Avoiding a Fatal Car Wreck

So I got some really crappy school news yesterday (which I am not EVEN going to elaborate upon because it makes me so angry) that I hopefully can remedy in one semester instead of having to take AN ENTIRE EXTRA SEMESTER to finish this gorram degree. In an effort to not have my head explode right off of my body, I am going to apply the same logic to this that I apply to my life sometimes when I am running late:

God is a big guy, and I am of the opinion that everything happens for a purpose; even if it sucks really bad. On a small scale, for example, is running late. I mean, yes, you're not going to get to wherever it is on time and you might get in trouble or at least frowned at sternly, but I like to think that if I was on time, I would be driving however many seconds or minutes earlier and I might be in a fatal car wreck because of it. So, when I run late, I just remember that God does stuff like that on purpose (even my lame ass inability to be punctual) and even though it sucks, it's going to be OK. Sometimes even better than OK. Sometimes (more of the time than not, really) it's exactly the way it needed to be.


"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

- • -

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him...


Safe Keeping

Jer. 29:11 & Rom. 8:28
Photo by Samantha Lamb

Beedy Pictures!

This was SOO much fun!! Wow... Killed a couple of hours pretty efficiently, too. And mine only cost about $20 bucks. I was pretty impressed with myself. Lookie:

Dangly earrings and bracelet to match my new shoes


Clasp detail (SO cute!)


What the earrings look like on


Super fun. Will do this again for sure.

Eedy, Eedy, Beedy!

I'm sure my Alyssa friend thinks I'm a total moron because every time I talk about how we're about to go to Spiral Beadery (this cool place in town that provides you with beads and tools and stuff to make your own jewelry) and make pretties, I call it "beeeedy" with varying numbers of e's depending on how emphatic I want to be.

But I just think it's funnier (inside my own head) to say, "Let's go to Beedy!" like a partially incoherent child, than to just be a normal person and say, "It's going to be a total riot going to Spiral Beadery today to be creative and play in the beads!"

So that's this morning and then work at 1. I'll post pictures of my creations when I get to work! Yay!!



Beeeeeeeedy!!!
(see? a damn child.)





Pretty beads found here

I'm a mute today

Well, at least this morning.

I have a swollen uvula (that's the hangy ball in the back of your throat, not a girly part...{it's not Thursday... ew...})

Until March of this year, I hadn't ever had this happen before, nor had I even heard of it. So imagine my surprise when I Googled it and came up with this. Anyhow, the little bastert has showed up again and since just eating cold stuff all morning worked pretty good last time, my venti Strawberries and Cream Frappuccino will do nicely. I also find that this is one of those things that doesn't seem so bad until you see it, so I'm not even going to check it out this time. That was an unfortunate decision first time around...

So, um, yeah. That's the morning for me. Thankfully, I can still hum. Not that I sing full blast at the office, but I do get to rocking out back here sometimes. Since I have my mind fully occupied on my hangy ball situation, humming will have to be sufficient.

Here's some music that The Bloggess tweeted about the other day. It's so cute! And if you don't read The Bloggess... remedy this. She is absolutely hysterical.

Bitter Heart - Zee Avi


Yeah, it is NOT easy to talk with this hangy ball affliction. Blech...

I should probably go ahead and apologize...

...for the content of this post and how completely meaningless it is. However, it amuses me AND wastes time, which are two very valuable things to me at this moment, so without further ado, I present...


Pressing issues at work.

Today, this includes:

• Which of the alarming quantity of funny/nonchalant/emo self portraits I'm taking has the most Facebook potential


• Harassing everyone that I know is available to entertain me (Many thanks to Seester, Joel, Kelly and John)


• Deciding whether a side ponytail or a high ponytail is better


• Angling my portrait machine (ahem... computer) so the mess over my right shoulder isn't visible (not my mess, don't know where it goes to clean it up)


• Downloading a crapton of music (You're welcome, Joel)

Anyway... yeah. I don't really feel like playing WoW at this moment, and I don't want to watch a movie or TV, either. So, of course, in this situation, I present you with a song and fruits of my boreditude!

Trolley Wood - Eisley





I can't resist that stupid mosaic maker.

Science, Love and Kleptomania

Have you ever been in a waiting room or someplace and picked up a magazine that you ended up liking so much that you swiped it? I have. The Time Magazine from January 2008 was in the waiting area at the apartment complex I lived in a while ago and the article The Science of Romance: Why We Love was so interesting, that I totally took the issue with me (there was another one on the table, so I didn't feel too bad).

Anyway, I found it when I was unpacking and cleaning the other day and I reread it yesterday. The "Why We Love" article discussed the usual "Men like women with a low waist to hip ratio and big boobs because they're signs of fertility" and "Women like men with deep voices and broad shoulders because that's indicative of high testosterone" and it talked about pheromones playing an important role in the choosing of a mate. I have heard most of this information in one form or another from watching The Discovery Channel and whatnot, but they said something that I haven't heard before, but makes a lot of sense.

Paraphrased:

There is a set of genes called the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) which influences tissue rejection. If a person tries to conceive a child with someone whose MHC is too similar to their own, and the risk increases that the womb will reject the pregnancy.

Studies show that lab mice can smell too-similar MHC in the urine of other mice and will avoid mating with those individuals. In later work (conducted at the University of Bern in Switzerland), human females were asked to smell t-shirts worn by anonymous males and then pick which ones appealed to them. Time and again, they chose the ones worn by men with a safely different MHC.

And if the smell of MHC can't get the job done, the taste will. Saliva also contains the compound, a fact that may partly explain the custom of kissing. Kissing might be a "taste test."


This is all well and good and interesting and, truly, makes a lot of sense. It's not that far from stuff I have heard before, but it hasn't ever been explained any further than "Smells have an effect on who we find attractive." In a very primitive (and practical) way, this explanation with the MHC explains why the smells work like they do.

This, I had not thought of, and I find to be very intriguing:


Precise as the MHC-detection system is, it can be confounded. One thing that throws us off the scent is the birth-control pill. Women who are on the Pill (which chemically simulates pregnancy) tend to choose wrong in the t-shirt test. When they discontinue the daily hormone dose, the protective smell mechanism kicks back in. "A colleague of mine wonders if the Pill may contribute to divorce," says chemist Charles Wysocki (of the Monell Chemical Sense Center in Philadelphia). "Women pick a husband when they're on birth control, then quit to have a baby and realize they've made a mistake."


Wow! Isn't that crazy? Sure gives you something to think about, huh?





Apologies. I couldn't find a higher resolution of that image. Like, one you can actually read...

Let's.

"Let's get married," he said one night over dinner at a local hangout, to which she replied simply,

"Let's."






Ronald Reagan's proposal to Nancy, via TIME Magazine, Jan. 2008

I know I just posted like five seconds ago...

...but I have to say that Samantha Lamb's photos look like what a Hem song sounds like. Try it. Look at the photos in either the photostream or just in my previous blog entry while listening to this song and see what you think!

Lucky - Hem

I think I have Swine Flu in my neck.

Ok, so maybe not.


But holy CRAP. My lymph node or gland or muscle or something in my neck is all swollen and painful. And only on the right side, which, on the one hand, is nice, because I get a little relief, but it's also very annoying. I feel a bit feverish, too. Not a lot, but just enough to make me think, "Hmm... will this totally ruin my weekend?" (Though, it's not like I had anything actually planned, anyhow.)

Ok, I have a big picture frame that I have almost no pictures for, so I think I'm going to rip photos off of Facebook and print quotes to go in it. It's one with 3 layers of glass so it has a cool floaty effect.

Any quote suggestions for me?


I may also have to buy some of Samantha Lamb's photos from this little place in OKC called Cuppies and Joe. They are a precious coffee and cupcake place. Inside, it pretty much looks like what an Etsy store would be in real life. Anyway, Samantha Lamb has some postcards and prints for sale there and they're SO lovely! I encourage you to look at her whole photostream, but here are several of my favorites:


Given

Harold and his bear Honey

gracious in goodness

Banjos & Bulbs

Thesis

making a house a home

Lock yourself away

womb

All images by Samantha Lamb

Real life

Vacations are wonderful. Really, no matter what you choose to do with your time away from work, it's the suspension of reality that is the best part. Coincidentally, that is also the most heartbreaking part of going back to work. I say I'd get tired of sleeping in and watching movies and eating delicious food and going neat places and not having to go to work... but I don't know that I'd really get tired of that.




Rocks, water and me. Bricktown, OKC

Bison... not as stable as it looks.

Baby Duckies!! They were so damn cute...

I so should have made him take another one. My hair is all in my face.


So anyway, I am back in the real world and I am thinking of a quote from Someone Like You. Admittedly, it's not the same scenario, but I feel it's still appropriate:


"There are few things sadder in this life than watching someone walk away after they've left you, watching the distance between your bodies expand until there's nothing... but empty space and silence. "

him: You're going to cry.
me: Shut up. I am not.
him: You're so going to cry.

So I found some Bunny Ears...

And I have been cleaning in them. Rümmi didn't even notice for about 5 minutes. I'm not sure what that says about her observational skills, but that's okay. She was helping me go through my last bit of unpacking. She's aresome (not a typo). :)

To clean, or not to clean...

Who's putting off the last bit of unpacking that needs to be done before the actual cleaning can begin?



oh, right. That would be me.



I promise I'll be all ready and clean and yada yada... but I'm going to do a bit of shopping first. (Hell, yes, Victoria's Secret discount! I knew I worked there for a reason...)



But, as soon as I get back then I'll clean. Promise. Promise promise.


hehe...


I haven't really tried to figure it out, but I find some great images via Google Images and they end up being Flickr Images that I can't find THROUGH Flickr. This is one of them.

100th Post!!

Wow! I can't believe I've already posted 100 times. Geez.


Well, to celebrate this occasion, I feel I should blog about something that means a lot to me. Something that changed my life forever.


a potato.


Not just any potato, friends. This was a life altering spud of epic proportions. I'm not kidding when I say that for weeks after this potato incident, I couldn't go more than 3 days without mentioning it. People, this tuber consumed my thoughts. It's story time:



Over Thanksgiving, my Li'l Brudder and Seester and I went to southish Texas to see my Dad. Not ON Thanksgiving, but the day before, we went to this small town eatery for lunch. It was some manner of barbecue place and so they obviously had baked potatoes. They had something I had officially never seen before, but I was so intrigued, and it sounded so delicious that I ordered it. (Looking back, I am SO glad I did and yet I also have a healthy {ha, healthy} amount of regret tied to the experience. Mainly because after I ate it, I wanted to die. So much potato... anyway, back to the story.)

The potato I ordered ended up being about the size of a softball and a half. That is not remotely a small potato, or even a medium one. This potato meant business. It had my standard potato trappings of butter, cheese and sour cream, but here's where the magic happened: There was a chicken fried steak on, nay, in this potato. A whole chicken fried steak. On/In this mammoth potato. And white gravy, because you can't eat a chicken fried steak without white gravy.

That's the part that I look upon fondly. The actual potato. Eating the whole thing? I don't exactly look upon that with the same sense of nostalgia and general happiness associated with good food memories. *whew*

Anyway, to you who read this and see my delightful potato as an abomination to food everywhere, I am sad for you. Maybe it's just my general Southern upbringing that makes me particularly susceptible to the wiles of foods of this nature, but either way... that potato affected my life more than some people, and for that, it gets its own commemorative blog post.




And now a picture of a lizard on a chaise lounge (because this is what I found when I was trying to find a graphic of the number 100):




hahahahahahahaha


Hiliarious. Explanation here.

Pfft, just when I start to get mad

I see THIS Disney Trailer:




I'm still not sorry for implying that Hannah Montana is only being pushed for its doll sales.

Finally got my motivation back

Ok, I need to unpack my apartment. I mean, geez. We moved in over Spring Break and I have yet to actually unpack the vast majority of my belongings. However, I have company coming this weekend, so it's time to unleash my inner domestic goddess (if I even have one... let's hope so) and organize and clean!


Actually, when I get in the right mood and listen to the music, cleaning and organizing all my garbage is actually kind of enjoyable. Yesterday was NOT this day. I was totally a lazy person all afternoon and then there was a tornado (no kidding. 'Nado.) and so I just wasn't in the mood to do anything but sit in my chair and veg. Today, though... the inspiration has struck! I have music! I have macaroni and chicken nuggets! I have the urge to clean!!


Yippee!!

In honor of said motivation, I'm going to share a few of my favorite cleaning musics. They may or may not be Guitar Hero songs:


Lay Down - Priestess


Holiday in Cambodia - Dead Kennedys


Sick, Sick, Sick - Queens of the Stoneage

Disney, why have you forsaken me?

So Meg over at The Wild and Wily Ways of a Brunette Bombshell posted about classic Disney movies and her beef with their decline into pure consumerism. I started to write a comment to her, but then I realized that I basically had just written a post in her comment box, so I came over here and wrote it out instead. This is what I have to say in response:

I could not agree more!!

Not even kidding: I have been slowly amassing all of the best Disney movies, either on VHS or DVD, whatever, for when (when, when {I like to say it three times to reinforce the certainty...ahem...}) I have kids, because I can't be sure if Disney (or anyone) will ever be able to produce films of the same caliber as the animated (and some not animated) films of our childhood and before.

World's longest sentence... anyway, I submit for review some of my favorites that MY children will watch (some Disney, some not):

• Robin Hood (Animated foxes... yum)


• The Rescuers, and Rescuers Down Under


• Prince of Egypt


• Babe


• Fern Gully

The above list is, of course, in addition to these mandatory classics:

• The Little Mermaid


• Beauty and the Beast


• Aladdin


• The Lion King


• Cinderella


• Sleeping Beauty


• Mulan

Yeah, so what if basically the definition of a "Classic" is just that it has a good love story? Sue me. I digress...


Oh, Disney, we're all begging you: return to the days of yore when you had something to say other than "Buy a Hannah Montana doll!" We miss our princes, princesses, love stories, magic carpets, singing foxes, castles, good triumphing over evil, the prince getting his gal, the gal getting her prince, fantastic music with singable soundtracks, fairies...


I could go on...




Orginal painting found here

Gloating post

I apologize in advance for the intense gloating I'm about to do, but it has to be done.


I frickin' LOVE my job.


The work I do is basically secretarial paperworky kind of stuff, but there is enough talking to folks on the phone that I do get some human contact. My boss is so nice, and the two lovely ladies I work with are fantastic beyond measure, too. The hours are WAY flexible, the people I work with are awesome, the work is pretty light and it's literally only a minute from my apartment. This is all in addition to when it's slow (which it can be really slow, sometimes), I can watch TV or play WoW or read or whatever I want pretty much. See what I mean?

I will never have it this good ever again.


Also, they always have Post-its, which (as is evident by the photo) is totally necessary for me to function.

"Where's my person?"

I saw this on a friend of mine's Facebook (the title of this post is his caption). I hope he won't mind me being in love with it and arting it up a little for blogging purposes. (he doesn't, I asked him.)





I thought it was precious.

Summersong

In summer, the song sings itself.

-William Carlos Williams


My whole life feels l like a huge sigh of relief. I'm serious. Like, all of it. I don't even get overwhelmed feeling when I think about future stuff I have to get accomplished. I don't have to go to work until 1pm on any given day, and I have time to clean my apartment and eat better and play lots of WoW and watch lots of movies (sometime by myself, though I prefer it otherwise) and all kinds of things that I never feel like I have time for during school.

I think I'm going to watch TV all day at work today. *sigh* :-)


Anyhow, this is an official "Thank You" to summer for finally arriving and smiling its opportunity in the way that only Summer can.








Summer Sunshine

Oh, Weepies....

"I only think about you
if it's raining...

...or it's not.

What a compliment!

My dear friend (and asian little sister) Carolyn gave me a fabulous compliment yesterday.


"You have the best music."


I love being able to put music up here because, I mean, yeah, there's the whole "opera singer" thing I have going on, but I just really like music. And I like for other people to like music. So, here's to you, lady. Another song I rock out to (in an Indie way) and hopefully I'll continue to provide worthy tunes.


Elevator Love Letter - Stars

Don't go, say you'll stay
Spend a lazy Sunday
In my arms, I won't take
Anything away

Google Image Search is rocking my face off

Holy crap.

So I am looking for a picture of a tomato (a little tomato, to be precise) and I have to say, I am trés impressed with Google's new image searching features. You can actually narrow it down by the type of picture and the main color in it!! Again, I'm a little blown away that Google is able to do this. Anyway, it will make finding pictures for this blog easier, I'm sure. Ha! Thanks, Google!


Why am I looking for pictures of little tomatoes, you ask? This is why:


Hang on Little Tomato - Pink Martini

The sun has left and forgotten me
It's dark, I cannot see.
Why does this rain pour down?
I'm gonna drown
In a sea of deep confusion.

Somebody told me, I don't know who
Whenever you are sad and blue
And you're feelin' all alone and left behind
Just take a look inside and you will find:

You gotta hold on, hold on through the night.
Hang on, things will be all right.
Even when it's dark
And not a bit of sparkling
Sing-song sunshine from above
Spreading rays of sunny love.

Just hang on, hang on to the vine.
Stay on, soon you'll be divine.
If you start to cry, look up to the sky,
Something's coming up ahead
To turn your tears to dew instead! <-- I love this part!

And so I hold on to his advice
When change is hard and not so nice.
You listen to your heart the whole night through
Your sunny someday will come one day soon to you.

My return to the land of the living

I updated my Facebook status to let the world know that I am done with all my school responsibilities this semester (THANK GOD) and my friend John said, "Finally your tweets might be less of a downer all the time... ;)"

So, I formally apologize for my lack of characteristic up-ness in these recent times. At this point, I will not obsess over grades and school and whatnot, as there's not a thing I can do about it (This is my Hakuna Matata reflex. I have talked about it a little before). I'll probably check the online grade postings like it's a cast list waiting to go up, but stress time is officially over.


I absolutely cannot express how glad I am that it's finally summer. I was very, I guess resentful is the best word for it, resentful this semester with regard to my classes. The relief of knowing that all I am truly responsible for is showing up to work is just... so.... nice... *sigh*


I have very high hopes for this summer, too. Last summer was great, don't get me wrong, but my job kept me completely tied to OKC. I literally left the city for 2 days. This will NOT be the case this summer. I have concerts and operas and digging for diamonds (yes, I'm serious. How ama-za-zing does this look??) and who-knows-what else I want to do. Even if I don't get to do all (or heck, any) of it, just having the ability to get up and go feels so good.

And because I'm all about lists, I'm going to make a Summer List. I was going to call it a "To-do" list, but it's not really that. It's more of a "All the things I may have in store for me this summer" list:

• Go to Tulsa to see A Little Night Music and My Fair Lady. I have several friends involved and I had a BLAST last year when I went.


• See Ben Folds in Tulsa or Fayetteville (pending financial situation and desire to see 1964: The Tribute in Wichita Falls the same day as the Tulsa concert)


• Seester and I have been wanting to go to Crater of Diamonds State Park for a LONG time. If we can get that together, it would be flipping sweet.


• My friend Shelley will be in Tanglewood teaching kids at the camp part, but she said that I could (read: should) come see her because it's like "Disneyworld, but for music." Sounds good to me.


• My Alyssa friend and I jokingly talked about starting a store on Etsy to maybe profitably get rid of some of the things that are created when we need a crafty outlet for our creativeness. I was only half joking.

I should also include a couple of not quite as fun (but VERY IMPORTANT) things:

• Learn the Four Last Songs by R. Strauss for my recital


• Do research and/or begin work on my thesis

And that's just the stuff I know off the top of my head. I haven't even thought about 4th of July or my birthday (turning 25. Whoatown.) at the end of July or ever seeing my dad in southish Texas or just going to Wichita Falls at random to see Seester, Li'l Brudder, and my mom. This is going to be awesome.


Summer, I have waited all semester for you to get here:



Let's do this.




Thought I should introduce Li'l Brudder properly, but aside from pics of him with a jewfro, I can't really find a good picture. So ignore my retarded expression, if you don't mind:





However, I also think his jewfro is endlessly hilarious, so here's Brudder and Pops a while back ago:

lawls.

Sailboats

Bright Blue Music - Michael Torke

I am (well, was) working on a paper and heard this song and had to tell a little story to any and all of you guys that read this thing.

I remember the first time I heard this piece last year. I was sitting with my friend Neil, and having never heard this piece, I turned to him about 10 seconds into it and said, "This song is about sailboats. Like, in Maine, or someplace." He kind of laughed at me, but I think he came over to my way of thinking by the end of it. It's kind of a long listen (just over 9 minutes), but it's beautiful and vibrant and simply glorious.


And it makes me think of sailboats:



Those, yes, but most of all, this one:



Can you hear the seagulls flying around? See the people eating in a cafe on the harbor and the lovers sitting on a bench?

I so can.

1. Sailboat Harbour
2. boston harbor sailboats
3. Sailboats in St Thomas harbor
4. A Calm Wintery Harbor
5. Sailboat on Sydney Harbour

What's that, body?

You're mad at me because I keep feeding you total garbage food?

Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. Just let me get through this last week of emotional eating (otherwise known as Finals Week) and I promise to go back to feeding you better stuff. Cross my heart...

Cinco de Mayo!

Can we talk about for a second how super pumped I am to be going to The Judge's place for an epic Firefly-a-thon and nachos etc. in honor of Cinco de Mayo?


It's going to be awesome.

I didn't think I'd find this

I remembered reading the phrase on her secret and I have been looking for it for probably an hour.


Finally found it only to say:


Amen, sister.