Eclipse

There's an eclipse tomorrow, but we can't see anything from North America. There are going to be webcasts though, I've read online. I only remember seeing one eclipse when I was in elementary school (a long time ago), and we had to hold some kind of protector over our eyes. I thought it was some huge thing. Maybe it was, I dont know? Maybe I should read some more about these eclipses.

So it's 6 oclock on Tuesday night. I usually leave work about this time, but I am staying late to do my laundry! Yeah, doin my laundry at work to save on the quarters I would spend at my community laundry facility at home. I hate doing laundry period. I somehow procrastinate long enough and I end up with 4-5 loads of laundry to do almost everytime. So while I do my laundry, I thought I'd update the blog.

Recently, I've decided to look into a new career. What?, I don't know yet. But I'm considering leaving my job now for something else. Up until the last few months, I've enjoyed my job. Actually, I've never really LOVED my job, but I liked coming to work and I liked the people, the clients and the work that we do was interesting. It's no longer enjoyable, I've taken on more clerical duties and it can be stressful at times. I just don't think it's where I want to be anymore. I've been here for 2 and a half years, though it seems longer. So, I'm planning to spend some time thinking about what else interests me and look for something new. Any ideas you think I might be good for...well I'd appreciate your ideas and thoughts, please.

I saw Thank You For Smoking over the weekend. It was pretty good. Funny...and not too long. I also saw Walk The Line, finally! I loved Reese's performance and thought the movie was good, full of music, entertaining, and seemed to be reasonably true to the facts...though without Reese, it could have been just a really good movie of the week, in my opinion. And I saw In Her Shoes. I thought this one would have been better. Great acting, good story, but a little too long and too cheesy. I was pleased the least with this one of the three movies I watched over the weekend.

Oh yeah, I had a good birthday. I'm 28 this year, but I would prefer to be 27 still, so Justin got me some cupcakes and "27" candles. You can see:

Justin got me Sex and The City the complete series, collector's edition! In case you didn't know, I watch these episodes over and over and over and over again and I never get tired of them. I love the show..I'm so happy I now own ALL of them! I also got a really cool New York scrapbook from my older sister, Daphne and an apple giftcard. Ginger sent me itunes money, which is always a good gift for me...I love music and my ipod! Candace sent me some money for my trip to NYC that is just 2 months away! I also got more money from other sweet people who love me...and money is ALWAYS a good gift. My dad gave me this really neat oil-candle thing, a beautiful necklace and some not so beautiful photos from the day I was born. I had a good dinner with my dad the night before my birthday, and then Justin came home from Delaware the following day, so I spent time with him.

My laundry is just about done. It's drying. After I leave here I'm headed home to watch American Idol. The idol pool is going great so far. I'm totally into this year's show and I really really hope Chris Daughtry wins. Speaking of TV, I don't watch much anymore. I try to keep up with Grey's Anatomy, but only by way of DVR, because I'm never awake at 10pm on a Sunday night anymore. Yeah, it's sad, but VERY true. And I try to watch My Name is Earl and The Office on Thursday nights, and still my favorite show on TV... The Office. I catch How I Met Your Mother occassionally, when I remember it's on. Yeah, it's pretty funny.

I'm looking at new digital cameras for ME. The camera I own currently is still half-working(the zoom button is broken), but I want a new one before my trip to New York. I gotta zoom up on that piece. ;) I've been looking at Canon powershots and the Nikon coolpix camera with WiFi. Apparently, with this camera I can load the pics right onto my computer without plugging it in...."WiFi." Pretty cool, but kind of pointless becausepluggin in isn't that hard to do. So I don't know which one I'm going to go with...but I plan to make a decision soon. Within the next two months is soon to me. To others, soon is within the week. I just thought I would clear that up for everybody. God, I'm so delirious right now. It's raining out and it's yucky. Cold and constant rain all day long. I think it's going to be like this tomorrow, too. I'm ready for some sunshine and some warmth because white girl needs a tan. BAD! Justin sent a picture around to his friends and family of me and him, taken just the other day. I look....... seriously, sick! Pasty, WHITE and like someone who needs a tan. I'm sad I won't be getting the good sun like I did last year in Maui. Maui was a different kind of sun, a better sun for your tan. I sound like someone I'm not right now, so for those who don't know me and are reading this, I swear I'm not obsessed with the tanning oil. I just need some color!
By the way, I read a 10 year old's blog today. It was AWESOME! I bookmarked it--too funny! He says stuff like "gtg" (got to go) at the end of every post and most might be 2-3 sentences long. Yo, I went to Olive Garden last night. It was yum. gtg. Jeffrey. Next entry...went to a basketball game, it was pretty fun. not much else. gtg. This one was pretty awesome too...

Guys...................I have so much school it's not funny. Seriously, it sucks. I'm going to try to catch up alot tomorrow, but I also have a piano lesson, sooooooo poop on school. Well, ttygl.

Anyway, Ok I'm boring now...I'm gonna go start foldin the laundry and get out of here. GTG. :) TTYGTOMTNDOMNEA (talk to you guys tomorrow or maybe the next day or maybe not ever again) sorry, seriously, I'm going now!

moving and sicky Friday

I've not posted in a while. Been busy packing for our office move and other stuff. Lara came out, as I said in my previous entry. We had such a good time. I really miss her. I would highlight everything we did, but I don't feel like it..so all you get to know is that she was here and we had fun! Since then, I've been preparing for this move that is finally happening tomorrow! The last few days I've felt less than OK. My throat is sore and I just feel kind of groggy. Like I could go either way...I'm either coming down with a nasty cold or this is just a minor cold and I'll fight it off shortly. I'm hoping it's the latter. I stayed at the office until 9pm last night to pack boxes of CDs. It wasn't terribly late and I could have stayed later...but well, why should be the only one who is doing EVERYTHING? I'm just bitter because I probably make less than any of these people (except the new guy), and I work longer than any of them. I guess that's how it goes. The more money you make, the less you work. ?? I can't complain because I have it pretty easy around here on most days. I have my camera with me so I can take some photos of the new office tomorrow. Then I'll post them here afterwards, so you can see our new home-office awesomeness. Justin is in Delaware right now for his sister's wedding. He left yesterday and he's coming back next Tuesday. I was invited and I really wish I could have gone, but with the office move, it was pretty much impossible to leave. This Sunday is also the LA Marathon. Season is running in it. She's been training for 9 months now (I think) and every Saturday morning with a pace group. We're planning to go downtown on Sunday to see her cross the finish line!
It's dreary outside right now, I just finished my breakfast poptart and a cup of coffee and I'm wondering where I should begin today's packing. The kitchen needs to be packed, but I'm just not feeling that right now. Maybe I'll go pack all of our paper products and office stationary/supplies.
I just remembered it is Saint Paddys Day, and by accident, I am wearing green. Yay for me! I won't be celebrating or partying because I'll be doing laundry tonight and I have to get up early tomorrow for the move. Sweet Friday night. Not to say that my Friday nights are much cooler when I'm not doing laundry or waking up early on a Saturday anyway.
My Birthday is next week, and I wish I was turning twenty seven again. I really like my age and I don't want to be twenty eight..it's closer to thirty. 30 scares me! Daphne is turning the big 3-0 this year. It just sounds weird. I still think we are all in our mid 20s..I feel like that anyway. I don't know what 30 is supposed to be like to other people, but I remember when I was 20...30 seemed OLD. Anyway, I don't have any plans for celebrating. My dad is going to be in town on Monday and we're going to meet up for dinner. Tuesday after work I'm going to watch American Idol and see my boyfriend. He gets home from Delaware that day...so that's my birthday plans! I'm in an American Idol pool. I'm in charge of keeping track of the points and collecting everyone's votes, etc. There is a message board where we talk about the show and the link is in my links section, if you're curious about checking it out.
I need to get back to work now. I'll blog on Monday and I'll have pictures to share. Yay! Have a safe and happy weekend, everyone!

It's Friday!

It's a little rainy here today and I wish I could have stayed home, under the covers on a day like this, but I'm very thankful it is Friday nonetheless! My friend, Lara from Texas is visiting this weekend and she arrives tonight! I'm so excited to see her...I can't wait. Lara and I met through a mutal friend in high school, however we never really "hit it off" until years later. In August of 2000, she and I went with a group of people to Galveston for a long weekend. We finally bonded on that trip and have basically been close friends and in each other's lives ever since. We were roommates in San Marcos for two years, as well. I can count on her for anything and she is truly a GREAT friend...one that I will have for the rest of my life. Tonight, we are planning to go to dinner and just hang out. Tomorrow night I think we may go to West Hollywood and go dancing. The last time she was here, we didn't go to the westside at all, so we're definitely going to spend some time at the beach and we might go back to Getty at some point. Lara was an art history major in college, so she's a good person to go to art museums with because she's like a tour guide and can tell you extra information, other than what's provided in the synopses on the walls. Other than those few things we don't really have a planned agenda. This trip is for us to hang out, spend some quality time together and enjoy being on vacation :) The few times I've seen her since I moved to Cali, it was always for an event...a wedding, a concert, a few hours during the Christmas break..it's hard to really plan times like these...so I'm looking forward to it!
Well, I have quite a bit of work to do today...It's PILOT season and things are crazy....the cable guy never showed up for the install at the new office last night either, so I have some things to figure out before I'm off for 4 days! Happy weekend everyone!

I'm in one of those moods

....where I can't shut up! Luckily for me, I have this blog to get it all these thoughts down on paper. Unfortunately, for you, well it can be unfortunate!

I've been reading at work again....I've been catching up on all the current events and the news, which usually triggers me to think...which leads me to writing it down. So here I am, thinking....writing.

Here's what I have to say about the media at the moment....

OK, so people are fascinated with knowing ALL the information there is to know. It's as simple as that. If you tell someone a tiny bit of information, a question will follow and probably more than just one. We live in a society where today's news is yesterday's news in a matter of minutes. With the technology available, the resources available to get the most up to date news, and the monster ratings that the media is scoring today...it's really hard to live in this world and be affected by something for more than a minute. Even a huge story, one that will get an unbelievable amount of coverage only lasts until the public says so. Once we are no longer interested, the media will no longer cover it. It's sad and kind of scary to think that a 12 year old today can tell you stories about murder with no emotion. They are simply facts and just a part of that child's life. Big events like hurricanes or other weather related disasters is a terrible burden for anyone directly affected. People want to help, people want to be a part of the story in the beginning. But once the coverage starts to fade, the interest starts to fade but everything's just the same. People's homes and lives were not corrected because the media stopped covering the story. Those same people's lives were put on hold or were ruined even. I don't think that having all of this information at hand is necessarily a bad thing either. There is still good news in the world and good news to tell. Even the bad news obviously deserves it's platform. I think the problem is in the ways it's processed. 20 years ago I can remember watching the Challenger launch on television. I was at school and our teachers let us watch it on TV because one of the astronauts was a teacher. I think I was in the second grade at the time. When it exploded, the teachers turned the TV off immediately, some of them broke down into tears, others just tried to change the subject...like they didn't want to be the ones responsible for showing us that tragic moment in history. I remember a feeling of guilt, as if I had witnessed something bad and I was going to be in trouble for it. And even though everyone pretended to move on with the day at school, I remember it was all I could think about. I don't know what the news coverage would be like covering a similar event, in a second grade classroom today, but I imagine it to be much different for some reason. I don't think people have the same attention spans that they did back then. With a 24 hour news cycle, advertising and public relations seem to have become an invisible cloak that we've wrapped around our failings. Sales is what drives our country and fuels the need for success. The media was once just a source of information and now they are competing in a world against other sources of information to sell the best delivered package because the better the package, the better the ratings and the better the paycheck...blah blah blah. We are taught that if you find your message and repeat, repeat, repeat. Stick to the words - If you say it enough you can sell anything. Once you become aware of the sales pitch, you see it everywhere. We are so concerned with failure and making money, the reality of what is actually being covered has been lost and we've become so completely distracted with how the story is being told, there's nothing left to do but move onto the next big story. I don't mind seeing imperfections or hearing someone own up to their mistakes. I mind being sold a lie, or being misguided from the truth because we don't like having it pointed out to us or the package it's presented in isn't so pretty. No one is surprised anymore by failures that cost lives, like the Challenger did.

poetry and politics

I read this poem today and I thought it was interesting and worth sharing...By RUMI, called THE GUESTHOUSE

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

On a completely different topic!, I've been reading/watching in the news about the port situation and the possibility of this being a major terrorist attack threat for the USA. I'm about to get political here, so if you have strong views, especially ones in favor of Bush, this is your warning....I am not going to blog about what a great leader I think Bush is. First of all, I don't believe it is possible to stop terrorist acts. It's an inevitable obvious act, in my opinion. The best you can do is get plans in place to deal with the aftermath. If you look at our ports (try looking at a satellite view on the internet), or if you are already familiar with some of our port cities, then you know what I'm about to write is nothing shocking. The size of our ports, the number of palettes of shipments that come in every day, in the best of situations we are currently only screening 5% of cargo (according to the information currently available to the public). So we're on borrowed time as it is. Not all ports are owned by the UAE (United Arab Emirates), but the ones that are are our biggest concern. For example, the port in Long Beach, CA is not about to be taken over by the UAE (it isn't one that a company bought by the UAE is about to take over). It's incredibly dumb to me that we elected Bush to hand over the keys to "our house" to the Arab governments. Our leader, our president believes in the kind of affirmative action that gives our East coast ports over to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates. Um, and the Republicans say "finally, he understands the dangers of racial profiling." What the..?! That's their response in support of this? The guy tried to do this deal in secret, so the american public would not raise hell.... Does he think we are a bunch a 1st graders? Two of the 9/11 highjackers were from the UAE and money to fund it was laundered through the country. Here's another fact which brings me back to the whole idea in planning for the aftermath of an attack. The government still hasn't worked out communications networks in places like Washington, D.C. (that failed during 9/11), leaving first responders in likely target cities without the tools they need to keep us safe in a disaster. Bush cut funding for first responders accross the country, that's a fact. Instead, he links funding to adherence to his failed No Child Left Behind program. He sold our country's debt to China, leaving us weaker against that country's political whims, AND he's sacrificed the health of our environment to the highest industry bidders nationwide! All of these things are part of creating real security for America, instead of phony, PR-focused "security." Here's one of my personal favorite Bush annoyances.."support the troops!, support the troops!..send them into battle to win this war on terrorism!" So he sends our troops off into battle without appropriate armor, making them INCREDIBLY less secure. Then he makes them pay to fly home for leave and for body armor that gets damaged when they are hurt using it. Way to go there! I'm in total support, let me tell you. So who's trusting who here? Here's what I'll NEVER understand... how does he have so much support in this country? When most of these supporters (who call themselves Republicans) say 'I support Bush 100% because I'm out to end this war on Terrorism, I'm out for revenge on Bin Laden'...when Bush was the one who ignored a memo in August of 2001, entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States," and now he's handing over the keys to our ports to countries that not only funded that particular attack, but were also supplying the men involved in the attack? What terrorist in the world isn't ecstatic at this news!?

If the Democrats can't pursuade some sense here, I think the cause is beyond hope.