Trivia

I found a website called Wonderful Info and it had some interesting trivia. Thought I'd share my favorites:
- Mosquito repellants don't repel. They hide you. The spray blocks the mosquito's sensors so they don't know you're there.
- Dentists recommend that a toothbrush be kept at least six feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.
-it's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open
-A cockroach can live for 10 days without a head.
-Yo-yos were once used as weapons in the Philippines
-When a person shakes their head from side to side, he is saying "yes" in Sri Lanka.
-The thumbnail grows the slowest, and the middle nail grows the fastest.
-the average four year old asks over 400 questions a day
-Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
- A person will die from total lack of sleep sooner than from starvation. Death will occur about 10 days without sleep, while starvation takes a Few weeks.
-chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying
-When the moon is directly overhead, you weigh slightly less.
-A psychology student in New York rented out her spare room to a Carpenter in order to nag him constantly and study his reactions. After Weeks of needling, he snapped and beat her repeatedly with an axe Leaving her mentally retarded
-Colgate faced a big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking Countries because Colgate translates into the command "go hang Yourself."
-Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.
-China has more English speakers than the United States.
-Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood we have only 206 in our Bodies.
-According to Genesis 1:20-22, the chicken came before the egg.
-Men can read smaller print than women, but women can hear better.
- Each king in a deck of playing cards represents great king from history. Spades - King David, Clubs - Alexander the Great, Hearts - Charlemagne, Diamonds - Julius Caesar.
-All polar bears are left handed.
-A snail can sleep for three years.
-In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
-Most lipstick contains fish scales.

I Need To Write It Down

When something upsets me, I need to talk about it. I call a friend or family member and verbalize how I feel. But it's recently come to my attention that I get no sense of relief from that. I could call 20 people and have different conversations with all of them and still not feel satisfied.But if I write it down, I find instant relief.

I Love Flickr

I just have to share a photo I found today. It was taken by B.Ho and if you have the time, you should look through his portfolio. Some of it is just breathtaking. Anyway, this is a shot he took in Korea. So beautiful!

Hip Hop Star

(insert Beyonce:
"Baby, let me know if you wanna roll
With this hip hop star
Bad boots on pants down low
I'm a hip hop star
Baby let me know if you wanna ride with this
Hip hop star
I'm a rock star")
I started taking ballet and jazz when I was in 4th grade. My friend Jennifer Holcolm was responsible for that.
It started out as a fun thing to do with a friend and turned into my creative outlet. I took classes throughout high school and even joined the dance team my senior year but after graduation I found it harder to find the time to pursue my favorite hobby.
While in Florida, I took a hip hop class at the community college only to find that I was completely out of my league. I got really discouraged and figured my dancing days were over.
But dance has been tugging at me lately. I tried to appease it by going to a few clubs but that wasn't enough. It wasn't just about the movement, it was about being in a classroom and surrounding myself with others who are as passionate as I am.
So this morning I finally got up the courage to attend a hip hop class at my gym. I walked in the room full of nerves - not knowing what to expect. Afterall, the last hip hop class I took was overwhelming; with people doing headstand twists and acrobatics. But as I looked around the room I saw people just like me. Most of them dancers looking to get back into it, but also a few people who just wanted to have a good time. The class started and I felt rigid. My body wasn't moving the way it was supposed to. But as time went on, I found my groove. And I have to say that It.Felt.Amazing!!! I am on a dancer's high right now and I can't wait to do it again.
Next class is on Monday and come hell or high water I will be there.

The Cosby Show

I grew up thinking Cliff and Claire Huxtable were a real couple living in New York with their family. (Don't worry, I realized around the age of 8 that it was a television show.) But regardless of the fact that they were an imaginary family, I loved them! Still do, actually. The Cosby Show is one of the few shows that I can still watch and enjoy.
So a few weeks ago, when there was a marathon of Cosby Shows on a local t.v. station in New Mexico, my parents decided to record it and send the tape (yes, tape) to me.
In what can only be described as a sweet gesture, they anticipated I would open the box and immediately sit in front of the t.v. and VCR and watch hours of my favorite show.
Sadly, I don't even know where my VCR is. But that doesn't take away from the feeling I get when I look at the casette. I can't help but smile everytime I see it.

Music Is Making Me Sick

Do you ever just get tired of music?
I am having a hard time listening to it lately. I used to be a fan of most genres but now find myself deleting pop, indie rock, rap, r&b, and emo from my iPod.
Some I won't miss. For example: pop music. I've always hated the fact that I like pop, with it's teeny-bopper lyrics and overly airbrushed stars. But leaving r&b behind has been tough. r&b has been like a brother to me. It's gotten me through some rough times and also reminded me how much I love to dance. Yet lately, that's not enough.
It all seems so manufactured now. So out of touch with the real concept of music - art.
But what I find so frustrating is that even Sam Cooke and Stevie Wonder aren't able to pull me out of this rut. I've come to realize I'm overstimulated most of the day and when I add music to that it seems to elevate the feeling.
I sure hope this goes away soon. I miss switching the channel on the radio and getting excited because an oldie-but-goodie is on. Singing loudly in the car or dancing in my living room are also distant memories. Memories I wish to recreate sometime soon.
HELP! Music is making me sick!

Dad's Email For Today

Every morning I get into work and set myself up for the day. And everyday I find an email waiting for me from my Dad. Today was no exception.
Today's was especially cute, so I thought I'd share some of it.
"Off to work while your mother stays home. I bet you wish she had stayed home while you were growing up. You are just lucky that you had siblings to take care of you. Imagine how it was for Laurie home alone all day as an infant. "

Richard Linklater

"We all give ourselves a lot of leeway, but we want consistency from other people."

Spring

Typically I like to use my own photos as the backdrop for this template but I am too eager for a spring that hasn't hit the NW yet. In the next few weeks I'll be looking for my own inspiration and hopefully finding spring in my own backyard. But until then, I want to recognize Pandasettepose's Gallery. Thank you for the burst of spring I've been craving.

Lifestyle

In the few days since the Buzz Cut Heard Round the World, I've struggled to avoid the articles. Partly because I think the media has already done enough damage but also because Britney's recent behavior is more and more unsettling.
I guess what scares me the most is having my own anxieties elevated by seeing America's own Pop Princess crack under the pressure of modern-life. Her face is a reflection of my own - one of fear and bewilderment - and it scares me to death to see this pedestaled pop tart having the same issues I do.
I already have a sneaking suspicion that more and more American's have anxiety and panic related disorders because of our lifestyle. We are constantly bombarded with information (injesting more news in a day that most people did in their lifetimes just a century ago) and succumbing to commercialism in its purest form. So it's no wonder that (in my opinion) some of the more sensitive are buckling under the pressure. Seeing Britney wander around aimlessly only solidifies my opinion that popular culture is killing us.
Just last week it was reported that Professor Mara Adelman asked her students at Seattle University to go on a media diet and live just one week without the modern conveniences of cell phones, iPods, computers and t.v. She wanted to prove that "the art of alone time is increasingly lost in our hectic, frazzled, wired lives". Her students protested so much that the study was stopped after 4 days.
Not to say that I think it'd be easy. In an average day I check my emails (3 different accounts) an uncountable number of times, I text message people and IM my sister. I also surf multiple sites such as: bloglines.com (so I can read your blogs) , cnn.com (for reliable news), msnbc.com (for more entertaining news), popsugar.com (for trashy entertainment news), fark.com (for strange news), gofugyourself.com (for celeb clothing mishap news) and that's just to name a few. I listen to my iPod at the gym (sometimes WHILE watching t.v.) and then go home and veg in front of the couch.
Recently I've been paying attention to how all of this media has been affecting the way I feel and I have yet to feel better after logging into my email or checking the latest headlines. But when I attempt to cut back on certain media outlets and overall-information-bombardment, I find myself feeling disconnected with society. So what's the happy medium? I'm still trying to figure that out. But mark my words: the more our society resembles Minority Report (insert scene where Tom's character is running down the street with advertisements flashing off buildings), the more anxiety and panic we are going to have.

I Hate Pizza Hut

This is how it went down:
7:06 - I logged onto pizzahut.com
- Ordered 1 large cheesy-bites pineapple pizza and 1 order of boneless buffalo wings
- I was quoted 1 hour for delivery
8:06 - no pizza. no wings
8:15 - spoke with Heather at my local Pizza Hut location. She claimed our driver was on his way to our house
8:30 - spoke with Heather again. She offered to have her manager call the driver. At this point I was extremely frustrated. I couldn't believe they're only consolation was to call the driver. After a quick and firm conversation the only thing I got was a $10 credit for our next purchase.
8:40 - food arrives. cold pizza, wings WITH bones and no dipping sauce.
I hate Pizza Hut.

(Un)Happy Valentine's Day

Logic has always hated Valentine's Day. Being the hopeless romantic, er, realist that he is, he doesn't like commercial holidays. (Don't even get me started about Christmas.) After 8 years together, his opinion of the holiday has all but ruined it for me. I no longer expect anything from him. In fact, I started telling people that we don't celebrate the day because I'd given up. So I got up this morning, expecting nothing from him, and headed into work.
As I was reading the morning news, I stumbled across an article on msnbc.com called The Ugly Side of Valentine's Day. It talked about how the Valentine's Day industry is encouraging such things as forced child labor in the cocoa fields, non-union workers inhaling pesticides on flowers, blood diamonds, deforestation for greeting cards, and sweatshops for lingerie seamstresses.
The article got me thinking; either Logic wrote the article under the name Alexandra Gekas, or there are people out there who are just as bitter about Valentine's Day as he is.
So to any of you who agree, here is some ammunition when your significant other hounds you about your lack of interest in the day. But if you, like me, are still a hopeless romantic after reading this, remind your significant other that Valentine's Day doesn't need to be about buying you anything. It can be about cooking a nice dinner at home, watching a favorite movie or even playing a board game. Just do something to show you care.

Pet Peeves

Why do people hit the push button at a crosswalk more than once?

Just a Thought

It never occurred to me that even though I put people into categories, they themselves have no idea where they fit in.

World Champ Card Counter

Melanie and I have known each other for nearly 20 years. It all started when I moved to Roseburg halfway through 4th grade and she 'took me under her wing' as our teacher told my parents. We actually only went to school together for 3 months. Besides her family sending her to a different grade school after 4th grade, we were in different districts for junior high and then I moved to Montana before high school. We made an effort to visit each other for the next three years and then after graduation, we both moved to Portland together.
It's hard to say why we've been able to stay friends, but I'm guessing compromise has a lot to do with it. Melanie agreed to pretend we were mermaids needing to search for shell bikinis and I agreed to let her beat me at every possible card game imaginable.
Man, did I hate playing cards with her. And yet, I did it anyway. It was until much later that I realized Melanie wasn't just good at cards, she had stradegy. And that stradegy would later turn out to benefit her in many ways.
She would drop out of college one semester before graduation to take a job at a casino. Working her way up the ranks, she now supervises a security division where she catches cheaters in the act. Her dream job. And it's that dream job that had a contest a few months back. A contest to see who could count cards the fastest. When Melanie won, she was awarded 2 tickets to Las Vegas. And so it was practically fate when she entered the Card Counting Competition at the Bellagio and won. Breaking the record with 7.8 seconds, Melanie won 2 tickets to Vegas for next year's competition, a trophy, digital camcorder and her picture in a major gambling magazine.
Way to go Mel! You can send me a thank you card when you finish signing autographs.

William Boyd

'The happiness of women when a girlfriend gets a man is not an emotion shared by the other half of the sexual divide.'

Robots are Going to Take Over the World

Just another sign that we will soon be controlled by robots.

Question

Why do women marry men and expect them to act like women?

Remember When...

cd's took the place of cassette tapes? I remember thinking "I wonder what will take the place of cds?"
It's so interesting to be on the other side of that question. To know the answer, when I remember thinking the question as if it was yesterday.

Drew Barrymore

"But in my early 20s, I realized that what I liked about life was the celebration of it."

The Wrong Bus

Around Thanksgiving I went on a fantastic voyage to Lynnwood without intending to. That day was interesting to say the least, and yet somehow I managed to stay in a good mood and chalked it up to another interesting story in the tale of my life.
But after reading this article I decided Jaeyaena Beuraheng's story totally kicked my story's ass.

A Woman Should Have

My friend lilikoi forwarded this poem to me and I wanted to share it.

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....Enough money within her control to move out And rent a place of her own even if she never wants to or needs to...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....Something perfect to wear if the employer or date of her dreams wants to See Her in an hour...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...A youth she's content to leave behind....

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....A past juicy enough that she's looking forward to retelling it in her Old Age....

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....One friend who always makes her laugh...And one Who lets her cry...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....A good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her Family...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....Eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems, And a recipe for a meal that will make her guests feel Honored...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....A feeling of control over her destiny...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...How to fall in love without losing herself..

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...HOW TO QUIT A JOB, BREAK UP WITH A LOVER, AND CONFRONT A FRIEND WITHOUT RUINING THE FRIENDSHIP...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...When to try harder...And WHEN TO WALK AWAY...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW... That she can't change the length of her calves, The width of her hips, or the nature of her parents..

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...That her childhood may not have been perfect...But it's over...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...What she would and wouldn't do for love or more...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...How to live alone...Even if she doesn't like it...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...Whom she can trust, Whom she can't, And why she shouldn't take it personally...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...Where to go...Be it to her best friend's kitchen table...Or a charming inn in the woods...When her soul needs soothing...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...What she can and can't accomplish in a day...A month...And a year...

~

Maya Angelou

Greenlake

Logic and I used to live in North Seattle. We settled into Greenwood when we moved here from Florida and stayed for a year until we found our condo. During our time in Greenwood, I was trying to start up my own business and found myself with a very sporadic schedule and a lot of stress. Since Greenlake was only a few miles from my apartment, I would often drive down the hill and jog the 3 mile trail to burn off some steam.
(Greenlake is a beautiful natural park that some even compare to Central Park. They both have gorgeous scenery, walking trails, playing fields and constant bustle. Only, Greenlake is much smaller.)
After Logic and I moved into our condo I found a few new places to jog and even got a gym membership. I rarely find reason to drive up North and haven't jogged Greenlake in over a year. So when I recently scheduled an appointment near there, I wanted to make sure I had enough time to get in a good jog before I headed back into downtown.
I woke up this morning and put on my nicest jogging clothes,(since I work in a relaxed environment, I knew this wouldn't be a problem) packed a water bottle and some gloves and headed off to work. When 12:30 rolled around, my appointment was over and I was at the lake. The sky was overcast but the sun was trying it's hardest to make an appearance. There was a slight breeze and it was around 50 degrees - Perfect jogging weather!
I turned on my iPod and got into a rhythm.
Bebot bebot
Be bebot bebot
Be bebot bebot be
Ikaw ang aking
My feet were moving in time with the music and I was reminded of how much I love my old friend, Greenlake.

My Take on the Superbowl

My family is very sports-oriented so it came as a relief yesterday when, halfway through the Superbowl, I realized I wouldn't have to console anyone. My dad is from Detroit so his loyalty lies there - Lions, Pistons, Red Wings, Tigers (Lions, Tigers and Bears, oh my!). Logic was born in Utah so he is a die-hard basketball fan and loves the Jazz, but has only come around to liking football in the last few years. Jill is a Chargers fan, and Paige likes players who come from OSU, but doesn't follow a particular team.
Which means there were no Colts fans nor Bears fans that I would have to cheer up at the end of the game.
It was a wonderful feeling.