You smell like beef and cheese

I still have not finished my paper. At this point I have two sentences. I am so tired of school and I have all this shit to get done. I am one lazy muthah fuckah.

*sigh*

Back to work. 

And now for something completely different

Ew ew ew ew ew

Sometimes SBTB scares me with their links. This is one of those instances. 

Close call

On Thursday morning I was elected as the grocery store runner. Since I was at my grandmother's/parent's house in Sylmar, this meant driving to the VONS on Foothill. Whilst on this little excursion I realized something. The Sayre fire came really fucking close to their house. When it was happening the news never really expanded on where exactly it was and that stupid interactive map was vague and not useful. I took the fact that my parents didn't get evacuated to be indicative of their safety. I was wrong. I drove past houses three streets down with fire damage. It scared the shit out of me. 

Then we took the 210 to the 5 to get to my Uncle's house for dinner. There are no words. If you live in the SFV or surrounding areas you need to make this drive. Its sobering. Especially going past the mobile home park. Talk about complete devastation. 

Sadness

I ate my weight in mashed potatoes

Highlights of Thanksgiving:

• Being greeted by my aunt with "Hey! Bonnie's here! Come have a jello shooter!"
• Getting smashed before dinner (courtesy of the jello shooters and delicious AMFs)
• Watching my mom get smashed before dinner time (courtesy of the jello shooters)
• Seeing my cousins from up North and listening to them talk about their love lives (I live vicariously, in case you haven't figured this out)
• Filling 2/3 of my plate with mashed potatoes, then returning for another couple of rounds. 
• Crescent rolls with cinnamon sprinkled on top and honey in the middle
• Everyone realizing that Josh was missing and yelling for his name for 5 minutes straight (my aunt has lungs on her)
• Finding out 20 minutes later that he had passed out in the other room and never heard us (even though the connecting door was right next to us)
• Seeing a bad ass shooting star while waiting for the car to warm up

Lowlights...?

• Drunk Uncle Howdy (and we thought he was awkward sober!)
• Waiting 6 hours for mashed potatoes (if I had known,  I would have stopped at In N Out on the way)
• The majority of appetizers being fish related (eeeeeewwwww!)
• The headache that followed getting smashed before eating
  

All in all, it was a fun day. I got to see family that I only see on occasions such as these and we always have good times. Mari clinged to me like she used to when she was really little so it was kind of adorable and nostalgic. Grandpa was also really cute talking about the family. And he never once mentioned kicking the bucket! Now I must go gird my loins for black friday. Off I go...

Random

Helmut!

An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day

'Tis Thanksgiving and I shall eat all the mashed potatoes!!!! Muahaha!

Anyway, Happy Turkey Day! Don't forget to wear your Thanksgiving Pants!

So my phone doesn't ring when I have texts anymore. I have tested it a thousand times and ended up at the Sprint store. The verdict: they have no idea why its not working and I get a new phone! Yay! No more scratches! good times. 

Fail

I drove down to D-land two hours ago to find that the book signing was sold out. Apparently Disney didn't stick to their guns on the "no lining up until 1am" idea. By the time I got there at 1:30 there was already like a thousand people and no chance of me getting a wristband. That's fine. I'm glad that it didn't take me more than 45 minutes driving either way. Sadly this also means I actually have to go to school today. Lame. 

No Sleep + Hunger + Illogical Fools=Bad news

Ugh! I wish I had called out for work today. I knew I was tired upon waking and knew the store was gonna look like shit cause it did yesterday. I didn't really want to deal with the walk through but I told myself to suck it up. So I spent and hour being told that the store looked like shit (DUH!) and it was a good thing Preston was back because look what happens we he leaves (a.k.a. when I get put in charge). Fuck you. I did my best, but I also had 5 events to spearhead. Plus the merch team still needs a good amount of training at least as far as endcaps go, but we never have time to show them. It was frustrating to say the least. Then for the rest of the day I got a bunch of retarded logic and bad decisions thrown at me. I think the lack of sleep was like the equivalent of alcohol and loosened my tongue. I just couldn't take the horrible horrible logic (or lack thereof). 

As a result I was basically told that I used to be so nice and now I am mean. Talk about a passive-aggressive kindergarten reaction. I'm getting tired of having a 5 year old for a boss. And I'd just like to say, that I was not mean today. I can be mean. I can be a huge fucking bitch, but I choose not to. But I can't take the stupidity anymore, I have to speak up when it gets too ridiculous. 

In other news, there's a possibility I might ditch school and go see the Jo Bros tomorrow at Disneyland. I'm waiting to find out if my cousin can go with, but if she can't I don't really want to go by myself. We'll see. 

For now, I'm gonna take a nap and forget I even went to work today. 

Senate: 1 Automotive Industry: 0

So whilst watching the news last night, there was a report about the 3 major automotive companies and their plea for federal aid to bail them out. Apparently, there was a hearing scheduled yesterday where the heads of the companies could appeal to the Senate directly. Yeah, well these higher-ups decided that the best mode of transportation to this hearing was by private jet. This did not sit well with the people they were appealing to for money. The meeting essentially started with the CEOs getting a dressing down from one of them. Its pretty hilarious to watch someone get scolded so publicly. My favorite line was "Couldn't you have jet-pooled or something?" HAHAHAHA!! Jetpooling, its all the rage.

Good times.

Fucked up, completely fucked up

So, I don't even know where to start. 

My mind can't really process everything because I am so fucking angry its ridiculous. 

In my previous post I mentioned that my aunt's house in Sylmar had suffered fire damage. The fire department then yellow-tagged the structure, meaning that they can enter, but not inhabit the home. So they routinely went to the house to air it out and get more clothes and stuff that they needed. So, like the three days prior, my aunt went to the house on Tuesday and found that it had been burgled and ransacked. 

Apparently the police department decided it was unnecessary to have anyone keeping an eye on the neighborhood because the fire itself had moved on. BULLSHIT! There are dozens of houses that are yellow-tagged which means...THERE ARE NO PEOPLE IN THEM! 

Add to that the fact that my aunt actually asked the officer who finally showed up on Monday at 4 PM why all these people were being let to the neighborhood and received the rather fucktarded answer "Oh, they're just curious". Yeah, um, people who are "just curious" don't walk into other peoples' backyards. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! 

Obviously they took all the TVs and other valuable possessions. They also found some christmas presents hidden away and took those too. But the really fucked up part, was that they took my little cousin's toys. Not even the expensive ones or the portable DVD player sitting right on his dresser. No, the little dinosaurs and cars that he loves and SLEEPS with every night. WTF?

So my aunt got interviewed by several news stations today and I saw her later on in the evening when I stopped by my grandma's house. She was trying to put on a brave face, but I noticed those moments when she fell silent and you could see the defeat on her face. It broke my heart.  The kids know that someone broke into the house and took some of their things, but they have no idea that its a wreck inside. Mari's room is the worst. Not only does it have the burn marks from the fire in the garage below her room, but whoever broke in absolutely destroyed her room. 

My mother also brought up a good point. How do the firefighters feel knowing that they risked their lives to preserve as much of these structures and the things within, only to have all that risk and work negated by some stupid fuckers, who want to take advantage of already suffering families? If I was a firefighter, I'd think "Well, shit, I should've just let the fire take it all". And frankly, I'd rather have my possessions lost in a fire than stolen because I was not allowed to safeguard my own home. 

Its just bullshit, and I am stupid angry. Fuck. 

If you want to watch the interview, its on this page

The roof...no, wait...the garage is on fire

If you aren't already aware, pretty much half of my dad's family lives in Sylmar and were forced to evacuate because of the fire that started Friday night. My aunt's house was the closest to the fires and actually suffered damage. I was told by my dad that their garage ignited from within and they no longer have a tree house, but the house itself is fine. Now, I understood this, but I don't think I fully grasped what exactly happened until my aunt sent links to these pictures of the garage fire that she found online. This is actually her house.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Scary shit, my friends. 

The family is okay, a little emotionally scarred, but still safe. Needless to say, they won't be back in the house for a while. 

Ugh, school tomorrow and I need to start working on all those final projects coming up. 

I'm watching Top Chef and there's a chef on there who reminds me of Dr. Chase on House. I keep finding myself disappointed when he speaks and there's no Australian accent. 

In other news, graduation definitely not happening this school year. 

Good times

I just woke up. 

I had the best 13 hour sleep ever. Good times. 

Kickball!!!! I can't wait to just be a total kid tonight and just play. I'll probably suck, but that's okay. 

Yesterday was a success. I managed to get everything done and at least at a B level. So hopefully this semester will turn out well. 

I win

I just wanted to add on to my previously posted speech. I wrote this at 3am and could not for the fucking life of me think of ANY of the movie blogs that I or people I know have been to or frequent. Shameful, I know. I really could only think of Perez Hilton as a major name and SBTB cause I go there everyday. 

Aside from that, SUCCESS!!!!...so far. The speech went well. I flubbed a few quotes because of nerves and exhaustion, but I accept this. My poem turned out well and I feel comfortable posting it here, so I shall. One more assignment for the day, so cross your fingers that I somehow finish this book and come up with a reasonable discussion topic that incorporates the text and deconstruction theory. 

In other, exciting news, my teacher extended the 10 page research paper due date to Dec. 2. I. LOVE. HER.

Here's the poem: (and no comments on the title; it made sense)
New Moon

But you and I are brave as we traverse this mysterious void
with only 150 watts of light to guide us.
No landmarks to be seen,
all our maps and compasses useless,
now its instinct we must trust,
as we pass through this black hole—
just you and me and the used
Honda we bought in Hope on a whim.
The stars, like a frightened child,
seek refuge in the safety of their pitch-black blankets,
leaving us behind in a moonless sky—
without mom we’re all cowards, right?
I’ve taken the wheel so you can rest
and dream about an end to this endless journey,
while I dream too—ignoring the ache
of my foot pressing down on the accelerator-
hoping when you wake I’ll see the sun
reflected in your hazel eyes
and this shapeless, colorless place will be nothing
but a vague memory in our rearview mirror.

Blogging Speech

More than 175,000 blogs are created every day. That’s a little more than two every second. With the rapid development of the Internet, blogs have become an undeniable part of online culture. Many writers and businesses are becoming aware of the importance of blogs and their ability to reach readers on a faster and more personal level. Today we’ll discuss exactly what a blog is, who is blogging, and the use of blogs in mainstream media.
What is a blog? The word blog is a contraction of the term Web Log, and it has its origins in the daily logs of sea captains. A blog is simply a web site maintained by an individual consisting of regular entries. Merriam Webster defines a blog as “a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer”. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the first blog was created by Tim Berners-Lee in 1992 “to outline and render visible the ongoing development of the Web and the software necessary to navigate this new space”. From that point on the development of these personal web logs shifted from the technological elite to the average individual.
In Scott Gruban’s article “Think Twice Before You Type”, found in the Georgia Law Review in Winter 2008, he states that in “2005 surveys showed that nineteen percent of U.S. Internet users between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine have created blogs compared to just five percent of those fifty years and older, leading the study's director to assert that "[b]logging is very much the province of the young”. But young people aren’t the only ones writing blogs. Up and coming and unpublished authors have tapped into this new form of self-publication. In the article “Why I Blog” in the November 2008 issue of Atlantic Monthly, Andrew Sullivan says, “The simple experience of being able to directly broadcast my own words to readers was an exhilarating literary liberation”. Not only is it easier than traversing the often rejection filled road toward publication, but it also offers one thing that regular publication doesn’t: a personal connection with the reader. In his article, Sullivan also comments that “alone in front of a computer, at any moment, are two people: a blogger and a reader. It renders a writer and a reader not just connected but linked in a visceral, personal way”. Blogging has also become an important player in News Media.

More and more people are discovering blogs as a source of news. In the article “This Blogging Life” on the Los Angeles Times website Patrick Goldstein, a longtime contributor to the paper says that the LA Times “now has 40-plus blogs, with more being launched all the time” and that his guess is that “someday soon our blogs will be the backbone of the paper”. Almost every major news outlet has a blog portion of their website and rely heavily on it to provide rapidly updated information for online readers. Blogs are becoming increasingly relied on to provide news for all different categories. For up to date information on all things Hollywood, readers can simply check out the world of Perez Hilton, whose fame was built out of his blog. Movie buffs can get their fix at cinematical.com and romance readers at smartbitchestrashybooks.com. Blogs are everywhere, providing news coverage on every subject. But are they a reliable source for this news?
Since a blog is widely considered to simply be one person’s opinion, can we trust any blog to objectively convey what is going on in the world? The increasing reliance on blogs for news seems to indicate yes. However, in a note to the Los Angeles Times, longtime reader Lori Morse wrote “I do not care for the blogs, I just see them interfering with real news reportage. Everybody has an opinion but what are the FACTS”. The same blogger/reader connection that Andrew Sullivan celebrates seems to also hinder the credibility of the news reporter. The personal connection of the writer creates too much of a barrier between the reader and the facts in the reporter’s world. It seems even though blogs have definitely become an important part of the World Wide Web, it still remains to be seen whether or not they will be considered as a reliable news medium.
Today we’ve seen how the blog developed from the singular journal of one technologically savvy man to the daily creation of over 175,000 web logs. We also discussed the blog as the domain of the younger generation and the aspiring writer and how blogging has also become a growing part of the News Media. Blogging is a new and simple way of sharing information with thousands of readers, so if you have an opinion you want to share, check out blogspot or any of the other hosting sites and create yours today. I’ve already posted this speech on mine.

So I am being a bad student and watching Ghost Hunters as I write my speech. 

I really just wanted to say that it made me smile when Grant said he drives a Mini. He is just too precious. If that's how they grow 'em in Rhode Island, I need to go for a visit and find me a Grant. 

Everything is due tomorrow. 

I am so SOL.

le tired

Success!

The store looks bichon

I can't take that ride

I can't believe they still air this! Made me smile.

I'm doing an informative speech on Blogging and its pretty interesting reading these articles and considering their relevance to myself, amateur blogger that I am. 

Another overnight tonight. I think I'll bring an energy drink. I am comforted by the fact that I don't have school tomorrow since its a holiday. Yay! I can actually sleep before returning to work later that day. 

Things due for school in the next two weeks that I haven't done: 

1. Finish reading Geek Love
   
2. Create outline of a group discussion (that I will lead) on one aspect of Geek Love
   
3. Finish reading Uncle Tom's Cabin and start reading Ruth Hall
   
4. Write a poem that I won't be embarrassed to have workshopped on Thursday
   
5. Research Blogging
   
6. Create outline for informative speech on Blogging
   
7. Practice informative speech for delivery on Thursday
   
8. Choose topic for 10 page paper on 19th century women's literature
   
9. Research topic and write paper (due next Thursday)
   
10. Fill out speech evaluation form for fellow classmate's speech
    
11. Write 1 page review of speeches I observed last Sunday
    
12. Write 1-2 page self evaluation of informative speech
    
13. Research topic for persuasive speech
    

The only things not due this week are numbers 8,9, 12, and 13. Lame. 

In other news, someone needs to buy this and I need to play it! Get over here!

I love Scorpion.

Bobby

Today sucked. 

 

I was mostly okay until they presented arms and played the bugle. 

After that all I could think about was this:

I hate being a Debbie Downer, but this week sucks. Actually, this month kinda sucks with the exception of Fattie Day coming up.

I need a break from my life.

Elections, Inspections, and unfortunate Audits

In the 7 hours that I was not at work today we were visited by the health inspector and the loss prevention person at the same time. And our store was an utter failure. It was all stupid shit too. Oh well. I was and am too tired to really care. Even though I am getting my first write up over it. Lame. 

I also voted today, but some of it was half-assed. But I got a free ice cream, so I am satisfied with my contribution to the next four years. Good luck Barry. 

Good night world. 

The easy way is my way

I'm a failure. But I'm only human, and I have needs too damn it!

I fell asleep twice in speech class and again on the walk home after deciding to ditch my other two classes (sorry to the neighbor whose lawn I tread upon). I feel bad about ditching only because I know I won't be there on Thursday either. Hopefully we don't do anything important. 

Overnight went well. Not enough hours to finish everything, but when is there ever?

I am off to get some blessed sleep

Amendment

I have just recalled a very encouraging saying:

Mo' money, mo' problems

So maybe I'll take one of the things off my stress list. I'd rather not have mo' problems at the moment.

Thanks to my wifey and sancha for the support.  

P.S. That mention of berry cider made me want a girls night!

Don't mind me, just venting my crap into the ether

Overnight shift tonight! Yay!...not. Now begins my 34 hours of being awake. Awesome. In that time I work two shifts, go to school, vote, and at some point eat. 

We'll see how this pans out. 

Halloween was fun. The party went well with minimal drama. Most of my favorite people were there and KTP got drunk, which is a rare amusement. 

I'm looking forward to the Trivial Pursuit party on Friday. I would love to have to game to actually play, but I only have the really old original version and LOTR trivial pursuit.  I suppose these shall have to do.

THINGS THAT ARE STRESSING ME OUT THIS WEEK:

• Money!$?: I am broke
  
• Funerals: a sad interruption to my weekly schedule
• Time: where does it all go?
  
• School work: I am so behind
  
• Graduation: as in "can I plausibly graduate this school year?"
  
• Work: the holidays approach...
  
• Friend drama: can I DTB and still live with myself?
  
• Voting: I have to make my own mind?!
• Health: I need to get back on the gravy train, but its so hard!

Complaints! Complaints! Complaints!

I'd apologize, but I'm pretty sure no one really reads this anyway. 

Ugh. Pity party. Just shoot me. 

Random picture:

At least I got to see some lightning...

I just woke up to the furious pounding of rain upon my bedroom windows. My first thought was: "What is that sound?". My second thought: "Shit. I didn't finish cleaning up outside.". Crap.

So as per my usual routine post-any sort of bash, I put away all traces of food (I don't need no 'coons eating my garbage) and anything else I think my be appealing to critters or breakable. After that I usually leave the cups/bottles/cans and such for next day clean up since there are so many. Since its Halloween, I also had decorations just chillin' out there. 

Once I heard it slamming down on the roof, I went to ask Emily if she thought we should go cover up some shit. Apparently, her only worry was the electrical equipment (good point, I hadn't thought of that) so I threw on a hoodie and flipflops and started bringing in shit. Man, the more I brought in, the more stuff I realized I did not want to get wet. So after bringing in all the important stuff, I tore down the black tablecloths from the hallway and threw them over the tables, using various bottles to hold them down. 

It was at about this time when I remembered we had to do this same thing last year. I thought it was "live and learn". Apparently its "live and completely forget until a year later and about 4 hours to late for any practical application of the knowledge". Frak.