I'm not dead. Working on Port. Here is some progress!








peace

True to form last week ended with the legendary third thing that finishes that particular sequence of bad luck. My father got laid off from his job. The company hasn't been winning any bids for jobs so they had no where to send him. (For those of you who are counting, the second calamity is the fact that two of my wisdom teeth are coming in on the same side of my mouth and it's been really painful to do ordinary things like eat...drink carbonated beverages...yawn. All the fun stuff) So now I'm rather nervous because this is something that was considered unrealistic. My father has always had a job and it was never considered otherwise. Now with this thrown in with the car (which they are finally going to estimate today), I don't know what to do. I feel like I am in a kind of limbo. I'm not sure how to help the situation.

I just wish that sometimes people were easier to talk to. That might make this all the less isolating and troublesome.

Today was my first day of class at the school. My online Aesthetics class started Monday. Yesterday I hydro-planed on a sharp curved and was thrown into a guard rail. My truck will be out of commission for a while. I am really sad about that. So in the meantime I'm driving a ugly 2008 electric blue Jeep Patriot. It's nice inside and all that but the outside is nothing to marvel at. Yet, despite my distaste for it, I somehow am falling in love with it. And the creepiest thing is that I think the car knows it.

Just a brief updating:

Finals are done (or rather were done last Thursday). I'm not sure how well I did this quarter since I has a few problems (not just school related) that became an inhibitor on the whole learning process. I am looking into several options for fixing said problems since they have become an annoyance and it seems that I can't quite do it by myself. I don't think I did terrible, but it's just not what I'm sure I could have done. Next quarter should be a little better. I think I'm just getting nervous since I graduate in December. Birthday was alright. I often miss the feelings that were inspired by birthdays when we are children. Everyone went all out and did the whole shebang. It was great. Chaz and I did go out to lunch at a the Tokyo Mandarin restaurant and I finally got to try some Japanese food. I got Chicken Udon without realizing how large the servings are. It was delicious though. And more recently, HAPPY EASTER!

Now on the the important stuff:

1.





2. I found a new obsession: Yahtzee Reviews:




3.



4.New license!





Peace

peace <3

So Gears of War launches tomorrow for the PC. With 5 new mission chapters and new online play mode... Now ask....Where will you be?

Just got home from the movies...Saw 4, of course. I had to say it was rather good. A few questions that need to be answered, but I'm sure that is where Saw 5 will come in. I wonder if that will be too much though. I really enjoyed the story line aspect of this movie, which I have to say, when placed against the others, was the dominant factor. Now, don't get me wrong, the other movies had a story, but this one was a little more involved and "smart", one could say. Rather than focusing on the gore (and there was gore), there was more of a narrative angle which I found very refreshing. It added some...merit I suppose to the whole franchise. They are headed back into a story direction, much like the first one. All in all, it wasn't too bad.

But I do have to say, there was something that bothered me while I was watching the previews. I saw a trailer for a new Jessica Alba movie called "The Eye". Now I saw "The Eye" a few years ago. How is this possible? You guessed it, the Jessica Alba "Eye" is an American remake of an Asian Horror film, much in the tradition of "Dark Water" and "The Grudge". This bothered me because I really enjoyed "The Eye" (the ending made me cry). It just seems rather odd that people say Americans aren't cultured like other countries...well don't remake a movie simply for American audiences, go watch the original. But most people don't like to read or are intimidated by watching a movie in a foreign language. I don't know...it just irked me for some reason. Anyway...I recommend checking out "The Eye".

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808465878/info

...in Gears that is. He wasn't too happy about it, but I was pretty happy with myself. Usually I'm the one getting destroyed. But it's all in good fun. I've been rather lucky to have access to the 360 over the past week. I managed to start and finish Bioshock. Awesome game! I'm not one for FPS but I really loved this one, and I recommend it highly. There were some genuinely scary moments and the visuals and character designs were great. I managed to unlock the Little Sister Savior...after the Halo 3 craze is over and I get the box again, I might run through it a second time and harvest the little girls instead.


<333


I go back to school the first of October. I was really excited about that school in Florida and I must admit my disposition has fallen lately since it didn't work out. I suppose I will just have to bear down and find another way to fix the problem. Another solution is out there somewhere. And I can't help but thinking that maybe I was trying to run away again. I really hope that isn't the case but...only time will tell.

Things have been really hinky with my parents the past few days and my dad talked about going to a lawyer on Friday. Again, only time will tell with that one as well. I'm not sure how to feel about that. It's been coming for many years now. So is it for the best? We'll see.

So I finally got my computer up and running again after spending a lot of money I didn't have. It's been a while since I've been on here because for some reason my other computer (which magically is able to run on 9 gigs of memory) didn't like Livejournal and would crash whenever I would try to upload it. Ah well. Things are really hectic right now since Otakon is this weekend. So hopefully I'll be able to update more soon.

Went to the midnight showing a Spiderman 3 on Thursday/Friday. I have to admit it had some hokey moments, and it seemed rather long, but I believe it was worth the watch. Venom was wonderfully done, in my opinion, and although I'm not too sure about Eddie (Edward Brock Jr., sir), he wasn't annoyingly bad to the point of me noticing. I suppose I can say, despite his size (my boyfriend thought maybe Franco, given his size in the movie should have played Venom) Topher did rather well. The one thing I noticed is that there was a lot of crying in that movie. It was very emo, and I'm not just talking about Peter's new hair.

I finally managed to take another day from work so I'm now only working two days. Hopefully that will help balance out the time at school and also the homework that's been coming along. It's been hard getting things in on time. I'm hoping now I'll be able to finishings and have time to experiment and start over if needs be.

On a minor note, I think my ferret Fuu has gone insane. And the little one, Suki, is still having some trouble fighting off the larger, other two ferrets. I'm still keeping them separate, but running them has been rather hard. Ah well.

Well yesterday I turned 21, something that went under the radar (thank gods, i'm not big on b-day cheer) except for those precious few (love you guys!). My aunt has been staying with us for a few days. On the surface she came from California to give me the "Louise" ring, which is given on the 21st birthday. But when I really think about it, she could have sent it in the mail, so it means a lot that she came.
( Ring pic )

This ring is given to every first born girl in each new generation along with the name Louise. So far, I'm the fifth generation to own it.

On Thursday we went to go see King Tut at the Franklin Institute. It was really interesting but I was disappointed they didn't have the death mask there. That would mean all the brochures were false advertising. But nonetheless I'm glad that we went, I mean, when are you going to see this again? Not to mention the fact that I walked away with a two foot statue of Anubis :)

Friday we went to the Adventure Aquarium since our trip to Ellis Island was canceled due to the ice storm. I posted a lot of pictures here. They revamped it awhile back and I hadn't been there since, but it looks really nice.
And Saturday before my birthday dinner we went antique shopping in Mullica Hill. I purchased an antique tea pot from Japan that is painted with brown flowers. I also couldn't pass up a black lacquer box with birds and flower inlay. And I also got a tapestry with an outdoor tea scene. I'm afraid to see how much it's going to be to frame it. My aunt also got me a 1948 edition of The Divine Comedy by Durante Degli Alighieri, complete with plates from Gustave Dore. That was very exciting.
Dinner was nice and so was the yummy cake part, despite the fact that Acme messed up my cake (forgetting the picture and all) and basically said they didn't care, cause what were they supposed to do about it. Gods I hate that place sometimes. But alls well that ends well.

And today I am staying home while my parents and aunt go to Ellis Island. I wanted to go, but I have final projects due this week and I want to make sure I'm not running behind.
Hope everyone had a nice Saint Patrick's Day! Safe drinking and all. I had my first legal drink yesterday (green apple vodka thingy) and I wasn't too keen on it. Ah well. Happy Sunday after!

The last few days have been rather hectic as I have final looming and I insist on adding more to my plate. I bought that Rosetta Stone language program for myself as a birthday present. I've been trying to be diligent and do that everyday. So far so good, except for one day. It's a lot of fun and I can't wait to see how it is in a few months.
I've also been stitching together my cosplay (nerd alert!) in the depths of the basement. Right now I'm taking a break from finishing the edges of a shawl that has turned out to be 18 feet long. I wanted it long, but it just kind of got away from me. I'm really excited about July. My friend is flying up from Florida to go with me. It should be a blast.
This week is almost over (thank gods) and on Monday night my aunt is flying in to help herald in my 21st birthday. I'm really glad she's coming. I can't wait to see her. I also need to get going on a picture for my cake. I figure I did Pyramid Head last year, so maybe I should do zombies. I don't know. We'll have to wait and see.

Been feeling kind of out of it, I suppose you could say, the past day or so. I just feel tired I suppose, a kind of head stuffiness you get when you stand in front of the mini-heater for too long. Which is something I've been doing. We had an ice storm around Valentine's Day. It made everything look like glass. It was so beautiful. I put my camera to work, practicing the aperture priority and the shutter speeds. I still need a lot of work, but it something that I find greatly entertaining.

( A much needed cut )

Now I'm off to watch The Legend of Hell House (one of my Valentine's Day gifts <33). I haven't seen it in forever so I'm excited.

Gods give me a backbone to stand up for everything I feel is necessary, one that I can use constantly but won't be confused with belligerent anger or apathy. That would be nice.

My mom's tumor is the size of an apple. Not cancerous, just an annoyance. They aren't sure what to do just yet. She has an MRI I believe tomorrow for her Sciatic nerve. And my best friend's grandmother died Sunday afternoon. They are flying up today and the funeral is set on Friday in North Jersey. So I've been trying to get someone to cover for me as not to screw over the Saturday morning perishable person since I won't be there. It will be good to see her, but I just wish it didn't have to be for this reason.

Midterms are over, and I think I've gotten away rather well. I'm very excited about Saturday because it will be my first official day off from everything in a long while. I want to try to go to the movies this weekend, probably Sunday. While I was scanning a list of movies there was an article about another remake, this time of a movie called "Cannibal Holocaust". Naturally, because of the title, I had to look it up. After reading the summary of the film in a Wikipedia article, I am horrified that anyone would remake this movie. The first one seemed enough. I can't believe there are people out there responsible for this kind of crap. But I suppose remakes are the current craze. So I guess it was bound to happen.

Uuuugh.
( Rant Ahead )

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button

Opening credits: The Noose- A Perfect Circle
Waking up: Razorblade- Blue October
1st Day of School: Gravity- Maaya Sakamoto
Falling in Love: Teardrop- Massive Attack
Breaking up: Self Deception- Lacuna Coil
Prom: Straight to Video- Mindless Self Indulgence
Life's ok: Twisted Transistor- Korn
Mental Breakdown: Devil's Never Cry- Baker and McPherson
Driving: ABCs of Kinky Sex- Lords of Acid
Flashback: Vinegar and Salt- Hooverphonic
Getting back together: Angel's Punishment- Lacuna Coil
Childbirth: Tender Sugar- Akira Yamaoka and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn(?)
Final Battle: Passions- Utadah Hikaru
Death: Le Disko- Shiny Toy Guns
End credits: Otherworld - Bill Xtillidiex Muir

Yes it's true! They made Hannibal Rising into a movie! They had to be filming while to book was being printed since it was just released in hardcover and next month it's in theaters. I'm rather excited, the book was good (although in my opinion somewhat rushed) and the movie seems to follow the same route. I haven't heard of the actor playing Lecter, but he doesn't seem to bad (preview wise). And they cast Gong Li as Lady Murasaki. She very beautiful and I think she'll pull it off. (This is the second time that I've seen her cast as a Japanese woman. I remember people were griping about that when "Memoirs" came out. I thought she did fine.) Now I have something to look forward too next month! I still want to see Pan's Labyrinth though, I wonder how that is. I have heard nothing but good things.

So who else was pissed at the season finale of Avatar? WTF is Zuko's problem? He's like the kid who keeps running into the wall, not quite getting that it's not going to move. I won't say "retarded", but...

( I don't really need anything for the Holidays )

Blah blah blahsy blah. I'm very much ready for this quarter to be over...I want to get to the holiday mess just like everyone else. (I'm lying, I just want to sit on my ass at home and watch Court TV) In three weeks my wish will be granted so I'll just have to crack down and finish my finals in the mean time. I had to drop to three courses this quarter, so I'm not too worried about it. I'm just concerned about my lack of motivation.
So I guess the Superman movie came out today or something. I heard it wasn't that great, but who knows. Not really a fan, I'm very much a Spiderman girl myself. The wait until May will be a toughie. I rented that movie Hard Candy the other day, that movie was surprising. It was very good, not at all what I thought it was going to be. One of the few movies I've gotten lately that I felt was worth the exuberant amount the store charges to rent. Also, after seeing the preview for Frank Miller's 300, I went out and bought the graphic novel (a recent trip to the comic store which ended up draining me of over $45..eek!)
Now it's back to my persuasion speech and old episodes of South Park.