Friday, December 25, 2009

[Merry Christmas 2009!]

christmas 2009

Noticed that I was being reflected in the ornaments while trying to take photos of them, so I gathered the siblings around and took a photo of the 4 of us in an ornament. I think I may give my Mom a high-res print of this for Christmas next year? Shhh!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

[Weekly Pick-Me-Up: Border Patrol?]

This video made me LOL [aka slightly chuckle] when I first saw it. Hope you find it a light amusement during this time of holiday insanity.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

[Weekly Pick-Me-Up: Hey Ya]

I've decided to start doing a weekly pick-me-up post that contains something meant to cheer one up. I'll aim to do this on Wednesday, since who really likes Wednesday? However, since I just thought of this, I'm posting this one now. Enjoy!

I wish my high school were this awesome... One high school's video production class' interpretation of the Outkast song "Hey Ya".

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

[Concert Review: Paramore]

Semesters over! More details about that in an upcoming post, but now I am posting things that have been sitting around as drafts for a while... >.>

Talk about a late concert review; better late than never? I saw Paramore at the House of Blues Orlando on Monday, October 26. The Swellers and Paper Route were the opening bands. They were okay, but enough about them.

This was my second time seeing Paramore in concert, the first time being back during freshman year at the Hard Rock Live. This was also my...7th(?) House of Blues show. [I'll figure out the actual number sometime.] Without a doubt though, this was the most packed I have EVER seen the House of Blues. I knew the show was sold-out, but there was NO maneuvering possible on the pit floor because there were just so many bodies packed onto it. It was insane! No worries, I still managed to get front and center =D

Paramore blew me away. Hayley [lead singer] has a fantastic stage presence and still managed to hit her ridiculous high notes while jumping around and rocking out on stage. I highly recommend that everyone see them in concert, but even more so if you are a fan. Below are some of the photos I took on my phone. Personally, I cannot wait until the day when camera phones make banning real cameras from concerts obsolete. But that's another post...

Songs Played that I Remember:

Careful
Ignorance
Playing God
Brick by Boring Brick
Turn It Off
Looking Up

Where the Lines Overlap
Misguided Ghosts [acoustic]
Conspiracy
Decode
I Caught Myself
Misery Business


They played most of the songs from their newly released album "Brand New Eyes", but that was expected and perfectly fine with me, as I believe it to be the best of the three albums they currently have out. I definitely plan on seeing them in concert again and hope you do too! What an amazing concert.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

[texting tirade]

Clarification: this post is a tirade about texting, not a tirade via texting.

Now, I love to text. Sometimes you are in a situation where information is needed but you cannot talk on the phone, so you text. Maybe you need to share a quick tidbit of information, but its not so overly important that you need a response immediately, so you text. Sometimes you just feel like texting, so you text. I am perfectly fine with that. What I am not okay with though is the current trend I see in my fellow college-aged peers of using texting as an excuse for good manners. For instance, that image on the left is one of the top shared bumper stickers on Facebook at the moment. Since when has an awkward situation ever been alleviated by texting? Not only does it make it more awkward since one person is now actively ignoring the other, but the situation will still be there once you're done texting. The beauty and the curse of texting: it usually takes a short amount of time.

Another example of this, the one that really bugs me and I try my best to not ever do myself, is when you are having a face-to-face conversation with someone and they start texting mid-convo. This usually results in the texter not paying attention to the person in front of them and having to ask for whatever was said while they answered their life-or-death important text message to be repeated. I understand that texts are important and should be checked as soon as they can upon arrival, but at least excuse yourself from any live conversations you may currently be involved in so that you don't appear like a self-absorbed jerk.

Maybe its just me, but I think that my generation, THE texting generation, needs to figure out how to balance real life interactions with those fed through their QWERTY keyboards...

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

[a peck of characters]

Halloween this year was one of my favorites to date. I personally love dressing up as much as I can, whether its in business attire for the copious number of job/graduate fairs at UCF, fancy attire for the random nice night out with my friends or costume, which is unfortunately basically limited to fan conventions or Halloween. So I tend to go all out costume-wise around this time of year.


Conveniently, Halloween fell on a Saturday this year - which means parties were being held starting on Wednesday [welcome to college]. I attended 3 parties: my job's annual  Halloween party on Friday and two parties different parties held by friends, one Friday, one Saturday. Over the course of the weekend, I was a Slytherin student [my fall-back, fall-back costume that I where any time I possibly can], a geisha [my fall-back costume from 2007] and a jester! My jester costume was made from scratch [bar the leotard] by my lovely roommate Christine and yours truly. To the right is the only full-length photo of me in my costume with the face paint on; my friend Stephanie went as a PETA poster, haha.

The best part of the weekend though? Gaining an extra hour of sleep Saturday night. YESSS! I'm already staying up late and wasting the few days I have of actually feeling the effects of that extra hour, but alas.

Nothing specific in that entry title, other that I like the unit of measurement known as a peck and the world is full of characters, but more so on Halloween. And there it is.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

[Book Review: The Time Traveler's Wife]


Being that I spend an unhealthy amount of time in bookstores and libraries, I had seen the novel 'The Time Traveler's Wife' around plenty of times since it was published back in 2004, but I never thought to pick it up and check it out because it didn't seem like my kind of book. Then I saw the preview for the movie being made of it back during the Spring and it seemed like a very interesting premise of a story.

Which brings us to now, with me just finishing the book [borrowed from the library] and immediately buying my own copy so I can reread it at leisure in the future. I was very pleased with the book overall: it had a unique narrative style, literally jumping through time to slowly reveal the intertwined stories of Henry and Claire, the two main characters of the novel, and their interactions at various points in each others lives. The supporting characters are just as interesting as the main ones, but the main captivating concept that truly had me absorbed in this book throughout and even now was the author's concept of time travel and all the philosophical, physical, scientific, and even genetic aspects of her created 'affliction.' At first it seemed intimidating that the story would be jumping around through time, but the reader quickly catches on and is quickly taken for one of the most thrilling novel rides I've had in a while. I highly recommend this book and give it 4.5 stars out of 5.

Now I'm afraid to read anything else, having read two ridiculously good novels [The Book Thief, now this] in such proximity of each other, haha. Just kidding, I'm always reading - ever on a quest for that next great novel!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

[Happy Autumn!]

I feel like I can actually say this now that Florida has experienced some cooler weather these past few days. Its been lovely and I hope it continues for a good long while.


october cupcake


I'm considering starting another project 365, where I take a photo a day for a year. I haven't decided on a start date yet, but I'll make sure to post here when I do and post my favorites here as well. Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

[Book Review: My Soul to Take]



In an effort to level out my book reviews by including books I've read and disliked, I am including this review of the book "My Soul to Take" by Rachel Vincent. Based around the concept of banshees [or bean sidhes] in modern day society, this book is the first in Vincent's 'Soul Screamers' series. Protagonist Kaylee appears to be a normal high school junior - except for the fact that she starts having premonitions about people around her who are going to die in the immediate future and has the uncontrollable urge to scream when the premonition occurs.

Sounds like an interesting concept, right? It is... but the book is poorly written, with cardboard characters, unnecessary implied sexual tension [its published by Harlequin Teen - enough said], and a desperate out-of-nowhere ending that is meant to hook you into wanting to read the sequel [My Soul to Save, out Jan 2010], but failing miserably. I only finished the book because it was relatively short and because I have been happily surprised by books before. Unfortunately, not this one.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

[Book Review: The Book Thief]




The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

This book first caught my attention a few years ago when I saw it was on the Barnes & Noble Top 10 list for weeks at a time. I didn't really look into it, but added it to my ongoing list [located in Gmail drafts =D] of books to check out. Fast forward to about 2 months ago when my roommate Jamie offered her copy of 'The Book Theif' to me to read when I asked for reading suggestions. It sat on my shelf for a few weeks, but I finally got around to it about 3 weeks ago - and haven't been able to stop thinking about it until just a few moments ago when I finished it and I know it will be mind fodder for quite a while.

Without giving too much away, the novel is narrated by Death and he is telling the story of Liesel, a young German girl during World War 2. It follows her life during this historical period, giving a unique view of life in Germany at this time and introducing the reader to her unforgettable foster parents, her ever-present neighborhood friend Rudy, Isla Hermann and her vast library and to the reason why Liesel becomes known as the book thief. I'm not sure how to explain the draw of the book, other than that Death is a fascinatingly quirky narrator and your find yourself being drawn into the story and into the various characters' stories in such a way that you're actually sad when the book has to end.

I highly recommend this book to everybody who likes a compelling and unforgettable story, even if you don't like reading as much as I do.

Noteworthy Quotes:

--Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness.
--Whispering adults hardly inspire(d) confidence.
--Humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that's where they begin. Their great skill is their capacity to escalate.
--Proof again of the contradictory human being. So much good, so much evil. Just add water.
--Competence was attractive.

Monday, October 12, 2009

[seasons]

I miss having seasons. Especially right now when autumn, my favorite season of all, is in full swing all over the country EXCEPT Florida. We need a permanent cold front to just park itself over the state until May - seriously.



"And I could replace you with older pictures of you, from back when you looked happy."

Thursday, October 08, 2009

[Concert Review: Flyleaf]

I was part of a lucky group of people who got to see Flyleaf perform in the WJRR AT&T Listening Lounge on Monday. It wasn't officially a concert since there were only like 30 people in the lounge, but there was live music being performed and people listening to it, so its close enough to warrant a review.

flyleaf1

When I first heard about Flyleaf, it was relation to their song "I'm So Sick", which I was not initially impressed with. It was screamy and got irritating by the 2nd rendition of the chorus. But then I heard more of their music, particularly "All Around Me", "Cassie", "Fully Alive" and "Breathe Today". These are hands down my favorite songs by them and quickly turned me into a fan.

flyleaf4

At the WJRR session on Monday, they were sharing about their sophomore album, Memento Mori, which is set to be released on November 10. They (lead singer Lacey and guitarist Jared) played two songs from the album: "Again" and "Arise". They also shared the music videos for the songs "Again" and "Beautiful Bride". All were fantastic, though 'Again' was my hand-down favorite. They answered a few questions from the audience and the radio DJs, then hung around for an autograph/photo session.

Overall, it was a great afternoon event. I am really looking forward to Flyleaf's second studio album and I cannot wait to actually see them in concert sometime!

[hardly inspired confidence]

Greetings! I know its Wednesday, but better a late weekly blog post than a non-existent one. Basically I just wanted to post that I got a 'new' camera, a Canon Rebel XTi, the type of camera I have been dreaming about owning since I learned what pretty photography looked like (!!!!) I'm trying very hard not to type in all caps to reflect my excitement right now.

So basically, be prepared for lots more photos in my blog =D

The title of this post comes from this quote: "Whispering adults hardly inspire(d) confidence." Its from the novel "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak, which I am currently reading and currently very, very pleased with. I have lots of other favorite quotes which I will share when I finish the book. Check it out if you're looking for something good to read!

Monday, September 28, 2009

[Concert Review: Blink-182]

My good friend Jen Loglia [her blog] won tickets from a radio station to go see Blink-182 in concert in Tampa and I was the lucky person she chose to go with her!

It took place yesterday [Sunday, September 27, 2009] at the Ford Amphitheater in Tampa, Florida. [Just a side note, I hate Ford Amphitheater. I had always thought that I would forever dislike outdoor venues and that they all sucked - until I went to Bayfront Park in Miami, which is an intimate outdoor venue, if that's possible to believe.]

Playing that day was Asher Roth, All-American Rejects, Fall Out Boy and Blink-182. I did not see Asher Roth and will consider myself better for it.

All-American Rejects were just okay: Tyson Ritter [the lead singer] had recently suffered a leg injury of sorts that rendered him in a full-length leg cast and wheeled around in a wheelchair for parts of the performance. He was also clearly doped up on pain meds; he had joked about it at the beginning of his performance, but I didn't realize he was serious until he held the mic up at various times to his wheelchair girl to sing and had the audience sing about 70% of "Gives You Hell" (their latest single). Overall, I think it could have been better, but I will forgive them this time...

Fall Out Boy was just okay, as well. Note: this was the FOURTH time I have seen Fall Out Boy in concert (them being my very first concert for UCF's Homecoming back in Nov. 2007). This was also my least favorite time seeing Fall Out Boy, though I will say that the venue may have had something to do with that, with its obnoxiously distorting speakers and literally blinding LCD screens. FOB played their big hits (Dance Dance, Thanks for the Memories, Sugar We're Going Down, etc), as well as various songs from across their 3 albums. Overall, they were a good runner-up band to Blink-182.

Finally, Blink-182 came on stage - and they made the entire 3-hour roundtrip drive, 90+ degree heat and crappy venue worth it. They were everything you'd expect from Blink-182 in concert: crazy, funny, potty-mouthed, goofing off with on-stage antics [drinking contest on stage, anyone?] - and seriously rocking out. The guys put on a great show, playing many of their popular radio hits [What's My Age Again, I Miss You, The Rock Show, All the Small Things, etc] as well as some other songs from their older albums. The camera loved panning over Travis Barker (drummer) and rightfully so: he's one of the most talented drummers in the music industry at the moment, further showcased by an insane drum solo on an aerial stage that was suspended in mid-air during their encore. Overall, I would highly recommend seeing them to anyone who loves even one Blink-182 song or just loves being at a good rock show. Here's to hoping they stick together and come out with a new album soon!

[september, where'd you go]

Its junior year of college and I think I've finally got it down! So far this semester, I've been keeping up with my classwork [abnormal psychology, developmental psychology, perception, and spanish 1], working [campus job + research], balancing my extracurricular activities [Honors Congress and club ultimate frisbee] and actually having time to socialize with friends and such. The new apartment is great; my roommates and I took a bunch of black & white photos of us and our friends to decorate and that was loads of fun [link to album]. I'm loving it.

Weekend Wrap-Up:

This past weekend was one of the most epic I have had in a while. If its any indication, it basically started on Thursday night.

Thursday
>Chevelle Concert at House of Blues. Went with Concert Buddy Robert, had an excellent time, would hihgly recommend seeing them live if you like their music. Nothing like a hard rock concert, a good mosh pit, and excellent music to make everything feel great! (Link to my concert review) A few fights broke out, but no pit-poopers!

Friday
>Apartment pics with the roommates. Lots of fun.

Saturday
>Went to Gainesville, went kayaking at Cedar Key, spent the night at UF

Sunday
>Back to UCF for 3 hours, then went to the Ford Amphitheater in Tampa for the Blink-182/Fall Out Boy/All-American Rejects/Asher Roth concert, back to UCF to pass out for 5 hours for class today.

Most-insane-but-awesome-weekend-ever.


This week I Recommend


>Concerts: 1) Find a band/artist you like that is touring. 2) Buy tickets. 3) Go to concert. 4) Rock out/jazz out/rap out/country out/all of the above? 5) Rinse and repeat. Nothing beats seeing a band live. Especially at a cool venue like the House of Blues [Chevelle was my 6th(!) concert there].

>Stretching: I don't do it enough, case in point that my shoulders are still ridiculously sore from kayaking on Saturday. Hopefully I don't forget this crucial step next time.

This Week I Don't Recommend

>Rocks: Rocks are boring, unless your a geologist or referring to the music genre. This weekend I gashed my foot on an underwater rock while exploring Cedar Key. It didn't even give the satisfaction of showing itself to me so that I could glare at it. Stupid rock.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

[Concert Review: Chevelle]

I have been listening to Chevelle music for years and not even realizing it; their songs 'The Red', 'Send the Pain Below', and 'The Clincher' are rock radio station staples. However, I did not truly start listening to them until about a year and a half ago when I got some of their music from a friend [JoeK] who really likes them. I've been in love ever since.

My concert buddy for Chevelle was my good friend RobertL and the concert took place at the House of Blues Orlando [best venue ever, in my opinion, which I would like to note allows moshing - basically a requirement for a hard rock concert to be worthwhile.] The opening acts were After Midnight Project and Halestorm. After Midnight Project was a decent band; not bad but nothing memorable. Halestorm, however, was a great surprise. With a female lead singer who truly knows how to rock out, Halestorm put on a great performance, even coming out and doing an all-band drum jam session at one point. I will definitely be looking out for more of their music in the near future. [Another note: look how close we got to the stage; Robert and I have this making-our-way-to-the-front-of-the-pit thing DOWN!]

Then Chevelle came on. And rocked out. Hard. It was a fantastic concert. They played all of their radio hits ['The Red', 'The Clincher', 'Send the Pain Below', 'Closure', 'I Get It'], some songs off their new album, and even played a crowd request ['Get Some', one of my 2 all-time favorite Chevelle songs - the other one is 'Forfeit']. The photo to the left was the only one I managed to snap on my phone before I put it away for safe keeping; the pit got pretty intense at that point.

Overall, I would rank this as my second favorite House of Blues concert [first being Say Anything], in my top 4 favorite concerts, and definitely a band to see again!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

[Concert Review: Incubus]

I've never written a [true] concert review before, but I go to enough concerts that I feel I should start. And what better one to start with than with my all-time favorite band Incubus? Though realistically, there are few bands that I can recognize every song they play, as well as sing along with every song at the concert - like I can with Incubus. So we'll see how that goes...

Anyway, I attended the Incubus show on Sunday, August 16 at Bayfront Park in Miami. The weather was perfect [not humid, not raining, not hot - unreal for South Florida actually], the amphitheater is small so even my lawn seats had a relatively good view and the atmosphere was great.

A band from London called The Duke Spirits opened; they were alright for an opening band - nothing spectacular, nothing horrible. They were the only band before Incubus though, so I think that made me able to tolerate them more.

After the break between bands, Incubus comes out - and opens with my all-time favorite Incubus song 'Pardon Me'. I about cried I was so happy. [/mindless babble]. Overall they played 18 songs:

-Pardon Me
-Nice to Know You
-Stellar
-Anna Molly
-Megalomaniac
-Circles
-Love Hurts
-Just a Phase
-Drive (acoustic)
-Talk Show on Mute (acoustic)
-Dig (acoustic)
-Redefine
-Look Alive
-Oil and Water
-Quicksand
-A Kiss to Send Us Off
-Wish You Were Here
-Aqueous Transmission

Encore:
-Are You In?
-Cover of the Prince song "Let's Go Crazy"

It was an amazing setlist, in my opinion, with 6 songs coming from "Morning View", arguably their best album. The best part was they played the songs we know and love, but added enough flavor to each song so it wasn't like listening to a live version of a CD. For instance, they inserted an extended break in the middle of the song 'Drive', even stopping to talk with the audience for a bit before finishing the song; they played the song 'Dig' with a kind of latin rhythm that really sounded great, and they played 'Are You In?' in a jazzy style, that contrasted nicely with the other encore song 'Let's Go Crazy'.

I took some video clips of some of the performances; depending on if you can hear anything worthwhile, I'll make a compilation video of some of them.

Overall, this was an excellent concert and I would highly recommend that anyone who likes anything by Incubus go see them live - its a concert experience you don't want to miss.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

[Summer of Reading]




I've been slacking blog-wise this summer, but I've been making up for it by baking and reading a lot, so that has to count for something! I'll post about my summer baking adventures another time, but this post is about the lovely books I have read throughout this summer. [Click on the images of the book covers to visit the book's Barnes and Noble page.]


Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
-This is the first book by Gladwell I have read, but I will definitely be on the lok out for his other works. This book is about outliers: people who have risen above and beyond "normal people" to achieve great successes due to their intelligence and skills. However, Gladwell makes the argument, using many facts, statistics, and easily identified examples, that all these people started out with a very tiny advantage that increased exponentially as they grew as people and within their respective fields. He also explains the 10,000 hour phenomenon, in which a person has to basically put in 10,000 hours [~10 years] of hard-working practice/devotion toward something [be it composing music or computer programming] to become a master at it. These are just two of many things Gladwell talks about in his book, and I highly recommend this fascinating read to everyone.



Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr
-This is book three in the Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr, the first two books being Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange. The premise of the books is that high-schooler Aislynn has been able to see faeries (ever-present and ever-mischevious) since she was born, but was always warned never to let them know that she could see them. They find out and chaos ensures, including her becoming a faerie queen herself (and hence immortal) and having to deal with normal life mixed with faerie court intrigues. I loved Wicked Lovely and rushed to buy Ink Exchange when it was released; however, I greatly disliked Ink Exchange, so I was hesitant to read this third one. I did though and I'm happy I did, as I've regained hope in the series. Book 4, Radiant Shadows, is announced to come out, but a release date hasn't been given yet. It will be interesting to see how Marr continues her faerie saga.


Identical by Ellen Hopkins
-I have seen people reading books by Ellen Hopkins from as far back as early high school, but the stories [usually dealing with teenagers on drugs] never seemed to interest me - until this one. Identical sisters Kaeleigh and Reanne appear to have an awesome life: politician mother, court judge father, successful high schools lives. However, that's all on the surface, since their lives are anything but perfect, including abuse of varying types, an oblivious mother, and varying secrets that reveal themselves throughout the book with hints along the way to the really big one. I would recommend this book, as it is definitely one of the most interesting twists I have read in a book in a long time, but I will also say that it is one of the most intense books I have ever read and that I personally felt emotionally drained by the end of it...


-The Mortal Instruments Trilogy by Cassandra Clare
City of Bones/City of Ashes/City of Glass
-I borrowed the first book [City of Bones] from the library as I had heard multiple people recommend the series to me. I started reading it and was bored: the story was predictable, the characters very boring, and basically uninteresting overall. I even removed by bookmark at one point, giving up on the books. But I remembered those recommendations and kept at it - and WOW am I glad I did. The story picked up the story sucked me in and I finished the book at 3:45am the morning of one of my summer class finals; I was hooked enough to go out and buy all three books that evening and finished the second and third books within 2 days of buying them [these are not short books, by the way, averaging 400 pages each]. This fantasy trilogy centers around the world of the Shadowhunters, a race of people given the job by an angel to rid the earth of demons, who travel here from other dimensions. The story centers around Clary, a girl whose just enjoying life. but quickly gets sucked into this world, finding out she is descended from the Shadowhunter line and that she needs to stop a very powerful Shadowhunter-gone-bad in order to save her mother. This series was definitely my favorite reads of the summer and I'm glad I stuck it out.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

[sisterly love]

A conversation I had on Facebook with my little sister Jennifer. Note: she's 12, insisted on getting a Facebook despite me telling her not to, has no idea how to use it, and swears everything my brothers tell her [ages 17 and 14] is correct. She's great =D


(10:06am) Melissa: hi

(10:07am) Jennifer: hello

(10:07am) Melissa: what smiley? i didn't send you a smiley

i sent you a bumper sticker

(10:07am) Jennifer: a bumper sticker

yes

(10:08am) Melissa:you click on it and then add the bumper sticker application

then you'll see the sticker i sent you

(10:08am) Jennifer: where do u go 2 find it?

(10:09am) Melissa: gah, never mind

i'll show you when you come up next week

(10:09am) Jennifer: ok

(10:09am) Melissa: there is no transformers 3

(10:09am) Jennifer: yes there is

came out yesterday

newton saw it wit oneal

(10:09am) Melissa: .....................................

that's transformers 2

idiot

(10:10am) Jennifer: its called revenge of the fallen

3

(10:10am) Melissa: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers_2

read that article

see the link? it says 'transformers 2'

what is the title of the article that it leads to?

(10:11am) Jennifer: y do always have to look into stuff like that?

(10:11am) Melissa: YOU

ARE

STUPID

AND

CAN'T

ADMIT

IT

(10:11am) Jennifer: shutup u tard

(10:11am) Melissa: ummm, i repeat:

YOU

ARE

STUPID

AND

CAN'T

ADMIT

IT

(10:12am) Jennifer: they said it wuz 3 cuz they saw 1 and 2 already

(10:12am) Melissa: THERE. IS. NO. TRANSFORMERS. 3.

they played you baddddd

and you fell for it

hahahahahah

(10:12am) Jennifer: then wat came out yesterday?

(10:12am) Melissa: transformers 2. are you not listening to me?

(10:13am) Jennifer: cuz i saw 1 and 2

(10:13am) Melissa: no you didn't

gah, stop talking to me

(10:14am) Jennifer: watever u liar

wats gah?

(10:14am) Melissa: "It is the sequel to 2007's Transformers, which was the first live action Transformers film. "

(10:14am) Jennifer: is it rainin up there like everyday?

(10:14am) Melissa: what does that say?

(10:14am) Jennifer: wat does wat say

(10:14am) Melissa: no, its not raining, its just unnaturally hot

'gah' is a sound of frustration made by people when other people are being stupid

(10:15am) Jennifer: u dont write it!

(10:15am) Melissa: i can write what i want

(10:15am) Jennifer: yur tellin me:(

(10:18am) Jennifer: were r u?

jk

no seriously

(10:22am) Melissa: ok ttyl

(10:22am) Jennifer: bye

wers my bumper?

sticker?

(10:22am) Melissa: btw, read my blog; i'm about to post our conversation and let people know how awesomely dumb you can be <3

(10:22am) Jennifer: nooooooooo!

dont u dare!

(10:23am) Melissa: :)

(10:24am) Jennifer: dont post it!

(10:24am) Melissa: peace

(10:24am) Jennifer: melissa!


I love my sister <3

Monday, June 15, 2009

Chinpokofacebook

I do not watch the show South Park very often, mainly because I just don't watch television that often*. Of the episodes I have seen, many of them sucked - like "The China Problem" where Indiana Jones gets violated by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, or "Hell on Earth 2006" in which, among other stupid things, Steve Irwin gets parodied in hell literally weeks after his death.

However, there have been some very good ones. Some of my personal favorites are:
> Canada on Strike, in which Canada goes on a strike to gain the respect of the world. Its not particularly philosphically inspiring, but it has some very funny and quotable moments.

> Go God Go, part 1 and part 2. Hands down my favorite South Park episodes ever. Richard Dawkins, famed atheist and evolutionary biologist, is brought in to teach the kids about evolution, while Cartman cannot wait three weeks to get his Wii and cryogenically freezes himself [by accident] for a few thousand years. Chaos and philosophical battles [gasp!] ensue.

> Chinpokomon, an episode telling about the fickle nature of society and fad toys, like Pokemon. In the episode, the Japanese are using Chinpokomon to brainwash America's children in a plot to destroy Pearl Harbor. It all seems to be going according to plan until the parents realize that the only way to get their kids to stop liking Chinpokomon is to start liking it themselves; it works and the Japanese plot is foiled.


And that brings me to the point of this post: Facebook is rapidly becoming undesirable due to the fact that more and more parents are joining it and gaining access to their children's Facebook lives. [My Parents Joined Facebook is a funny site to visit if you are ever bored.] Now, I am not saying that older people getting cyber-savvy is a bad thing; in fact, I applaud it and am working on getting my mother more comfortable with texting and emailing me.

However, I constantly see when friends will update their statuses or post a link to a funny article and their parents will berate them or annoy them about it - ON FACEBOOK! It drives me nuts and I'm not even the one getting the parental talkdown. Of course, one should always follow the rule of never posting anything on Facebook your mother or grandmother would disapprove of, but that would vastly limit your content, seeing as they are from a different time and generation.

This brings to mind another point though: one day WE are going to be the parents and our kids will be joining Facebook. That will definitely be an interesting dilemma, but we'll cross that bridge when [if] we get to it.

Now I will still be an avid user of Facebook [as long as it stays free] and I would probably add my mother if she ever got around to learning about the addiction that is Facebook. However, she would definitely be seeing a limited version of my profile and I definitely see an long-term Chinpokomon-like dissatisfaction brewing among us college-aged users with the introduction of more parents to Facebook.

Monday, June 01, 2009

Award Show Travesty

Yesterday was the 2009 MTV Movie Awards Show. I have personally banned MTV out of my life [Why? Turn it on. Done.], but as a not-so-secret Twilight fan [though I am NOT a raving mad fangirl like the media seems to think EVERY Twilight fan is...] I tuned in for the world premiere of the New Moon [twilight 2] trailer, as well as the exclusive clips of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Transformers 2.

Last year, MTV revealed exclusive clips like these during the pre-show red carpet interviews - so of course everyone [myself included] watched the previews and tuned out of the abysmal "awards show" [if you can call it that]. Realizing their mistake, MTV decided to reveal the clips during the award show, making people watch their torturous mockery of the entertainment industry, also known as the MTV Movie Awards.

Andy Samberg hosted and there was a funny intro reel of him being inserted into some popular films as a show opener. Unfortunately it all went downhill from there. I won't really go into it, but there was:
> a performance by Eminem [I muted it]
> Bruno [Sasha Baron Cohen] flying in on stunt ropes, only to end up crotch-first on Eminem [MTV condones teabagging] causing Eminem to storm out
> a Transformers clip that was full of random shots of Megan Fox and was overall unimpressive
> a Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince clip that was very good [that movie is going to be great]
> the world premiere of the New Moon teaser [I. Cannot. Wait. Until. November 20].
> other random and stupid things, like Keifer Sutherland crying himself to death on Ben Stiller's shoulder and Twilight winning in every category it entered [Best Kiss, Best Fight, Best Breakthrough Male Performance-Rob Pattinson, Best Female Performance-Kristen Stewart and (gag) Best Movie] except the one it actually should have won in [Best Song, Decode by Paramore]

Honestly, I love the Twilight series and the movie was okay [New Moon's going to be way better], but it does NOT deserve to win the Best Movie award, even at a poor excuse of an awards show like the MTV Movie Awards, when its against movies like The Dark Knight and Slumdog Millionaire. Either way, MTV realized that the only reason the vast majority of viewers were watching for was the New Moon preview, so much so that they mentioned Twilight/Robert Pattinson at every given opportunity and even went as far as to play a fake trailer before they got around to the real thing.

Lesson learned? Do. Not. Watch. MTV. Just wait for the trailers/exclusive clips to get online, which, I would like to note, they did within a few minutes of the television premiere ending.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

a concerted affair

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of seeing Fall Out Boy in concert for the third time. Overall, it was a great concert I had a great time, but I still liked them best the first time I saw them, which also happened to be my first concert [you never forget your first, right? :P] Cobra Starship, All Time Low, and Hey Monday also performed.

Anyway, there were a few things that irked me about this concert. Not the acts [though I personally did NOT like 'All Time Low' at all], not the venue [UCF Arena is cool, though the recently added no-moshing rule is madness], not even the fact that the majority of the people attending were 12-17 year old girls screaming about Pete Wentz. What really bothered me are what I dub "pit-poopers" [think party-poopers, but applied to the floor pit at a concert]. They are at every concert: the few people who are up-front-and-center in a concert pit and not wanting anyone to touch them, claiming to be claustrophobic, hyperventilating if someone comes within a 3-foot range of them. Those people are pit-poopers.

At this concert, there was one entire family [Mom, Dad, and FOUR children ranging from ages 12-17ish] like that. The Mom and Dad were actually standing there with their arms outstretched around the kids and yelling if anyone bumped into them. Note: they were in the CENTER of the very FRONT of the pit at a FALL OUT BOY concert. It was hands down one of the stupidest things I have experienced in my relatively short life and hands down the stupidest thing I have witnessed at a concert...ever - and I have seen some stupid things done at concerts.

Either way, it will most likely be the last time I see Fall Out Boy [Thank you Kristy!]. Three times is enough. Next concert: INCUBUS in August! I can hardly wait.

Monday, April 20, 2009

new harry potter 6 trailer

Despite being the obsessed Harry Potter fan that I am [yes, even more than Twilight], I was very skeptical about the upcoming "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" movie that was upcoming, especially since it had received a 'PG' rating and should be the darkest book to date.

However, my fears have been calmed. Check out this new trailer - I cannot WAIT for the summer movie scene.

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

tv science and reality

Recently found out about PhD comics, and so far I've liked what I've seen. Thought I'd share one of my fave so far.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

autopilot meltdown

Google released a new application today called Google Autopilot. I would love to see the responses to these Autopilot responses that were "sent" to people :P

Well, other than the fact that today is April 1 and the year is steadily plodding on, I am doing well - though i wouldn't mind having an autopilot version of myself to turn on sometimes.

In the mean time, some interesting things I have found on the internet recently:

>Soundwave Jewelry: basically, this artist can take a sound clip and make jewelry [rings, brooches, etc] out of the resulting soundwave pattern. Neat, huh?



>Cool Photomanipulations, by artist Erik Johansson. Below is my favorite, though more are shown at the link.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

freudian trauma

I'm currently in my Western Civilization II class, listening to my teacher give incorrect information regarding Freud; hence the title of the post. Besides that, it has been an interesting month [exactly] since I last updated. Let's see, there was:

-Mardi Gras Frisbee Tournament: went very well - us girls and the guys B-team [Havoc] have decided to go as a mixed team from now on; Baton Rouge was pretty cool, from what we saw of it. We didn't get the chance to go to New Orleans, but oh well. There's always next year... Next [and last] tournament is this weekend in GA.

-Sick, Sick, Sick: the entire week after the frisbee tournament, I was very ill. Like, could-barely-get-out-of-bed-to-use-the-bathroom sick. After about a gallon of orange juice, more sleep than I've gotten...ever, a visit to the health center, and some puzzle therapy with Spencer, I got better :)

-Spencer: my ally. Facebook says we're in a relationship, but its just a disguise for our alliance against the others :P [note: if you have not seen season 1 of "The Office", you may be slightly confused...]

-Watchmen: the comic is blow-your-mind awesome. The movie got released a few weeks ago [I went to the midnight showing, of course] and it was okay. I personally liked it, but the main critique of it from critics/people I know is that it sticks TOO much to the comic. There is just no pleasing people, is there?

-Spring Break: Went home for 3 days, then went to High School Robert's beach house in New Smyrna and hung out with some cool people. It was literally a sleep-in-until-you-physically-could-not-anymore, then go to the beach-until-you-could-not-stand-it, with food/dream interpretations/scrabble thrown into the mix. It was great :P Then I came back to UCF on the Wednesday to go to a Magic vs. Bulls game with Spencer [Magic won 109-79], and to prepare for the robotics competition.

-Robotics!: The FIRST Florida Regional was last Thursday-Saturday. I was volunteering and doing field reset [which was awesome - best view in the house!], but I was still mentoring 1251 when I got the chance. After a technical difficulties and one match where we were disabled due to not having our trailer hitch attached [grrr], we managed to get picked by teams 744 and 79 [the 3rd seeded alliance] and eventually became the regional finalists, losing in the third match of the finals to teams 179, 233, and 1649. It was one of the most epic finals rounds I have ever witnessed; too bad we couldn't make it a 1251 3-peat FL regional win, but there's always next year...

-True Blood: the vampire HBO show. I've been watching it with Spencer recently and HOLY CRAP is it addicting. The characters make you want to simultaneously kill them and make them your best friends, but either way they draw you in and make you desperately want to find out what happens next. I'm looking forward to the next season which starts this summer.

-Failing at nothings: sooo, I have not been running thrice a week. And I have missed a few days of my Photo-a-day project, making the entire thing null. I'll have to restart at some point... Until then though, I have failed at [my] nothing[s].

Ok, class is done.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

whelmed

One can be overwhelmed and one can be underwhelmed - but can one just be whelmed? I had a discussion about this a while back with some friends and it came back to me earlier. Its an pause-worthy thought...

Anyway, I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed recently, only because so many things are going on at once. For instance:

>Robotics: I haven't been posting about it as much this season, but its still happening and we shipped our robots [1251 (my team) collaborated with teams 1902 and 408 to make triplets] on Tuesday after an epic 4 day build-marathon. [Pics can be found here.] I'm still recovering...

>Birthdays: there will have been 6 significant birthdays within two weeks come next Tuesday, each of which requiring its own set of planning/secrecy/execution/etc. Its alot of fun, but it is alot in general.

>Schoolwork: so far this semester has been great, and my first set of tests came back well. However, I definitely am starting to fall behind - and putting off papers/skipping class out of sheer exhaustion isn't helping too much @.@

>Frisbee: I've been to 2 competitions so far this semester, going to another one this weekend in Baton Rouge [leaving Friday morning,coming back early Monday morning, 20hour drive round-trip]. Should definitely be interesting, since us girls will be playing on a mixed team with the B-Team guys.

>Nothings: I have fallen wayyyy behind with the uploading of my "Photo A Day" photos on Flickr and hence this blog, but I am taking them so I'll post them eventually...

Until next time...

Monday, February 09, 2009

Book Review: "The Hunger Games"

Don't worry, I don't spoil books - and I loathe people who take pleasure in doing such.

I stumbled across this book as a recommendation from one of my favorite authors on her website; as most authors tend to not recommend books on their own websites, I took heed and managed to procure a copy from my local public library a couple weeks ago. Fast forward to this past weekend when I took a quick trip to Jamaica and needed a break from studying. I started reading it yesterday [Sunday] morning while we were waiting for our ride to the airport - and I read straight through the entire 2 hour trip to the airport, through the 2 hour wait at the airport, on the initial plane trip to Montego Bay, through the connecting flight to Miami, on the entire drive home from the airport [no, I wasn't driving - i haven't mastered the art of driving and reading yet...just kidding, that's a big no no, even for bookaholics like me], and the minute I got back to my dorm at UCF, finishing it well within 24 hours. It has been a while since a book has drawn me in so completely.

The story takes place in the future in the remains of what is now known as North America. The nation [called Panem] has The Capital and 12 outlying districts, each district divided by its main export [coal, agriculture, manufactured goods, etc]. Every year the districts are forced to send 1 girl and 1 boy between the ages of 12 and 18 to participate in The Hunger Games, a fight-to-the-death competition in which there can only be 1 victor. The games are one of the ways the Capital reminds the districts that they are at the Capitol's mercy and are forced to submit to it.

The story follows a girl from district 12 named Katniss and right from the get-go, its enthralling to read her story. The characters are unforgettable, the plot very unique, with a very original story line, lots of action and intrigue - as well as a cliffhanger that screams for a second book [Catching Fire, which has been confirmed to be arriving in stores on September 1]. I would recommend this book to anyone [girl OR boy] who likes an excellent story, a relatively quick read [370+ pages, as opposed to HP or Twilight...], and unforgettable characters who you will find yourself rooting for without even realizing it.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

2009 Fave Superbowl Commercials

Its that time of year again! I was actually not as impressed overall by the commercials this year...the game definitely made up for it though. I don't follow professional football, but it was a very good game to watch regardless. Below are my favorite commercials from Suberbowl XLIII

--GoDaddy.com - Enhancement Issue


I haven't ever been to GoDaddy.com, but their commercials sure make people want to go see what's going on...

--CareerBuilder.com - You may need a new job...


It may be annoying, but the glasses-wearing koala muttering 'oh dear' in a British accent makes this commercial awesome

--BudLight: Budget Cuts


Defenestration, for the win.

--Coca Cola: Insect Heist


Too cute for words - and the animation is excellent.

--Pepsi: Bob Dylan and Will.I.Am


This commercial makes me very happy...it just shows that no matter what, there are some parts of life that will always be constant and lasting, no matter how modernized technology is and how much Google crashing can ruin someone's day :)

Thursday, January 29, 2009

resonation

This Week I Recommend

Kings of Leon - I had one song by them ["On Call"] for the longest time and they recently released the song "Sex On Fire" that's been getting a lot of airtime on radio stations, in commercials/television shows, etc. Then at the washboard abs/flexibility class I took this morning, I heard the song "Closer" by them and was hooked. Their different, utilizing catchy beats, old school sounds, and resonating vocals in an impressive way. Similar Artists: Modest Mouse, Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, The Strokes

This Week I Don't Recommend

Wanted: the movie. Honestly, it was an interesting premise and who doesn't like looking at Morgan Freeman, James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie? But honestly, the complete disregard for things like physics and good acting made me laugh out loud literally multiple times during the movie. Forgetting the bullets stopping other bullets and one bullet taking out at least 12 people at once for a second, did you know that a person falling into the side of the train can knock it off its tracks? I learned that during this movie. I did like the ending line though...you just have to get through 200 minutes of comedy first to hear it =D

Movie Quote of the Moment: "This is me taking control of my life...what the **** have you done lately?" - Wanted

Band of the Moment: Kings of Leon

Monday, January 26, 2009

Werewolves and Jamaicans

Last Friday was my 19th birthday - and my roommates and friends surprised me by taking me to a local Jamaican restaurant for dinner, followed by going to see the new movie "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans." I had a great time and I was happy to get the chance to hang out with all my friends at once; we all seem to be having an really busy semester so far.

In honor of of turning 19, I'm going to share 19 fun facts about myself that you may or may not know. Enjoy my birthday lexicon!

xix

1) I know more useless information about Harry Potter/J.K. Rowling/Twilight/Stephenie Meyer than you will ever need to know.
2) I have always wanted to go on the gameshow Jeopardy.
3) I often write down notes in my phone containing lyrics to music I hear and like so I can find it later.
4) I have never smoked anything or done any illegal substance [excluding alcohol, but that's only illegal because of my current age, not because of the substance itself].
5)I think vanilla is the best scent in existence. Also, I will almost always choose it when given a choice between something vanilla flavored and anything else.
6) I skipped a grade in elementary school; hence the turning 19 as a college sophomore.
7) I'm the oldest of 4 kids.
8) I still want to go to space, despite the very slim odds made even more slim with my recent major change.
9) I'm a realistic optimist, though lately I've been becoming more pessimistic and it makes me sad.
10) Biggest Concert I've been to: Foo Fighters; Best concert I've been to: Say Anything; Worst concert: Panic At the Disco
11) I like wearing fun, patterned, knee-high socks.
12) I have never solved a Rubik's cube.
13) I'm addicted to Scrabble.
14) My favorite shade of color is dark blue, followed closely by dark green.
15) I can't draw.
16) I like new school supplies.
17) I like even numbers.
18) I hate stereotypes with an f-ing passion.
19) I don't know how I'd function without Google Calendar.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

opportunities

I keep misspelling the word "opportunity". So I'm using every opportunity I can to type the word opportunity correctly.

Yay Inauguration Day! I'm not sure I'll be able to watch it live at noon, but I'll definitely watch the Inaugural Address later at some point.

Time has been doing what it does best, regardless of current activities [aka flying], so its shocking to think that January is almost over. I shall take this opportunity to overview stuff going on right now:

>Status of my Nothings: I made 2 nothings this year [take a photo a day and run thrice a week]. So far I have been keeping up with the photo one (refer to the past 2 weeks of blogs), but I haven't been running thrice a week. I HAVE been taking classes at the gym and actually doing our pre-practice run at frisbee though, so I'm not totally off track.

Also, I'm going to start posting my "photo a day" pics weekly all at once - it makes life simpler.

>First Frisbee Tournament: Last weekend was the UCF Women's Club Frisbee team's first tournament. It was the Janus Frisbee Tournament in Bradenton, FL [near Tampa] and overall it was a great first tournament. We didn't win any games [we didn't expect to], but we learned alot and improved immensely over the course of the 2 days. Our next tournament is next weekend in Gainesville [Florida Winter Classic]. More on that later.

>Classes: So far, so good! I am thoroughly enjoying 4/5 of my classes, though we'll see how I feel after the first tests in each of these classes. My fifth class, however, is already getting to me. The class is Western Civilization II and the content itself is actually manageable - its the teacher that is very successfully driving me insane. I won't name him until after I'm done with his class, but he spouts off his personal opinion about politics, criticizing and ridiculing anyone who doesn't agree with his personal views, and wastes class time interrogating students about their views so he can belittle them. I am barely 2 weeks into his class and I want it to end. Its honestly the first time I have ever disliked a class solely because of the instructor.

Anyway, I'll get through the semester - and then I'll make sure to never take him again...

Ok, back to human factors psychology!

Monday, January 12, 2009

A Passing

My father passed away this morning. He's been sick for quite a while now with kidney failure, which in turn weakened his heart to the point where it couldn't support him anymore.

Rest In Peace, Daddy
09/05/1956-01/12/2009

Friday, January 09, 2009

Spring 2009

5 Classes, 15 credit hours

EUH2001: Western Civilization II
-European history from the Renaissance to present. This may surprisingly be my most difficult class due to the insane professor I have...but we'll see.

EXP3250: Principles of Human Factors Psychology
-Basically in an age where machines and computers are becoming more commonplace and necessary for everyday life, humans are being exposed to, working with, and utilizing them more. Human factors psychology[like ergonomics and industrial engineering] deals with figuring out how to improve work conditions, improve overall health and make life better in general for humans.

PPE3003: Personality Theory
-Probably going to be my favorite class this semester and in college to date. Basically we learn about all the different personality theories developed by famous psychologists of old [Freud, Jung, Myers-Briggs, etc] and apply them to people we know in 2 papers we have to write during the semester. The best part: my professor plays clips from "The Office" and other popular television shows to demonstrate personality traits/characteristics :)

PSB3002: Physiological Psychology
-Studying the brain to find out how it works, how it controls things in the body, how it relates to things like emotion and personality - and what happens when it doesn't work correctly and things like schizophrenia and other psychological disorders develop. I'm really looking forward to learning the content of this class.

STA2023: Statistical Methods I
-Statistics. I've never taken a statistics class, not even in high school, so it should be interesting to see how I like it. Especially since I'll be taking a lot more stat classes with my recent major change.

Oh yeah, I changed my major to psychology, in case all the pysch classes were not an indication or anything... Should be an interesting semester.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

2008 in Review

2008: a rollercoaster ride of a year.

January
-18th Birthday, and surprise Kobe's dinner from the roommates
-Elected 'Head of Academic Affairs' for Honors Congress
-Started dating MarkL
-Foo Fighters/Jimmy Eat World concert

February
-Existed.

March
-FIRST Robotics Florida Regional at UCF; TechTigers were Regional Champions for the 2nd year in a row!
-Broke up with MarkL
-1st Ron Jon Surf Trip
-Knights for the Arts
-Paramore concert

April
-Universal Knights, where I lost my cell phone to an angry, dueling dragon
-'El Tango de Roxanne' performance for ballroom dance class
-Habitat for Humanity!
-Wicked at the Bob Carr Center; 10x better than anything I expected
-Say Anything concert

May
-New laptop!
-The Host novel released
-Pennywise concert

June
-Iron Man movie released

July
-4th of July in Jacksonville: discovered my love of archery and watched the Sound of Music for the 1st time
-The Dark Knight movie released
-Olympics; Michael Phelps pwns

August
-Breaking Dawn [Twilight 4] novel released
-Projekt Revolution [Linkin Park, Chris Cornell, The Bravery, Atreyu] concert

September
-Joined UCF's Ultimate Frisbee Club
-Mission Mayhen off-season robotics competition

October
-Halloween Horror Nights - my first and probably last...
-2nd Ron Jon Surf Trip
-Tempest 'N Tampa off-season robotics competition
-The Rocket Summer/Phantom Planet concert

November
-Blue Man Group!
-Quantum of Solace [James Bond #22] movie released
-Twilight Movie released
-Presidential elections; Barack Obama wins
-Homecoming!; participated in skit for the first time
-Panic at the Disco/Dashboard Confessional/Plain White T's/The Cab concert
-statewide Thanksgiving road trip around the state

December
-discovered my addiction to Scrabble
-Fall Out Boy/The Academy Is.../We The Kings concert

Thursday, January 01, 2009

rants and nothings


So, another year has meandered its way into existence. 2008 was an interesting year... I'll do my "year in review" post sometime soon. All in all, I think I learned a lot about myself this year and hopefully can start using some of this knowledge in 2009 as I learn more.

Anyway, as it is the new year, one is compelled to lie to oneself about one's ability to commit to goals in the form of New Year's Resolutions. I have never been a proponent of said resolutions, only because it seems that they are expected to be broken, so why waste the effort? Because of that, I will name my goals "nothings" - this way if I fail, I failed at nothing and if I succeeded...well, we'll cross that bridge if I get to it. I only have 2 nothings this year

Nothing #1: Run 3 times a week
-This will be the harder of the nothings, as I don't really like running. Ironic, since ultimate frisbee [something I DO like] requires a lot of it. So, to get over my aversion to running - and help build up my endurance for competition season, I aim to run thrice a week.

Nothing #2: Project 365
-Photojojo is this really cool website with random photography facts, information, competition, and projects. One of their projects is Project 365, a picture-a-day project that, like it implies, has someone take a picture a day for one year. The pictures can be of anything/anyone/etc, you just have to take at least one a day. I was intrigued, looked at some of the previous participant's albums and now here I am, going to attempt to do this for the year 2009. And, of course, I will be posting the pics here in my blog [although I may figure out how to use flickr and put them on there too...]

2009 will be memorable, one way or another...