I can't even remember what the metphor was about.
Then i wrote another song about boys. Or was it dancing. Or dancing with boys. Who knows.
Cady and I were suppose to write a song about surfing...I don't think we ever made it to the chorus.
This American Life had an episode about writing songs. It was funny and entertaining and inspiring. But still...nothing comes to mind.

And it's not like I haven't tried to study my favorite artists or songs to see what they're all about. But even the greatest songs, even my favorites...when you strip lyrics of its melody, and all you're left with is words....sometimes you're left with a beautiful poem. Or most likely, the poem sounds like crap too. But somehow...somehow the music hides the crapiness of the lyrics and it becomes a great song. Where is this going you ask? I haven't got a clue.

Wow. Can i just say AGAIN: askWoolyM. The link is right there, to your left. Just go and start reading. She answers so many good questions that I am always wondering about! I'm sure she can answer some of yours too. I emailed her to tell her what a great service she was providing, and she speedily replied. It's just fantastic, really.

Currently: waiting on an excellent dinner I made to heat up.

Next week people! Next week is the week!! Today in the elevator I suddenly thought I missed it, but then realized it's next week. What is it you ask? Victoria's Secret Fashion Show!! I accidently discovered this last year, as I had not thought much of models with oversized angel wings parading around lingerie in the past. But it really is a very entertaining hour or two of tv. And besides, everything else is reruns anyways, right?

I recently got the new ipod nano as a gift...and BOY is it a step up from my shuffle! Actually, it is several steps up. I'm still not used to it, its my first real ipod. First the space. 4 g's may not seem like much, but..BOY O BOY, its so much more than 512mb! No more deciding which albums are my favorite, and which one i'll have to leave out. And theres even room for podcasts!

Speaking of podcasts, i can WATCH them!! The other day at the airport, i was being a total nerd by watching a free podcast of FCP tips and tricks on my nano. Hooray for being a tech geek! (ok, not really)

And THEN! I can pick which albums i want to listen to! By artist, by album, whatever, I CHOOSE! Again, this may not seem like much if you've had an ipod since the beginning, but coming from Shuffle Land (aka, land of mentally noting what you've put into the shuffle, and then "next next next next next-ing" until you find that song you want), this is HUGE!

I can also load my address book from my computer on my nano? What? You mean have people's information on me when i travel? What? Stop it! But i can't! It keeps going!

A calendar? A clock??? You know how many times i've wanted to know what time it was on the plane but couldn't because the only time i had was on my turned off cell phone?

CRAZY!!!!

It's the little things I tell ya. Theres so much more, but I'm starting to sound like an ipod commercial.
Dinner is calling me, I must go give it some love.

Dear Mervyns and Coles:

What is wrong with you people? Doors open at 4am? Seriously? SERIOUSLY??


In other news: our apt. complex is now officially enrolled in recycling, to begin in 6-8 weeks. Next up, I will conquer the 16th floor suite, and perhaps...THE ENTIRE BUILDING. Muwahahahaha. Stay Tuned.

Dear Milo,

There are reports that you are getting snuggly with Hayden, that dolphin saving cheerleader costar of yours. Sigh. Ok. It's not like I ever really thought the idea of the two of us were in the stars. Really. And honestly, I don't really know Hayden, I'm sure she's a swell girl and all that (even though I cannot tell what all the hubbub is about for the life of me). But I loved the fact that you were with Rory G. And even though I know couples break up and move on...can't you date someone more like Rory than Hayden?? Puh-lease? For the sake of your fans! Not that it's really any of my business.

Sincerely yours,
SH

OMG, i just ran across this great site called askWoollyM. I have made a link to it on your left. Please go and read everything you can there, it's awesome!!!

Coincidentally, today I called my apt. manager to ask her to fix a lightswitch (for the xth time) and also to tell her about FREE LA city recycling for multi family complexes. She was interested and actually said she already looked into some recycling services but the property owners didn't want to pay for anything. In flies SH to the rescue, just in time! Of course, when I emailed the city they said they were backed up, and so we probably won't get this service for a while...but at least it's on its way. Hopefully. Fingers crossed!

Currently listening to: Cranberries. Boy they were great, whatever happened to them??

Sometimes my deep manly voice likes to emerge from a place of hiding, but it usually does so late at night. Once in a while though, it emerges in the day time, much to my chagrin. While my deep manly voice goes great with my manish PJs during the PM, it does nothing for my pretty pretty heels in the AM. It's wrong. All wrong. You know how when you talk you hear yourself one way, and then when you hear your recorded voice, it sounds completely foreign to you? Well, not only is my deep manly voice manly, it is smart too. It knows how to bypass that register where you think you sound fine, and manages to penetrate my ear sounding like my real recorded voice. My manly voice is a real pain in my ass.

In other news, it seems as though a lot of writers are comedians. They're just so funny! But i guess you have to be when you're writing for conan or steve carrell. I say, if this whole strike thing doesn't go well for them, they may be able to find some work in stand up. Maybe? Maybe? Bueller?

Oh joy oh happiness! Who would've ever thought I'd be this excited over email? Just found out that hotmail fixed their bug on reply emails. Before when you reply to an email, it was a block of garbage that no one can sort out. Now it is legibly formatted, much to my relief. I didn't want to have to give up my hotmail account over something silly like formatting! Now if only they would fix my send and receive time. It is currently 8 hours ahead of real time. I've tried looking into settings. Perhaps I have checked on the wrong time zone box? Nope. My emails are just 8 hours into the future. Annoying, but idealogically cool.

Punctuation is a funny thing. It can say so much without actually saying anything at all. See, i could've ended that last sentence with an (!) to further extend my excitement on punctuations, but instead I ended it with a (.), carrying an air of nonchalant coolness, as though I had my nose in the air while holding an extraordinarily long cigarette. AND THEN I CAN DO THIS AND TO YOU IT MAY SEEM LIKE I'M SHOUTING AT YOU, even though, all the while, I could've accidentally hit the CAPS lock. Or, I can type, OMG, MYOB, INBD! And you will know what I am trying to say. Well, some of you. Hahaha. The evolution of the written word these days amazes me to no end.

In other news, stayed home from work today to find that daytime TV is still just as bad as I remembered. Except now, it is even worse! With the writers on strike, Ellen is not so funny anymore. But then again, I've never found her THAT funny...so maybe she doesn't need writers after all? Also realized that the weather woman on kcal 9 has an enormous rack. I mean they're gargantuan!! They're never gratuitously displayed, in fact I think they're almost always covered, but they are still huge! Boy o boy.

Oh I also called in today to cancel my identiy-monitor membership, only to be talked out of it by the operator. Boy, he was slick. So I called back after I checked some information out, only to get a incoherent operator who just did not respond to my several "hello? hellos?" even though I could hear noise in the background. And then I think another woman took over, mumbled an entire paragraph into the phone which I couldn't understand, due to her mouth being too close to the phone or her not articulating certain words correctly, or SOMETHING! In any case...I think I succeeded. I think.

That's all for today.

Hello everyone! I'd like you all to welcome Tess to the blogging circle. She's my first fashion/crafts/cool stuff blog. I'm so excited! I'm awaiting all the cool stuff that she wants that she'll introduce to us in the future. Huzzah! Find her link on your left.

Currently: debating whether to call in sick tomorrow. Body aches, head hurts, warm face, and I'm constantly craving ice cream. Yup, I'm sick.

And you see, its not like I don't like christmas. In fact, I have the charlie brown christmas album, and the chipmunks christmas album! (well, more like on tape) It's just that I'd rather people give each holiday their due time and space, and not rush into things. But it's too late.

I've been pondering whether or not to start posting pictures up on my blog. Would be nice to see some pictures, like my martha stewart flowers i made for the shower. And my polka dot dress wore to said shower. Or the twice worn red hooker heels I have that are oh so uncomfortable but look oh sooo chic. Or the new BLACK** music stand with new magical books. But it's such a hassle to load them from the camera and post. Oh what to do. Be less lazy I guess, and more proactive? Nah.

**Forgot to blog about the new music stand that only vonne may appreciate. So i got a new music stand. And it is black. And I am crazy about it. Y'see, ever since I was a kid, all I had were those silver cheapo looking music stands. They like to shout obscenities like "student!" or "beginner!" or "lame-o" at me when I look their way. But no more! I recently haven't been able to find my old silver stand. (hmm...gee...too bad.) So i got a new one. My new music stand is still the cheapo kind, but now in BLACK! Now it whispers "sexy" and "oh mama" when I give it the come hither look. And then I drive it crazy by making it hold my new sexy books of Positions on it. Boy, wait til I get to those 9th positions. My stand will just self collapse and fall to the floor. I can't wait. It's going to be grand.

Maybe that'll be the first picture I post? ;-)

Yesterday I heard my first christmas song in a store. I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT! Let us have thankgiving people!! I was so mad I almost grabbed the store clerk next to me by the collar to ask "Why? WHY??? Why now, on November 3rd?" But I didn't want to get kicked out. But really, I almost turned to her and said, "Seriously? SERIOUSLY??" Then i realized, she probably has no control over what the store plays. It's not her fault. Besides, this song wasn't one of those blantantly obvious christmas songs. It was one of those peripherals ones, only slightly alluding to the holiday. So i took a deep breath, and let it go. Could've been a fluke. After that a hip hop song played. That's more like it, I thought. Even though I hate this song, its still better than christmas in november. I silently apologized to the store clerk in my head, for what I almost would've done. So i continued my shopping, having forgotten about the whole debacle, when BAM! On comes another christmas song. This time, one of those BLATANTLY OBVIOUS ones. Ooooh, they are sneaky like that, trying to hide amongst the hip hop and top 40. Who the hell do these christmas songs think they are?!??!?!

Ok. Deep breath.

So i recently watched Swingers. I know, I know, i'm like a decade too late on the swinger craze. In my defense, I tried to watch it when it first came out on video, but after 20min, me and the bf at the time had to turn it off. We were just so bored. Plus we were naive kids in OC, unaware to the culture on the other side of the curtain. But now, living in LA, especially in the city, and after everyone always making references to it, I decided to pick it up again and give it a second shot. Not too bad i'd have to say. A little too much talky talky but it had some good moments, and good lines. I would've loved to have known Los Feliz before it was invaded by hipsters though. That would've been nice. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Oh, and only in LA would you see 2 guys underneath a junkie, messy, but colorful freeway overpass on an early saturday morning. One smiling dashingly while the other took pictures of that dashing smile with a very expensive looking camera. I'm not hip with it, but didn't someone tell me that headshots are obsolete now because they never look like the real person (it's true, they never do)? But then again, i guess they'll never die out, people will always like to look pretty on paper and have hundreds of copies of them. I know i do.

And only in LA do you hear conversations about "that show getting picked up" at starbucks.

The P's and GP's are here, gotta run!

In the background: It's the great pumpkin Charlie Brown! I love charlie brown. I can totally relate.

Last night at the grocery store: stuffing for turkey.
Tonight at Target: Christmas and Hanukkah on the shelves.

What is wrong with these people? Can't we just have each holiday in peace? Without all the other holidays creeping in, trying to take over? Good grief Charlie Brown.

Today I learned that the Intern might go to the playboy mansion tomorrow, but she might not, she's already been there twice. Zut! The closest i'll ever come to the playboy mansion is to watch Weezer's Beverly Hills video.

Crap. Just saw a commerical for Shrek the Halls. Shrek and Christmas. Geez louise my knees and honeybees. Let the craziness begin.

So the wedding is finally over. Whew. What a whirlwind. Have yet to see pictures, didn't have time to get my hair done. What was suppose to be a great "do" turned out to be just a pony tail. Phooey.

Haha. Charlie Brown just got a rock.

Ok, too many things going on. Must go download some pictures now. Be back later with more coherent intelligence.

OH! How i love the sweet smell of a violin shoppe. I'm not quite sure what the smell is, probably wood polisher...but ahhhhh, it is so sweet. Or maybe i'm just getting high off the toxic fumes, who knows. This morning I took a field trip to metzler to hunt down these books someone in orchestra had recommended. I have this fantasy that once I master these two books, I will be THE GREATEST VIOLIN PLAYER EVERRRRR!!! And I mean, EVERRRRR!!!! OF ALL TIMEEE!

Volume 1, third and fifth positions. I should have these down by now but, what do you know, I don't! Volume 2, second fourth sixth and seventh positions. Seven? I didn't even know positions go up that high. It's all squeaky eek eek eeks after fifth for me. Ha. But I realized the reason I'm always so timid with my playing is that I don't really know my positions. I half learned them way back when, never really mastered them. So now's my chance. Wait for my comeback people! It's gonna be great! Ah...new books.

And yes, i realize all this probably means nothing for most of you, except maybe vonne and christine. And....they're both currently in nyc. Hope you're having fun vonnie!

I'm off to sniff some polisher...