dissonance

Good read

I bought this at Target today to read while getting my oil changed. That was about 1 o'clock today. It is now 7:50 and I just finished it.

I am rendered speechless.

I'm not into romance novels and I'm very critical of anything that has to do with time travel, but this book was deeply moving.

Shmesolutions

New Year's Resolutions

1. Drive less (it's ridiculous how I have 3,000 miles on my 2 month old car)
2. Walk more (it's only been 3 months and I've forgotten how to walk)
3. Talk less (blabbidy blab blab)
4. Do more (what really counts)
5. Spend less (always the hardest)
6. Make more (woo hoo, a resolution to knit!)
7. Eat less (but better things)
8. Exercise more (it wouldn't be a resolution list without this)
9. Call parents once a week
10. Keep up the blog

If I can keep up 2 of these, I'll be very pleased with myself.

Yay Area

I gotta make this short and sweet 'cause I forgot how slow 56k is and my mom wants to go shopping (crazy!!) and I've been on this thing for 40 minutes just uploading pictures.

We took the 101 coming up because I heard it was very scenic.  It also needs to be mentioned that it is A Very Long Drive.  Yeah, we're taking the 5 back down.  But it is indeed scenic.  There are some shots in the snap album.  I only uploaded about 3 shots from the ride up due to the 56k, but I'll probably add some more when I can get my hands on some sweet broadband.

The drive took about 10 hours and it was nice to see this:

Which is the view as approach my house (about two blocks further down).  I even got the MUNI in there, which provided countless rides downtown when I was in high school.

Later that night I went to dinner with some high school friends, Angela and Tedmond.  It's nice to see them every year and nothing has really changed between us.  Angela is getting her Master's in education and Tedmond is getting his M.D.  It was a little tough when it came to be my turn about "What's going on in your life?" and I was tempted to make crap up ("Oh, not much, just cured cancer and I'm dating Zach Braff... You don't know who he is? Oh...").

We ate at Roy's, which is a little funny because there's a Roy's about 10 minutes from where I live, but no, I had to drive 10 hours to eat there.  The food was excellent but I don't think I've ever paid so much for a meal in my life.  Yeah, yeah, great service, the memories are priceless, etc., etc., but day-am.

Ok, gotta go. My mom really wants to face the madness and spend the Macy's credit she got from my present I gave her last year.

Falling Angels

Finished Falling Angels.It takes place in Victorian England, which I usually like. Everyone is as repressed and formal as you think they would be. Even though the setting sounds foreign, the emotions and issues involved are easily recognizable: love, lust, jealousy, fear, pity… it’s all there like a modern soap opera. The two families featured in the story set interesting contrasts with one another and all the characters are very complex. I still like Girl with a Pearl Earring better, I found that one to be more beautifully written (I really liked the movie too). But I finished this a couple of days ago and I still think about it sometimes; a sure sign of an effective book.

In other bookish news, I just pre-ordered HP6: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, due out July 16.

Mammoth write up

Pics over in the appropriately titled Mammoth album.  It has some pics from Patty's camera so they get kind of random towards the second half of the album.  And I didn't write a caption or title for all of them because after a while all I could think of was, "Here we are in Mammoth".

What can I say?  I had a blast.  I can't believe I met so many cool people.  With such a large group  (well over 20 people) you'd think there'd be at least one bad apple, but nope, everyone was so great (Unless I was the bad apple).

Our cabin was within walking distance from the slopes so we were able to get there pretty much when the lifts opened.  I think I've gotten a lot better (it helps to go two days in a row) and I even adjusted my bindings and felt a difference (for the better).  I think we can all agree that Cindy was the most balls out.  Want proof? Ask to see the BROKEN GOGGLES.  Yeah, goggles don't break going down the bunny slope if you know what I'm saying.

There was a lot of pokerplaying in the evenings. I tried to get people into Apples to Apples but no one was buying into it and it's their friggin loss. Anyone who attended my holiday party  can attest to the bombiness of the game.  If you click on that Apples to Apples link you will see that it is sold out.  I also got in some Scrabble, which was cool.  Yes, I just put the words "Scrabble" and "cool" in the same sentence.

The last night was the best.  We got the stereo going with some hip hop, some Crown Royal, and if there's Crown there's fruit, and before you know it we had a K-club in the middle of Mammoth.  Awesome.  I don't know how we got out of there the next day by 10am.

On our way back we stopped for some Subway and an old fashioned bubble gum blowing contest.  I was a little too enthusiastic I think 'cause I lost my gum about 10 minutes into it.  Please do not make inappropriate comments about my enthusiasm for gum blowing.  Let's keep it G rated folks.  Ok ok, PG-13.

Great trip.

I'm hungry

Just got back from Mammoth.  Ok not just got back, I unpacked and showered first. But after that, even before finding something to eat I had to of course check on the pbook.  Ahhh... now I feel like I'm home.

I'm going to do a Mammoth write up after I get everyone's pics.  In the meantime, here are some things to whet the palate.

- FIRE on the 15!!
- Who's up for some Texas Hold Em?
- Patty is a beer bully
- Regina is a freak-a-leek
- Cindy is hardcore on the jumps
- "Club Mah-moh-suh"

UCSD has been 0wn3d

For all the UCSD Alumni, does this lecture hall look familar?

Yes, that is Arnold on a windows desktop.  The website where I found it says it's Solis, but I'm pretty sure that's McGill (damn Calc classes), near Muir.

The website also claims that all the lecture hall desktops now have that wallpaper. Can anyone verify if this is true?

Thanks for the link, Angelina!

So excited I'm gonna pee

In about 24 hours I will be boppin' along the road on my way to Mammoth.  Things to do:

1. Go to some sort of electronics store and pick up an FM tuner for the 'pod.
2. Install FM tuner.
3. Get some tire chains.
4. Buy food for the trip (It ain't a road trip without some Funyuns.  Am I right, Patty, or am I right?).
5. Pack.
6. Make several trips to the bathroom cause I'm so freakin excited!

I'm putting W's on mine

Make your own M&Ms!

Think of the possibilities... oh the possibilities!

They have a Holiday Cheer mix, which if I had known about this earlier I would have printed some out with stuff like "Joy", "Cheer", and "Ho" (dunno if "Ho Ho Ho" would fit).

They also have a "Classic Wedding Blend" which I'm guessing the couple would write the names of their exes on and solemnly consume them as a symbol of saying goodbye to their past.

I don't really understand "Especially for Her Blend", which is a mix of white, green, yellow, pink and dark pink.  But they don't have a "Especially for Him Blend".  What would those colors be?  And I resent the fact that they not only have one, but TWO kinds of pink for the girly mix.

A much better mix would be something like "It's a girl!" with pink and white, or "It's a boy!" with baby blue and white.  Or even "We're not finding out until the delivery date!" (white, pastel green and yellow).  Do you hear that M&M?!  You know that's a brilliant idea!

New Years Blues

What Are You Doing New Years Eve?

Maybe it's much too early in the game
But I thought I'd ask you just the same
What are you doing New Year's
New Year's eve?

Wonder whose arms will hold you good and tight
When it's exactly twelve o'clock that night
Welcoming in the New Year
New Year's eve

Maybe I'm crazy to suppose
I'd ever be the one you chose
Out of the thousand invitations
You received

But in case I stand one little chance
Here comes the jackpot question in advance:
What are you doing New Year's
New Year's Eve?

The Ella Fitzgerald version rocks my socks.