Things I need to do before I leave for London in April

[] buy a plane ticket
[] figure out when I'm coming back in the summer (so I can buy my plane ticket)
[] find out if Japanese 113 is offered during the summer (so I can buy my plane ticket)
[] triple check the person subletting my room is a for sure deal
[] read the travel books my parents got me for Christmas
[] plan trips I want to take while in London
[] remember the other things I need to do before I leave

Michael Caine

Today my sister realized mid annual watching of a Muppet's Christmas Carol (a couple days late this year) that the actor who plays Ebenezer Scrooge, Michael Caine, also plays the butler in the new Batman movies. Observe:

This man is also...


This man!


I double checked on Wikipedia (which as we all know is always correct) and the information panned out. I can't believe I never noticed. Aside form a White Christmas, A Muppet's Christmas Carol is my favorite Christmas movie. And it's not like I haven't seen Batman Begins and The Dark Night multiple times. It takes a fresh pair of eyes I guess. I must say it doesn't really look like he has aged at all. Good for him, in a way, although this means Michael Caine looked the age he is now in '93 when Muppet Christmas Carol came out.

And on another note, to put my love of Muppet's in perspective: my father may think the Muppet's are the funniest thing ever. EVER. When we went to Disney world this past March and went to a 'Muppet's show' in one of the theme parks guess who was the only one laughing? And I'm not talking the polite, that's supposed to be funny, I guess I should laugh, laugh. I'm talking the laught that happens when you find something so hillarious you really can't hold back. That's right, my father. In fact, just now my dad came in to see what me and my sister were doing and laughed through the entire minute exchange between Rizzo and Gonzo outside of Scrooge's house. I was doomed from the start.

Post-Holiday Check In

5 lbs. heavier and a whole lot happier! Well, maybe not 5 lbs. heavier, but a least a little bit. Between the snow, no excursive, and the food (omg, the food) my waist line has expanded over the last week. I always eat more at my parents house. Something about no inhibitions about watching what I eat around family + my mom's food is super yummy=I eat every meal plus some every day. Also, to that Tupperware container of cookies on top of the fridge: we need to work on our love hate relationship.

And as a side not as I sit here and watch television, since when do they introduce Lance Bass as from Dancing With the Stars and not N'SYNC???

Yes, I am at work.

Dear Store customers,

Please stop coming in today. It is snowing, and if you stop shopping I will be able to go home early. As a bonus, if you stop coming in now, I will even be able to get a ride home. From my boss, but still, in a warm, dry car. Also, going home early would be a great early Christmas present for me. I know you are all shopping for your loved ones (presumably) but if you could do this one thing for me it would be much appreciated. Seriously people it's dark, cold, and snowing outside. Go home, so I can too.

Sincerely,

An employee who shouldn't complain about her job because it allows her to surf the internet for her entire shift.

P.S. Seriously. If you don't clear out by five I may be stuck in the U-district, which would usually be fine, but all of my stuff (read:glasses) are at my parents house and my apt here is frakking cold.

P.P.S Thank god, we are closing at 5:30 and I will still have a ride.

American Wife

I have a sort of morbid curiosity to read this book. Obviously based off the relationship of Laura and George W. Bush, I think I would be sick of hearing anything related to the soon-to-not-be-current-President. But something that can help describe what shaped Mr. Bush, and how and why someone can stay married to the man, should be interesting. All thoughts on current president aside, it has gotten good reviews. I just need to remind myself that it's fiction, although I'm sure all manner of historical accounts/biographies will be coming out in the coming years on the same topic.

Grade update

Arthurian Literatate: 3.9
History of India and Pakistan from 1500: 3.9
Japanese: 2.5 (woops...)

Not too shabby overall. Thankfully my 3.9s averaged out the 2.5 so my quarter GPA is a 3.43. .07 away from the deans list. There may have been tears. On the upside my overall GPA is 3.3 so I can apply for the English Honors college. Definitely my bad on the 2.5 (Japanese) for not going to class as often as I should. Admittedly my History grade is too high. The proff. had one of my essay grades down as a 90%, it should have been 79%. I did ace the final though, 99%! I guess you could say I'm being dishonest by not alerting the proff. to the grade discrepancy, but really, what would you do?

I want:

This. Or more specifically one of them. These umbrellas are super cute and I've been needing one for a while. Very helpful for walking to class in the rain and not soaking your jeans, raincoats can only do so much.

Grades

I need them. This has surpassed wanting to know them. I need to know if I will stay on the Dean's list this quarter, and I need to know if my GPA will finally bump up to a 3.3 so I can apply to English honors. I think I check the UW website at least once every five minutes. If the website could talk it would say: "Lady. Your grades aren't up today, they won't be up tomorrow. In fact, they probably won't be up until Friday. So cut it out. You and all the other compulsive-grade-checkers are overloading my system."

I. Am. OBSESSED.

It's COMING!!!!

Battlestar Galactic THE FINAL EPISODES!!! Fraking hell yes! January 16th 10/9c, Sci fi Chanel. Trailer goodness here. I must now dedicate large portions of my winter break to re-watching the first three season. Yes I own all three seasons, thank you for asking. Helo, Apollo and Anders, we have been seperated for far, far too long.

*I may have squealed like a little girl when Starbuck pulls Apollo to her in the trailer and into a HOT HOT KISS OMG WHY IS THE WHOLE TRAILER NOT DEDICATED TO THIS (yes, CAPS ARE NECESSARY). May have squealed, may.

We

I never realized how happy the word 'we' could make me until my we've-basically-been-dating-but-haven't-really-talked-about-it-boyfriend started using it.

Grades

Dear Fall quarter Proffs,

I have been waiting patiently for the past several days for my final grades. If you could end my misery and just post them that would be wonderful.

Sincerely,

A student who fears she may not have done as well as she thought this quarter.

We need to talk

For my friend Amanda. Because this is exactly the scenario that goes on in her head when someone utters this phrase.

XKCD

Happy Halloween!

And on a completly none related note:



Lol politics

Quote of the Day

My Arthurian Literature Proffesors proud proclumation of "La3amon loves elves."

Extra brownie points to you if you know who La3amon was, but if you don't here's a hint: he wrote in Middle English during the late 12th and early 13th century and is also known as Lawamon.

Too True

Thanks, A Cup of Joe!

This one got me

Holy Grail

I found it.

It's called Cartoon Network, a place where they don't show political commercials or anything related to the economy. Scooby Dooby Doo, I am soooo glad I re-found you! Also the commercials they do show? Awesome and effective. I'm totally asking for a mini battery powered Jeep for Christmas.

Sober Fun

Yes, these are my friends and this IS what we did last night for three hours. We are beyond awesome. No alcohol was involved, I kid you not.

Congrats!

Congratulations US tax payers, you just bought 700 billion dollars worth of bad debt! Time to break out the alcohol and savings bonds.

New Guilty Pleasure

Paris Hilton's My New BFF.

Other reality TV shows wish they could be this awesome, but their producers aren't Paris Hilton and therefor are not BITCHY ENOUGH to pull off the awesomeness that is this show. Seriously, she sent home four people straight off the bat. I wouldn't want to be her BFF, but watching other chicks, one guy and one man/chick/shim back stab and bitch at each other for the chance? Yea, I'll watch that every Tuesday night at ten on MTV when I should be studying. As Paris says,

Later bitches!

We got beat by a Tree...

Yesterday the University of Washington football team hit a new low by loosing to Stanford. Even my football obsessed friends have lost hope for the team. Plus, on top of the loss our quarterback Jake Locker broke his thumb and our only decent WR D’andre Goodwin has an ‘apparent rib injury’ according to the Seattle Times .

Why football gods, why do you hate us so much?

At least we don’t suck as much as WSU. If we don’t win the Apple Cup this year I’m going to have to put half my friends on suicide watch. Tyron Willingham is so fired after this season.

Also, is Jake chewing in that picture? Bad Jake!

More politics

So I'm sure that everyone and their mom is tired of politics at the moment but the transcripts of Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric are a must read.

Domestic policy segment.
Foreign policy segment.

First Day of Class

Morning of the first day of class and what do I wake up to? A bloody cold. Thanks body.

Freshmen

Listening to newly inducted frat boys invite girls to parties: painful. Very, very painful

McCain's Speech on 9/18

John McCain speech about the financial market. All in all he does a nice job of saying nothing. However this phrase which, granted, is taken out of context is hilarious:

"And we will simplify the tax code so people can understand it and do their tax returns themselves."

Riiight. The only reason I did my own taxes this year was because I only needed to fill out one form and I'm a broke college student. Don't over extend yourself their McCain, that statement is called making a promise you can't keep.

Reading political jargon makes me so frustrated. there's all these words on the page and yet the candidates never actually say how their going to change things, just that they are.

Gray

This is why people in Seattle have a high depression rate. It's not the rain, it's the gray. It honest to god looks this color for nine months out of the year here. If this where a crayola color it would be called: 'It Might Rain Sometime Soon But I'm Just Going to Stay Gray Like The Sidewalk and Concrete Buildings Anyway To Make You Mad'.

Judge Rejects Plan for More Snowmobiles at National Parks

"A federal judge ruled Monday that the Bush administration’s plan to allow more than 500 snowmobiles a day into Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks was not in keeping with the National Park Service’s responsibility to protect the parks." (New York Times)

YES!!!

Economic Downfall

For the first time EVER the Fed's are bailing out a major insurance company from going bankrupt. A MAJOR company. When I read the headline I couldn't do anything except stare at the computer screen and blink dumbly. A.I.G is being given an 85 billion dollar loan by the Federal Reserve to keep them from filling for bankruptcy. I knew that the economy was in trouble but when major corporations like A.I.G need the government to fix them...we are worse off then I thought. And as this Times article states:

"...the bailout is likely to prove controversial, because it effectively puts taxpayer money at risk while protecting bad investments made by A.I.G. and other institutions does business with."

Overlooking the typo at the end of the sentence this is a super good point. Why should taxpayers have to put money at risk because A.I.G made bad investments? Unfortunately I do understand the highly negative repercussions a company like A.I.G filling for bankruptcy would cause, I just wish their was a better way for the problem to be resolved. Congress is even considering building a new government agency thats sole purpose would be to buy out failing financial companies (Times article here). It seems like a catch 22 to me, such an agency might allow for corporations to make riskier investments but no one wants to watch the market crumble as those corporations fall.

All in all, no matter who gets the White House this November (please, please let it be Obama) they are inheriting a rats nest of problems.

Writer's Humor

Thanks, Married to the Sea.

Google Government

Finally, something to get excited about in Washington!

"The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Transparency Act) requires a single search able website, accessible by the public for free that includes for each Federal award: 1. The name of the entity receiving the award. 2. The amount of the award 3. Information on the award including transaction type, funding agency, etc. 4. The location of the entity receiving the award. 5. A unique identifier of the entity receiving the award. " (http://www.usaspending.gov/)

The bill makes it possible for the general public to use a Google like search engine to see where government spending is going. Definitely a step in the right direction!

Credit to P.S.A for the heads up.

One more two cents

This article made my day.

McCain gets questioned by the ladies on The View. Viewer comments on the bottom of the page also very insightfully.

My Two Cents

It bothers me to no end that annalists wonder if Palin being chosen as McCain's running mate will give McCain the 'women's vote'. The worst part is the news media doesn't even seem to notice that they are alluding to such a connection. Even is this Times article, which appears fairly neutral, the allusion that a women will vote for a women no matter what is made:

"There has been considerable speculation about whether Mr. Obama would be better positioned to curb the excitement that Ms. Palin has generated if he had picked a woman and whether Ms. Palin is drawing the support of women who might have voted for Mrs. Clinton, despite their vast policy differences."

I'm not going to vote for another women purely because she's female. I don't think, 'Hey! You're a women, I'm a women that means I have to vote for you!'. The idea that anyone thinks female voters will vote for Palin simply because we share two X chromosomes is seriously insulting. Just like the rest of the US (hopefully) I'm going to vote based on policy. Not race, gender or any other diversifying factor.

Wow

Long break. Quit my job, moved apartments and started back at my old job. All of which translated to little writing time and much less access to the internet. Internet, I MISSED YOU!

Warning!

Listening to Mamma Mia while at work my cause impromptu spastic dance sessions in the elevators and other public office spaces.

How Selena's summer vaction came full circle

Mid June: Selena is super excited about her shiny new internship!

Early July: Selena is counting down the days until her two week vacation starting August 1st.

August 1-17: Selena chills with la famille in Montana and then Oregon.

August 18-22: Selena only goes to work 2 days out of 5

August 25: Selena is super excited about the resignation letter she turned in for the 27th!

Goal:

Goal: Go to work all week

Outlook: probably Fail

BREAKING NEWS

CSI IS IN MY APARTMENT BUILDING!! Well, not my apartment, apartment, but in my complex. The Seattle Police Department, decked out in their 'we're busting in' clothes, definitely just raided the apartment down one floor from us. They actually BUSTED DOWN THE DOOR! My roomie saw the hole in the door on her way to class. Now CSI is here doing there CSI thing: bagging stuff up and ransacking the apartment (I glanced when I walked by the open door on the way to my unit). Yes, the CSI people do strangely resemble Grissim. No, Warrick was not reborn into the SPD when he died on CSI, mores the pity. Unsurprisingly the apartment they busted was the one that always reeks of pot, still EXCITING however! I'm going to be hyped up for at least the next 24 hours.

New Blog

Credit to I *heart* You for sending me this direction, I think I have a new favorite blog. Tavi of Fashion Rookie is a 12 year old with more fashion sense then I ever had or think I will ever have. Even more than her wonderful style I love her writing; sassy, snarky and funny. It makes me smile. Her blog also, however, makes me think back to what I was doing with my life when I was twelve...playing ridiculous amounts of premier league soccer and dressing in Old Navy fashion (okay, okay, and Fred Myer, you caught me). In other words, my dressing style was nothing to write home about.

Some Day

"In her spare time, Milly liked to molest inanimate objects."

Some day I am going to write a story that starts with that sentence.

Thank you D-listed!

Because this made me laugh so hard my co-workers had to stop what they where doing to ask if I was alright. Ever wonder why Seattle-ites drink so much coffee?

Lazy Bitches of the Day

No, I shouldn't be reading blogs at work.

Well then, where did my taxes go???

I'm interning with Social Security over the summer and today was picture day! A.k.a get your ID picture taken day. Fairly simple procedure: sit in front of the camera, wait while they enter your Social Security Number into the computer, take the picture and voila, ID card. One small glitch for me however as my Social Security Number is not in the system. I have been paying taxes for two years now...where, or I guess more accurately, who, got credit for that? If the IRS comes after me I'm blaming my semi-dyslexic tendencies. And The Man. Apparently when I thought I was writing down my number wrong on all those forms it wasn't just a funny feeling in the back of my head, I really WAS writing it down wrong.

My SSN isn't in the system, my credit card gets stolen/lost...coincidence? Probably.

EDIT: OMG, my SSN is correct but I'm not in the system. I'm hoping that sounds worse then it actually is.

You Learn Something New Everyday

This weekend I learned that while I don't suck at golf as much as I thought I would I still pretty much blow at it. After almost killing someone with an arrant chipped ball and breaking my mom's nine iron (I'm just good at these things) I decided to call it quites. I will never make fun of professional golfers again. Getting the ball in the hole is a lot harder than it looks.

Nordstrom's Anniversery Sale and KARMA

Today at 7AM I, along with hundreds of other shopping obsessed Seattle-ites, burst into Nordstrom's Flagship store hoping to be the first to paw through the Anniversary Sale merchandise. While I admit to being shell shocked at the sheer mass of speed walking shoppers for the first ten minutes, I soon snapped out of it and proceeded up the escalators. Quickly and efficiently (if I do say so myself) I spent one hundred and thirty nine dollars on the pair of jeans, two shirts and a North Face zip up that was at least fifty percent off. Yes I put back many other items(one jacket I may go back for), no I do not feel guilty. I then proceeded down to SHOES where I practiced unheard of self restraint, only buying one pair. Steve Madden black flats with buckles on the fronts. I've been looking for a pair of black flats for about a year so this one was guilt free. All of these wonderful purchases I owe to my dear friend Visa who fronted me the cash for my shopping spree. All totaled I manged to spend about two hundred dollars in an hour. Go me and my credit card!

Two hours later:

After arriving at work and actually doing something for two hours I decided it was time for a coffee break. Arriving at Starbucks I opened my wallet for my debit card only to realize that my credit card was not there! When several minutes of searching proved futile I gave the card up as lost. Was my bank account trying to tell me something? ("Selena, we don't HAVE two hundred dollars to spend on clothes," or "Selena, you CAN NOT under ANY circumstances spend more money at Nordstom's this weekend. I simply can't handle it.") A few choice words later I returned to the office with much needed coffee and called the bank. Get this, someone (arsehole!) had already used my card to pay for downtown Seattle parking. Damn if this person isn't Speedy Gonzalez! Although I personally would have spent more at Norde's... I'm glad I noticed my card was missing when I did: now when they use my card again it will be BLOCKED! HA!

What am I most upset about? I can't in good faith go back to Nordstrom's this afternoon and spend more money. Although in the grand scheme of things this is probably for the best. Karma, you suck.

Smoothie Day!

Starbucks I remember why I love you. And this is besides the fact that you provide me with my chosen narcotic. Today you gave me a coupon for a free smoothie when I went in to get my daily dosing of drugs (grande iced coffee, no sweetener and room). But you have left me with a hard decision: Banana Chocolate or Orange Mango Banana? The coupon's good until September so luckily I have a while to decide.

EDIT: The Banana Chocolate was delicious!

Le Sigh

There where obnoxious teenagers sitting on the steps next to Whole Foods today at lunch. Taking up outrageous amounts of room, talking in overly loud voices that did nothing to disguise the fact that they where talking bad about Whole Foods before ultimately decided that non-organic was better for you. o_0 I fear for the world in the future, i really do. But most importantly;

They interrupted my lunch sun basking!

This is sad for two reasons:

1. I was technically a teenager less than a year ago, although these kids must have been about high-school age. Please let me and my friends never have been that oblivious to the courtesy of those around us (unfortunately sadly untrue).

2. Obnoxious and loud= no sunny zen moments over lunch. This is especially because of the one scrawny boy who seemed to have no control over his volume, "how did this thing of fruit cost seven dollars!? It would cost less to buy the fruit myself, this is ridiculous! There is obviously a disconnect somewhere!" *sigh* Yes, fruit is less expensive if you buy it separately, that's why most people buy it that way.

While I should be working...

This The Economist cover picture made me laugh. I saw it in Borders yesterday and then stalked it down on the Internet. The picture's not as clear as I would like but Google has failed me for once (le gasp) and I had to get the image from The Economist website.

Some of my personal favorite quotes off the cover:

UN: "For famine, press one. For epidemics, press two. For small wars, press three. For regime change, TRY AGAIN LATER."

EU: "That's Irish for YES!"

UN: "My veto is bigger than your veto."

Men in Uniform

Somewhere in my building is some sort of US Military, Naval or Air Force office, I'm not sure which. They (tall, hot men in dress uniform) took me by surprise as I turned the corner to the elevator bay . I was too busy stuffing the last crumbles of blueberry scone and looking dumbfounded (drooling) to register the division of the armed forces. I did, however, mange to mumble out a 'sorry' through scone crumbs as I almost ran into them. Point me for not spilling my latte everywhere.

Yes, I totally had blueberry scone all over my face. Does this really surprise anyone?

Coffee Culture

I love coffee as much as the next Seattle-ite, possible more. I'm not terribly picky; milk+coffee=love as far as I'm concerned (although throwing chocolate into the mix never hurt anyone). But some of these people, well, I'm embarrassed to say we share the same passion for coffee. The closest coffee shop to my office is a Starbucks (big surprise) that is built into the ground floor of another office building about two blocks away. The baristas are friendly and seem to know the regular customers by name. Again, nothing wrong with this picture. However, when orders start to include extreme specificity in latte temperatures, Huston, we have a problem.

"I'd like that 144.8 degrees, right on the nose." Um, if I was the barista I would have already thought up at least 144.8 different ways to get ride of this person.

"Remember George, I want it half and half." Lady, even decaf still has caffeine in it. Don't be a pussy, just get it regular.

"I've got the sprinkles ready!" As of yet, I've noticed no discernible difference to beverages with assorted chocolate, vanilla or cinnamon sprinkles on top. Okay so they look pretty, I guess I can give her some credit for that.

Oh Seattle

I decide I'm going to go to the beach over the weekend for the fourth and what do you do? Rolling thunderstorms all through last night and this morning. Outlook for the next two days: chance of showers. In Seattle speak that means it is going to be yet another rainy Fourth of July.

The lightning and thunder was pretty sweet though, but if the sun could come out now that would be great.

The Book I'm Reading,

Key to Conflict, by Talia Gryphon (which as a side note is an obvious pen name) has used a term I've never herd before. The description of an attractive male reads as such, "heart stopping, pantie-liquefying, divinely perfect"

Pantie-liquefying.

I can not believe that someone made up this adjective.

Yes, I am reading smut. No, it was not from the romance section it was in science/fiction fantasy. Yes, I'm still reading the...novel.

Don't judge.

So It's Been A Little While

Finals and adjusting to a new 9-5 job has kept me pretty busy, I miss my blogs! The new job is great, I'm working for Social Security over the summer, and pays well but...the women in the cubicle next to me listens to smooth jazz on her radio,

Unforgivable!

They Said Angst!

Despite Ireland rejecting the Lisbon Treaty the euro rose against the dollar, again I might add, today. I am truly happy that the treaty not being ratified didn't effect Europe's currency, but what makes me even happier is this quote from the NYT:

"But the angst has not spilled into the currency markets, where the euro — perhaps the most tangible symbol of European unity — rose against the dollar Monday, the first full day of trading since the results of the Irish vote were announced."

Are reputable newspapers allowed to use that word? Because when I see the word angst I definitely think of Harry Potter Puppet Pals (Which on another note, go to youtube and search for immediately). "Angst, angst, angst," Harry continually slams head against wall. It's funny, really...school's out, I can connect the world political economy with Harry Potter if I want!

New York Times article here.

Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you...the PUDU!

Possibly the cutest thing on the earth. The Pudu is the world's smallest dear and hails from Chile. This Woodland Park Zoo has recently acquired an adult pair, who HAD A BABY ON MAY 24!!!


Yes, it really isn't any taller than the grass. I saw it myself in person! The parents are about a foot and a half tall, the baby is maybe 8 inches tall, maybe. HEARTHEARTHEART!!! If they weren't seriously endangered I would totally get one as a pet!

Reading,

not that hard, right? WRONG. Here at the U-bookstore we're excepting back customer rebate envelops. Simple concept: collect your recites from the school year, put them in the envelope, fill out the front and return to store during the month of June. Every single sign in the book store states "turn in UW customer rebate envelopes in the basement". Does this stop customers from asking me where to turn in the envelops? When the sigh is right in front of their face? No, no it does not.

"Where can I turn in my-"

"Downstairs."

One more,

Because this is totally what happens...

more cat pictures

he he he

more cat pictures

Spotted;

In Seattle at 1:38 pm. THE SUN! DON"T LEAVE WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU VERY MUCH!!!

T minus four hours and 43 minutes untill my last final

and then I am getting so drunk I will hopefully forget all of the information I learned this quarter along with my name. Fun times, fun times.

McDonald's did what!?

"McDonald's Halt's Use of Tomatoes". I read this headline and freaked, what will happen to the ketchup? THE KETCHUP?? As ketchup is my favorite condiment I had to click on the link. Sneaky New York Times roped me in on false pretenses. McDonald's stopped use of tomatoes in their burgers because of a salmonella risk. "Absolutely no changes will be made to McDonald's ketchup," a spokesperson is reported to have said. Or at least they SHOULD have said. Shame on you New York Times, you almost gave me a heart attack.

Article with misleading title here.

My legs are smoooooth

This new Nair stuff works wonders. I just used it and now I can't stop rubbing my legs against each other, they are silky smooth and oh so yummy! Yes the bathroom smells like a hair salon, but so what? My legs are divinely smooooth.

I am Loving

Coldplay's new album Viva la Vida. Officially this CD comes out on June 17th here in the US, but those of us with super sneaky downloading powers have already acquired the track list. There's only ten songs on the album but I love all of them; especially Viva la Vida, Violet Hill, and Cemeteries of London. I think I will actually buy this one for real when it comes out!

I am never getting a car,

unless of course I ever have enough money to afford that Porsche 911 series, at which point I will have so many G's it won't matter what the cost of oil is.

With the price of crude oil hitting the highest it's ever been (even oil prices in the 80's adjusted for inflation are officially less) the idea of converting my money into pounds and moving to England is sounding more and more promising. Sadly that would cut my savings in half. Le sigh. In other news The New York Times has been talking to some serious hard 'toe the line' republicans:

“The conventional wisdom a couple of years ago was that oil did not have that much leverage over the economy,” said Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates. “But now it plainly does. People are suddenly paying much more attention to their energy costs and trying to figure out how to manage them.”

Oil, did NOT have THAT much leverage over the economy? Even my economic hating arse knows that their is no possible way that was ever true. This Yergin person has obviously been smoking whatever is Mr. Bush's drug of choice. Cambridge, I used to have so much respect for you!

But seriously, I need to move to Europe where they have decent public transportation. Stat. Or get really rich and say 'fuck you natural resources' like the rest of corporate America.

New York Times article that info was taken from here.

Last Day

ha HA! Today is the last day of class before summer break! Selena +1, School, well school is probably about +10 because finals are next week, but for now we'll go with: School -1. So just to reiterate,

Selena +1
School -1

Now hopefully I don't drown on my way to class...damn rain. It's June, JUNE!

It's official,

Barrack Obama won the Democratic presidential nomination seat last night. Hillary has stepped down, finally excepting the fact that she won't be able to get enough delegate votes for the nomination herself. Now if we can only get him in office. I don't think America can take another republican president so soon.

Image courtesy of the New York Times site. Article picture was attached to here

Dear Seattle,

Lately I've been feeling like I live in a tropical rain forest. Seeing as this is all your fault I thought I'd bring the issue to your attention. If you could kindly stop raining and cut the muggy heat crap I would be much obliged. It is JUNE. It looks like November of February. Except, of course, for the part where it's actually kind of warm outside. But seriously, if you keep raining like this the plant life is going to take over. Global warming, you suck.

Sincerely,

Selena

P.S. No, those three days of above 80 degree weather last month do not make up for the monsoon like atmosphere the other 28 days.

Guilty Pleasure

Craig Morgan, International Harvester.



I know, don't say anything. But come on:

I’m the son of a 3rd generation farmer
I’ve been married 10 years to the farmer’s daughter
I’m a God fearin’ hard workin’ combine driver
Hoggin’ up the road on my p-p-p-p-plower
Chug a lug a luggin’ 5 miles an hour
On my International Harvester

Brilliant lyrics, I love middle America!

Spotted,

A and J holding hands in the parking lot outside apartment. Why all dressed up A? Are you leaving Pants behind? Or is this date as red hot as your shoes?

Why?

oh why, does mac and cheese taste so gosh darn good when you're drunk? We must have eaten at least three boxes of the cheesy goodness last night. But it is going to take a forensic scientist to wade through the carnage that is The Kitchen this morning to find out. Those cheesy noodles are everywhere.

They said Frak!

Cuteoverload.com has officially used the word frak in a post! As in, 'This Kitteh is Frakking Cute'. They are totally watching Battlestar Gallactica.

Link here

Also,

If NCIS Season 3 could finish downloading so I actually have something to do while I procrastinate that would be great.

EDIT: downloaded! I can kiss my grades this quarter goodbye...

Checked Out

My personal day on Tuesday has turned into a personal week. A week of being a bum and not going to class. Finals is in two weeks. History paper due on Sunday is going to royally kick my ass. And yes, putting it off will make it easier to write. I apparently fail at life. Contemplating fleeing the country to South America by scaling the new wall our government is building on the border with Mexico. Would flee to Canada, but their dollar is now stronger than the American one. Pretty shitty eh?

Boardgames Never Go Out of Style

"Hell no. I am not falling for that shit again."
- My friend C-Chan commenting on the fact that my other friend had the Ballroom card. She took the secret passage to the Lounge instead. CLUE BLOCKED!

Mr. Concerned Parent

In my free time (haha) I'm a co-coach of a U16 girls club volleyball team. Coaching is rewarding and I love volleyball but sometimes the parents are...frustrating. One of the dad's on the team helps out by keeping stats during tournaments and then sending the summary to me and the other coach at the end of the weekend. By no means am I ungrateful for this, but getting e-mails suggesting how to better run the team is pretty insulting. The latest stat e-mail ended with this:


In Summary: I think you should swap out Player A and another outside hitter with the libero rathar than your middles. Statistically you are losing far more points on their returns than your middles, that could be because the middles don't get the number of returns to pass since they are rotated out (um, yea. That IS the reason), but you also would be saving Player A's energy for what she is focused on - hitting the ball. If that is her main contribution (and statistically that's what I can see) then why not have her focused on that? (What a great idea except for the part where there is nobody else that passes consentingly better than her in the back row). She is bleeding as many or more points from return errors than she is generating from her attacks. I would also take a look at how Player B is serving and see if she can find the groove again. (What a novel idea! See, here I was thinking we should just keep Player B in her slump)

Umm, I'm sorry but substituting the libero( a back row defensive specialist) with an outside hitter means one of the middles will have to play in the back row. Believe me, their states would be MUCH worse than Player A's. I know, because I watch them pass at every single practice and game we've had this year. And yes, the middles' passing states look better because they don't have serve receive states to muddy up the data. If they did play back row...the states would negatively correlate to show that. Thanks for the data, but I've taken statics too. I think I can safely interpret the data for myself and make my own decisions, probably better ones. Have YOU ever played volleyball Mr. Concerned Parent? I think not.

Oh, and that middle hitter Dad wants to play all the way around the court? Yea, that's his daughter.

Dollhouse

The producer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon gives us a new show, Dollhouse. Now I didn't watch Buffy, so normally I wouldn't get all hyped up about this, but the trailer looks awesome and OMG IS THAT TAHMOH PENIKETT FROM BATTLESTAR!!! HI HELO IT IS GOOD TO KNOW THAT I WON'T HAVE TO MISS YOUR BEAUTIFUL PERSON ONCE BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA IS DONE!!! Okay, rant over, but seriously, check out this trailer and give the show a chance. It's going to air on Fox starting in January 2009 right before 24. HI HELO!!!!



And here we can tell that Helo plays some sort of agent, and more importatnly, HAS A GUN! Do you really need anymore reason to watch this show!?

Best Show EVER

What do you get when you combine Canadians, Halo and hilarity? Red vs. Blue, probably one of the funniest things produced on the Internet. These guys are way smart, you don't even have to play the game to get the hummer. The site Roosterteeth is responsible for this pure GENIUS. Also, most of the episodes are available on youtube. I am guilty of watching these multiple, multiple times, and they are still funny.

American Airlins Plans 15$ Bag Fee

This is just plain ridiculous. We already pay too much for airline tickets; they charge for movie viewing and for food. If I buy an airplane ticket it's because I'm traveling somewhere that I need to bring a bag with me, charging for a given part of air travel just seems stupid. Who goes on a trip with out packing a suitcase? Fifteen dollars really isn't that much, but it shouldn't have to be paid in the first place. Bag check has always been included in ticket price and rightly so, up the ticket price if you have to, but this is just insulting. So your company is in trouble, find some other way to bring in revenue like working on customer service. Not charging 15$ to check my luggage and guaranteeing that I will try my best to never fly American Air again.

Link to the New York Times article on the subject.

Rhyme

This word offends me. Why? Do you see the first four letters, R H Y M, notice anything special? They are all consonants! No vowels until the end! How does this word function? Besides the fact that I always want to spell it ryhme (yes, thank you Word, I did notice the word was spelled wrong). I mean really, who designed this word? Four consonants...in a row. It really shouldn't be pronounceable. Rhyme...blah.

Anne Liebovitz Disney Photos

A little late to the game I know, but these are absolutely BEAUTIFUL. My favorite photo's from Anne Liebovitz's collection for Disney's Year of a Million dreams. Gorgeous!


Where imagination serves the day.
Where every Cinderella story comes true.
Where Wonderland is your destiny.

Lies We Tell Ourselves

1. The red will turn into a brilliant golden brown tan, no peeling involved.

2. Brownie batter eaten before cooking doesn't have caloric value

3. Similarly, anything bought at a street fair doesn't have caloric value

4. Watching Battlestar Gallactica on a Saturday is not lame

5. Knowing that Jamie Bamber is the name of the actor who plays Lee off the top of your head does not make you obsessed with the show.

6. That one day all men will look like Jamie Bamber and have British accent

To You

Mr. Let's Weed Whack Our Lawn At 8:45 AM IN THE MORNING,

Do you know how many hungover college students hate you right now, DO YOU!?

o_0

Not sure what collars have to do with Seattle, but I'll take your word for it Toothpast for Dinner. You make me laugh, and I like that.

So I see you've been out killing skin cells

Today I celebrated the first warm sunny day in Seattle by turning myself a nice robust, Ferrari red. I look like a lobster.

ENGL 284

"Writing is the great equalizer, kinda like death."

Cooking Conundrum

My roommates and I just made brownies. But somewhere between adding olive oil because we are out of vegetable and pouring the mix into the glass pan half of the concoction disappeared. Seriously, our brownies are now cooking (read: burning) because there isn't a thick enough layer to cover the bottom of the pan. Do I know where it went? No...what? You say my face is rimmed with chocolate and there are strawberry tops in the sink? No comment.

Let's pretend it's SPRING!

Taken at the hill above the local p-patch by moi!

I am, for sure, going to Hell.

Going directly to Hell. Not passing Go, and not collecting 200 dollars. Damn!

I became a 'true' and confirmed member of the Episcopal Church today; made all the more official by the presiding Bishop of our dioses who is from Texas and sounds like George W. My sister who, while we look quite similar is about three inches shorter and forty pounds lighter, got congratulated on my confirmation probably about as many times as I did. A sad, sad day pour moi. Let's just say that if it wasn't Mother's Day, I would not be the newest confirmed Episcopal in the area. But alas, I am and I think there's a special circle of Dante's Hell for people who pledge false allegiance.

Poetry

I heart my poetry teacher; an exclamation brought forth by this stanza written by Kevin

I love making
love sometimes.

"What is it Kevin!? WHAT DO YOU LOVE???" Petite women with short hair and box glasses waving her arms frantically in the air.

Gossip Girl

Spotted at 1:05 pm, Sunshine, finally showing her head from behind the Clouds. Is Spring finally here, or is Sunshine still feeling guilty about that bout of snow last month?

The Tail of a Cat Named Pants

Once upon a time there was a cat, his name was Rhett. But Rhett was a special cat and his owners called him disaster pants more often then his actuall name. Eventually it was a lost cause and the cat, formally named Rhett, now goes by the name Pants.

*note the beautiful rainbow throw rug he is situated on.

Because it made me smile

Mona Van Duyn from The Sounds of Poetry

What The Motorcycle Said

Br-r-r-am-m-m, rackety-am-m, OM, Am:
All--r-r-ram, ala-bas-ter--
Am, the world's my oyster.

I hate plastic, wear it black and slick,
hate hardhats, wear one on my head,
that's what the motorcycle said.

Passed phonies in Fords, knocked down billboards, landed
on the other side of The Gap, and Whee
threw away their wrath.

R-r-rackety-am-m. Am. War, rhyme,
soap, meat, marriage, the Phantom Jet
are shit, and like that.

Hate pompousness, punishment, patience, am into Love,
hat e middle-class moneymakers, live on Dad,
that's what the motorcycle said.

Br-r-rackety-am-m. It's Nowsville, man. Passed Oldies, Uglies,
Straighties, Honkies. I'll never be
mean, tired or unsexy.

Passed cigarette suckers, souses, mother-fuckers,
losers, went back to Nature and found
how to get VD stoned.

Passed a cow, too fast to hear her moo, "I rolled
our leave of grass into one ball.
I am the grassy All."

Br-r-r-am-m-m, rackety-am-m, OM, AM:
All-Gr-r-rin, ooohgah, gl-l-utton--
Am, the world's my smilebutton.


Now picture someone reading it outload in a class of 24 people :), and the Rolling Stones.

Day 9

Still no contacts.

World Vision

I use once a day disposal contacts and am currently on day 7 of NO CONTACTS. My vision is far below 20/20, with the world becoming a ball of blurry shapes with nice shag carpet outlines without correctional vision. My glasses can be summed up with a conversation I had today with a friend from high school'

"I ran out of contacts last Friday."-me

"Oh yea, I remember those glasses."-friend

"And that's how old the prescription is."-me

So if my contacts don't come tomorrow, Group Health Cooperative there will be words, there will be words.

Homework? Phish I say!

So far my Saturday (with a U not an E) has consisted of going to work hungover. Staving off said hangover by eating copious amounts of bagels. Having my lovely roommate bring me a hot fudge/whip cream/oreo cookie/rocky road ice cream Sunday. Eating it. Going to get terriyaki. Eating it. Walking in THE SUN back to the apartment. Playing scrabble. Attempting to spell cute, qute. Phonetically they're the same, yes? WINNING Scrabble using the words ass, tit, and of. Contemplating when it would be okay to make dinner without feeling like a complete gluten. Absolute, positively NOT thinking about what homework I need to do, it's Saturday!

Dear Santa,

I have been a very good kid since Christmas, but there are a couple things that I need right now and cannot wait the obligatory eight months,

1. That the story I have to write for my English class would be finished

2. The internship I want will come through

3. Spring quarter to be over

4. NCIS SEASON TWO TO FULLY DOWNLOAD*

*really, this is all I want

And The Winner Is...

And the three girls in Girlicious will be...

1.Nicole
2.Tiffany

OMG they made FOUR!!! Oh, Robin why do you do this to our pour souls? Putting us through the suspense like that. So, presenting number's three and four;

4.Chrystina
3.Natalie

I somehow became much to emotionally invested in this show. Thank God it's over, I can have my dignity back.

April

It is Seattle.
It is April.
It is snowing...

Sleep

Going for a week with less than eight hours of sleep each night is the equivalent of gong 24 hours without sleep, at least for me. What does this mean? I get to act like a someone high on caffeine tomorrow, oh wait, it won't be an act.

Mundayz

'nuff said.
From icanhascheezburger.com

At the store

They have put Tiger Woods into a bottle. Oh. My. God. It's called Tiger-ade or some such shenanigans. Another addition to the already too numerous decisions when choosing a sports drink. I just want my damn Limon-Lime Gatorade!

Clubs

My roommates have formed a club, "Women Against Boyfriends With Bromances". Word.

Sleep

Who needs to get up in the morning and actually be productive? Not me. Apparently my body needed to sleep until noon. I have to be at work at 2, and no, those two hours are not nearly enough time to play a game of chicken with my homework. Two hours, is not enough time to argue with yourself about whether or not to start that essay. But sleep, sleep is worth it, 11 yummy hours of sleep, is worth not starting my homework until America's Next Top Model is over at 9 tonight.

Frak!

The coolest swear word ever invented to replace fuck. Mother Fracker. Frack me. Frak!

I am

a bad ASS. Yes that's correct, my unofficial volleyball officiating arse got yelled down by another coach today when I reffed her game, and I took the initiative to stick it to 'em. Misses pissy coach is yelling at her floor captain to yell at me that my call was wrong, and the only reason she's so upset is because it's the game point. But you weren't going to win anyway bitch, so give it up already. Anyway, I have to come down off my pedestal (Read: reffing stand) and talk to my down ref, and my line judges, and I'm like, "I made my call, I'm sticking with it," and Ms. Pissy gets, well, pissed. But I'm like "nuh uh, this game is over, we're ending this!" So I go back to my pedestal, clime up the four steps, blow my whistle, and end the game. Perhaps I lied to the official ref on duty when he asked me to explain why I made the specific call I did; because I'm going to share a secret, I made the call for the completely and utterly wrong reasons. I probably should never have made it in the first place but the only thing worse a ref can do then making a bad call is going back on that bad call. Making a bad reffing call makes one entire team (and their parents) pissed at you, taking back your bad reffing call makes BOTH teams (and their parents) mad at you. So I made my horrible politically incorrect call and stuck with it. I am a bad ass. And here's the best part, I didn't break down in tears as per my usual copping mechanism! I am MADE of WIN

Trigoeconomics

I work as a Concierge (glorified word for someone who answers question and the phone) at a bookstore. Usually the questions are all quite uniform, "where is the bathroom?", "When do you close?" Today a kid that looked about ten asked me this;

Kid: "Where are the trigoeconomics books?" At least, that's the word I heard.

Me: blank stare, what kind of gibberish are kids speaking these days?

Kid: "In the math section?"

Me: ooooh, it's a math thing, "The math books are in the back." What the hell is trigoeconmics? And why is a 10 year old asking about it?

Music Thoughts

Music made by Miley Cyrus should not be the kind of music that you set on repeat on your itunes for an hour. But apparently it is, because I've been listing to See You Again, on repeat, for an hour.

"She's just being Miley"

Dedicated to You

Sonnet, by Bernadette Mayer

You jerk you didn't call me up
I haven't seen you in so long
You probably have a fucking tan
& besides that instead of making love tonight
You're drinking your parents to the airport
I'm through with you bourgeois boys
All you ever do is go back to ancestral comforts
Only money can get-even Catullus was rich but

Nowadays you guys settle for a couch
By a soporific color cable t.v. set
Instead of any arc of love, no wonder
the G.I. Joe team blown it every other time

Wake up! It's the middle of the night
You can either make love or die at the hands of
the Cobra Commander

College Spending

We just spent 170 dollars at the grocery store. One Hundred and Seventy DOLLARS. That's worth 255 Euros, what is the world coming to? Famous words while running around the store looking like half starved glutenous 20 something males:

"If you get to fuck the cookie dough I get to fuck the frosting."

Yes we love our food here at the apartment, apparently a little too much.

Call me a dork

But I don't care, I just finished watching season 3 of Battlestar Galactica and oh my frackin gods I need Season 4. Is Starbuck a cylon, will SHE AND LEE FINALLY GET TOGETHER...the questions. And season 4 is the last season. Alright, rant over. Please return to your normally non-dork filled lives.

School Thoughts

My poetry class is in the mechanical engineering building...I feel like such a poser.

"The problem with poetry is..." First words out of my beginning verse writing professor's mouth. Awesome! We're on the same page, this is going to be a great quarter.

First Day of Class

Why am I not more excited? And yes, skipping the first day is a bad idea.

College Spending

A trip to the drug store consists of:

two rolls of paper towels; 1.98$

A box of plastic bags; 6.99$ (Does this seem excessively expensive to anyone else?)

Waterproof mascara; 6.99$

Not buying the 4 for 1.14$ Cadbury eggs; priceless

~Yet I still feel guilty for not buying them. I mean, 4 for 1.14$, that's like 28 and a half sense an egg! That's a deal. At least, I felt guilty until i remembered the two bags of M&M's, two bags of Hershey's kisses, and bag of chocolate covered espresso beans my roommate brought back yesterday. Mmmm, chocolate.