in the corner, in the spotlight

[labor day]

2010-09-06T21:34:00.000-04:00

Exceptional things I've experienced this weekend:

-a 6-pack potluck
-a fantastic Knights football game [Knights beat South Dakota 38-7]
-New Found Glory covering Sixpence None The Richer's "Kiss Me"
-Paramore pulling 2 people on stage to sing "Misery Business" during their encore
-Seeing Paramore for the 3rd time in general!
-the Vietnamese dish Pho
-Ikea overload

I'd say this Labor Day weekend was a great success :)

[senior year?!]

2010-09-06T09:16:00.000-04:00

Well, now that I have completed TWO [2] full weeks of the school year, I think it is finally starting to sink in that I am a senior in college. I have a full 3 years of memories at UCF and it's so weird that this could potentially be the last year to do everything I want to do at this school - unless I end up here for graduate school, but that's another story.

I keep reminiscing about memories from the past years with my friends and sometimes it gets me down, realizing what has changed, what's remained the same, etc. Then I realized that I'm not on my death bed; I'm a 20-year-old college senior - and I have an entire year to create even more memories I won't forget for years to come. So bring it on, senior year!

This semester I am partaking in:
>Research Methods in Psychology: learning how to create psychological experiments; good so far.
>Memory and Testimony: fascinating class about memory, the psychology/philosophy of it, how faulty memory can be and how that can effect things like the legal system.
>Violence in our Lives: sociology class about violence; One lesson last week? Watching CSI Miami and analyzing the violence in the episode/analyzing how the cases were solved. Can anyone say AWESOME?
>Honors in the Major: aka conducting an undergraduate thesis.
>Applied Cognition and Technology Lab: Lab I am so so so ecstatic to be a part of - and where said thesis will be completed.
>TAing: for Stat Methods in Psych. Because I can. And because I actually like it.
>Honors Congress: Still President, still the main reason I'm happy go to UCF every morning, still enjoying every minute of it
>Psychological Society: Treasurer, been good so far.
>Campus Emergency Response Team (CERT): Newly founded organization to assist in any large campus events or emergencies. Going to be awesome to see how it develops!
>Working: Going on 3 years working at my job on campus at UCF!

Yeah, definitely won't be sitting around bored this senior year - as if I could sit around bored =D

[burning rant]

2010-07-09T13:16:00.003-04:00

I would not consider myself a knowledgeable basketball fan. I barely know all the rules of the sport, much less all the history of trades/player stats/franchises/etc. But I enjoy watching the Orlando Magic [since I'm at school in Orlando] and if I happen to catch a Miami heat game [since I'm from Ft. Lauderdale], I'll half pay attention.

That said, I know nothing about LeBron James, other than the fact that he played on the Cavaliers and is considered a "very good" basketball player. I also know that for some reason he garnered a 1-hour prime time special last night - all proceeds going to the Boys and Girls Club, which was pretty generous - and I watched, curious as any other quasi-fan to see where he would end up.

He chooses the Miami Heat, blah blah - and the reporter, mid-interview, cuts straight to video of "fans" burning LeBron's jersey. No warning to Mr. James, no thinking about how that could possibly effect him on what has already got to be one of the most tense moments of his life. No, apparently he needed to know RIGHT THEN that a symbol that literally represents him was being burned by people in the streets of his hometown. LeBron handled it very stoically, stating that he made the decision he knew would be the best for him and that he hoped the Cleveland fans would recognize the SEVEN years he put in for them.

Now, my rant is about these so-called "fans" who would burn the jersey of someone they claim to "respect" and are mad over him leaving them. If you are truly a LeBron fan, you would not be burning his jersey; you would be trying to find a LeBron Heat jersey as soon as you can, as he is THE SAME PERSON he was 10 minutes earlier, just now playing THE SAME SPORT on a different team. If you are strictly a Cavaliers fan, then you should still respect the fact that the man played for 7 years on a team you claim to be a fan for. People leave/trade/retire/quit teams all the time - and that's one of the reasons I tend to like college sports better than pro sports. But that's part of the game; it makes no sense that one should think, "Oh, there he goes, no longer playing for the Cavs; let's forget he ever did and get rid of that shrine we built for him in our closet." If you think you're team is going to crash and burn that badly, then maybe you aren't a *true* fan.

This is all coming from someone who isn't that active a basketball fan, but definitely an active supporter in the movement against stupidity.

[x-posted to tumblr]

[video roll]

2010-07-02T17:20:00.000-04:00

So, in the past few weeks I have come across some very funny videos and thought I would amass them in one post. Enjoy!

As much as I couldn't stop laughing, if this happened to me I would pull a "Full Metal Jacket" on his face [anyone whose seen the movie should get my reference].

I'm not "Team Evo" or anything, but this is a hilarious video, nonetheless.

This video goes from unbelievably adorable to unbelievably awful/hilarious in less than 9 seconds!

[staying alive]

2010-07-02T17:03:00.000-04:00

Hello! I am still alive and currently in VA, interning at the Dahlgren Naval Surface Warfare Center. As it is an 8-hour a day/5 day a week job [and cannot access this blog at work], I won't be able to post here that often. [Though you should check out my Tumblr, since I can post on that.] I'll post some photos from the past 6 (!) months of my life, since I've been really bad about posting about all the fun things I've done this past semester.

I start my senior year of college next month!!! Seeing as I started this blog in my sophomore year of high school, it's mind-numbing to think of how much time has passed.

Ok, (online class >.>) homework time - then 4th of July celebrations all weekend long! I'll be in DC for the 4th and I can't wait!

[revealing my photography nerd]

2010-05-04T12:57:00.000-04:00

I. Want. These. Shirts.

[link]

So if you are ever in a bind as to what to get me for a Christmas/birthday/just-because-I'm-awesome gift, this should help =)

[why the daily show rocks]

2010-04-25T19:27:00.000-04:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

South Park Death Threats

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Tea Party

That is all.

[que nerdgasm]

2010-04-04T20:17:00.000-04:00

Call me lame, but this may be one of the coolest photo editing software updates made in past decade. Photoshop CS5 is going to be ridiculous - in a good way.

[question]

2010-03-30T23:39:00.000-04:00

who does one turn to when one is usually the one turned to?

[Weekly-Pick-Me-Up: Kimmel and the HMC]

2010-03-12T20:08:00.000-05:00

I couldn't stop laughing - and the celebrity cameos are numerous and great!

See more funny videos and Entertainment Videos at Today's Big Thing.

[another one?!]

2010-03-08T11:14:00.000-05:00

I created another blog. Yes, I know, why would I do that? Well, I realized that I find & bookmark tons of cool, interesting & pretty photos I find on flickr/other blogs/randomly on the internet and I want to share them. However, putting them on this blog would overwhelm my fluent and captivating posts [note: sarcasm], so I created a new blog just for posting images I like.

... and so forth
www.dotdotdotandsoforth.blogspot.com

One post a day, all sources linked underneath the image.

Check it out!

[Iron-Man 2 Trailer!]

2010-03-08T11:02:00.000-05:00

I haven't been to the movie theater in over 2 months! That may just be a new record for me since starting college... Either way, I am VERY excited to see "Iron-Man 2".

[flickr finds: blank]

2010-02-24T14:15:00.000-05:00

[Weekly-Pick-Me-Up: Psychology Comics]

2010-02-03T22:46:00.000-05:00

I know it seems like I've just been posting funny comics lately [because I have been], but I'll post other stuff eventually. This semester may just be my busiest yet... Alas, here are some funny comics relating to my major of choice, psychology.

Number one rule of psychology? Correlation does not prove causation. Say the word "correlation" to me and the rest of that sentence will automatically spew forth from my mouth - no joke.

Oh, developmental psychology. You were so last semester =P

[abandoned robot]

2010-01-29T13:37:00.000-05:00

This is probably the most depressing xkcd comic I have seen - ever.

Its in regards to the recent decision of NASA to just abandon the Spirit mars rover, which is currently stuck in one position, until dust buildup on the solar panels cause it to shutdown. How depressing.

[dos equis]

2010-01-26T13:07:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday was my 20th birthday. I had a great day: manicures with the girls [including Jen, who came down from UF!], dinner at Carraba's, and a party at concert-buddy Robert's. In holding with tradition, below is my birthday lexicon.

XX

1) I am currently learning Spanish and I love it
2) The more I learn about psychology, the more is fascinates me.
3) I love learning in general.
4) I have never been west of the Mississippi River.
5) I intend to change that this summer.
6) I greatly dislike horror films and scary movies.
7) I fear becoming obsolescent.
8) Lion King will always be my favorite Disney movie.
9) I can't sing but...
10) ...I love singing along with musicals as if I can.
11) I'm a dork/geek/nerd - all of the above.
12) My most played song in iTunes is Sick Sad Little World by Incubus.
13) I eventually want to learn how to play the bass guitar.
14) I'm finding that it is a lot harder to think of 20 random things about myself than I thought.
15) Favorite college class to date: abnormal psychology.
16) Least favorite college class: Western Civilization II - though that was due to an awful teacher, not the content.
17) I look a lot different without my glasses.
18) I believe a good time can be had anywhere if you have good company.
19) Pet peeve: unreliable people.
20) I have a running to-do lists and I love crossing things off of it when I finish them.

[obsolescent]

2010-01-06T16:35:00.000-05:00

I've gotten back to doing crossword puzzles again, which is how I learned the word "obsolescent," which means 'becoming obsolete.' Winter break is obsolescent, seeing that is ends this weekend, but I am looking forward to the new semester.

Speaking of which, HAPPY NEW YEAR! [I was going to say 'Happy Belated New Year' but its still a new year so as long as I haven't spoken to you since last year, the phrase fits. Also, 'Happy Belated New Year' just sounds lame.] The fireworks photo here is from my New Year's Eve adventure that culminated in this spectacular fireworks display at Busch Gardens. DocteurRob [formerly known as Concert-buddy Robert] and I had intended to head from UCF to Ft. Lauderdale to spend New Year's Eve down there; however, en route, he got a text from his brother about a special year pass deal going on at Busch Gardens that night so we turned around and headed to Tampa and had a blast at Busch Gardens with his brother+his friends.

Actually, Robert's started a weekly Youtube video blog, so you can just watch our escapades yourself! If you like it, subscribe to his Youtube channel! I'll no doubt be showing up throughout its duration =D

Hope everyone had a great holiday season and is looking forward to the year ahead!

[Weekly Pick-Me-Up: MLIA]

2010-01-06T15:55:00.000-05:00

Recently discovered the website "My Life is Average" - think the anti-thesis of FMyLife. I find it hilarious and below are some of my personal favorites from the site. Definitely a way to waste a lot of time but stay slightly amused throughout.

Today, I realized that I am unemployed, live with my mother, play video games all day in my basement, and I am still a virgin. It's alright, I finish 9th grade next week. MLIA

Today, I saw a commercial for the Snuggie. I thought it was stupid idea but I couldn't change the channel because I was under a blanket and I didn't want my arms to get cold. MLIA

Today, I put my iPod on shuffle. I skipped most of the songs to get to the ones I like. MLIA

Today, the whole world came crashing down on me, so I got some tape and stuck the map back onto the wall. MLIA

The other day I learned that if you say 'beer can' with an English accent, you're saying 'bacon' with a Jamaican accent. Mind blown. MLIA

Today, my boss passed me in the hall at work and asked me "Do you have a sec?". I was trying to be flippant and replied "I have tons of secs". We both pretended I didn't say that. MLIA.

Today I was driving by the lake and I saw a Jeep full of guys pass me. They were hanging out the windows and the sunroof, paddling with canoe paddles, and singing "Just Around the Riverbend" from Pocahontas. It easily may have been the coolest thing I've seen, ever. MLIA

Today, I got out of the shower and washed my hands. I still don't know why I did that. MLIA.

Today, I realized the reason Dr. Seuss was so succesfull with rhyming is because he made up things to rhyme with. Brilliant. MLIA

Today I found out that people from South Africa use the term "That's so legend" instead of "That's so cool." I will never be using "That's so cool" ever again. MLIA.

[Concert Review: Say Anything]

2010-01-06T12:34:00.000-05:00

Say Anything is currently my number 4 most played artist on last.fm and I think that is a pretty accurate representation of how much I like them. (Top 3 played artists are Incubus, Bond, and Coldplay.) I had seen them once before in concert at the House of Blues back during spring of freshman year of college [April 2008] and it was my favorite concert to date [even better than Incubus!!!], but it has since then been surpassed. By this more recent Say Anything concert!

I saw Say Anything for the second time on Thursday, November 12 at The Social Orlando. I had heard about this venue many times before from fellow concert enthusiast friends, but I had never actually had a reason to go there as they mainly cater to small, up-and-coming indie bands. But Say Anything booked two nights there and sold them out way in advance and I was lucky enough to be able to attend with my concert-buddy Robert [who was also with me when I saw them back in freshman year and who introduced me to them!]

I will forever and always love the House of Blues. I have seen EIGHT shows at the House of Blues [Paramore was number 8] and every single one was made more enjoyable because it was in that venue. However, I think that The Social Orlando may just win as better place to see a concert because it is SO SMALL. Lost? Don't be. There is no back stage. There are no curtains blocking the stage off. There are no ropes keeping people back a set distance from the stage, so people at the very front of the pit [like my ever-present concert buddy Robert and I!] can literally reach out and touch/get touched by the performers on stage. Its amazing. Add a excellent act like Say Anything and its the right formula for the perfect concert!

There were two opening bands before Say Anything. I didn't catch the name of the first one and they were passable, though their rhythm guitarist had some insane dreads. The second band was Eisley. I had never really heard of them before, but they were pretty neat. I'll definitely be looking into more of their stuff. Fun trivia fact: Max Bemis [lead singer of Say Anything] and Sherri DuPree [of Eisley] are married!

Anyway. This concert officially became my favorite concert. The set list [which I was actually close enough to the stage to actually read!] was perfect, starting out with their ever-popular-but-nowhere-near-their-best-music "Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too" and covering a good mix from their various albums. Their live performance of their songs "Admit It" and "Walk Through Hell" are truly a must-see for any fan - or any music lover for that matter. I definitely plan on seeing them again in the future and I only hope I have as awesome a spot as this time at the Social.

[2009 in Review]

2010-01-03T11:17:00.002-05:00

2009: a year of high highs and low lows

January
-Daddy passed away [+]
-Started second year as Director of Academic Affairs for Honors Congress
-Janus Frisbee Tournament
-Florida Winter Classic Frisbee Tournament

February
-Horseback Riding trip
-Mardi Gras Frisbee Tournament

March
-Started dating Spencer
-College Southerns Frisbee Tournament
-Magic Game vs Bulls at Amway Arena
-Spring Break/FIRST Robotics Regional
-Started watching True Blood - addicted!

April
-AccioCon (Harry Potter and Twilight Convention in Orlando)
-FIRST Robotics Championship Event in Atlanta
-Fall Out Boy Concert at UCF Arena (3rd time seeing them)

May
-London and Paris with Jen

June
-Started geocaching

July
-Dressed up for Chick-Fil-A Cow Day!
-Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in theaters!

August
-Incubus in concert at Bayfront Park in Miami!

September
-Stopped dating Spencer
-Chevelle in concert at House of Blues Orlando!
-Blink 182 in concert at Ford Ampitheatre in Tampa!

October
-got my DSLR! (Canon Rebel XTi)
-Flyfleaf in concert - kind of - at the WJRR Listening Studio!
-Paramore in concert at House of Blues Orlando! (2nd time seeing them)
-Kennedy Space Center trip

November
-Say Anything in concert at the Social Orlando! (2nd time seeing them and new fave concert)
-Homecoming!

December
-Elected 2010 President of Honors Congress!
-Trans-Siberian Orchestra at Amway Arena
-Impromptu New Year's Eve road trip around state with Concert Buddy Robert [henceforth referred to as DocteurRob - details to come]

Looking forward to 2010 and the new decade.

[Merry Christmas 2009!]

2009-12-25T13:31:00.001-05:00

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!

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

2009-12-23T22:34:00.000-05:00

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.

[Weekly Pick-Me-Up: Hey Ya]

2009-12-19T19:45:00.000-05:00

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".

[Concert Review: Paramore]

2009-12-15T17:03:00.004-05:00

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.

[texting tirade]

2009-11-05T15:04:00.005-05:00

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...

[a peck of characters]

2009-11-04T22:33:00.001-05:00

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.

[Book Review: The Time Traveler's Wife]

2009-10-29T10:53:00.001-04:00

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!

[Happy Autumn!]

2009-10-21T00:09:00.002-04:00

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.

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!

[Book Review: My Soul to Take]

2009-10-15T10:32:00.000-04:00

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.

[Book Review: The Book Thief]

2009-10-14T10:55:00.002-04:00

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.

[seasons]

2009-10-12T10:41:00.002-04:00

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."

[Concert Review: Flyleaf]

2009-10-08T15:45:00.002-04:00

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.

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.

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]

2009-10-08T14:46:00.000-04:00

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!

[Concert Review: Blink-182]

2009-09-28T21:46:00.001-04:00

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]

2009-09-28T09:45:00.008-04:00

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.

[Concert Review: Chevelle]

2009-09-26T08:57:00.015-04:00

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!

[Concert Review: Incubus]

2009-08-18T23:14:00.014-04:00

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.

[Summer of Reading]

2009-08-13T00:47:00.004-04:00

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.

[sisterly love]

2009-06-25T10:41:00.005-04:00

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

(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

(10:11am) Jennifer: shutup u tard

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

YOU

ARE

STUPID

AND

CAN'T

ADMIT

(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?

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

Chinpokofacebook

2009-06-15T16:16:00.003-04:00

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.

Award Show Travesty

2009-06-01T14:46:00.001-04:00

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.

a concerted affair

2009-04-23T16:20:00.007-04:00

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.

new harry potter 6 trailer

2009-04-20T08:24:00.003-04:00

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.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

tv science and reality

2009-04-07T00:15:00.001-04:00

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.

autopilot meltdown

2009-04-01T23:54:00.002-04:00

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.

freudian trauma

2009-03-19T10:13:00.003-04:00

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.

whelmed

2009-02-19T10:18:00.002-05:00

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...

Book Review: "The Hunger Games"

2009-02-09T08:21:00.004-05:00

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.

2009 Fave Superbowl Commercials

2009-02-04T17:56:00.002-05:00

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 :)

resonation

2009-01-29T14:42:00.003-05:00

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

Werewolves and Jamaicans

2009-01-26T23:44:00.000-05:00

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.

opportunities

2009-01-20T10:58:00.005-05:00

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!

A Passing

2009-01-12T06:41:00.006-05:00

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

Spring 2009

2009-01-09T18:28:00.003-05:00

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.

2008 in Review

2009-01-03T01:23:00.000-05:00

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

rants and nothings

2009-01-01T22:59:00.007-05:00

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...

superfluous fixation

2008-12-19T13:19:00.001-05:00

Facebook has been tagged as the medium that will revolutionize the internet and bridge the gap between social networking sites and professional networking sites. Its also been found to be useful for keeping in touch with old friends, distant relatives, and for finding out every time those people-you-will-probably-never-speak-to-ever-again-and-basically-never-spoke-to-at-all-in-high-school-but-for-some-reason-requested-you-as-a-friend-on-Facebook-and-you-didn't-want-to-be-mean-so-you-added-them sneezes.

Regardless, I recently found a feature on Facebook that puts all the other to rest. Facebook Scrabble. There was a previous form known as Scrabulous, but Hasbro sued for copyright infringement, settled the case, and proceeded to make an official-but-crappier Facebook version of its game.

Now, fun fact about myself: I like boardgames - alot. I also like competing and winning, but I mainly just like boardgames. And puzzles. And Scrabble happens to be a really good mix of both. So because of that, I have been really happy to be able to play Scrabble on Facebook against friends from all over the world. Having been playing Scrabble about non-stop for about 9 hours yesterday, one realizes how quickly things like going to the gym, eating healthy, and leaving your room become irrelevant in comparison with how to utilize the remaining triple word spot with the letters RCJPSUA in your hand [jars, caps, pars, cars, carp, cups, spar].

I think I may be entering a whole new level of dork. o.O

chaotic regurgitation

2008-12-14T15:33:00.007-05:00

Randomness I have found in the past few weeks and felt like sharing:

Oops...

Proposition 8: The Musical

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... by Jack Black

An amusing take on a very serious issue.

I personally do not recall the 'Wassup' beer commercial, but apparently it was a big hit.

Wassup has been updated. Here is 'Wassup 2008'

I find that if I do not have anything specific to accomplish [like attending class or leaving my dorm], I spend hours on end reading and/or browsing the internet via 'StumbleUpon'. I think I may end up messing with my blog layout again; we'll see...

unnatural deselection

2008-12-10T14:31:00.002-05:00

Being exam week, I have found myself with an unnatural urge to study more than normal. By more than normal, I mean that I find myself actually studying for the first time this all semester. [<-- that is an exaggeration. I distinctly remember looking at the pretty pictures in my Bio book one Monday during my Cprogramming class =D]

Regardless, I have determined that I do better on tests and quizzes, and therefore feel better about myself, when I have studied and actually know what I am doing. So I shall be doing more of that in the near future.

This, along with running 3 times a week, is my goal for the coming break/semester. We'll see how long it lasts... :)

smoke alarms and 6am rage

2008-12-08T07:04:00.000-05:00

This week is that dreaded time of the semester when the average [and even the above-average] college student says a big "oh %$*@" [a word that, depending on the person, could rhyme with trap, bell, duck, or meh] and gets down to business of learning that we all [I hope] are here at college for: exam week.

This week has also been known throughout time as hell, stress overload, the most important week of my life (this semester), and that time when no sleep is meant to be had.

Taking this concept of no sleep to the extremes, I woke up at the pleasant hour of 5:47am this morning - to the sounds of screeching fire alarms. [NOTE: NEVER a pleasant thing to wake up to, much less at 6 in the morning the day before exams.] Stumbling out of my room, grabbing my laptop, cell phone and wallet, I made my way down to the Tower courtyard where I joined the mass of confused and angry college students, wondering what was going on.Temperature conditions of our 6am sojourn outside: 45 degrees - and the sprinklers all came on, in deference of the invisible flames.

After about 10 minutes, it became apparent that no one, including the RAs knew what was going on and after about 15 minutes, we were allowed back inside. Grumbling about how this would ruin our college careers and plans to lodge formal complaints, we made our way back into the Tower to our respective abodes. Time now is 6:12am. Fully awake with no possibility of going back to sleep - since I'd have to wake up in about an hour anyway, I decide to blog about this annoying event - because that's what fully functioning people of society do nowadays. As I am whittling away at the loom that is my blog, the fire alarm goes off again. Time now is 6:34am. That means about 20 minutes since we got back, more than enough time for a tired college child to fall asleep if they felt the need.

Wary of being sent back out into the cold again, the majority of my hallmates, my roommates and I included, waited in our doorways to see if an RA in shining armor would walk through with a "please excuse this alarm" message emblazoned on his/her/its chain mail - we were not so lucky. So for the SECOND time in a 30 MINUTE PERIOD, we were sent outside into the 45 degree freezebox known as our courtyard; I had brought my laptop so I could continue updating this post - and so that it wouldn't melt if there really were a fire this time around. We were allowed back inside within 6 minutes this time.

Turns out that there was some faulty fire alarm sensor being set off in the Starbucks located in the Barnes and Noble connected to our tower; even the best caffeine fix isn't worth waking up at 5:47am the night before exams.
Vive le sommeil.

mega electron volts

2008-12-04T09:25:00.002-05:00

I am SO ready.

p.s. - the title has nothing to do with the post.

college paper how-to

2008-12-03T20:50:00.004-05:00

I recently (a few minutes ago) stumbled upon a webpage detailing how to write a college paper. It quickly becomes clear that these instructions were definitely written after 1971 (when Starbucks was founded) but before 2004 (when Facebook was launched), I've decided to create an updated version.

How To Write a Paper in College/University - 2008 Edition

1) Sit in a well lit area
2) Lay out all necessary books/materials
3) Open all relevant websites in tabs in your web browser of choice
4) Open a new browser window and check your email.
5) Check your Facebook to make sure no new messages/tags/pokes/wall posts/comments were received
6) Read your assignment guidelines
7) Go scavenging for a snack
8) Check and see what your roommates/any nearby people are up to
9) Read your assignment guidelines again, possibly start thinking about what you may do for it
10) Check your email; respond accordingly
11) Check your Facebook
12) Google/Wikipedia any random words/topics that you come across
13) Go say hi to your next door neighbors and tell them to watch the Victoria's Secret fashion show
14) Go have dinner with your next door neighbors, having in-depth conversations about movies, loopholes, and illicit schemes
15) Write the first paragraph of the paper
16) Attempt to solve the Rubik's cube you haven't managed to solve in over 2 years
17) Acquire a soda and/or coffee for the caffeine
18) Check your Facebook
19) Write another sentence in your paper
20) Watch the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show
21) Realize that it is now 11pm and that the assignment is due online in less than 59 minutes
22) Check your Facebook
23) Proceed to finish writing your paper in 55 minutes
24) Submit your paper with minutes to spare, due to everyone in your class submitting at the same last second, therefore slowing down system
25) Stay up until all hours of the morning playing video games/reading [for fun]/watching movies/etc
26) Pass out in your earliest class the following morning

Of course, these rules do not hold true for everybody; some people find the need to check their Facebook more often or enlist the use of Facebook chat/AIM to actively keep themselves busy. Or some update their blogs with posts that prove to be highly prophetic. Regardless, I have a programming assignment due at midnight, but first there are some Angels that need seeing to.

tryptophan and road trips

2008-11-30T23:53:00.008-05:00

This is a recap of my Thanksgiving weekend.

Tuesday: My weekend actually started last Tuesday at 10:15am, partly because I only had one non-relevant class scheduled on Wednesday, but mainly because I wanted it to. Left UCF around 11:30, got home around 2:30, hung out with the Mom,took Jennifer (my little sister) to her dance practice, went to say hi to Jennifer (hmm, how to describe Jen...friend just doesn't cover it, lol), and went to The Walk with Jen.

Wednesday: Woke up at my normal time (there is no such thing as 'sleeping in' for me...), went to a dentist appointment, then picked up Jen and went to visit my high school. At some point in the past 1.5 years since I graduated from CGHS, the school has morphed into a prison, except worse, since vistors are not allowed at all. Treating it as such, Jen and myself used a very high-tech and elaborate scheme to gain entrance to the school [aka walking in a side door during class change] and proceeded to carry out various evil and nefarious deeds [aka hugging and catching up with our old fave teachers and faking smiles for our old not-so-fave teachers]. No worries, we were not the only ones doing this, as one teacher said she had lost count at about 40 former students stopping in to say hi =D Then I went to the mall with Jen and Nanki, where we bought awesome goodies and took photo booth pics [fun fact: I love photo booths]. Met up with Alice and went to visit my good friend Corbin, who was down from Darthmouth for the break.

Thursday: Thanksgiving! Started re-reading 'New Moon' during the morning then went to Grandma's for Thanksgiving dinner. Sanctioned gluttony ensued. Afterwards, I kept up with my post-Thanksgiving dinner tradition and went to Corbin's house where an assortment of friends had gathered to take part in video games and revelry. Then I went home and hung out with the family.

Friday: Began my psuedo-impromptu road trip around the state [yay google maps!]. Departed bright and early for New Port Richey [North of Tampa/St. Pete] to get Jen. It was my first time driving on Alligator Alley and while it wasn't anything special or anything, I can see why it has the notorious reputation it does: miles of straight highway; not very crowded, even at its busiest [excluding hurricanes]; NO streetlights, not a one for miles on end. Basically, no driving on Alligator Alley at night o.O Got Jen, headed to Ocala to visit our friend Alex. NOTE: Ocala is literally in the middle of nowhere, as in there is NO cell phone reception, ever-encroaching darkness from a lack of streetlights and non-observant drivers who rear-end drivers when you are that far down the rabbit hole [yes, I got rear-ended (!), but my car (once-again) proved its amazing robustness and didn't even have a scratch]. Then it was off to UF [Gainesville], where we spent Friday night.

Saturday: Left for FSU [Tallahassee, henceforth Tally] around 11, got and hung out with Meagan, who could not go home for Thanksgiving [Jen and I thought we would cheer her up/visit her for fun, and hence the purpose of the trip]. As it was a football game day - and an in-state rivalry at that [FSU vs. UF - UF won, of course] - Tally was extremely crowded, with 70% of the population wearing either orange/blue or garnet/gold. We went to the mall, hung out in Meagan's dorm, had dinner, more dorm time, then went clubbing at Tally's Club Rayn [and yes, people were there in orange/blue, lol].

Sunday: Left FSU around 11. It was raining when we woke up and it was STILL raining 3.5 hours (note: a normally 2 hour drive) later when we arrived in Gainesville. Traffic sucked in general due to many factors but mainly the deluge of bad weather and the post-Thanksgiving travel. After having lunch, I left UF at 4:30 and headed back to UCF, getting back in 3 hours [another normally 2 hour drive], concluding a 922 mile journey [excluding the initial drive home].

All in all, it was a good weekend, enjoyed in a way that I saw fit ^.^

versified glorification

2008-11-25T09:44:00.002-05:00

I came across another interesting crossword clue the other day: versified glorification. The answer was 'ode', and I thought it was funny that such a long phrase was a description for such a small word. Regardless, I got it correct :)

This Week I Recommend:

>Twilight: Speaking of odes... NO, I am NOT going to regale you with all the reasons I personally like the Twilight novels and I'm not going to deny that they have their flaws and plot holes. However I will say that I was wary about how the movie [released last Friday] would turn out, based on previous experiences with the book-to-movie transition, and that I honestly enjoyed the Twilight movie. They changed things up [of course] but they kept the story intact enough to please fans and still create a complete story for someone who had never heard of it before.

The second book, New Moon, has now been confirmed to be made into a movie and it will be interesting to see how it turns out, seeing as it will require much more special effects, a trip to Italy, and a more in-depth look at characters other than Bella and Edward.

I would now like to take a brief moment to mourn the moving of the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince [HP 6] from November 21 [last week! Friday] to August 21, 2009 [a freaking long time from now!]. It was originally moved to July sometime, but then WB realized that they truly hated the fans of their most profitable film series ever [the combined Harry Potter films still beat The Dark Knight...] and would make them suffer an extra month. Thanks WB for truly alienating the fans of The-Boy-Who-Went-Naked-On-Broadway-But-Still-Flies-Around-On-Broomsticks-And-Stuff.

No worries, I have AccioCon, right here in Orlando(!), to tide me over until then ^.^ AccioCon is a Harry Potter and Twilight theme convention taking place in April; yes, uber-dorky, but that's nothing new with me =D

This Week I Don't Recommend:

>Obnoxious Movie-Goers: question - why would you pay money to see a movie you don't like or want to see? Another question - why would you stay in the theater VERBALLY ridiculing and mocking it instead of just getting up and walking out if you loathed it that much? These are the questions I considered asking these two stupid, unattractive females [I decided not to vent how I really felt about them here] sitting across the aisle from my friends and I when we watched Twilight yesterday evening. The entire movie, they were making rude comments, talking on their cell phones, texting, making snorting sounds and overall acting extremely disgusting in general, much less in a theater. I had no idea what to do about it though: how do you get someone kicked out of a theater? Nothing I can do about it now, but still...

No Frisbee this week, so no Frisbee Wisdom... though if your bored, you can check out our women's team website. Its still in development though, so don't judge it yet...

Frisbee Wisdom 22

2008-11-20T08:10:00.002-05:00

Frisbee Wisdom 21

2008-11-18T00:52:00.001-05:00

Frisbee Wisdom 20

2008-11-13T08:37:00.001-05:00

Frisbee Wisdom 19

2008-11-11T20:07:00.000-05:00

somnambulist

2008-11-10T11:12:00.004-05:00

(n) sleepwalker, (somnambulist, noctambulist) someone who walks about in their sleep.

Cool word, though I would personally hate to be a somnambulist...

This Week I Recommend:

>Homecoming Week: In high school, Homecoming was a dance that took place around October/November that wasn't as formal as prom, but more dressy than everyday school wear; it had a popularity competition known as a King/Queen campaign and a game that had to be won or it was the end of the world. Homecoming in college is not that different, except a lot more fun and more worth your time. The King/Queen campaign is still a popularity competition, basically to see which Greek organization can get the most of their members to vote for a candidate; the football game should still be won, though since there are actually rankings and conferences and such in college football, its not always a guaranteed win; there isn't a dance, but there are lots of other things going on, like Movie Knight [<-- the knight/night puns never end], Comedy Knight with Kyle Cease and two other not-so-funny guys [John Pinette, LaVell Crawford], Skit Knight [Honors won 2nd place small organization skit!], Concert Knight [Panic! At The Disco, Dashboard Confessional, Plain White T's and The Cab], Spirit Splash on Friday, and Homecoming Parade/Game on Saturday.

Basically Homecoming Week in college is a good distraction from the norm for a week, allowing people to attend events, boost school spirit, and enjoy awesome free stuff.

This Week I Don't Recommend:

>Homecoming Week: As awesome as Homecoming is, it is the most exhausting time of the year, even more so than the exam weeks. Between going to events daily and still running one's full normal schedule, it can get exhausting pretty fast. Of course, one could always just not go to the events or even to some of them - but come on. It is just one week after all... Other things were going on this week that contributed to the chaos: Election Day was Tuesday, ans that was an ordeal in and of itself [yay for absentee ballots!]. I went to see Anberlin at the House of Blues on Friday [yes, the day after the Homecoming concert] and it was a very good concert; very happy I went. We lost our football game which [sadly] has become an expected outcome this season >.> Now after my fall-asleep-while-taking-off-my-socks and 9 hours of sleep Saturday night, I'm feeling better. But...it may take me about a year to get ready to do it again.

Frisbee Wisdom 18

2008-11-06T23:48:00.001-05:00

Tina and I got tired of being the only girls at UCF's Club Frisbee practices so we held a meeting and recruited a good number [around 14!] of girls to come join us! Hopefully I'll soon be telling you news about UCF Women's Club Frisbee =)

remember

2008-11-05T23:47:00.006-05:00

Here we are, once again, at the Fifth of November. As "V for Vendetta" is one of my favorite movies ever, I always try to remember this significant day. However, this year's fifth of November [or technically the fourth, I guess] will be remembered for far more than a rhyming poem stated in a movie, for it is/was the day that history was changed forever with the election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States. Love him or hate him, no one can deny that this day will go down in history...

Frisbee Wisdom 17

2008-11-04T15:47:00.000-05:00

regimented

2008-11-04T00:15:00.004-05:00

My Google Calendar for this week:

yeah...

ready

2008-11-03T03:05:00.003-05:00

This Week I Recommend:

>Costumes: Halloween was this past Friday and, like always, it was filled with lots of candy, memorable moments, and [my fave part] interesting costumes. Some of my faves this year include Sweeney Todd, Alex DeLarge from "A Clockwork Orange," Carl from "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," and Tony Stark [aka Iron Man]. I dressed up as Foxy Cleopatra from Austin Powers: Goldmember; def. one of my more interesting costumes to date... =D

>Blue Man Group: Went for the first time on Saturday with my friend MarkM [there are multiple Marks mentioned in this post, lol]. I highly recommend it; definitely a good time.

This Week I Don't Recommend:

>Pushy Volunteers Who Forget That They Are Just Volunteers And Let Stuff Go To Their Heads: Earlier today, my friend MarkL and I volunteered with UCF's Knights for Change for the local Barack Obama campaign office [yay for helping out...]. Basically, they had us calling people to find out if they had voted and if they hadn't, to let them know that today was the last day to early vote and where the nearest poll to them was, etc. It wasn't very interesting but it wasn't bad. However, a group of the volunteers were going to go door-to-door canvassing of various areas around UCF, knocking on doors to find out if people had voted and to take them to the polls, if they wanted to be taken and such. They went around the office gathering volunteers and got quite a group together. Then they got to me.

Now, I was already uncomfortable enough calling people and invading their peaceful Sunday with questions; there was no was no way I was going door-to-door to do it [plus it was raining]. So I said that I didn't want to do it, simple as that. Then three of the people [note: these are also college student volunteers, not paid professionals or anything] started getting in my face about how this is how votes are won and how it needs to be done - and one of them literally grabbed the papers I had in my hands away from me and threw them on the table. So then I started getting annoyed and MarkL was pissed and stated quite succintly that we were volunteers and don't have to do anything if we didn't want to. The trio backed off and we went back to our calls. The guy who grabbed the papers came back and apologized a little bit later.

Long story short, I'm glad I volunteered today and contributed my part to a cause I support. I just wish that certain people would remember the reason why their doing something in the first place instead of making things awkward for those around them when they think they're more important than they are...

>Broken Cell Phones: My cell phone's screen stopped working on Wednesday and its driving me nuts because the only thing worse than not getting text messages is getting text messages and not being able to read them o.O Thankfully, I know the layout of my phone and the menus and such, so I can still make calls [sort of] by typing in my contact's names, but believe me when I say that my Firefox's refresh button has not been hit as many times as it has this weekend for the shipment tracking page of the replacement phone...

>Losing Time: So I definitely did not realize that Daylight Savings Time ended today. Imagine my surprise when I find out I could have slept in an extra hour and still been perfectly on time... Oh well. ^.^

UCF's Homecoming Week activities start tomorrow; time to get ready for one of the most hectic-yet-worthwhile weeks of the year...

awake

2008-11-03T01:55:00.002-05:00

yay insomnia
wandering around your head
seeking the shutdown.

Happy Halloween 2008!

2008-10-31T08:48:00.005-04:00

Frisbee Wisdom 16

2008-10-30T08:36:00.004-04:00

I made UCF's Club Frisbee B Team! =D

Frisbee Wisdom 15

2008-10-28T09:09:00.000-04:00

combustication

2008-10-27T09:09:00.013-04:00

I did not make up the word combustication; it happens to be in the song "Pardon Me" by Incubus, which happens to be one of my all-time favorite songs ever.

I said, "I can relate,"
cause lately I've been thinking of combustication
as a welcome vacation from
the burdens of
the planet Earth.
like gravity, hypocrisy,
and the perils of being in 3-D...
but thinking so much differently.

This Week I Recommend:

>Small Doses: My mom and 3 siblings came to visit me on Thursday evening to Friday afternoon [they didn't have school; oh, how I miss public school early release/teacher planning days...]. I was really happy to see them and I realized how much I missed them once they were gone again. Having to go back to living at home on a daily basis would drive me insane, but, in this case, small doses make life awesome.

>Sleep: I may have recommended this before, but like my un-recommendation for procrastination, it is one of those things that will always be recommended. Thursday my family came, leaving Friday around 1pm. By 4pm, I was on my way to USF for the Tempest 'N Tampa [TNT] off-season robotics competition where I was volunteering as field reset. Being a lock-in event in the UCF Sun Dome, there were activities -guitar hero, halo, human OverDrive (a human version of the robotics competition)- going on all through the night, which resulted in a grand total of about 3 hours of sleep on the volunteer room floor. Then came a 10-hour day of insane competition, which was just as fun as always (pics can be found at my team's blog). Left Tampa around 6, got back to UCF around 8, sat on my bed to put something down and woke up the next morning to a phone call at 7:45 am. Sunday was then spent interchanging sleeping and reading, playing Rock Band 2, having a homework-session-in-which-no-homework-was-done-but-my-iTunes-library-was-nicely-organized and playing volleyball. I haven't slept that much in a long time, but it was awesome.

This Week I Don't Recommend:

>Injuring yourself: I'm a wimp [as I mentioned in a previous post] in regards to getting scared and to getting injured, an aspect of myself that does not help since I also like trying new things and semi-extreme sports. Anyway, this past Thursday, my left foot started hurting me during frisbee tryouts and I had to go to the athletic trainer, who proceeded to inform me that I had sprained my foot and that it should be okay within 24 hours with icing. Fast forward to today [Monday] and my foot is still hurting; its kind of annoying actually, since I'm doing this weird-limping-but-not-wanting-to-limp-so-I-just-look-dumb-in-general thing. I guess it also doesn't help that I am determined to keep up my sports playing and played volleyball on it yesterday [<--yeah, I'm stupid...]. The following comic seems to express my current feelings aptly.

Frisbee Wisdom 14

2008-10-23T15:19:00.002-04:00

optically offensive

2008-10-22T11:23:00.003-04:00

As a lover of [epically failing at] crossword puzzles, I come across some very creative clues for words and phrases. One that made me literally laugh out loud in my computer programming class was the clue 'optically offensive' for the word 'ugly'. I think the people around are still trying to figure out what's so funny about C void functions...

Anyway, I stumbled upon this interesting site the other day. Its called Garfield Minus Garfield, and basically what these people did was remove Garfield the cat from the comic strip to reveal the existential angst and depression of Mr. John Arbuckle, Garfield's owner. I think its brilliant and will probably be posting random faves from it in this blog periodically.

Frisbee Wisdom 13

2008-10-21T09:10:00.003-04:00

UCF's Club Ultimate team tryouts start today; wish me luck!

erasification

2008-10-20T11:44:00.005-04:00

That's right, I just made up a word. Fun fact about myself: when I was younger, I used to think that everything that was written and erased on a chalkboard was stored somewhere; where? I don't know, though the old-school Nickelodeon cartoon "Chalk Zone" definitely gave us one possibility...

This Week I Recommend:

>Growing Up: Sunday was my roommate Megan's 20th Birthday. The weekend was spent in fervent celebration of this occasion, including dinner at Chili's on Saturday [23 people in our party; our waitress was awesome] and Halloween Horror Nights yesterday [see below]. While out and about on Saturday, I saw these awesome birthday candles that reminded me of the occasion.

Happy Birthday Megan! <3

>Thinking Before You Speak: I am SO glad I did, because some things are just not meant to be said...

This week I Don't Recommend:

>Being Scared: I do not like being scared. Never have, never will. I don't even watch scary movies or anything that seems like it could be nightmare-inducing. [Remember the bats-in-the-cave scene from the new Batman Begins when Bruce Wayne was a child? Freaked me out. There was also a scene in the beginning of Jumper when the guy falls through the ice of a frozen lake and is dragged under by the current; I couldn't watch that scene.] I'm a wimp; sue me. So why did I go to Halloween Horror Nights yesterday? Because it was for Megan's birthday and because now I can say I've gone. Did I have fun for the few hours I could stand being there? Yes, except for when I was in the houses and there were arm-width passages and people behind EVERY corner and people sticking disembodied feet in my face. Will I ever go again? To be determined...

Frisbee Wisdom 12

2008-10-16T08:39:00.000-04:00

clear

2008-10-15T07:47:00.003-04:00

I stumbled upon this Flickr slideshow the other day and thought I'd share. According to the descriptions, they are all actual background images, not Photoshop effects. Definitely one of the cooler background effects I've seen recently. More found here.

Frisbee Wisdom 11

2008-10-14T00:20:00.002-04:00

tolerable

2008-10-13T10:09:00.007-04:00

This Week I Recommend:

>Slip 'n Slide Frisbee: For those of you in the Central Florida area, you may recall a thunderstorm of massive proportions that came through last Thursday. Streets were flooded, grassy areas became lakes, and lightning about drowned [ha] out the moon in terms of light sources. So of course we played frisbee =D Or rather, slid around UCF's Memory Mall under the guise of playing frisbee. It was sliptastic.

>Concerts: Particularly good ones with bands you like and people you like being around. I went to see The Rocket Summer/Phantom Planet/A Secret Handshake/The Morning Light at the House of Blues Orlando last Friday and I had a great time - and realized how much I love concerts, which is why I will be attending at least 3 more in the upcoming month =D [I say yay!, my wallet... not so much] Its going to be great

>Surfing: I went surfing on Saturday in Cocoa Beach through an Honors trip that I ran [we had gone in spring and people liked it, so it happened again]. I'm still not good at it, but I did manage to stand up completely 2 times, which is 2 more than I've ever done before, so that made me happy. It really is an enjoyable activity, if a bit tiring...

>Partial All-Nighters: Partial because I did not actually stay up for more than 24 hours. My weekend went like this: [friday] Class until 11:30, work until 5, Rocket Summer concert at House of Blues, movie/mythbusters marathon until 2am, sleep until 7am, [saturday] surf trip to cocoa beach until 1pm, sleep until 5pm, nothing (gasp!) until 8pm, movie conundrum [go watch Primer, it can only be described as a conundrum] until 10:30pm, TD's bar with a bunch of frisbee people until 1:30am, more movies (Billy Madison) until 3am, sleep until 4am, [sunday] volunteering at Disney's 'Race for the Taste' 10K from 5am-9am, sleep from 10am-3pm, studying until 8pm, frisbee until 10pm, volleyball to 1am, sleep. And now its Monday. Would I have changed any of it? NO! - though I do regret being uber-grumpy en route to volunteering for the 10K [sorry Kristy!]

This Week I Don't Recommend:

>Physics II: I. Hate. That. Class.

Someone described me as the 'tolerable' friend the other day - I managed to cheer myself up by saying that its better than being the 'intolerable' friend =P

Frisbee Wisdom 10

2008-10-09T08:36:00.002-04:00

bright side

2008-10-08T14:16:00.004-04:00

So I have recently discovered that there is something I may actually be worse at than ultimate frisbee: volleyball. Its really fascinating watching people who know what their doing rally back and forth, spike the ball, and kill each other, volleyball-wise.

Then I start to play and it actually brings a tear to the eye that has nothing to do with the constant sand in the face. Determined [or stubborn/dumb] as ever, I don't plan on giving it up. Unless I do actually kill someone attempting to spike a ball. Then I may have to stop...

However, always remember to put things in perspective. As bad as your day may or may not be going, be happy you didn't wake up to that.

I know its not winter yet, but this photo couldn't wait... =P

flux

2008-10-07T09:07:00.003-04:00

Ok, so I'm in the process of trying to make a new layout for this blog; I got tired of the other one. I'll settle on one eventually, but in the meantime, bear with me as the blog remains in a constant state of flux.

I love using words I learn in science classes in completely unrelated situations.

Frisbee Wisdom 9

2008-10-07T08:56:00.001-04:00

fickle

2008-10-06T13:53:00.007-04:00

This Week I Recommend:

>Cleaning your Room: I did and I found a missing button, all of my socks, some desperately needed dry-erase markers, and my floor. Oh, and a puzzle piece, though all my completed puzzles [and I have quite a few] are whole...

>Primal Fear: No, not an inate anxiety about something. The movie, starring Richard Gere and Edward Norton. I watched it for the first time this weekend and basically its an excellent example of a very good movie, in my opinion at least. Go make your own decision and let me know what you think!

This Week I Don't Recommend:

>Heading a Frisbee: Whether intentional or not, stopping a frisbee with your head [specifically your face, in the nose region, while wearing glasses] is not a fun time. Side effects may include acute pain to the head, chronic bad language, and severe self-loathing.

Remember, as I try to remember myself, to take each day one at a time...

Frisbee Wisdom 8

2008-10-02T09:46:00.001-04:00

SOS formation

2008-09-30T00:39:00.003-04:00

So, in the light of the recent epic fail of our nation's financial system, one may find the need for something lighthearted and funny. Well, being the kind person I am, I shall help you in your time of need. I do what I can ^.^ Check these out for a few laughs:

>How to Tick off People: My personal favorite is number 11, in accordance to prophesy

>An answer to the question of the existence of Santa, according to an engineer: Basically because we engineers [I will always be an engineer] have nothing better to do with our time...

>Making Music w/ John Mayer: funny...or die.

>Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates "New Family" Experiment: This made me like both of these guys exponentially more.

Frisbee Wisdom 7

2008-09-30T00:38:00.002-04:00

cold genius

2008-09-28T14:23:00.005-04:00

This Week I recommend:

>reconnecting: That is with past passions. Lucky for me, my main one is/was robotics and I'll never have to give it up because there is always something that can be done involving it. This revelation was brought into focus this past weekend when I volunteered at an off-season FIRST robotics competition. Seeing as I've been involved some form of robotics since 6th grade and intend to stay involved for the rest of my life, it was enlightening to be brought back into it after a relatively long break and see that it will always be as thrilling as it was back in middle school. We should never forget what we loved doing when we were younger in our old [ha] age.

>cold fronts: For most people, these indicate extreme cold spells, a need for floor length coats and possibly utilizing basic chemistry principles to defrost a driveway. For us Floridians, it means we get a taste of autumn weather for a few days - autumn weather meaning less water in the air than in the nearby canals for once, a breeze strong enough to mess up a game of ultimate frisbee, and possibly wearing a shirt over the usual tank top of choice. It may be temporary, but I'll take it :)

>iTunes Genius: At the risk of sounding like a sales pitch, this new feature of iTunes is really good at connecting songs in your library to each other. Think Pandora, but without the rating/elimination feature and with songs you already own. It doesn't have stuff for everything yet [how could it not have anything for 'Pardon Me' by Incubus?!] but you can update your Genius information and it will do its best. There's also a sidebar you can open and it will show you songs in the iTunes store you can buy for 'perfect' playlists, but those aren't free, so don't worry about it. =P

This week I don't recommend:
>procrastination: especially in important things like homework, studying, laundry, and cleaning your room. I meant to write more about this but...

Hmm, I can't think of anything else I don't recommend at the moment. Looks like it was a good week.

Frisbee Wisdom 6

2008-09-25T08:16:00.002-04:00

Frisbee Wisdom 5

2008-09-23T09:00:00.000-04:00

cooperativity

2008-09-22T08:57:00.007-04:00

This week I Recommend:

> Volunteering - Its fun, it makes you feel good about yourself, and sometimes you get awesome balloon art and free pizza [see below]...
> Paying Attention in Class - which I am CLEARLY not doing at the moment [though its Intro to C Programming, so it doesn't count], but I hear it helps with one's grade, so I recommend it =)

This week I don't Recommend:

> Getting Sick - Being sick is no fun, but at least you know your sick. Being in that limbo beforehand where you-could-be-getting-sick-but-if-your-fast-enough-you-could-save-yourself-but-your-a-poor-college-kid-who-can't-afford-drugs-so-you-probably-won't-be-able-to is even less fun. Also, run-on sentences. And random statements that make no sense.
> Pizza Overload - Pizza is good, pizza is great, Domino's pizza 4 days in a row will make you gain fat. [Rhyming is for pansies - just kidding ^.^]

Funny Teacher Quote of the Moment: "Its a beautiful piece of code." - Prof. Lobo, Intro to C Programming

avast

2008-09-19T14:55:00.008-04:00

Argh, mateys. Today be Talk Like a Pirate Day. Best be talkin' the talk, or ye may just take a good ol' trip off the plank. [The previous statement is supposed to be in pirate speak - I swear I knows English! =P]

Anyway, September 19 is the annual Talk Like a Pirate Day. I have no idea when it started and what its supposed to commemorate, but its definitely alot of fun. Here is a pic of my all time favorite pirate.

Ahh, any reason to post a picture of Captain Jack Sparrow is a good enough reason for me. He's followed closely by Calico Jack and Napster.

Even Google got in on it.

Arggh, back to me station - aka my non-pirate centered life.