:: Pedantic Platitudes ::

:: Thursday, September 30, 2004 ::

The first presidential debate is tonight! I'm so nervous... I really hope John Kerry does well. I think this could really be a major turning point in the race for the White House.

This morning, I was sitting in a government class of 150 students, and when the professor asked who would watch the debate tonight, pretty much every person raised his or her hand.

My fingers are crossed for a John Kerry win in tonight's debate!

:: SL 10:25 AM [+] ::
...

On Sunday, I went to the freshman dining hall and got sign-ups for the psychology lab I'm working in. It was a chore to keep yelling the same phrases over and over again, but it was fun with company.

Later that evening, my friends held a tea party, so I drank tea and snacked on Sun Chips into the night.

Yesterday, I got up early and went to classes. After writing a couple of news stories for my website, I took a nap in the late afternoon. I had dinner, and then I did some reading and other work. Because I took a nap so late in the day, I couldn't fall asleep at night. It sucked. I kept tossing and turning.

Then, I woke up this morning and felt extremely tired because I was unable to sleep last night. I went to my classes and then took a lunch break. Before I went to my tutorial in the afternoon, I participated in a few psychology studies, which netted me $28 in less than one hour. Not bad... but it still doesn't compare to the $37 in less than one hour I made once doing another study.



This evening, I went into town and saw The Lion King: The Broadway Musical. It was nice to finally see the show, which is in town for a few months. I had heard many great things about this musical from many people, including my aunt, who saw it in Los Angeles. I almost had a chance to see The Lion King on Broadway when my friend Katie and I went to New York last year, but the show was sold out (as it is quite often due to its popularity).

The show was amazing! A lot of the scenes and dialogue were lifted straight from the movie, but it was still neet to see it interpreted onstage. A while ago, I had heard some ignorant person saying that some of the puppets in the musical looked as if their puppeteers were "having sex" with them, but now that I've seen the show for myself, I know that that person was just being vulgar and stupid. It looks nothing like that, and the puppets are actually quite imaginative and clever. It's really a shame that someone who is privileged enough to get a chance to see such a form of artistry decided to be so immature about it instead of appreciating it.

But I digress.

Anyways, the scene with the wildebeast stampede was visually stunning, and the opening and closing scenes with all the animals gathering at Pride Rock were simply magical. There were several new songs in the musical, and they are pretty catchy. I have one of them stuck in my head right now. It was neat because they took some existing instrumental score from the movie and added lyrics to create new songs.

Oh, The Lion King was at The Opera House, an abandoned theater from long ago that fell into ruin but just reopened recently after a lengthy renovation that cost millions of dollars. It was a beautiful theater, and I can't wait to see Phantom of the Opera in that theater when the show visits Boston in the spring.

Quote of the Day: "I wanted to buck the trend." "Yeah, you really bucked up royally."

:: SL 8:31 PM [+] ::
...

Hi everyone!

I want to be a cool brother, and I'd like to get my sister an iPod MP3 player for this holiday season. She's really wanted one for a long time, but they are so expensive! Can you help me out? You can get your very own free iPod, too!

There's a website called FreeiPods.com that is giving away free iPods provided that participants complete one of their offers and then refer five new participants to the program.

Now, I was skeptical about this program, but a number of respected news sources, including Wired Magazine (this article is helpful: "Making Free iPods Pay Off") and CNN, have written about this program. There are also a lot of people who have reported actually receiving their free iPod.

All you have to do is sign up for your free iPod through this referral link. Make sure it says "Referred by dl2000j@yahoo.com" when you sign in. Then, through the site, complete one of the offers (many of which are just free trials with legitimate companies like AOL, eBay, or Blockbuster Videos that you can cancel before the trial period is up).

The company offering the free iPods will not ask for your credit card number, so it's not a scam. Many of the trial offers are also free, so you don't risk anything there; just cancel the offer before your free trial is up. Once you complete one of the offers, you just have to recruit five people to complete offers to get your very own free iPod.

Help me out, and get your very own free iPod in the process! There's nothing to lose and a free iPod to gain!

E-mail me at dl3000j at yahoo.com if you have any questions. Thank you for your help!

:: SL 9:25 PM [+] ::
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Yesterday, I had to turn in my study card, where I list the classes I will take for this fall semester. I had to get some final signatures, and I couldn't get them earlier because I had to first wait to see if I got into this one class I wanted to take.

After attending classes, getting signatures, and turning in my study card, I took a break and went to dinner.

Last night, I watched the movie "Hero," which I highly recommend to everyone. It has action, suspense, and romance; I enjoyed watching it again. The reason my friend had the movie on DVD is because the film has been out for a couple of years now in Asia; it was only recently released in the US.

After the movie, I went to a really fun party hosted by some of my friends. The theme was "Disorientation," and it was a blast. I saw a lot of my friends there, and we had some good chats and danced to fun music.

The party ended somewhat early, so we all headed to the Quincy Grille, where we placed orders with different names and had a late night snack. It was a nice ending to a fun evening.

Today, I wasn't too productive, but I watched some DVDs and studied a bit. I also wrote a couple of news stories.

Quote of the Day: "That guy's mullet is amazing; it's a tour-de-force."

:: SL 7:47 PM [+] ::
...

Today, I went to my class in the morning. Then I spent some time running some errands. In the afternoon, I went to an information session about i-banking, which was interesting because I've always been curious about what it really is. I then had a meeting with a faculty member in my concentration and got some information. After dinner, I got some BUBBLE TEA!!! Yay! I haven't had that in a while.

Tonight, I went to a fun tea party (yes, two nights in a row). We chatted, were crazy, and anticipated the big party some of my friends will be holding tomorrow night. That should be a blast.

Oh, oh! I almost forgot to mention that today, in the dining hall, we saw a guy with a mullet! It was a real mullet! We were quite excited.

Snap (but most likely accurate) Judgment of the Day: I heard there was a book out called "How to Date a White Woman: A Practical Guide for Asian Men." How fucking offensive is that? What is this, 'White Women for Dummies'? Are white women somehow different from women of other races and need a special guide? Are Asian men inept creatures who otherwise would have difficulty date white women if they didn't read the book? Unless this is a satirical work, I would say this book is totally non-PC and entirely offensive.

"Sneaky Method of Disseminating a Religious Message" of the Day: Now, a religious group called "Abundant Bible" has purchased the domain name "blogpsot.com," so whenever anyone mistypes any "blogspot" address, like mrtommorrow.blogpsot.com, they land on this website, which is all religion all the time. I wonder how many hits they get on their site because of this little trick of theirs?

Quote of the Day: "And then my pedophile boy toy had to leave, so we had to kick out all the sailors."

:: SL 6:10 PM [+] ::
...

Yesterday, I shopped some more classes, including an interesting one about the American presidency. The professor was an economic advisor to former President Reagan, so he should offer a lot of insight into what it's like inside the White House. Alas, a lot of people want to take this class, so it may be lotteried. I hope I can take this course!

Last night, I met with my concentration advisor, and she offered me some helpful information on picking my classes. It's been kind of difficult picking out my schedule this fall, but I hope to put something together by the end of this week. I then had dinner with some friends, after which we went to a meeting for fellow concentrators in Mind, Brain, and Behavior. In the evening, I did some research and then watched half of a movie on my computer.

Today, I got up early for my classes. This afternoon was not very pleasant because I was having some issues getting my ID card (they had messed up on my billing information in their computer system, so I had to go from office to office, wasting my time. I was pretty livid over their ineptitude.

I then calmed down and ran some errands. Later in the evening, I had dinner with some friends and then dessert with some other friends. Tonight, I went to a tea party with laughter and fun. I chatted some, and I then watched the last part of the movie I started last night. I then went to sleep.

Tragic news of the day: 7-Foot Crucifix Falls, Kills Woman

Quote of the Day: "Instead of writing about what you did each day in your blog, you should write about who you did."

:: SL 9:26 PM [+] ::
...

In my random online surfing, I stumbled upon this gem:

If Wishers Were Horses: The site dedicated to Human-Equine Transformation

I laughed so hard when I saw this. Check out that animation on the top left! Looking through the site, I see it offers fiction stories of what it's like to turn from a human into a horse.

There is also an advice section that talks about "the reasons for becoming a horse," "the morality of becoming a horse," and before, during, and after the "transformation." It's so farcical, yet written so seriously!

Sample advice on transforming into a horse: "Men should avoid transforming anywhere within scent of a mare: women should avoid stallions. The problem is made worse by one's new form often giving off a veritable "pheromone explosion" as the equine metabolism kick-starts. Any sexually receptive potential mate is liable to react with strong enthusiasm."

Ha ha ha ha.

I guess I should be more sensitive to the quirks of other people, but this one is just so strange I don't know what to make of it.

:: SL 7:46 PM [+] ::
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Announcement to the person who searched for the phrase "Nasty kelp vagina emergency tent" on Google and arrived at this blog: You're looking in the wrong place!!!

:: SL 6:57 PM [+] ::
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I just read postings on three different blogs in which the writer mentioned that he or she had been touched inappropriately. I will join in on this trend by mentioning that this kind of thing actually happened to me the other day when one of my friends started petting my arm. What is going on? Inappropriate touching! I must send out a message reminding people to keep their hands to themselves... unless the touching is wanted or warranted.

:: SL 1:08 PM [+] ::
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OK, I have been a bad person and a hypocrite for not updating my blog daily... I personally know how annoying it is to check someone's blog only to find that it has not been updated, so I apologize.

I spent yesterday wracking my brain trying to decide what classes to take this semester. All the exciting classes I want to take are either offered in the spring or next year. Alas. Well, there are still some interesting courses I am considering.

I neglected to note that yesterday was also International Talk Like A Pirate Day... Aargh!!!

Today was the first day of school! It was exciting to try out new classes. I looked at three classes today, and they were all engaging and kept me awake, despite the fact that I had stayed up late last night trying to pick what classes to look at. In the evening, we had a bunch of meetings for administrative matters regarding living on campus, such as safety, drinking, etc.

I then found out that some asshole website engaged in copyright violation and copied onto one of its pages one of the articles I had written for my website word for word, in its entirety, and without permission. I was pretty angry, and I wrote an angry cease and desist letter... One can only hope they heed the warning... I don't take kindly to copyright infringement, especially when it's my work that's being plagiarized.

Quote of the Day: "Look at my water bra! Touch it!"

:: SL 9:58 PM [+] ::
...

Yesterday, I got up early and went to an open house for one of the Harvard art museums. There were snacks, and I got a poster for our common room. I then went to registration and the activities fair, where I signed up to be on the mailing lists of a bunch of extracurricular activities. I always forget just how many student groups there are on campus.

In the afternoon, I finished getting my stuff out of storage because today was the last day. I started unpacking a lot of my stuff, and then I got together with a bunch of my friends, and we watched the movie Animal House.

It was the first time I had ever seen the movie, but it really does say something about the college experience. It's definitely a very college movie. I had seen the movie Old School starring Will Ferrell before I saw Animal House, so I saw what I think were a lot of things in Animal House that inspired Old School.

It was funny because before we started the movie, some of my friends pulled out their "dirty dice," one of which lists actions (tickle my, caress my, massage my, etc.) and the other of which lists body parts (back, leg, arms, etc.) so you put them together to get a command like "massage my arms," and started playing a game of "dirty dice." It was hilarious but also a bit surreal to see three girls kissing another girl's leg, etc.

Today, I slept in but then spent a lot of time finishing unpacking my boxes and organizing my room. I then put up my posters, which include one of Disneyland, the state of California, and the MSG'd scene from a Teen Girl Squad episode from Homestar Runner.

At dinner tonight, a couple of my friends had the following exchange:

"One of my teachers thought of naming her child India."
"That's an interesting name. Maybe your teacher should name her other child Pakistan."
"Oh yeah, then they could say, 'India and Pakistan are always fighting'!"
"India and Pakistan can never get along. They're always fighting over this cashmere sweater!"

Soon after dinner, we held our first tea party of the year! It was a good party. A lot of people showed up, and we got to show them our new suite for the year. We also enjoyed cookies. There were a lot of good laughs and some crazy antics. We then headed to another friend's room, where we watched the movie Poltergeist 2, The Legacy, which we laughed at and made fun of throughout its entirety.

It was hilarious just how bad the movie was. We noted that the 6-year-old girl was probably the best actor in the entire film, and laughed at the actors' ever-shifting accents, which changed depending on the people they were speaking with. It was a good time. We then visited and chatted for some time. I then went to sleep earlier because I have a meeting tomorrow morning.

Quote of the Day: "Whip my ass! I mean... no, don't do that. That's OK."

:: SL 11:29 PM [+] ::
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Time to talk about myself again:

I forgot to mention that this past Sunday I had another story published in The Tribune:

The Follow-Up File: Personal chef has ideas on back burner

:: SL 1:47 PM [+] ::
...

Here is the exact text from an e-mail I recently received:

"I heard that winnie the poohs ride was built by an evil empire and god
watches them all the time nonstop, and pours down fury and the most wrathful anger
if he becomes displeased.
you can never hide except in that hollow shell. hehehehe. i think the mockery
of religion is fanaticism and the INSURGENTS must be stopped. truly hilarious
you know. the purpose i mean. on a another note. some people are just born
asswipes. THEY CANT HELP IT!"

What the hell is this person on???

:: SL 11:01 PM [+] ::
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Yesterday, I went to a Mind, Brain, and Behavior Symposium for my cognitive neuroscience concentration. It started early in the morning (registration was at 8:30), and we heard from various professors about the mind and how it works. I learned some interesting and new things at the symposium. They served lunch (sandwiches), and then we broke off into discussion sessions for the afternoon.

In the evening, I worked on my website and went to dinner. It was a nice meal, and I saw a bunch of my friends. In the evening, I met up with my friend, and we went out for a late night snack and then visited with a bunch of her friends. 'Twas a wonderful time, and it was all on a Wednesday night! Such is life during "Camp Harvard," the week before classes where people just hang out because there is no classwork... yet.

Today, I moved my stuff out of storage. Alex was so kind and helped me move the heavy boxes. I then moved some futons and couches out of storage with my roommates. It was very sweat-intensive work, especially having to climb so many flights of stairs. I guess that can count as my exercise for today. Later in the evening, I visited with some friends and caught up with what everyone is up to.

Quote of the Day: "How are your parents?" "They're doing well... still working. How are your parents?" "They're dead."

:: SL 5:14 PM [+] ::
...

I'm back! Yesterday, I got to the airport for my 11-something flight, and I got to LAX after an hour-long flight. Then, my flight from LAX to BOS was a bit delayed, but I made it to Boston a around 11 p.m., and after resolving some luggage issues, I took the subway to school. I picked up my key and found out that they had given me the wrong ID card, so that will have to be resolved later. I got my room key, though.

I trekked up to my new dorm for the school year, and I met up with my friends/roommates. It's cool to have a common room again! I had missed that from freshman year, having a common room to go into and have random chats in.

My roommates and friends and I decided to go out for some late night pizza, so we went to Pinocchio's pizzeria. Afterwards, it was getting late, and I had to get up early the next morning, so I went to bed at about 2 a.m.

:: SL 2:06 PM [+] ::
...

"I'm taking the overnight flight, making a stopover at LAX and arriving in Boston early early tomorrow morning."

Or not...

I'm back at home because my flight out of SLO-town was cancelled due to the high winds and low clouds that suddenly overcame our area. That meant I would miss my overnight flight to Boston. I was going to be put on the 5:45 a.m. flight to San Jose tomorrow morning, wait nearly four hours, and then take the 10:30 flight to Boston, but I just got a call telling me that the 5:45 flight had been cancelled, so I will be flying out of SLO at 11 a.m. tomorrow and will be arriving in Boston sometime around 11 p.m. tomorrow. Sigh. A whole day wasted due to travel. That's why I try to fly overnight flights.

:: SL 9:09 PM [+] ::
...

Here's an update of what I've been up to these past few days:

Saturday:

Today, I went to visit my friend before she moves to a different city. It was sad to say goodbye for now, but it was also nice to catch up on everything. I then visited my friends in SLO-town and went bowling at Cal Poly! It was funny to see all the freshmen moving into their dorms and making their way about the campus. They are so obvious, with their folders, wristbands, and wide-eyed optimism and enthusiasm for buying books and touring the school.

We went bowling! That was fun. We even had fun bowling names. I was "Benjamin Jesus," and I think that might have helped me a bit. For dinner we headed to Taco Bell (after a long fun run), and I tried their new Mountain Dew Baja Blast lime-flavored soda. It wasn't as good as Code Red, but I still enjoyed it. I then got a Mountain Dew Code Red refill, and that put me on a sugar high that surprisingly didn't last very long. We headed downtown and browsed books and magazines at Barnes and Noble.

Tonight, I worked on my website and did some more packing for my return to school.

Sunday:

Today, my family went out to dinner at the Tsurugi Japanese restaurant in SLO-town. I love Japanese food! I had sashimi and tempura and teriyaki chicken. The dinner also came with miso soup and salad and little meat dumplings, as well as California rolls and this wonderful and sweet tofu dessert. We also went to Tahoe Joe's to pick up some cheesecake for dessert. One of the best parts of being home is the wonderful food!

Later in the evening, I finished packing my bags. There's a lot of stuff! I then watched a lot of television, including the premiere of the series Jack and Bobby on The WB, which I am not sure I want to keep on watching but thought was entertaining.

I then stayed up late again working on my website.

Today:

I visited my sister today at the high school to have lunch. I visited the newspaper class to see how they were doing, and I saw a couple of my old teachers. I then got all my stuff in order and am getting ready to go to the airport. I'm taking the overnight flight, making a stopover at LAX and arriving in Boston early early tomorrow morning. I had a great time at home these past few weeks! I look forward to coming back during the wintertime! It's time to go back to school!

:: SL 2:01 AM [+] ::
...

Last night, I stayed up really late working on my website because there was major news. Thus, I slept in today before getting up in the afternoon and going to work. Today's my last day at work! I'm taking the overnight flight back to school Monday night.

I did copy editing today, and it wasn't a bad shift. In between things, I finished up some stories for the business section that will run in the next few weeks. Tonight, one of my coworkers showed me his new hybrid car. It's so cool! I want a hybrid car. Obviously, the best part is how much better for the environment hybrid cars are, but they are also technologically cool! It's like driving via the controls of a computer! Plus, when the hybrid car is operating on electricity only, the car is absolutely silent and doesn't vibrate from the engine. I think more people should get hybrid cars.

Tonight, I stayed up late again wasting my time online.

Quote of the Day: "The Asian Irish Jew inside of you would like this tie."

:: SL 2:30 AM [+] ::
...

OK, so I'm a bad person for not updating my blog... I'm going to try to play catch up now...

Tuesday:

I went to work and worked on some not-so-exciting stuff on the city desk (I was assigned to do reporting today). Then, I got a go-ahead from my editor to write a story about the extreme weather we've been having these past few days. Yay! So I worked on that and called a lot of weather people and local businesses. It's kind of funny that I've sort of carved out this "weather beat." I wrote a story last week about local Red Cross volunteers who were shipping out to Florida to help with Hurricane Frances recovery. I then wrote a story about how this past summer has been cooler than usual on the Central Coast. Ironically, now my third story will be about how the daily high temperature record has been broken for the third day in a row.

My story made front page! Third front-page weather-related story in a row!
Heat streak: San Luis Obispo records a third straight day of record highs, topping out at 106 degrees Tuesday; expect a hot one today, too

After work, my sister picked me up because she needed to go downtown to Barnes and Noble to pick up a book for her English class. We spent some time in Barnes and Noble. We then headed home, where I worked on my website and then went to bed because I had busy stuff to do tomorrow.

Wednesday:

Today, I got up early and got a haircut because I wanted to look presentable and it is getting to the back-to-school time. After my haircut, I headed to SLO-town, where I visited my old elmentary school, Teach School, which is now at a different campus, combined with another elementary school. I saw a couple of my old teachers, and I spoke to some students during their lunchtime about journalism, high school, and college. One of my old elementary school teachers told me about some of my former classmates and the things they've gone on to do, like release a classical/opera CD or get married. It was such a hot day today. Luckily, we sat in the shade under a tree. My host was really nice and provided me with a nice lunch, too: a chicken caesar sandwich with a white tea fuze drink.

After my little school visit, I went to work early and worked on finishing writing a piece for the business section of the paper. I then started my copy editing shift for today, which went on until nearly midnight. I had to get up early the next day to do a reporting shift, so I went to bed fairly early.

Story of the Day: While I was at the barbershop, sitting patiently in the chair getting my hair trimmed, these two old men were telling stories about getting their prostate gland removed due to cancer:

"What was your PSI?"
"17."
"Did you get a biopsy?"
"Yeah, it came out positive. They took out the whole enchilada. What about you?"
"They used radiation, which they say has no side effects, but believe me, there are side effects."

I dare not imagine what side effects this man was referring to...

After I told this story to one of my friends, she asked me, "Are you taking vitamins to prevent prostate cancer?"

Thursday:

Augh. It's such a drag to get up so early, especially when you have to stay up late the night before working. I did reporting today, and I wrote a few stories for the business section. There was a lot to work on, so I hopped from one story to another. It got a bit stressful at times, and a lot of people I needed to contact did not or refused to contact me back, so things were looking a bit murky, but it all pulled together in the end because I still got all the information I needed, just from different people.

After work, my great friends picked me up from work, and we went to Quizno's Subs! Yum! It was really delicious. I haven't had Quizno's since last summer. So warm and toasty! At Quizno's, a couple of my friends sneaked out, so I was left with just one friend at the table. We pretended that we were on a "date" where we were going to have a bitter break-up, so we got really dramatic about it. Some of the store patrons didn't know how to react... they thought we were actually breaking up, with my pseudo-girlfriend sobbing her eyes out. One patron actually looked at my friend and mouthed "Are you OK?" to her. It was hilarious.

We then headed downtown to FARMERS MARKET!!! Yay. I love Farmers Market. I got a Jamba Juice! Yay! We waited in Barnes and Noble and met up with another friend. We then strolled about the streets and tried to find Cologne Girl again, but we were devastated because we couldn't find her and get her to tell us to "GET EXCITED!!!" Sigh. We worried that she traveled from town to town, so her appearance at last week's Farmers Market was only a one-time deal. That would be so tragic.

Later, we were accosted by confrontational religious people trying to proselytize us. I suppose it's my punishment for speaking and joking in the "Jesus voice" all night, playing religious charades and miming Bible stories, and drawing religious tattoos on skin. It could offensive, I admit, but it was just soo hilarious. My friends and I were laughing really hard. We then went into Barnes and Noble and read in more books and magazines.

Tonight was such a fun night... I'm going to miss hanging out at Farmers Market. It was nice after a day sitting in the office working to finally get out, hang out with friends, and just go crazy. I have such wonderful friends. I'm so glad we can have such fun times!

I'm a-gonna include three quotes... one for each day!

Quote(s) of the Day: "Why do you have to accept Jesus into your heart? What if you take God into your heart but not Jesus?" "Then you're Jewish."

"I'm going to make Jesus out of M&Ms!"

"Why does it say 'free prayer'? Isn't prayer generally free already?"

:: SL 11:31 PM [+] ::
...

I had my second front-page story in a row! 104-degree high tops SLO's record of 99

Well, I enjoyed my Labor Day today. My parents decided to go out of town to go shopping at an Asian supermarket (because there are none within a 90-mile radius of my home), so my sister and I watched over the family business. I spent most of the afternoon watching The Outer Limits because they were having a marathon on the Sci-Fi channel (I feel so nerdy admitting that!). I like The Outer Limits because it's very much like The Twilight Zone (which I am a big fan of), and there is a twist at the end of each hour-long episode, along with a moral or message that applies to real life. I ended up watching four episodes this afternoon.

In the evening, my sister and I watched the movies "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" starring Lindsay Lohan (she did a great job in this film) and "13 Going On 30," which was charming and humorous and a feel-good movie. Get excited!

Story of the Day:

Tonight, I had dinner at a Chinese buffet with two women, and while I was trying to eat my Mongolian beef, the sauce of which was starting to merge with the sauce from my overheated sweet and sour chicken, my two female companions began to discuss their worst menstrual cramps stories.

"I usually just take a couple of painkillers and then I try to sleep."
"Yeah, I tried that, but it usually hurts so much that I'm moaning through the night in pain, so I usually just go and sleep in the other room so I don't wake my family members."

I can only begin to imagine, I thought to myself as I ate another deep-fried wonton stuffed with cream cheese filling.

Quote of the Day: "I am a dam. I hold back water. Am I a dental dam? I would taste bad, then."

:: SL 9:19 PM [+] ::
...

Augh. Most of my day was spent doing completely waste-of-time waiting on the phone for tech support for our family computer, which suddenly decided to not allow us to have internet access. It was so annoying having to wait so long on the phone to finally speak to a person instead of automated messages. It's true that Muzak can cause severe irritation. I was ready to explode after listening to 3 hours of recorded pseudo-jazz.

Besides that unfortunate waste of good time, I took a nice walk around town this afternoon. Today was the warmest day this time I've been home, and I enjoyed a chance to get outside. I walked to the city park to see Art in the Park, where local artists display their creations in tents set up in the park. I then walked down to the waterfront, where I looked in random stores selling touristy things. I walked and watched the random tourists and looked at the beautiful bay. There were a lot of people on watercraft and kayaks today. I want to go kayaking. I also want to go to the beach.

I only have a week left of summer! I'm heading back to school a week from today! I've got to get going on the things I want to do this summer before it's all over and classes begin again!

Quote of the Day: "Would it be more insulting to be left for a man or to be left for art?" "A man... 'cause at least I like art."

:: SL 2:02 AM [+] ::
...

Augh. I need to update my blog.

Thursday:

After work, I walked downtown to Farmers Market! Three of my wonderful friends were there, and we walked up and down the street and had a wonderful time. I haven't been to Farmers Market in forever, and it was great to see so many people out and about. There was a decidedly political tone to it, though, this time. The SLO Democrats and the SLO Republicans were all out in full force, distributing bumper stickers and pins, and people were literally wearing their political affiliations on their sleeves. I had forgotten how Republican this county is. Sigh. There was even a letter to the editor in today's paper that said something to the extent of "Anyone who isn't a Republican is a traitor." Wow. I don't think this is the America our founding fathers envisioned. I should write something trite like "Dissent is patriotic," but I think we all know that already.

At Farmers Market, we ran into the most enthusiastic, hyper, and peppy person in the world. This short, chubby girl was selling what I presumed to be bootleg perfume and cologne in her backpack, and she walked (more like skipped) towards us on the street, and asked in a sing-songy, upbeat voice, "Get excited! What kind of cologne do you wear?" Because I didn't have much money to buy anything at that moment and also because I already had cologne that I rarely use already, I responded that I don't usually wear cologne, but she still handed me a little pink laminated card with a list of different colognes and perfumes that she was selling. She then pressed the question again, and I finally responded, "I sometimes use Kirra, from PacSun." She replied in such an excited tone: "Get excited! We don't have that, but we do have this brand by Clinique that smells really good!!!" And I said, "Oh, I'm sorry, maybe next time." The peppy young woman then asked, "Get excited!!! What perfume does your girlfriend wear?" And I said, "I don't have a girlfriend. It's tragic." Cologne girl then asked my friends what perfumes they wore, and my friends, probably scared to death by the saleswoman's overwhelming excitement for all things fragrant, didn't really say anything and sort of backed away. Sensing that we weren't going to buy her wares, the young lady then headed off, but not before saying, "Well, thank you, boss women and boss man!" She then bounded across the street to another group to peddle her cologne and perfume collection.

What a cool person! I want to be friends with her. She had such boundless energy and enthusiasm. If only I could have such excitement in my life! If I'm ever down or depressed, I want to visit her so she can tell me to "Get excited!!!" That would certainly cheer me up. What a phrase! She used it as some people would the ubiquitous "Cool!" or "Neat!" Her sales presentation really amused me. I hope I run into her next week if I go to Farmers Market.

Get excited!!!

We headed to *$ (Starbucks), conversed for a bit, and then we went to Barnes and Noble, where we looked through magazines, read from this book of bad doctor jokes, and interpreted our dreams from this book that was intensely Freudian and made everything in your dreams out to be a phallic symbol or some secret sexual desire. It was entertaining... waffles: sexual symbol; meat: sexual symbol; acorns: phallic symbol. Not a very flattering phallic symbol, I might add about the acorn.

After hanging out at Barnes and Noble, we stayed downtown, even though Farmers Market had ended and the streets were quiet, except for the quirky bicyclists who ride through town on the first Thursday night of each month after Farmers Market. We then decided to head over to my friend's house in LO-town, and we ended up watching the movie Mickey Blue Eyes with Hugh Grant. It had humorous moments, and it was nice that there was a happy ending.

I had a great time Thursday night. It was great to hang out and have a carefree time with just my friends again. Cologne girl was really cool, too. Get excited!!!

Friday:

I went to work early this morning, and I got a tip about local Red Cross workers who were going to Florida to help out with Hurricane Frances recovery efforts. I talked to a lot of people and wrote a huge long piece. Then, just moments before my deadline, I received a notice that representatives from another local organization was sending volunteers to Florida, so I had to do all this last-minute reporting and contact people in Florida and then incorporate that into my already-written story. I had to stay a bit overtime, but it was worth finishing this important story.

My sister was in SLO-town to see a movie with friends, so she stopped by The Tribune to pick me up. We went downtown where we met up with her friends, and we had some Pizza Solo. We then headed over to the theater. I wanted to respect my sister's time with her friends, so I decided to watch a different movie in the same theater complex. I watched "Garden State" (finally, after one of my friends has really pushed me to see the film), and my sister and her friends watched "Napoloeon Dynamite," a preview of which was shown before my film began. "Garden State" was a quirky and introspective movie. It had a lot of humorous moments, but it was a different type of humor than I've seen in movies. It was very unique. Natalie Portman's character in "Garden State" actually reminded me a lot of Kate Winslet's character in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

Later on this night, I worked on my website The Disneyland Report - Disney News and Secrets for a long time because there was a lot of news about Michael Phelps and Disney's Swim with the Stars tour and news of Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Charley and Walt Disney World damage.

Saturday:

My story was on the front page of the paper today: SLO County helpers on storm duty.

I slept in this morning, and in the afternoon I watched Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon because my parents had rented it earlier this week and were going to return it this evening. I also spent some time online.

Later tonight, I went to visit my friend in Los Osos. We went to visit one of our friends at *$ because she was working there. It was fun as we chatted with our friend as she closed shop and we played the card game "Ziggity" from the makers of the game Cranium.

We later headed back to my friend's house, where we watched DVDs and surfed random sites online. It was good times again. A fun Saturday night "pahty." Let's do it again!

Quote of the Day: "My stock is rising... Flash!"

:: SL 1:45 AM [+] ::
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SLO County helpers on storm duty

:: SL 1:01 AM [+] ::
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Hi... sorry I haven't been posting... I've been terribly busy, and now I'm too tired to write about it.

I will, however, post this letter to the editor published recently in the newspaper. I just thought it was so clever. It would be more hilarious if it weren't so scary and true:
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What would Abby say?

If the four years of the Bush administration were a "Dear Abby" letter, it would read like this:

I have been in a relationship with a man who promised to take care of me and my children. Four years later, I see that he has ignored my children and insulted all my friends, and I'm trillions of dollars in debt.

I have a chance to start a new relationship, but he wants me to stay with him. Should I give him another chance?

Signed: Worried Ms. America

What do you think "Dear Abby" would say ... besides "throw the bum out?"
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:: SL 1:53 AM [+] ::
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Hello there...

I'm a bit busy today, so no long post...

I worked the night shift tonight, and then I work the early shift tomorrow, so it looks as if I won't be getting much sleep tonight. Alas.

I shall post more later.

Quote of the Day: "Did he wear yellow to coordinate with his cheese?"

:: SL 2:11 AM [+] ::
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I would like to point out the following from The Disneyland Report - Disney News and Secrets:

"Disney's Swim with the Stars" tour to feature Olympic swimmers Michael Phelps, Lenny Krayzelburg, and Ian Crocker at Disneyland and Walt Disney World

:: SL 11:52 AM [+] ::
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