My Arteries Weep

It's been a loooong time since I've been to my blog. I see that the guts behind Blogger have changed quite significantly. Google acquired Blogger quite some time ago but finally they're getting around to really making it feel like theirs, which is a very good thing. Clean, neat, modern, refreshing. Very good. I may actually be tempted to post more often now..............

That is a very big "may."

Especially seeing as I have started up another blog and have been busy with that for the past few months. Launched on April 1 (heh heh), I try to keep a music blog running with my older sister called Raging Contagion (please don't rag on us for keeping the "g" on "Raging" instead of "Ragin' Contagion;" we've heard enough about it already). My other sister also tells us she doesn't like the name. Just doesn't sound good enough to her. But really, are you surprised? Just look at the blog title here! Anyway, we had the idea to make it kinda "sick" and "medical" themed. Whatever. The design kinda sucks now but we're working on it. Doesn't matter anyway, because it's the music that counts. Seriously, you should check it out. Some good music can be found there, if I do say so myself.

Anyway, enough ramblings. Really, I just came here to tell the world how much of a disgusting pig I've been lately. Yay! :D

Last Thursday/Friday, I got home from school/work around 5, and the ONLY things I gorged on between 5 and midnight (okay, maybe a little past midnight) were twist pretzels and Brite Crawlers.

Yep, this bucket. I think I diminished it by about a third.

These very same pretzels.

Mmmm, nothin' like salt, sugar, and a little bit o' tang. This was my dinner.

And then Sunday, again I committed many atrocities. I had homemade buttermilk pancakes drenched in maple syrup, then I had a couple (dozen) more Brite Crawlers, homemade popcorn, homemade kettle corn dripping in oil (both courtesy my brother, who's a pro with homemade popcorn), chocolate cake, rich vanilla cream pie topped with cream (why a vanilla cream pie needs to be topped with vanilla cream, I know not), a can of Dr. Pepper (caffeine free--we like it because we think it tastes sweeter than regular caffeinated, which has more of a bite to it), and a bag of microwave popcorn (Act II of course, because it's the best). Brite Crawlers were again available to me at that time but I abstained. I should mention that I did have an actual dinner that day: turkey, mashed taters n' gravy, salad, peas, Kool-Aid--does that count for anything?

It's all quite disgusting but I also found it rather amusing at the same time. Hm. Curious.

新しいコンピュータです！

Do you ever have spontaneous cleaning sprees? I sometimes do. Now, I don't clean as often as I should, but when I do, I do it. Often times it feels like a good time to clean right before I go to bed. Last night, for example. I was simply admiring my computer like I do every day and the thought occurred to me that I should update my blog with a post about it. Then I thought, I should just take a picture of my desk. But then I thought, My desk is a mess. I can't take a picture of that. So I thought, I'll clean it up on Saturday. But then I look at the time. 12:30. I could go to bed and that would be early for me. But then I also realize that its only 12:30, which really isn't so late after all. So I go to work. Finally at 3:30, I'm done and I go to bed. But my, look how fine it turned out!

Isn't it beautiful? Yep, gang, this is my lovely new computer. I put it together last October a few days after my birthday after collecting deals on parts for months. Just in time for the amazing game that is Battlefield 3! I had a lot of help from my brother-in-law when putting together my computer. He and my brother would go to LANs together (stands for "local area network;" going to a LAN is basically going to a computer party) frequently and I always wanted to go with them terribly so.

"Do you have a computer that can play games?"
"No..." :'c
"Hm. Too bad for you then."
/SOB IN A CORNER

So I resolved to get one eventually and now my dream has come true. For around $700 (never did an official total estimate) I got myself a custom-built gaming-grade computer that can kick all ya'll's computer's trashes. Its fast and smooth and makes games look oh-so-pretty (Battlefield 3 omg). The only thing I didn't upgrade terribly was my hard-drive because I bought a 1TB a year earlier, although my brother-in-law so graciously gifted me with an extra, slightly faster 600GB. I always thought I would be perfectly content with standard hard-drives but when my 1TB (where I store most of my files) moves a second slower than the rest of my computer, I want a solid state drive more and more (but $105 for only 64GB...  TT__TT ). My brother-in-law basically gave me the list for what exactly to buy. I put most of the computer together myself while he supervised. It was actually quite simple and fast! The longest part was just him installing all the quintessential software onto it afterward. Here's all of what went into it:

• Antec Three Hundred ATX mid tower computer case
• ASUS P8P67 motherboard
• PC Power & Cooling Silencer MKII 500W
• Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 video card
• Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler
• Corsair Vengeance 8GB RAM
• Some Western Digital 600GB HD (what my brother-in-law gave me so I don't know)
• Intel Core i5-2500K (Unlocked) Sandy Bride 3.3GHz Quad-Core processor

That processor cost me the most. See that square box on the top? That's it. That little box. But you know what? That's not even the size of the processor. The actual processor really only uses about 1/42 (42 just seems like a good number...) of that box size. Practically all the space is in fact used by the fan included with the processor, which I didn't even install because I got a better one. I didn't take a picture of the actual processor but it's about the size of a standard, square, saltine cracker. I got a great deal on that thing and bought it for $200, which is about the cheapest you'll find it anywhere for another year or so. Big things come in small packages I s'pose...

After throwing the actual computer together, I bought a Logitech G9X mouse with a gaming-grade precision laser (and customizable LED lights!), a $90 value, for $40. Then I bought a Microsoft SideWinder X4 keyboard (with light up keys!), a $60 value, for $30 on Black Friday. Some time later I got a cheap Logitech microphone that does the job well enough, and the speakers, webcam, and scanner all used to be my dad's. My parents got me my widescreen monitor for my 20th birthday. Don't know much about it but that it's eMachines and is about 21in. The gaming-grade mousepad was also graciously handed down to me by my brother-in-law when he bought himself a new one (which he said still performs about the same). And then of course lil' ol' Prince sitting on the subwoofer~ I'll crochet a little katamari for him to push someday...

After all that computer building mumbo jumbo, I installed this lovely Windows 7 theme that I'm in love with (and is what actually inspired me to blog about my computer in the first place). 짜잔~!!

It's Zune themed. I love the dark look and how everything looks so classy and sleek. Ch'yeah. Staring at my computer and its desktop makes me happy~

Now that I've effectively wasted more time late at night, I think it's about time to go to bed, but not before I show you a video showcasing Battlefield 3's breathtaking Frostbite 2 engine (which still doesn't do it much justice--you have to see it to believe it). xD

To B(YU) or not to B(YU)

Oops, haven't posted for a while... > o>

I was meaning to come back with a more substantial post, but I just really enjoyed this video and thought I'd share. xDD

Proud of you, little kid.

I've Got Mail!

I wish there was a "Clean House" type-deal with email inboxes.

I have 1083 unread messages.

D;

I am avoiding going through them like the plague.

I used to be so good at keeping up with it. I remember when I used to look over my noobish mother's shoulder to see her cluttered Yahoo email with 700/800/whatever emails and scoffing; "I can keep things neat and tidy in my inbox. It's easy."

Yeeeah no. Someone come do it for me! -pouts-

Jsyk.

To: Laura McRae

LAURA MCRAE, I AM NEVER WRITING A BLOG POST FOR YOU EVER AGAIN.

(IS THIS SHORT ENOUGH FOR YOU?)

O hai

Hmm, it's been a while. Well, better now than 6 months down the road.

One of my friends asked me a few weeks ago, "Why haven't you updated your blog?" I said, "blarrggghhhblakjshdaksjndakjsbda." Actually, I don't remember exactly what I said. But basically, I'm a lazy butt. I have ideas for some posts I want to do but haven't gotten around to writing them yet. She told me, "You don't have to write essays every time. As a matter of fact, I tend to skip through essays. Just write a little blurb about your life."

WHAT?! YOU SKIP THROUGH MY LONG POSTS?!

WHA-WHAT?

O________O



許せないよ!!!



>:U

Just a short little post about my life? And be like every other little boring blog out there? "Today I made cupcakes! Aren't I such a domestic diva? Yayyy! Now compliment me on how they look so yummy!" /end post

As Steve Nash would say, "Pfft, no thanks!"

Yeah, that really motivates me to update my blog because you asked me to. >:P




Anyway, those forthcoming posts I mentioned won't be here for another while, so you'll just have to make do with this for today since it agitated me enough today to consider making it a post.

So my manager had it turned to smooth jazz again today. No, my boss was not out of town. I'm surprised he hadn't changed it all day. As much as smooth jazz grates on my nerves, I have a sort of odd soft spot for it at the same time. I don't know how that makes sense. Maybe it's because when it's on, it reminds me of the good ol' days when my mom would take me to run errands with her and we'd go to furniture stores, model homes, or old lady clothing stores. Also, when it comes on, sometimes I like to be a dork and pretend to get jiggy with it. I like smooth jazz because it's something I can laugh at.

So I remarked about the station to one of my co-workers and she said, "Oh yeah, we'll definitely change it when Lynette leaves." So my manager leaves shortly and they go back to change the station and what do they turn it to? COUNTRY.

YOU CALL THAT AN IMPROVEMENT?

I didn't have anything to laugh at anymore. It completely ruined my work day. Now all I could do was suck it up and fume silently, trying to sing better songs in my head while the country blares all around me. Country is bad enough, but when you start hearing the same song you heard two hours ago, it's even worse. It's like 96.9, but country.



(sorry about the gif spam, but they're just too much fun~)

Just for kicks, you can check out what I have been listening to lately:

(I'm in love with Beenzino, btw [3rd rapper])

That is all for now.

P.S. Google Translate won't give you the correct translation--will I ever tell? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ~

My Little War Pony~

Ahh, My Little Pony~ I know it started showing before I was born, but I remember catching a few episodes here and there. Mostly, I remember playing with my sisters' My Little Pony toys. I remember taking them into the bath a lot. They were those rubbery plastic kinds that you could squeeze and they had fake hair. One of my bath favorites was a slate blue one because her tail had disappeared and all that was left was a little hole in her bum. We'd stick her under the water, fill her up, and squirt the water out of the hole...hahahahahaha, good times...

Side thought here: don't you ever miss taking toys into the bath with you? I never really did until I thought about it just now...of course I don't really have many bath-friendly toys anymore, but if I did, I would definitely take a nice soak in the tub with them, bahahaha. xD

I've only been to As You Wish once, but I remember seeing a little unicorn figurine you could paint. I ended up choosing a robot bank at the time, but my mind always wanders back to that little unicorn. Next time I go, I'm going to make a My Little Pony. Yes. And I'm very excited. The trouble is I can't decide how I would want to design it. I just might have to make a whole little army of them! 8D

All this talk of My Little Pony was inspired by this gem I came across the other day:

Great Comics That Never Happened

 Jack Kirby's My Little Pony #7 (June-July, 1985)

Story by Chris Sims
Art by Tom Scioli

"BRING ETERNAL NIGHT TO EQUESTRIA!!" THIS IS THE COMMAND THAT HAS BEEN ISSUED AS THE BATTLE FOR PONYVILLE REACHES "CRITICAL MASS!!" WITH HER ASTOUNDING SENSES "TUNED IN" TO THE POWER OF THE ASTRO-SADDLE, PINKIE PIE LEADS HER COMPANIONS THROUGH THE SONIC RAINBOOM TO A WILD AREA WHERE "WIERDIES" ROAM -- THE EVERFREE FOREST! AND AT THEIR COMMAND, SHE WHO WOULD DOOM CELESTIA HERSELF -- THE NIGHTMARE MOON!! WHO IS SHE? WHAT IS SHE? AND WHAT DOES SHE WANT WITH -- THE TWILIGHT SPARKLE?! EVERYPONY MUST STAND -- OR EVERYPONY WILL PERISH IN THE THUNDER OF COSMIC HOOVES!

PLUS! DON'T DARE LOOK DOWN! THE UNSTOPPABLE FORCES OF DESTINY MAY HAVE BRANDED YOU AS THEIR NEXT TARGET! WITNESS "THE CUTIE MARK!!" HAS IT COME -- FOR YOU?!

Um, can I just say, yes please? How amazing would this have been? I'm sure people would've taken My Little Pony a lot more seriously if this came to be. If that's not disturbing enough for you then might I suggest giving this a try:

Aren't they just adorable? After all, Four Horseman--makes sense, right? I think they should go into production. I was going to say, "They'd be better than these atrocities" and show you a pic of the My Little Pony redux toys, but I looked them up and they're actually not half bad. It's these ones you want to worry about:

 Littlest Pet Shop. I'm sorry, but I just don't really dig the whole giant head, giant droopy eyes look. The original Littlest Pet Shop animals (which I still have, btw, LOL) were way better.

Oh, and don't even get me started on the Polly Pocket redux. Snap on clothes? How stupid. Barbie does dress-up better. What ever happened to the teeny people you stuck into holes? One could argue that they enlarged them due to choking hazards, but these new toys don't look any safer to me. Look at the small size of those shoes! Unacceptable. They don't even fit the name now, either. They should have branded it as an entirely new franchise. Yeah, good luck sticking these Polly Pockets and their entire houses in your pocket. Original was better (...which, I also still have, btw...lolololol...).

Ah, nostalgia~

Kay Whyy Ohhhhhhh Teeeeeeee

Wha--what is this? Another post? In the same week? What's wrong with me?! :0

Oh yeah, it's Spring Break and I'm bored out of my mind.

Whelp, you can tell my boss is out of town because my manager has had the radio station turned to 95.5, i.e., KYOT, a.k.a smooth jazz station. Normally I'd puke at such a thought...but KYOT has changed. I wouldn't know when the change happened, but now there's a smooth jazz song about every six songs and--I can't believe I'm saying this--it's tolerable. The music is still "chill" music, but they play a lot more vocal songs now, and a few oldies. I-I actually didn't mind listening to it as I worked.

OH GOSH, I MUST BE GETTING OLD.  ; A;

Actually, I think more than anything, it reflects on how awful the rest of the radio stations in the Phoenix area are. Usually at work, the only stations playing are 99.9, 98.7, or a country station (GAG). I am absolutely sick of all those stations. Positively, absolutely have had it with them. Just thinking about them now gets me worked up and makes me all annoyed-feeling. If they had faces, I would punch them. Every once in a while after everyone else leaves, I'll turn it to 94.5. Yay oldies~ But even that station has changed a bit. Rather than "KOOL Oldies," it's "Arizona's Greatest Hits," so now they include 80s songs. I am not okay with that, because they're all the same 80s songs you hear on 99.9 and 98.7 anyway. No good 80s New Wave songs or anything like that--Journey and crap. Ugh. They still mostly stick to oldies, but the whole reason I don't like listening to 99.9 and 98.7 is because I'm trying to get away from all those same songs. Playing those songs is their deal, so stick to the oldies, 94.5. That's what makes you unique. I feel that 99.9 and 98.7 are stations for middle-aged people to listen to to try and still pretend they're young and who still think they're kinda cool.

Sometimes if I'm working with a certain girl, she will change it to 101.5 or some other young-ish station. I try not to, because the songs are not always appropriate for our demographic in a bread store. But whatevs. I didn't mind it at first, until they repeatedly played the same songs twice in the same hour. If you want to play the same song in the same day, whatever--just wait at least two hours, please. Some of us are stuck with the same station the whole work day.

Unfortunately, since the change, I don't think KYOT has the deep voice saying "Kay Whyy Ohhhhh Teeeeeee" anymore. :'c  Whenever I think of smooth jazz, I think of this commercial now.

I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me

And I have no privacy, whoa-oa-oa~

Kind of a-feared for my life right now. It's always a little unnerving to find out someone's been keeping tabs on your insignificant little life, no?
>_______>
<_______<
o_______o

Alright, so it's honestly not that bad. But to think that someone felt a little threatened by one or two teeny little things that they saw? Wow. I know even the best of us Facebook stalk a little every once in a while, but I never thought I was important or seemingly interesting enough to be a stalkee.

Also, I think I forget all too often that sometimes what you post on someone else's wall will show up on a completely different person's feed...AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO.

DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!

O AO      ﾟ Д ﾟ

(y'see? they're faces with their mouths open!)

Some people, I honestly wouldn't mind if they saw or not. But those people are actually cool, and unfortunately few in number. And it's too much work to hide certain things from 15/16ths of your "friends" on Facebook. Siiiiiiiiigh.  （￣～￣ ）  Hmmm, hope you can decipher that face...

As much as I love Mesa, sometimes I wish it wasn't so........Mesa-ish. C'mon people, expand your thoughts, broaden your horizons! Exercise imagination! It's probably one of God's greatest gifts to us! Having a crappy day? Tch, not after you've imagined yourself riding through a field of lollipops on a magical robot unicorn, laughing at all the silly people that have offended you in some way or another dressed like little Keebler elves as you ride by them with rainbows trailing behind you!

What prompts me to say this? Well, for one, having to explain the little emoticons I sometimes make. The average person is so woefully afflicted with the limited knowledge of only these painfully boring and predictable emoticons:  :)  :(  ;)  There are other reasons too, but I won't delve into them right now--this was just supposed to be a short, quick post about stalkers! Anyway, I'm not saying that all those who come across this blog lack imagination--it's just that I've grown accustomed to having to explain so many things to people, as a result of the environment I've grown up in. I suppose it's sad how little faith I have in people sometimes, but where do such opinions come from? Experience. Too much of it. I just wish people could think and ponder and muse about things sometimes. Our society is so used to instant gratification. It's hard for people to come to their own logical conclusions. Anything unfamiliar and foreign to them is instantly deemed "weird." People don't try to look from other people's perspective and speculate why it is the way it is. 

Or maybe I'm just too analytical.

-shrug-

I Belieb in a Thing Called Henry

I meant to post this yesterday, dangit! Why? Because March 1st is Justin Bieber's birthday! 8D

Say whaaaaaat?

I actually am NOT a fan, belieb it or not (sorry sorry, couldn't help myself xD ). I mean, I guess the kid's got talent. But he's blown a little bit out or proportion. Still, as apathetic as I am toward him, I do admit that the fanclub name makes me lol: Beliebers. And I do kind of like his "Somebody to Love" song, but that's only because he was lucky enough to get a good producer. And "Baby Baby" is alright too...but really only when performed by this guy: <3

That, my friends, is Henry Lau. Isn't he just adorable? Now this is one talented kid (okayyy, so maybe he's 21...). Reasons why I love Henry and you should too:

He can sing
He can dance
He can play piano
He's amazing on the violin
He's from Canada (lolololol)
He's cute
He's Asian

Oh hohohohoho~ Alright alright, I'm being silly. But really. Just thought I'd share. For those of you who don't know, Henry Lau is in a boyband (don't judge me) called Super Junior-M; it is a sub-group (it can be a bit complicated to explain, but I shall if you so desire) of the Korean boyband Super Junior (don't worry, I still chuckle at the name too, but that doesn't mean I don't love them), and is designated with the "M" because they sing in Mandarin and actively promote in China and Taiwan. Yeeeah, their entertainment company is pretty ambitious. They're infiltrating all of Asia. Pretty soon, they'll reach the whole world! :0  DUN DUN DUNNNNN! Not that I'm complaining. ;D  Here's Henry playing the violin:

He can also dance while he plays, but I couldn't really find any good .gifs showing that. :\  I prolly wouldn't have normally made a post all about Henry (well...then again...), but that clip of him singing "Baby Baby" was pretty recent, so that's what prompted this. c:

As an interesting sidenote, an ex-member of Super Junior-M, Han Geng, was one of the torch bearers for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the first boyband member to be chosen in history. Now ain't that interesting? I'm sad he's not in Super Junior anymore, but I won't go into that story...

Before I go, for your listening pleasure, here is a song by Henry released on Super Junior-M's latest album that came out about a week ago. You've probably never listened to a song in Mandarin before, but give it a try.

Blog a Blog

Y'know, like the DDR song "Dream a Dream"? Eh? Eh? No...? D;

If I remember right, someone once told me I came up with great titles for posts. I've felt I had to live up to that ever since. Alas, I am here to tell you...I have failed miserably. I'm sorry I'm not witty all the time. It's hard. It's not something you have much control over. Apologies.

Moving on, I'm curious as to what the general populace thinks of blogs. I was talking with two friends the other day and they both dislike blogs because they think they are vain displays. I didn't say anything because I [barely] have a blog myself (I don't know if they remember that or not...) so I just listened to their opinions. I'm not sure I'd have to agree. I'm not sure I fully disagree, either. They tire of when bloggers post pictures of every single thing they do, and I concur--it is a little ridiculous. I don't want to see five pictures all from different angles of a boring plate of chocolate chip cookies you just made! One friend expressed her continuing frustration for fashion blogs (flashionogs? Ah hah hah, lame attempt). I can understand that. They're almost kind of nice in that they can show us pitiful nonfashionables how to make something out of nothing (so they say--but then they also have a wardrobe twice the size of mine). But to take a picture of your cute little outfits errday? ...I think you're just rubbing it in my face at that point...
; ~; While on the topic of flashionogs...please look forward to an upcoming joint project between my friend and I... B]

Alright--I'll admit--I personally like blogs. I do like having one. Does that therefore make me vain? Maybe. You tell me. I like it because it's a platform where I can express myself. In high school, maybe the only places I expressed myself was at home and online forums. Then Facebook came around and I let myself out a little more. Then I decided to get a blog. How cliché of me. I almost feel silly having one sometimes. Blogs are a popular thing. Many times, I frown upon popular things. I can't always articulate why many popular things displease me, but the fact is they do. I am not non-conformist just to be non-conformist, however, and I hate when people assume that. Notice I said "many popular things" and not "all popular things." A blog to me is like a journal, though much less personal. There are things I write in my journal that I wouldn't put on a blog; there are things I write on my blog that I wouldn't write in my journal. A blog is also where I post ramblings and opinions that I couldn't be bothered to explain in real life. I also like sharing things, whether it be an interesting new bit of information I learned (such as Sentinel Island, yet to be contacted by the modern world), a funny video, or some music I listen to. Maybe it's because I'm a writer that I like to write in (on?) a blog. It sounds silly to say it, but my blog is a piece of me. Who doesn't like sharing yourself with others? I, for one, am sick of hiding as much as I used to all the time (not saying I'm still divulging everything here, oh hohohoho~). Again, is that vain? Is it vain to show people your true colors? I don't know. If you come across me once in person, you'd probably have no significant impression of me. If you look me up on Facebook, you might see some weird pictures of me dressed like a little boy. But if you look up my blog, you'd see (hopefully?) that I'm still a [mostly] normal sane person with a complex personality. Yes, I'm telling you about my personality. That's not vain at all, ha. But the fact is, I'm still trying to dissect it and figure it out myself; please bear with me.

In the same vein, I also do enjoy reading other people's blogs. Of course...only certain people. I can see how my friends dislike blogs because they've been exposed to some (excuse me) bad ones. I think your opinion on blogs really depends on whose blogs you're reading. I like reading good blogs because they allow me to see more depth to that person. Now they're more than just a pretty or weird picture on Facebook. I don't have to Facebook-stalk someone and make inferences if they have a blog. I can see what's going on in their life more than Facebook lets on, because I'm also getting more of their feelings. People don't always like throwing everything out on Facebook because it can show to all their "friends." Only people who truly care and are interested will look up their blog (that is, if they have one). I like reading about others' opinions and I like reading about their quirks. What can I say--people interest me. It's just nice to know that not everyone is two-dimensional all the time, y'know?

So I suppose those are my thoughts on blogs. For now, at least. They might change, they might grow. Anyway. Care to share your thoughts?

I'm going to go give my stinky dog a bath.

(P.S. I think our VCR (lol!) is possessed... >_____> )

A Not So Creative Blog Title

Wow, was it really back in October that I last wrote?  It's better than the usual 6 month gap or so between entries, but geez, time really has flown.  I can't believe 2010 is almost over...  ._.  I remember last year thinking, "Whoa!  2010!  Double digit number!  Weird!  Crazy! aslkdhalkjsd!"  And now it's already 2011.  @_@  I'm thinking to start off the new year, I should make some changes to this here blog.  Change one: post more often.  Change two: re-name it!  As I'm sure you can tell, I was rather uninspired when I first created this blog and dubbed it.  I'm not sure I like the sound of "A Creative Blog Title" anymore...sooo I'm asking you, my non-existent readers, to help aid me in the choosing of a new name.  If you honestly like the name how it is now, go ahead and root for it.  Or, you can come up with something new!  Maybe something wacky and out-of-the-blue, maybe something that you think would fit my personality, or maybe something based off a few nicknames I have been known by.  Here's a list:

ssquared - a previously commonly-used screen name (if you couldn't already tell, based off my initials)

cheerlubber - a screen name I use more often now, because it's funny and odd.  Originating from Teen Girl Squad, Cheerleader says, "Here I am, right between Cheerladder and Cheerlubber!"

Stacey-waste - a nickname lovingly given by my sister-in-law

Smithy - perhaps my most well-known nickname so wonderfully conceived by my dear friend Laura in the 9th grade

Stakey - a mis-pronunciation of my name that I came up with when discussing with friends how people mis-pronounce their names, heh heh  (sounds more like Stackey)

soulstace - Ch'yeeeah, you like that?  Crafted it myself, lol.  It's a play on the word "solstice."  Unfortunately, I have not had the chance to publicly debut this yet.  Not sure if I should make it a new screen name or not.

Well there you go.  Participate if you'd like.  Silently watching as you snigger is perfectly acceptable as well.  Comment and let me know what you think!

"I can't believe they scheduled school pictures for the same day as 'Tape-a-Dead-Thing-to-Your-Face Day'!"

"That finch was hard to kill!"

'Cause I'm Like All Crafty

Title is a quote from Boxxy. Find out about the strange phenomenon here.

I still love my new layout. I was thinking of changing the words in the speech bubbles from time to time, but when no one comes to visit your blog there's really no point because no one would notice when it changes. :'c

I feel like I've been getting so crafty lately it's weird. But at the same time, I don't feel like it's being crafty because I always found that word to be more associated with scrapbooking and making ugly things cute and other such creative junk. I don't do that stuff. What I do like to do, though, is knit. And now make costumes. Yeah, costumes. Because I hate that Halloween is the ONE day every year that you're allowed to dress up. I love dressing up, 'kay? It's fun to pretend to be someone you're not. And it's fun bringing characters alive, whether they're ones you came up with or ones someone else invented. I suppose part of this comes from the "writer" in me. I love making characters. It's fun playing with different personality combinations (uh, Blogger? Why are you putting a red spelling squiggle under "combinations"? :\ ) and imagining how these different personalities would interact with each other.

So back to feeling crafty. Here's why: I just finished making a Faris (Final Fantasy V) costume that I wore to Saboten Con 2010, I'm planning on doing an Orange Caramel (and also maybe Perfume if time permits) with Emily and Maggie for another con in January (that I found out about only a day after Saboten, pahaha. Mom's sure gonna be happy... 8D; ), I'm also putting together a Hufflepuff costume (or persona, rather, hehe~) for the Harry Potter movie and for a Harry Potter party, I'm "knitting" a blocked stripe scarf for that costume, I want to knit a Sackboy for cousin Jessica (andthenoneformyselfahhhsocute~) for Christmas and maybe some little accessories, and then after that I want to really knit a trapped bar striped Hufflepuff scarf for Deathly Hallows, Pt. 2. I'm super excited to do all this, but I almost feel a little overwhelmed too. Oh, and then there's Phoenix Comic Con next summer too! What am I going to cosplay for that?! @A@

With all this stuff going on, I'm surprisingly not going to spend a lot of time on a Halloween costume this year. If I wasn't doing all these other costumes then sure, but I think add on one more to the load so soon would be too much. That's not to say I'm not going to dress up, though. I'm going to be a cow~! :3 I'll use my cow pajamas that Emily gave me for Christmas (looooove iitttttttttt, loooooove herrrrrr~) and wear black gloves and black socks over some flip flops. I thought about maybe painting a black patch around my eye, too. I think we're going to a cardboard box maze on Halloween and I'm pretty stoked. It'll be fun crawling around in a cow costume. :D

So my Harry Potter/Hogwarts/Hufflepuff costume is getting me real excited. I found THE perfect skirt at Goodwill the other day!! I was just in awe at how good my luck was that day. It completely made my day. So much. You don't even know. It's gray and the perfect length and PLEATED. I didn't really expect to find a pleated skirt anywhere. I was just going to go with a plain gray skirt. I found one there that I would've been completely content with, but then I thought, "Let's try looking just a little bit more." AND THEN FIVE STEPS DOWN IT WAS THERE. ; A; Those are tears right there. Tears of joy. I was looking at some character stills from the movies the other day and saw one with Hermione wearing basically the same exact skirt that I got. Seriously. I found a Hogwarts skirt, guys. All the way over here in America.

Wizards do exist.

I also found a good plain white button-up shirt at the same Goodwill. At DI the next day, I found a good black v-neck knit vest and a black graduation gown that I might use. I already had black knee-high socks with yellow stripes and Shauna is letting me use some old, black, slip-on shoes of hers that work great. I'm working on my scarf. I'm going to sand down a scrap of pine wood we have into a simple wand. I would love to actually buy a legit wand because some are just gorgeously made and it would just be awesome. Buuut they're also a little on the expensive side and I don't want to invest too much into this costume. Maybe I'll buy one for Pt. 2. And then the tie. I can't decide if I should buy an officially licensed one for $20 or if I should make one by modifying a yellow tie. It might be cheaper to modify, but would it turn out just as nice? :\ And then maybe I'll get a Hufflepuff patch. Dunno.

Sooo that's my life right now. c: The semester is halfway over hallelujah. That also means I need to go in and see an adviser so I know what to do with my life. D;

Concerning Democracy's Countdown (And Fwd's!)

This is a forward I received from my mother. I think the message is very interesting and a little worrying, to say the least. Just thought I'd share it...in it's original form. More thoughts about that at the bottom.

This is one of the most interesting things I've read in a long time. The sad thing about it, you can see it coming.

I
have always heard about this democracy countdown..

It is interesting to see it in print.

God help us !

How
Long Do We Have?

About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler,

a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh ,
had this to say about the fall of the

Athenian

Republic some 2,000 years earlier:

'A democracy is always temporary in nature;

it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.'

'A democracy will continue to exist up until the time
that voters discover they can vote themselves
generous gifts from the public treasury

' From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates

who promise the most benefits from the public treasury,

with the result that every democracy will finally collapse

due to loose fiscal policy,

which is always followed by a dictatorship.'

'The
average age of the world's greatest civilizations
from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years'

'During those 200 years, those nations always progressed
through the following
sequence:

1.
from bondage to spiritual faith;

2.
from spiritual faith to great courage;

3.
from courage to liberty;

4.
from liberty to abundance;

5.
from abundance to complacency;

6.
from complacency to apathy;

7.
from apathy to dependence;

8.
from dependence back into bondage'

Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University
School of Law, St. Paul , Minnesota
points out some interesting facts concerning the

2008 Presidential election:

Number of States won by:

Democrats: 19

Republicans: 29

Square miles of land won by:

Democrats: 580,000
Republicans: 2,427,000

Population
of counties won by:

Democrats: 127 million
Republicans: 143 million

Murder
rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:
Democrats: 13.2

Republicans: 2.1

Professor Olson adds:

'In aggregate, the map of the territory the
Republicans won was mostly the land owned by the
taxpaying citizens of this great country. Democrat
territory mostly encompassed those citizens living
in government-owned tenements and living off various
forms of government welfare...' Olson believes the
United States
is somewhere between the 'complacency and
apathy' phase of Professor Tyler's definition of
democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's
population already having reached the 'governmental
dependency phase.

If
Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegals, and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA
in fewer than five
years.

If you are in favor of this, then by all means, delete this message. If you are not, then pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.

WE
LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE
FREE,
ONLY BECAUSE OF THE
BRAVE

WE MUST VOTE !

Okay, so the message is provocative. But the thing that bothers me SO MUCH about this email is the atrocious formatting. And obviously it's not just this one person that originally wrote this email that does it either. My parents send me a lot of forwards and they all have good messages. But they all share a common trait: atrocious formatting. What if this were some pamphlet you wanted to pass out to the public to spread this info? Would you ever want huge text with obnoxious background colors like NEON GREEN?? NO!! Then why is it excusable in emails that you want forwarded across the nation?!?! It's really hard to take a lot of these forwards seriously, y'know? It's like they typed it up and then asked their five-year-old daughter to come make it pretty for them.

I'm so sick of it! Someone should send out a forward with a lesson on how to send effective forwards. Maybe I will, 'cause it doesn't seem like anyone else has yet. In fact, anyone else want to join me? Cover more ground? If I can get some volunteers, we should definitely cook up something and send it to all we know. Something professional and intelligent looking. I know that appearance shouldn't overshadow the message, but if it's controlled and simple, it makes the message much more effective, don't you think? First impressions are real. And if someone gets a forward claiming it's the best thing they'll ever read, yet they see neon green text at the top, do you think they're going to actually want to read all of it? How does neon green text at the top convince them that it's nothing to be brushed aside and forgotten?

But really. Let's set up a campaign against bad forwards. D:

New Rook~

Yes, I finally changed the template. There are still many other cute ones I must use, and my collection only keeps growing. But I wanted to do this one. They're paper dolls! So they're cute. As such, they're headless, kekekekeke~ So now it fits an even better description: morbidly adorable. Doncha think? >:D

This title, by the way, is a reference to this song by Namie Amuro, which randomly popped into my head and fit so well.


Teehee. I particularly like the dancing mannequins. Well, since I showed you that, I might as well show you the others now. Namie Amuro, a huge pop star in Japan, released these three singles back in 2008 that sampled well-known American songs of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. This song samples The Supremes' "Baby Love."


Sweet car. And can you believe that hair? :0 So long and straight, but beautifully silky! In fact, I think at this period in time, Namie was a face for Vidal Sassoon and they used her and some of her songs as part of their marketing campaign Fashion x Music x VS. So that explains the emphasis on the hair. But the thing I love best about this MV (technically called PV in Japan, Promotional Video) is all the Americans, lol. Random, but funny. Actually, out of this trio of singles, I think this is my favorite MV. This samples Aretha Franklin's "Rock Steady."


Finally, we have the last of the trio, and my favorite song. But, um, totally love the suited dancers. They're awesome. If you're at all familiar with house/electro house music or acid jazz, you might recognize the name Shinichi Osawa, a famed Japanese producer and DJ, who helped produce this version. This is probably the most widely recognized, as it samples Irene Cara's "What a Feeling" from Flashdance (which I have never seen).

UPDATE: So I just realized that Vidal Sassoon is still using her as part of the same marketing campaign (at least as of late 2009, when her latest album came out). A series of commercials were released, featuring many of her new songs. And, because I oddly feel like it (must be late, so I'll bore you), I'll show them to you. ;D


Although this one is kinda weird, haha, I think Namie looks gorgeous.
Song: "Do Me More" which is actually a single that was released in 2008, not a part of her latest album.


Song: "My Love"


Gosh, what a setup just for a 45s commercial. o_o I love her hair though, hahaha.
Song: "Dr."


Song: "Dr."


I like this one too~ The first look is my favorite.
Song: "Copy That"

Also, didya know that she won the award for "Best Artist From Asia" at the World Music Awards this summer? Interesting, I know.

Well, what started as a simple post to bring attention to my new layout turned into a whole post about Namie Amuro. Hah. Forgive me. Now that I look back at it, it's like, "WHOA VIDEOS GALORE! D8 (<-terrified face)" I tend to get sidetracked and ramble. But, I think you might like to know that I have another post in the works. > o> Which is odd, since I never plan out posts. Basically, I post when I suddenly randomly remember, "Oh yeah, I have a blog." So, look forward to it! (Or maybe not, if you'd knew what it will be, heh heh heh heh!)

LOLWUT

LOLWUT is this. I'm so bad at keeping up with my blog. I'll find something semi-worthwhile to say soon, I'm sure of it...okay, well maybe not that sure, but I will try to post something, ANYTHING. Like, looking back at some of my older posts makes me laugh. And my music has been here since I created this thing 20 years ago. And as much as I love my adorable little rocket ship, I think it's time I change that too. There are just so many other layouts who want to come out and join the party and show off their pretty colors too! I hope you'll welcome them with warm applause, make them feel better about themselves or something. 'Cause right now they're stored away in a dusty, musty old folder somewhere that I don't even know about. They could really use some uplifting. But not right now. No, not now, for you see, it is time for corn. I had corn on the cob for breakfast (yaiknowweird) and so now I shall have it for dinner! I love corn~

And yes, it is hand shucked.

Let's Get Ready to Look SOOOO GOOD!

So. My dear sister-in-law Marily has just informed me that an amazing photographer named Lloyd Zeffler is doing a mini photoshoot giveaway. He took pictures of my brother's family about a week before Marily had sweet little Owen, my fourth nephew. The pictures were totally adorable but that's 'cause that family is just so stinkin' adorable. But I did look further into other shoots he's done and I completely love his style and it's so perfect for my new style I'm going for. Not gonna lie--I imagined me rocking a photoshoot inspired by non other than K-pop. At that time, I was especially into 2NE1, who, if you've watched the music videos I put up in my last post, have a very funky style. So yeah, I thought something with crazy shades, colors, kicks, and a 90s-ish vibe would be fun. And now that I've got short hair, it can be even funkier. Shauna already did a mohawk-ish type thing with it for an 80s dance a while back and it was pretty wild. Pretty wild as in pretty awesome.

I love his style 'cause it's got a gritty, raw look to it but he also manages to locate the coolest places! A lot of the pictures have featured cool graffiti and abandoned tunnels and forgotten stairways and other such things. Even if I don't win this free giveaway, I still wanted to save up some money and order a photoshoot from him sometime in the future, when I still have my short hair. I haven't quite decided how long I want to keep it short...I really love it, but shortly after I got it cut, I was thinking I hadn't had actual long hair since...maybe 8th grade! So I'm tempted to grow it out, even though it'll take foreva. But don't worry, it won't be any time soon 'cause I still love my hair. Short hair is the trend now, actually, from what I've noticed. And although I got my hair first cut about three months ago, I still keep getting people commenting me on it left and right. Random people, too. It amuses me.

Well anyway, I don't really have much else to say. Y'see, Mark, Marily, and Courtney are really behind me, having a great time playing Boggle and waiting for me, but I had to rush to get this in before midnight. Although I don't entirely anticipate winning, it's worth a shot, right? ;D

WHY DO I LOVE MESA?

The people. I've heard Mesa has been declared the boringest city in the nation, or the biggest city no one has heard of. Although that may be true to out-of-staters because we have virtually no attractions--aside from some golf courses, I s'pose--I still manage to have so much fun here. It's all about finding the right people to be friends with, and thankfully Mesa is actually full of them! I would love to travel all over the world and live in different countries, but I will always return to Mesa--my home.

Hah, okay, that was a bit cheesy, but hey--it's true. ♥

Peace.

I Just Saw Haley's Comet!

:0
NO REALLY.
And it inspired me to do something here. It seems every plan I make to reinvigorate this joint fails. Therefore, I shall make no more plans. It'll just happen. I'm not very good at following through with goals. Looks like Personal Progress didn't work for me after all...

Well right now I'm just kinda bored so I'm listening to K-pop. THERE. That's what this post will be about! K-pop. Whatever does the K stand for, you wonder? That's right: Kazakhstan.
...
Naaah. KOREA! xD Korean pop! Well, it's more than just pop music but I just say K-pop to refer to Korean music in general. Now don't jump to conclusions now. I bet when you hear Korean music, you think the typical twangy Asian sound and all that ethnic stuffs. Wrong, my friend. K-pop is far more advanced than that. It really is quality stuff, which is why I've been addicted to it for the past two months or so. It really has been just about all I've listened to. Let's start from the veeeery beginning of how I got into the Asian music scene in the first place.

Y'see, back in the 90s there was this show called Sailor Moon. I fell in love (I was a kid, 'kay?) and I gained an appreciation for anime (which really is quality animation as well; I should elaborate more on anime later). Anime originates from Japan. A common trait in anime is having opening and ending themes, mostly J-pop. After a time, I gained an appreciation for J-pop because the tunes were just catchy to me, although sometimes they can be cheesy and dinky but it's still kinda fun, tee hee! For a while the only Asian music I listened to was J-pop. I knew K-pop existed but I never bothered to check it out because I thought it would be inferior (don't know where I got that idea!). The years went by and in Spring 2009, Courtney happened upon a Korean girl group known as the Wonder Girls on a video game website ('cause they had a PS3 in their music video, haha). They were cute and their songs were catchy so we decided we liked them. We decided to check out a few more groups we had simply heard of, like Boa, DBSK, and Super Junior (my dear friend Emily Nguyen had told me a bit about them in a class we had together Fall '08). We watched their music videos and thought, "Hey, they're not half bad at all. Actually, we're really like this. Really." I also later discovered SNSD (Girls' Generation) through someone else.

Well in July 2009, Emily Nguyen popped up to me in Facebook chat just 'cause I think she wanted to say hi although we didn't talk all that much at school. I'm not exactly sure how it started...hm...well anyway, I think I maybe mentioned Wonder Girls to her and the ball got rolling! She started linking me to other K-pop artists and divulging all her knowledge about K-pop. Yes, Emily was my mentor for a while but now Courtney and I are catching up to her! Now we conduct research on our own and continue to build our own K-pop library.

Korea's music has evolved very well, I must say. Now it's kinda hard for me to go back to J-pop, although I can still enjoy it because it's what I started with. I guess you could say K-pop has more of an international sound whereas J-pop still maintains that bubblegum-y Asian pop feel. I'll have to illustrate that later too. K-pop was influenced by American pop, sure, but I think now it's starting to gain it's own identity. I find it much more exciting than most of the American pop coming out these days. I've also found that Korean is a very good music language. It has long and short words for variety and flows together nicely. I'm sure you'll come to notice that too. c: Oh, and another thing you'll notice is that it's very popular to have rap segments in a song, no matter the genre of the song, really. 8D

You gotta believe me. K-pop is great. Don't be a doubter! Shun the nonbeliever! Shuuuuuuuunnnnnnnn~

So, to get you started, I'll include a few videos. PLEASE give it a chance! You won't regret it! Enjoy!

This here is 2NE1 (pronounced 21). They just debuted this year and are already at the top. What made them popular and stand out was their unique, funky style and hiphop-ish feel to their music. They are definitely a favorite. ♥


Another song by 2NE1 with a more R&B feel to it. This song was their second big hit.


Here is Big Bang. Yes, they are indeed a boyband, but don't scoff just yet. Boybands didn't quite die out in Asia like they did here. Big Bang especially made an impact when they debuted in 2006/2007 because they broke away from the typical boyband stereotype and adopted a more hiphop-ish style. Big Bang belongs to the same company as 2NE1. Actually, before 2NE1 debuted they were rumored to be the "female Big Bang," which created quite a buzz. Big Bang is one of the most popular groups in Korea right now although they are currently on hiatus as the 5 members pursue solo activities. Anywho, this song is one of my favorites of theirs and I especially dig their shoes!


BoA is next up. She's probably the biggest pop star in Asia, having conquered both Korean and Japanese music markets and selling around 20 million records. I really love her. She's got a great voice and she's one amazing dancer! She made her American debut this year and the album is great. Stupid YouTube wouldn't let me embed this video, so here's a link to one of her title songs, "Eat You Up."

Alright, I'll finish off the post with the Wonder Girls and their most recent hit "Nobody." The Wonder Girls are actually debuting in the States right now and have are finishing up their English album. They also have an English version of "Nobody" but I kinda like the Korean better and the MV doesn't have the stupid English dub with the guy that sounds like Cheech Marin, LOL. I'll go more in depth about the Wonder Girls later because I have a special story about them. Anyway, they're going for a retro/motown feel. They're just too cute. Enjoy this catchy tune!


So that's it for now. I think maybe later I'll just post playlists with some of my K-pop faves but I just felt like sharing these music videos with you. These are only scraping the surface, too! Ahhh, so many great things for you to discover! 'Til next time, then!

BLARGH

-brushes some dust off- >___>;
Sheesh. Well, I really oughta be headed to bed right now because my contacts are drying up. Dx But I felt the sudden urge to post something. A forewarning, perhaps? I want to intend to pay a little more attention to this here blog, though I can't say I'll guarantee it'll actually happen. But the want is there, 'kay? I feel like rambling some stuffs again.

Well let's see, what's on my mind right now? Oh--y'know why I love my blog more than others? BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE CUTESTBLOGONTHEBLOCK LAYOUTS. I swear, every (Mormon?) blog these days has those cutesy scrapbook-y backgrounds. Sure, some are cute I'll admit, but the pattern is the same in every one. So simple. I mean, I got this rad li'l rocket, y'know? Doesn't get any cooler than that, I think.

Well my random spurt is over, I think. Rather short, warn't it? Maybe that's what I'll do more; random spur-of-the-moment thoughts. Oh, and I know you're wondering when Part Two of "Stacey's Guide to the Internet" will be published, too. I started it but need to finish. Still trying to decide what to do for Part Three, though. Would you like to see internet memes or perhaps I could do a Q&A thing to the best of my ability? Or it could just remain a two-part guide... >>;

Ahem, well if my stringed-together thoughts weren't incoherent enough for you, I better go to bed before they get worse. Peace.

Youngest

Being the youngest isn't always as glorious as everyone fantasizes it to be.

It's crap.

You get ZERO respect, EVERYONE assumes you're just some little idiot running around (no matter your age), NO ONE gives you a chance, and you're ALWAYS trying in some way or another to sort of prove yourself to your older siblings, and in the end they'll hate your guts anyway.

Well, now I'm going back to my room to cry my eyes out. Goodbye.