This is my favorite Christmas video of 2010

http://cuteoverload.com/2010/12/23/merry-quarium/

Another video from CuteOverload.com to make your day a little merrier :)

Facebook: The Origins

Sorry for the long absence. Good news! (Though mostly relevant to me) I found a job. It's just eating up alot of my time now, but I'm trying to get back to writing in this.

Facebook. There's a HUGE article in Time Magazine about Facebook and Zuckerberg. And it's odd. I find myself wishing for the return of the old Facebook. The one where I had my full name, college, and dorm (down to the room number) posted for all to see because it was only for college kids! Back when I friended strangers who were going to be living in the same dorm as me. Back when I would strike up a conversation, for the first time in my life, with a hot guy and absolutely know that life was about to get better.

Now with Facebook's worldwide and age-wide range of members, the rules have changed. It was like the virtual handshake to your potential new best friend became taboo as the crowds filed in. 13 years olds blatantly pretended to be 19 and made that previously small world awkward. Old alumni friend-requested young college girls, and attitudes instinctually shifted toward suspicion. Family members expected invites to inspect your pictures. The entire network of "friends" went bust (at least to those college kids who were originally present for the transition).

And I stare at this article, knowing where Zuckerberg was trying to go with the Facebook concept, and indeed achieving it for a precious fraction of time, but also realizing that it will never return to that first, sincere, and probably naive, virtual handshake.

LAN Parties

The ultimate geek party. I've been to several of them for World of Warcraft, but only found out today that they have a name. LAN Parties. They occur when geeks amass at one house to play computer games with each other (ex. Diablo 2, WOW, . Computers can be found anywhere there is room for them, with cables running across the room like an Indiana Jones trap.

It's the ultimate group of friends. No one's going to care if you're wearing makeup (in my case) as long as your character is useful and you can wait your turn for loot drops. There's no awkward conversations about who's going out with who and 'what do think of her flakiness'. It's all, 'Let's keep to the walls so we don't draw the enemies' fire too soon,' and my favorite, 'Can anyone use this purple? It's not compatible with my characters armor/weapons'. Music to my ears.

There are friendships, enemies, and as I found out the hard way, mercenary farmers. That gets to be a touchy subject around friends when they kill you all for 'invading their turf'. Just wait til you have a group of level 80s and go hunting, my friends.

Trust me.

Cracked.com

I'm still waiting to become a staff writer at Cracked.com. Supposedly, a few days after you reply to a specific thread and say "I wanna write comedy for Cracked!" or some such variation, the staff will look over all of the posts and give the members access to the writer's workshop (along with a rather odd title, "Purveyor of Dick Jokes").

One month later...

Nada. There are a few people on my page of the thread that have been approved, but nothing more. I have an article ready and everything. Go cry me a river, you say? Well, it just so happens that I agree.

So, here I am trekking through the online jungle to find other websites that let people submit material. (-,-)

2000-2010 style

This question bothers me from time to time:

What would you classify the clothing style of 2000-2010?

1990s: Grungy, couldn't-care-less clothes and messy hair
1980s: High waist tights, neon clothes with geometric patterns and perms
1970s: Hippie clothes and long, straight hair with headband
1960s: High waist shorts and long, straight hair
1950s: High waist, cropped pants and shoulder-length, curled hair

The closest thing I can come up with are big boots/high heels and short, flowing dresses. This is wayyyy too narrow though.

oDesk warnings

oDesk is a website for freelancing writers, SEO researchers, data entry, etc. Unfortunately, it has loopholes for scams.

Reason 1: The site does not allow freelancers to lowball other freelances on job offers, although it is a common occurrence and the site administrator ignores the problem.
Reason 2: Providers, or, the people hiring, will pay a freelancer only if they believe the work met expectations. This allows employers to say that the work was poor quality and refuse to pay; in effect, they receive outside labor for free. I’m not saying that this happens often, but the quality of employers is unstable.
Reason 3: The above is also true for freelancers. Lowballers often receive the jobs that experienced professionals apply for, though they have almost no experience. This frequently prompts the employers to hire more people to re-do the shoddy work.
Reason 4: Work is not guaranteed, even if the provider/employer gave you the job.

I'm back with more rants than ever.

I finally have a job, thank goodness. It's a freelance writing gig for Demand Studios. I'm still stuck in the Biography phase, but once it gets going, it should roll like a tripped yetti.

I'm also engaged and enjoying it. He thought I was a weird one when I told him I hate diamonds. Well, that's me. Give me a stone that lives! Opal, ruby, emerald, anything that looks like it has a personality waiting to beat down the door.

I can't wait to see the newest Twilight. I'm a big skeptic, but I enjoy the books. The acting seems to get better as the movies progress, so hopefully this 3rd one won't disappoint. What do I have to lose? If I don't like it, then I'll just go back to being a skeptic. I suppose this leads to the next point:

I do believe that I'm a closeted hopeless romantic. Yet with a strange twist.

I speak practicalities, but in my mind I've been rooting for you all - every single lost heart, psychopath, manic depressive, jock, nerdette, geekling, Everyman (not a typo). I see the unconventional storybook ways that you could meet, annoy each other, and become Person 2.0.

Here's to you all.

Home Income Profit system is a scam

I almost bought into the idea of the Free Home Income Profit system. The reviewers sounded happy with the product on the "news" site and they were making money. As soon as you type in your name, address (blech, I can't believe I did that), and phone number, you click continue and the next page says that they need your credit card number to pay for the shipping.

Of a "free" kit. Hmm mm.

So I searched for 'Home Income Profit' online and every single site had the word SCAM in it. I immediately clicked off the scam's page and continued reading the actual reviewers' comments.

It turns out that if I had ordered the kit, there was a 3-day trial period that would have ended during the 2 weeks of shipping, and the scam company would've taken $140 my account by then.

So beware, and remember that if it sounds too good to be true, OR, a "free" product tries to make you pay for it, it's a scam!

Cajun night

Oh delicious Cajun food, how I love you when created properly.

If Applebee's can make spicy pasta, then why can't a northern Cajun restaurant? Spicy pasta shouldn't have a watery base. And more than just spicy bits of potato. Where's the heat in watery pasta?

I won't name names.

I hate diluted pasta.

So I had to give Butters a bath last month because he doesn't clean himself. It was annoying the other cats to the point where Bruce went from occasionally trying to help clean Butters to there being a full out carpet of Butters hair each morning.

He hadn't forgiven me til today. I was finally allowed to pet him.

Belfast

So I'm going to Belfast in several weeks. My boyfriend is going to be in training, but after he's done every day, we're going to try to explore the area. This may be a long shot to ask, but does anyone know good places to eat/visit?

The tourism websites keep giving me the names of trendy bistros that serve high priced food. Where do normal people eat there?

Here's what I have so far on my list of Things to Do:
1) Eat at The Orient Bar
2) Katy Daly's pub/club - music and drinks
3) See Belfast Castle
4) Victoria Park - not formal nature, more wild around a lake
5) Lecale Coast, if we can get to it, otherwise it's fine
6) (Maybe) Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park

Duly noted

I am officially graduated, though still job searching. I have several book ideas, one of which has its first chapter done and 6 chapters outlined. It's always a toss up of writing vs. job searching. Do both, you say? Easier said than done. When I'm job searching, I feel like writing. When I'm writing, I feel like job searching.

So, I'm sending resumes and staring at my notebook and maple candy, knowing that path leads to the dark side, and...remembering that I should really be exercising O,O

Which, of course, is why I'm blogging instead doing the other 3. Crisis averted.

Foxfire

I always wondered what caused will-o-the-wisp folk tales. It turns out that parts of the woods glow in the dark by what's known as 'Foxfire'. It's caused by fungi during a high rate of metabolizing wood - their nightly noms, if you will.

So when you happen to venture out at night without a flashlight and spy 'faerie fire,' be sure to keep an eye out for that smelly pot of gold you probably just stepped in.

Some serious deja vu

Last night at the movie theater I was looking at a poster of a movie that I KNEW had already been released years ago. So, I turn to the manager and cashier at the counter and ask them, "So, just wondering, but hasn't Letters to Juliet already come out?" To which they look at me condescendingly and reply in several variations of 'No. It's brand new and comes out in a few weeks.' I said "Thank You" and walked away like a good little movie-goer before turning to my boyfriend and saying that I was pretty sure they didn't know what they were talking about, and that I remember sitting down and watching the whole movie with my family. I could even tell him what happens. He looks at me, surprised, and grins, "That's what we call a time leak."

Huh.

I'm part of an abnormal temporal event?

...So I stopped complaining.

Selfishness is a fight or flight response to society.

Do I live for the world or for myself? No one else lives my life for me, so what's wrong with being a little selfish so long as I remember to remain humble? I watch out for myself. No one will stay forever. I believe that I live for the world. To make them know that I'm here. How is it selfish to be noticed? To be loved?

Continuation of the whammie rolls...

Yes, yes, it's oh-so-sad, but kind of expected at this point. The rolls failed. We got cake yeast, instead of active dry yeast and didn't look at the measurement conversion. I put 1/4 of the cake yeast block into the bowl and wondered later why it failed.

I needed 2 whole blocks of cake yeast.

So, I went back and added the rest of the block into a bowl of warm water, milk, and beer to give the little buggers something to nom on, and A. worked part of it into the previously ruined, dry dough. Well. Now we had REALLY ruined wet dough. But we decided to stick it in the oven at 100 degrees in the event that it would miraculously turn into a monster. Cuz that would be something to write about.

To no avail.

So, we trashed the little buggers' happy nom fest in favor of some actual dinner. Green beans and steak. Not bad.
__________________________________________________

Hmm...I just tried to explain the 1, 2 step from Ciara's "1, 2 Step" to A. Poor A. And what's this I hear about it being the grapevine??

Double Whammie Yeast Rolls

Well, we're trying Southern Living magazine's Double Whammie Yeast Rolls with only page 112 of the recipe, instead of pgs 112 AND 113. 'Cause we're smart like that. (Double Whammie = beer & potato buds)

I'll let you know if we get through it...

You know it's bad when...

You know it's bad when Chinese food seems to be getting more and more expensive, but really it's just your bank account getting smaller and smaller. The prices were the same the whole time.

SO. I know it's been a while, but I just finished helping with a production of Grease. I finally have free time again, though that's not necessarily a good thing. It is exactly 1 month and 1 day until I graduate, and still no job offers. Not even a call. You know what I do in the face of no future prospects? Watch movies online, try more recipes, battle the cats for control of the house - and - tell you guys about it.

1) Don't ever put a Magnolia tree where you'll need to walk under it. It poops.
2) Try to get a tight cover for your pool, otherwise rain and leaves accumulate in it and great, big herons start hanging around like it's their own private watering hole.
3) If a neighbor cuts down his trees, which were the private screens between his house and yours, it is perfectly within your rights to plant trees on your side of the property line. Bwa.ha.ha.

Here's a recipe for the books. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Pie. Quite literally a mouthful. This bad boy takes 10 minutes, if that, to prepare and 2 hours to harden in the freezer (if you don't accidentally leave it behind a bolt of fabric in the car to melt first). This is mostly because you use someone else's ice cream.
Link:  http://cakebatterandbowl.com/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-ice-cream-pie.html

___________________________________________________________

As for the cats. Good lord, the cats. There's 4 of them, and 3 of them hate the 4th. The 4th is a female cat named LuLu, who has half-lidded eyes, a drippy nose, and a habit of darting out the back door whenever somebody opens it. If this sounds like your kind of creature, we would almost assuredly ship her to you, if not for the fact that she belongs to a mean old woman who's moving back shortly.

Gabby is Queen of the House, with beautiful fur and an equally opposite disposition. Not her fault really. She's definitely the smartest of the felines and has taken up the rather interesting sport of trying to train me. Every time I shoo her off the kitchen counter or tabletop or clean laundry pile, she promptly travels to the litter box and takes a dump right beside it. On any other occasion her aim is fine. But seeing as I clean the house every morning, it's an ingenious plan. It's gotten me to think twice about disturbing her reign of terror, but then there's that inevitable feeling of, "This is ridiculous."

Bruce is like the Bruce Willis of cats in terms of thug-ish-ness. If Gabby is the Queen, then Bruce is the Usurper to the throne. I've seen the two in several stare downs, and while Bruce has a bit of an attention problem with flying dust, he doesn't back off.

Butters was formally known as Sputnik, but I think it gravitated over time to a fatty spread because he's just not bright enough for satellites. And he huffs. What cat huffs? Did he learn this from people? Or is it just misguided sneezing?

Too cute

Toooooo adorable! There's an article on CuteOverload called "The Impossibirds" that has everyone believing there's nothing that can be THIS friggin adorable:  http://cuteoverload.com/2010/02/17/the-impossibirds/

Maple Icicle

It's that TIME!!!!!!!!!!!

Maple icicles are starting to form on maple trees. I'm told that they're slightly sweet with maple sap. Delicious! I haven't tried it yet because they're on other people's yards, but I'm pulling the car over if one's low enough and nobody's around.

Oh yes.

Pizza Parade

I just got back from T. Anthony's Pizza.

It seems that we're always on a tour of pizza places. Yesterday I had University Grill pizza for lunch, my 3 year anniversary with my boyfriend is either going to be one of 2 pizza places (the only difference being that one has mac-n-cheese and ice cream), he and I made 2 deep dish pizzas for dinner with his family 2 nights before that (1-cheddar & bacon, 1-mozzarella), and lunch THAT day was a store-bought Tony's pizza.

Am I going to die early??

I eat cheddar cheese like there's no tomorrow- both sharp and spicy varieties. However, I do get V8 and carrots, potatoes, chicken, pasta, and cranberry juice (I can drink a jug of it by myself in a day). Obviously I'm getting the right vitamens. It explains the pudginess though.

Hmmm.....maybe a bbq place instead for the anniversary...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Disaster

Today was my baking fiasco.

I made chocolate chip cookies without the chips from the recipe on this site: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Best-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies/Detail.aspx . I decided to make half of the batch--> the full one usually makes 48. Little much, no? So I'm mixing the ingredients and ...I realize that I halved all the measurements except for the eggs. With the batter a soupy mess, I call for my wingman and we set about making the FULL recipe.

We finally set it into the oven to bake for 9 minutes and came back afterwards...to find that both sheets of cookies had become soupy lakes. I had forgotten to add the 3 cups of flour!!!

FAIL.

And my wingman, who thought I must have added it by the time we put the cookies on the sheets, put the flour tub away. These were something he wanted to make since middle school, now being 23 and completely psyched for them.

DOUBLE FAIL. Hehhhhhh......-.-

Second Life online game

"I liked your baker chedden pizza" - That's bacon cheddar, my darling.
_________________________________________________________

My newest adventure is Second Life. I was told by a friend that this is a game for freaks. This intrigued me. "Why for freaks," I asked. Her reply - "It's just for a bunch of obsessive people who let it control their lives". Hmmm......I had literally been in the middle of finding an online, multiplayer, non-combatant game that isn't overwhelming, but still has variety. Let me clarify:  I usually hate video games that don't fit these requirements, and therefore games I like are hard to find. Even worse for free games.

So, I set up a Second Life account on Basic, which allowed me to avoid the subscription fee.

The Beginning:
1)  Pick a basic character. Once you enter the actual game, you can right click on your character > Appearances, and sculpt the face and body however you choose.
2)  Out of the 2 choices of place to start out, I chose Help Island. It lets you go through free clothes, because the basic set is terrible, as well as gives you tutorials and basic etiquette. Note:  Choose underwear first, otherwise your avatar will be butt naked for everyone to see as you switch clothes, and that's not allowed (in most places).
3)  One of the first things that you'll realize in Second Life (SL) places is that you need Linden Dollars (L$) to buy anything. Since you start off with $0, you'll need to find money trees, sit on certain benches for a specified period of time, dancing (aka stripping), getting a job, etc. Just go to the Search tab at the bottom of your window and type in Money Tree for a list of places with them. They often sporadically sprout L$ when other players donate.

Game Life:
  I spent my first full 24 hours exploring Help Island, location jumping, looking for money trees, trying in vain to get the storefront benches around me to work, and eventually ended up inside of a Job Agency trying to get a job. Turns out that for almost every job you'll need to have existed for 30 days minimum. Back to the money trees then.

On the bright side, there's a Money Tree Island that dumps money in order to receive traffic on their location. You just have to go to Edit > Profile > Picks > Select Money Tree Island and then wait 24 hours for it to appear in your Picks selection. This allows the money block in the island's center to recognize you and let you vie for the sporadically dumped money, along with others in the room.

Bright side #2:  I saw Trunks from DBZ and a goth princess with a floating dress and fantastic hair. It turns out that you can wear costumes as your clothing, and some of them are free!

Miracle Berry Party

Valentine's Day!!!!! - We had a miracle berry flavor trip party about an hour ago. I'm here to report on the effects!

I bought a 10 pack of miracle berry tablets, which arrived 2 days ago. It's been a pain waiting for the day when everyone would be in the same house, but that day was today! We set out a tray of hot sauce, grapes, lemon juice, different types of beer, cheddar cheese, saltines, and a can of shredded pineapple. Everyone who wanted one received whisky sours. Then came the tablets.

I recommend trying a half tablet for the first time you have this. It lets you get used to how the weird flavors will work if you want to try the full tablet later. When you first put the tablet in your mouth, you have to swish it around to coat all of your tongue. I accidentally missed coating the sides of my tongue, which made the bitter items taste bitter when it should have been neutralized. And DEFINITELY remember to coat the back of your tongue where sweet flavors are tasted.

The tablets have a powdery, weird flavor, so be ready for that and have good tasting food waiting for you.

Hot sauce:  Tastes hot, but without the flavors
Grapes:  No difference
Lemon juice:  Tasted like lemonade - actual, sugary lemonade
Guiness:  Tasted like water
Cheddar cheese:  No difference
Whisky sour:  This drink tasted like sugary lemonade with a twist.
Saltines:  The tablet wore off before anyone tried these.
Pineapple:  The tablet wore off before anyone tried these.

If I were to do this all over again, I would get a miracle berry plant because the actual berries have a greater impact and longer lasting effects.

Shining, happy stingrays holding haaaAAAaaaAAAnds!

http://cuteoverload.com/  - It's on Feb. 13, 2010

So I've been thinking...this might be cuter with pictures of cats making bizarre faces. I just need to buy a ProDuo memory stick and I'm on my way. There are 4 cats in this house - Bruce (The Tough Guy), Gabby (The Bitch), Butters (The Slow One), and Lulu (Evil Incarnate). I think we can make this work >:)  Soon...

The Olympics' Opening

Gabby, the cat, is watching the Vancouver Winter Olympics and only cringed when the 16 yr old started singing and the half-mast flags were raised against protocol. Right on, cat. Right on. Vancouver, show some respect for the Georgia guy.

I have to admit that I'm a little confused at the Indian dances. And I'm part Indian. I'm pretty sure some of them had ipod headphones in their ears. Very un-Indian of them. However, the Inuits were awesome with the huge coats and non-costume looking outfits.

Kind of hilarious that the Austrailians needed extra cold-protection. My favorites were the Azerbaijans who wore pants akin to pajamas. NBC actually did a close up of the colorful swirls and were like O.O



Hmm....Cats get very confused with hairnets. Goodness.

Title Change & Fizzy North Koreans

Right. "Beware the English Major, for the World Will Always Live Up to Her Expectations" is now "The English Major at Twilight". It took a full breath just to say the original.

Weird note of business #1:
- Type in 'VBS tv North Korea' on Google
- A journalist finally entered and unveiled some culture freakiness. I feel bad for the people, but not really, seeing as they HATE us - except for the tea lady. Kind of reminds me of Japanese culture's undercurrents.

Weird note of business #2:
-Carbonated candy is actually fizzy! I was suspicious, but to no avail.

Weird note of business #3:
-Does anyone else's Brita produce moldy tasting water after 6 months? I know that there are filters for a reason, but I only use the thing one a week. How do you get 6 months of use out of that??

Low maintenance happiness

I finally figured out how to sign off of the new Facebook page. Ridiculous. There should be a giant red button on the screen that says, 'Opt out of the site in general,' just for those moments. Until then, my annoyance is overtaken by the sounds of garbage trucks, screeching tires, and occasionally the night club, and I have to remind myself:  I could be the poor bastard living ABOVE the nightclub, or in the apartments right behind it. How many times has some drunkard thrown their bottle at the building's windows behind the club, or smashed the windows of cars parked along its side street? Actually, the car thing is once every few weeks.

Yep. Definitely not a city girl.

A city girl would relish the sounds of car alarms, glass shattering, and fortunes being made (though it's hero or criminal). Nope. I'm happy with eBay, Tanoth, and Project Gutenberg. Low maintenance happiness. Voila!

Baby albinos

Why is it that all kittens online look cross-eyed?  Mine never looked dazed and confused. Maybe the flash went off first and caught them all unaware? ...Kitteh say, "Wha-ta-fuh?"

Also, I feel like it's my duty to point out that geneticists must not know what their talking about when it comes to making baby albinos. Supposedly you need 2 parents that have the recessive gene that creates an albino in order to, of course, make an albino. However, I've never heard of albino dolphins or koalas, not even to mention the odds of 2 such parents finding each other to produce one, and yet...here they are:

1) Baby albino dolphin - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4927224/pink-dolphin-appears-in-US-lake.html
2) Baby albino koala - http://a2.vox.com/6a00c225256b2c604a00d09e69497abe2b-500pi

Food!

MMmmm....funfetti cupcakes and homemade icing while trying to lose weight. Delicious.

The journey, maaaan. It's all about the jouuuurney.

Don't ever stir after pouring rum into a freshly opened Coke bottle. Volcano science project. Big mess.

So, the story has been put on hold. But look on the bright side, I tell myself, because Mythbusters is having a contest where one can win and travel to Comic-con to meet them! An awesome alternative for my creative aspirations right now. If I can't write, I can take flight!

In other good news, I wrote a short children's story for my first class paper. I love projects like this. No finals, no midterms, just children's stories. AAAAAAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Lovin' it. It's probably the first class setting that I felt completely comfortable speaking in.

Right, so what have we learned here? Shaken, not stirred.

Prints

I almost bought a knock-off impressionist painting today. Some resident painter employed by Bed, Bath & Beyond paints knock-offs of people like Jack Vettriano, which you can tell from the crude brushstrokes and no signature. But there is one called "Sounds of Silence" that's not that bad. It's bright. It's on the riverside. It's in reds and yellows. BUT it was $60, and thank goodness I held off until I researched who it was by because it had nooo name. Resident painter! HA!

I'm keeping my $60.

Alrighty. There's nothing more awkward than walking into a Chinese restaurant with a panda hat on. Just getting that out there.

Anyways, I came up with story idea #2. It's non-fiction, which is weird because I usually hate that genre. Stories are meant to take you out of this world, not rub your face in it. But we'll see where this one goes.

That's life

Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck.

So I miss everyone. And everyone thinks it's lame when I mention that I miss them. So I try to not mention that I miss them, and focus on the lack of a job, prospects, or a decent salary...get chastised by younger sister for being depressing, and then miss them more.

No one from high school is the same. Everyone's changed just a fraction of an amount to make them never want to look at the school again. So they won't go to reunions until 20 years from now, and I won't even make the guest list because I never graduated from that first school. I had to move. Glorious, mal-adjusted, New York, whose high schoolers can't stand Sinatra on the intercom crooning about their place in the world. Who hates Sinatra??

On the bright side, I started writing my book.

And I'm staring at paintings of dancers, and motorcycles, and old cars with couples too cool to care, and I realize that I can't get there without this book. And on the way there it'll be some ludicrous job that won't pay nearly enough, and that's life. But you know what? On the way to that boring ass job, I'll be floating 9 feet off the ground in an air balloon, and those reports will be telling me that I've won the lottery, and that inevitably evil copy machine will be my arch nemesis, and Oh Yes. I will be victorious.

Light Bulb

Alright. That's it. I'm going to write a book.

Fiction, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, it all requires research, but I'll have the time this spring, so why not?  I don't have any ideas. That's alright. Neither did any other writer at first. I'm armed with one How To book, one Ideas Book for writers' block, and an Ed Hardy notebook. Of course, the How To book says to not talk about my book, but I figured that the occasion should be noted. It's refreshing. A book. No nine to five yet. Just writing.