:: bleep ::

omgkittyfoots

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 08:21:13 GMT

<a href="http://pretzel.ath.cx:7080/gallery/nonperson/omgkittyfoots"><img src="http://pretzel.ath.cx:7080/albums/nonperson/omgkittyfoots.sized.jpg" /><br />BONZO!</a>

spendy

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 23:31:27 GMT

I am bad with money. There's no escaping it, I love to buy things. Shiny things, new things, fancy things, even old things.

This morning I bought a PowerMac G4 Dual 500MHz tower to use as a second computer, so my PowerBook can spend more time off the desk (justified as a reason I'm not Journaling more). Of course, an old G4 tower can't be used as-is for iMovie and DVD burning, so I bought a gig of RAM plus a new video card and hard drive (SATA!) for it. Grand total spent? Somewhere on the order of US$650. All the parts should be arriving in the next week or so. I'm excited, but I can't help but feel like I need to go to the max-- 2GB RAM, another SATA drive, a 19" widescreen LCD... but then again I'm already depressed about my credit card debt :D

My cell phone ($360 Sony Ericsson K800i) was supposed to come (to Federal Way) on Monday. Daniel was supposed to be home to receive it (no school on the day between semesters) but Mom took him to go pick something up so the post office kept it. I went home on Monday but didn't find this out until the PO was closed of course. But I did manage to finish putting the brakes on my car, and we brought it down off the jack-stands finally (it's been up for over a month).

Parts list:
$320 Ground Control coilover sleeves with Eibach springs all around
$450 Koni shocks (Yellow front, Red rear)
$130 Ingalls camber kit all around
$140 Whiteline rear swaybar
$530 SuperPro bushings all around
$320 New upper and lower ball-joints all around

Subtotal for parts (not including tools, tool rental, or misc like brake fluid) is $1890.

Worth it? I think so. Haven't gotten her aligned yet, but the prelim test drive on monday night was pure driving ecstasy. She's at the lowest allowed by the sleeves, 3.5" below stock. Meaning there's barely 2" clearance from the ground to the oil pan and downpipe, and I can't fit a jack under it. Hell, I scraped the bumper rolling her down the wheel ramps! Now she needs new shoes; the stock wheels look a little weird :) Pics will come this weekend when I have my 3.2MP Cybershot phone :D

zeitgeist

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 19:36:47 GMT

I'm going to try to do an entry every day, and if not, at least every other day or whenever I get time. Looking back at my past entries, my entire life outlook has changed immensely over the past couple of years. I wouldn't say that I'm a sadder person in general, but I definitely have less bouts of just plain cheeriness at the world. Perhaps I'm just considering more things at once nowadays. Hell, my last entry was the summer after I graduated high school, and not even any real summer stuff was written down (except on paper, which I'm going to have to transcribe for posterity later). So my last online blurb is really unrepresentative of how far I've come in life really.

I'm a sophomore at the University of Washington. This quarter I'm taking Chemistry 142 (General Chem), Korean 316 (2nd year Heritage), and Philosophy 120 (Intro to Logic). I entered the UW thinking I'd be a CompSci major, so I'm still registered as such, but I haven't taken a CSE course since I failed 143 last winter. I may just coast into Acadæmia and graduate with a Philosophy or some sort of Language or education degree, with a minor in a math or science field. Who knows. I don't really know what direction to point in, but I do know that I don't like homework (which Chem142 has plenty of) or poorly-done lectures (which Phil120 is pretty much entirely composed of). Maybe I should take up music again. Lord knows I haven't touched my clarinet in a year and a half.

My current living situation is the dorms, McMahon 5N. My cluster is 508-518 (the elevator cluster) and my room is 508 (the north L-shaped double). There are ten of us in the cluster. Aaron Bean is my roommate. Stephen and Steven each have a single room. Ben and Brian are in the opposite L-shaped double. Kyle Butler and Taylor Mann share the double to the right of the balcony, and Kelly McCormack and Taylor Heiss occupy the opposite.

Right now I am still struggling to fit in with my chosen nuclear set of friends here. Last year I made no effort at all to make friends at the UW (stupidly letting all outside efforts fall and fade) so I came in this year with no real connections, only vague acquaintances. So I decided this year to use the cluster system to my advantage and form a "posse". Unfortunately for me, three of my clustermates already knew each other from high school (Taylor, Taylor, and Kyle) and two more (Kelly and Aaron) fit in more easily than I did with the sports aficionados and whatnot. I still feel like a tag-along, but I don't think they mind me much. I'm the lovable Asian after all.

Sara is attending the UW this quarter too, living in Nordheim 4202 with three other girls (Christine, Allison, and Sarah). I'm glad for her, she's finally getting back on track after a year of insane screwed-up-ness (which will all be laid out in detail when I reveal the last couple of crazy years of my life).

I can't think of any other vague things to say right now, so I'm just going to post this. Probably going to elaborate my thoughts later today, but with class and then driving back to Federal Way on the docket, I'm not sure when that might be possible. I really need to re-portable-ize my PowerBook. If I only had the money for an iMac... damn credit cards, I do have the money!

braaaaains

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 09:09:49 GMT

Yeah, that's right. I'm bringing this shit back from the dead. Expect semi-regular entries, probably all around midnight-ish, from me in the future.

I hate the US

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 09:09:29 GMT

No, it's not our incompetent government. Nor is it the fact that half the nation seems to think that "division of church and state" doesn't apply.

The thing that pushes me over the edge is our complete and utter techno-idiocy as a culture. Yesterday I dropped my Motorola portable phone on the ground and it snapped in two. I never liked flip phones to begin with (why have a beautiful high resolution screen if you're going to HIDE it?), but this one just takes the cake. Incredibly thin. Weak hinges. Pitiful amount of memory. Ancient camera. Impossible, sluggish user interface. Yeah, I'm talking about the Moto RAZR. America's #1 selling phone is the WORST PHONE EVER MADE. Motorola doesn't even have much to offer in general.

I only got this phone because I accidentally put my last phone, a Sony Ericsson T610i, through the wash. It actually started working a couple days after it dried out, after I had ordered the only bluetooth-capable phone T-Mobile had to offer in the US at the time. Big mistake, I should have ponied up and went for another SE phone. Europeans really know how to do phones. By current-day standards, my T610i is four years old. The RAZR is only two years old. Yet the RAZR was HELL to use, compared to the slick engineering of the SE phone. Whoever at SE was designing the layout of things on screen... he 'got it' when it came to human interface. Motorola has a brain-dead monkey in that department. Even when I had plenty of free memory (of a puny 5MB), the phone limited me to a maximum of 100 text messages, inbox and outbox combined. WHO DOES THAT?!?

My brother had a T610 as well, until his went through the wash last month. For Christmas ($200) he replaced it with a Sony Ericsson K750i, a two-year-old model in the same upgrade family. It's an excellent phone, you should check it out. I'm going to opt for the $170 more expensive model, the one-year-old k800i. It's insanely great. Unfortunately, none of this shit is available through T-Mobile in the US, so our contract renewal rebates don't apply. We have to pay full wholesale through gray-market distributors on eBay. Notice the star ratings Mobique gave to the following four phones... this is a guy in Europe by the way, and yeah they really do have that much choice in mobile phones. And they have broadband EVERYWHERE. And for cheap.

Released 2005: http://www.mobique.com/motorola/v3/
2003: http://www.mobique.com/sonyericsson/t610/
2005: http://www.mobique.com/sonyericsson/k750i/
2006: http://www.mobique.com/sonyericsson/k800i/

I'm moving to the UK.

Graduation

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 06:31:22 GMT

I don't feel graduated.

Senior Skip Road Trip

Wed, 08 Jun 2005 07:19:11 GMT

Over Memorial Day weekend, our school had a four-day weekend. This traditionally causes many Seniors to just take Thursday off to benefit from a very theraputic five-day weekend. Often, students will use this weekend as a chance to take a trip, called a Senior Trip.

We did so.

Sara, Spenser, and I decided to take a trip to Spokane. Why? Because we could. But why? Because it sounded like fun! Road trips are always fun!

We left Friday morning (because Spenser couldn't afford to skip any of his classes due to declining grades) at around 11AM, picking up Sara along the way because she had to be a guinea pig for her sister's dental school at Renton Tech. We hit the road (I-90 eastbound) and made excellent time. On the road there, we saw a bicycle. On the road. There was just a bicycle sitting on the road, like it fell off some guy's bike rack.A car behind/next to us almost head-on ran it over.

We got to Spokane around 4PM-ish, and decided to take a picnic at the waterfall park to have lunch (yes. we had peanut butter and jelly). By the way, Spokane tried to kill my car. There was a parking lot tha I was gouing to use instead of feeding the meters on the side of the street, until the lot's entrance made me scrape some bit of my car's underbody. Not cool. Quickly we decided that Spokane was nothing special, and we hit I-90 east again, with Cour D'Alene, Idaho in mind. Let me tell you, all over Washington, gas was about $2.39/gal for the cheap stuff. Twenty miles east in Idaho, we found gas for $2.06! Goodness. (this is part of why we took my car: Spenser's shaggin'wagon no doubt could house more stuff and be more comfy, but hey, gas mileage!) And the Cour D'Alene Fred Meyer is huge and awesome and breathtaking. But while at Freddy's for more supplies, we saw a map of Montana. Road Trip you say? Yee-haw! Now of course, no road trip is complete with a map, so we passed it up and hit the road blind. Mmmm, road.

We drove as quickly as we could to Montana, trying to hit it before sunset. Upon doing so, we discovered something beautiful: 75MPH on the interstate baybee! Of course, it being night and the middle of Nowhere, MT, I decided to see what the mountain curves are made of. I must say this. With the gear ratios of my car, it really shines at 85MPH :) And utilizing both available lanes of traffic moving east enabled me to take downhill curves rated at 45MPH at a blazing 90MPH with the clutch in. Whee.

So then it's night, and we're getting hungry again, so we make a destination of Butte. We will be in Butte by 1AM, and we will have dinner. Then we will hit the road again. Of course, I make true to my promise, and we park at a Safeway in Butte. But then, the Safeway is closed. Eh? Stupid non-24-hour Safeway. I crank the heater full blast and we chill at the trunk waiting for spaghetti to boil (having Sara along means she won't let us eat crappy food). Of course, the pasta pot we're using is waaay big and it refuses to boil on the little butane burner I brought. So we settled for somewhat strange spaghetti, but oh well, it worked. Then we hit the road again until Ellis, MT, where I was simply too tired to continue, so I parked on the side of the road and we slept.

When we woke, the car was so cold that there was about three cups worth of water condensed on each window. Hrm. We cranked the heater (cold!) and continued, catching the breathtaking Montana sunrise o'er purple mountains and grassy plains. Oh, beautiful, for spacious skies, and only one radio station for miles! (and it played country too)

Wyoming showed itself at around 7AM, and we hit the west entrance of the park, cruising the loop, taking turns driving (we had only gotten a couple hours of sleep, and even though Spenser never had to drive, he fell asleep constantly and drooled on himself even) and then we visited Old Faithful. Ah, Mother Nature at her finest, uncut and raw. We even ate lunch at a picnic spot, stuffing ourselves on fresh crepes made by Sara herself.

When we finished with Yellowstone, we decided that it would be a good idea to head back to civilization for a little cell reception so our parents wouldn't kill us all. We made record time through Montana, stopping only to sleep that night (with similar results as before). Sunday morning and we were in Cour D'Alene again, cooking crepes in the parking lot of Denny's. Yes, we were cheap enough to whip out the butane and just grill it up outside a restaurant. Whee.

We met an interesting character while cooking. We're leaning on my Ford Focus, the trunk is open, the Washington license plate is visible, the cooler is out, and Sara's got a spatula in her hand. "You guys traveling?" No, we live right over there, that green house. We're just out to meet some society. Here's your sign. "I used to hitchhike all over America. That's how I figured out that Cour D'Alene, Idaho was such a great place. But then I got a girl pregnant, so I'm stuck here. Hey man, never hook up with a girl here." Um, I'll take that into consideration.

We then high-tailed it back into good old Washington State and made a picnic lunch at the arboretum in Spokane, cooking linguine noodles with white sauce and eating waterlogged (from the cooler) cheddar cheese cut with Spenser's pocketknife. Then we went a bit northish and hung out at Grand Coulee for a while in apprehension of the evening laser light show. Sara of course noticed that we didn't have anything to make for dinner, so we hit a Safeway up and she got the fixins for soft tacos and coos coos. Spenser wanted a simpler meal, opting for a can of beef stew and a can of baked beans. Heresy to Sara.

Evening rolled around, and we had a veritable feast a-cooking on a picnic table overlooking the dam. Quickly it became apparent that we had far too much food for three people, and that Sara's tacos were awesome (with fresh lettuce, tomato, and avocado!). We ran out of butane fuel in the middle of heating up Spenser's canned goods, but at least we had cooked the beef before that. We gorged ourselves and then saw the laser light show. FRICKIN' SWEET. Oh yeah!

Mmm, but then it was night. Late at night. So we drove and drove and drove, and took a wrong turn, ending up north in Omak. 1:30 AM. I'm driving. Nobody is on the road. Speed limit: 60. Hrm. Nobody on the road. My car's speed at 1:30 AM? 80MPH. Then we stopped at a Sherri's in Wenatchee for coffee, and sara took over the wheel while I retreated to the backseat to sleep. We were determined to be in our own beds at home by morning, so Sara continued my tradition of going 80. She had been driving for no more than 10 minutes when suddenly, headlights in the rearview.

Odd, thought Sara. They must really be bookin' it to be catching up wi-- oh s**t. We got pulled over for doing "80+" in a 60 zone. I wake up to Spenser and Sara yelling at me to get up. There's a nice policeman outside my window. I'm lying down in the backseat with no seatbelt on. %*#@. Sara gets a ticket for $153, I get one for $101. Argh. And in order to take them to court, we have to come back to the Chelan County District Court in Wenatchee! Grr.

Anyhoo, that was the trip. Sara takes herself home, I take Spenser home, and finally I crawl into bed in the wee hours of Monday morning. Fun! :D

Photos

Prom

Wed, 08 Jun 2005 05:59:00 GMT

OK, so I haven't updated in like forever. Sorry. I'm going to kick myself later when I have no record of my life.

*kick*

I'll talk about prom later.

I'm dead

Mon, 23 May 2005 07:35:18 GMT

Or at least disowned.

Friday night. Senior Roast (a band get-together where all the seniors get on the "throne" and have embarrassing stories told about them). The roast started at 6:30, so we left home at about 6:10 and took the rental truck (2005 Chevy Silverado) because Daniel said that it was fun to drive. He was right. That V8 is quite fun to drive. It kinda spoiled me for my little 4-banger :)

Anyhoo, the Roast was a hoot. Afterwards, we (Jacqui, Sara, Sonnet, Rachel, Paul, Spenser, Haley, Colleen, and I) headed off to Denny's for a while. After eating and drinking a little, we went out into the parking lot to bump it in the truck. Because it's a phat-cab version, we could literally fit all eight people (Sonnet went home) in the cab at one time. We BUMPED that truck right thurr!

OK. So then we all get in diff cars (Connie, Rachel and Haley have to go home, and Paul and Spenser decide to go home). I drop Connie and Rachel off, then head to Sara's while Spenser takes Paul home and Sara takes Haley home. So then it's just Sara, Jacqui, and I at Sara's place playing a really cool board/word/mind teaser game called Wise and Otherwise until about 2:45, when Jacqui decides to go home (she's seeing Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith at 9 in the morning the next day, so it's a good idea). Since Jacqui didn't take her car at all that night, we had to take her home, but she wanted to try driving Sara's car. So that was "fun" to say the least, having Jacqui try driving a stick in the fog on Auburn-Black Diamond Road at dark o'clock.

Finally, the evening winds down when Sara and I end up the remaining two at her house. We chill on the sofas and just talk away the wee hours until somehow we both spontaneously fall asleep when the conversation hit a dead spot. I wake up at 6:30 when Mom calls me wondering where the heck I am. The morning goes by pretty strangely, because I fade in and out of sleep as various people at Sara's wake up and bustle about, but I pretty distinctly remember telling Mom at about 6:30 that I'll be gone all day with the truck because we've got all sorts of things planned. She seemed very OK with the situation, just concerned that I'll eventually call and come home.

Around 10, Spenser calls me and I get out of bed. Sara makes breakfast, and Haley comes over and the four of us at Sara's (Sara, Brooke (her little sister), Haley, and I) eat breakfast and stack cups while Spenser gets ready to go. Around 11:30ish we head down the hill in the phat truck and pick him and Paul up and hit I-5 south to Tacoma. We overshoot the TCC area, and end up getting Starbucks. Sara is happy and the world is finally all right.

We hit the AMC theatre by TCC and join up with the Orchestra group (including Connie and Steven) at TCBY. Spenser has his fix and everything is right with the world. We see the 2:45 showing of Episode III, which ended up fairly good, but a bit strained at parts. I think Lucas screwed up the pacing of the storyline with the new episodes, but that's a different post idea altogether. During the movie, people around me discover that I give very good massages, and we all exchange massages of the shoulder, hand, and even foot (Sara's very ticklish).

After the movie, our group of six (Spenser, Connie, Paul, Sara, Haley, and I) take the truck to the nearest Olive Garden because we're craving pasta, salad, and most of all breadsticks. We manage to feed six people for only $40 plus tip at a restaurant where the average entrée price is $15! Then we head to the Rialto theatre in downtown Tacoma where the concert is. The whole thing, while a bit long considering how mush sleep a couple of us got, ended up to be VERY good. The Tacoma Young Artists Orchestra, directed by Auburn's own Dale Johnson, did a very nice job, including the viola section (hi Connie!) and the Korean violin soloist (holler!).

However, I finally approach the bulk of my story. Mom called me during the concert. Now, I couldn't very well pick up in the middle of an orchestra piece, so I rejected the calls and called her back during the intermission. Mistake #2. (Mistake #1 was not calling her at regular intervals anyway) She proceeds to blow up in my ear about how I've been gone for days and I have the truck and I never told her that I'd be gone this long and I'm destroying the family and if I don't come home right this instant she'll die right where she stands. But... I remember telling her my entire day's plans, including the fact that I would be... in Tacoma at an orchestra concert. Be home by 9. It's 8:30 by the way, and there's another hour of concert to go, not to mention having to drive from Tacoma to Auburn and drop everybody off at home. So be home by 9:30. And pick up Daniel. Umm, what? Whatever. I don't want to deal with this right now. I enjoy the rest of the concert, take the posse to Sara's, pick up Daniel, and head home. It's 10:30. Lights are all off at home, and when Daniel learns that there's a "party" (read: candy and Disney movies) at the Stevenson house, he doesn't want to go home. Well, mom's probably asleep now, and what doesn't wake her up can't hurt her. So we skip home and hit Sara's.

Somehow we end up watching Secret Window instead of Mulan, and that kind of disappointed me. Oh well. It was a fun night. About time to head home at 1AM. Then my phone rings. Hmm. I wonder who could be cal.... oh s***. By the time we get home, I hope to God she went back to bed. Daniel and I creep into the house even more quietly than I think cats are able. I put my foot on the first step and hear the deadly sound of her voice. Crap crap crap crap crap.

I hope I'll still be allowed to drive and go out at night :/

I was looking for some action...

Fri, 06 May 2005 07:18:46 GMT

It was night. Late at night.

I just realized that I neglected to fill in any details at all about the Saturday evening that was had by the four of us (White Rice, Mashed Potatoes, Strawberry Shortcake, and Kung Pao Chicken). So here goes my best recollection (seeing as one's memory does not serve well after being kept awake for inordinate amounts of time)...

Saturday, April 30. 7:15 PM. Haley calls me and asks me if I want to see a movie. What movie, I ask. Kung Fu Hustle. What time? 7:40. Sure. I head to my car and rush down to the theater. Upon parking, I notice that neither Haley nor Colleen are at the theater. Call. Where are you? We're undecided about seeing a movie. Maybe we'll just chill at the mall instead. Okay, I'll wait for you to get to the theater so we can figure something out together.

Connie, Haley, and their friend (whose name I've now forgotten-- don't take it personally, I'm just bad with names) walk up, we somehow decide to forego the moov, and then head over to the mall to kill time while Spenser et al swing by. Finding Nemo is playing at Payless.

Finally the entirety of our party is assembled. Spenser, Alan 12, Brent, Brent's friend (again with the names!), Haley, Friend 2, Colleen, and Alan 3. We all pile into various cars and drive to a private park on Lea Hill. It closes at dusk. It's dusk. It's private. We're not. They kick us out. Brent has "another cool spot". We reluctantly follow again. Time? 8:30ish. Location? A cul-de-sac in the middle of nowhere. No-go. We follow Spenser's car this time, taking us to Alan 12's parents' teriyaki shop in southeast Kent. We chill there a while, and food and drinks are had by all. Yay. Time marches onwards, Haley has to go home, and so does... Bonnie (I think that's her name). So Brent. friend, Haley, and Bonnie all head for home. but the rest of us don't fool like going home just yet. We go back to the Supermall (of the great Northwest) to pick up Alan 12's car. We end up chilling in the parking lot grooving to some hot tunes (Benny Benassi!), finally at around 11:00 deciding to go do something. By now I assume my mom's gone to sleep, as she'd have called me by now, so I basically have a free lease on the night. I'd better take advantage of it.

We head off to Main Street, park, and just chill on foot, wandering all over downtown, including loitering in front of Safeway, dancing in front a a bar, standing next to the tracks as a train went by, and even sitting down in front of a TV shop to watch the demo DVD of pretty scenery loop several times. Someone (probably me) starts singing The Circle of Life, and Colleen wants to see The Lion King. I have the DVD, I casually remark.

Oops. She wants me to go home and get it so we can watch it right now. It's 2:30 in case you were wondering. After a bit of coaxing, I decide that it's feasible, We head back up the hill, and I perform a Mission: Impossible-type bit of sneaking to get in my house, upstairs, in my room, grab my PowerBook and Lion King DVD, sneak back down and out, and drive away slowly and quietly. To this moment I still don't see how exactly I pulled it off. My mom's a VERY light sleeper, and our house is very squeaky. And our front door has noisy tinkling bell chimes on it too. But anyway, we had a DVD and a DVD player. Where to watch it? Teriyaki Time of course!

We drive once again to the restaurant, and I set up the "theater". Just as I'm starting the movie, some guy knocks an the (locked) door. It's 3AM in a dark restaurant. Connie freaks. The guy wants to use our bathroom. No, sorry, go away. He does. We resume movie. Guy returns. Go away. Connie wants to call the cops. Go away. He goes. Connie asks for a knife, she feels safe now. Guy is walking around outside.

The Lion King gets to the part with the stampede. Guy is right outside.
Mufasa jumps in to save Simba. The guy is knocking on the door.
Simba is safe. Mufasa is nowhere to be seen. The guy is pacing outside the window asking to be let in.
"Long... live... the king!" SCREECH SCREECH SCREECH
White Rice pressed the panic button on his car keys in the hopes of scaring the guy away.

...he gives up and leaves. Thank God! We finish the movie in peace, and finally all go our separate ways at about 5:30 AM. Goodness, that's the latest I've ever stayed out. And I had semi-early church to go to too! Connie said(on Monday) that while Spenser was taking her home, the sun came up, and that it was her first time watching the sunrise. Wonderful.

Well, that's the whole of it, unless I remember something later. Here's hoping that we can do something like that after the AP tests are over!

Senior Senior Prom

Mon, 02 May 2005 04:22:54 GMT

Wow. It's really been a long time since I've updated. I've become quite proficient on the Dvorak layout, and I think it's really helping with my hand issues (pains after prolonged typing). However, as of yet I still stare intently at my fingers while I type, so it'll be a while before I'm as good as I was on QWERTY.

Anyways, on to business. Friday, April 29:

Sara had invited me to the Senior Senior Prom that her Service Learning class had arranged for the retirement center. Since women have a longer life expectancy than men, they needed more guys to dance with all the little old ladies at the home. So all we high-schoolers had to learn to fox-trot on Wednesday, and on Friday Sara and Spenser picked me up at 5:30 to go to the dance. The problem was that Spenser still wasn't dressed, so we had to stop by his place and wait while Sara freaked out. All the decorations were sitting there in Spenser's car while we sat there and 6:00 quickly approached. She, being the major coordinator and MC/DJ for the event, was obviously going to be killed by the Service Learning teacher when we were to show up late. Oh well.

Anyway, we finally got there, not too late, gathering up Sonnet and Alan (Spenser's Korean friend from Riverside) along the way. Set-up was hectic, and as 6:45 rolled around, it became show time for the Stardust 2005 Senior Senior Prom. It was a blast, and dancing with little old ladies was pretty cute. Pictures will be posted on the internet later when I straighten out my crazy system :P

After the prom finished at about 8:30, our little party decided that we couldn't go home just yet, so we [Sara, me, Spenser, Alan, Colleen, Haley, and Brent] headed over to Trotter's after dropping off all the decorations and stuff at Spenser's place. after having our fill of ice cream and fries, we noticed that the night was still young, so we decided to check out The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But upon calling the theater, we found that the next showing would be at midnight, and it was only 10:30. So we had to figure out something to do until then. Of course, we decided to just kind of chill around, first outside Trotter's, then we hit Denny's for the bathroom, then we finally headed over to the theater and whiled in the lobby. While standing by the concessions stand, we got a conversation going with this lady behind the counter. And now I have to backtrack and tangent.

While unloading Spenser's pimpwagon of junk, Brent disclosed to us that all of his Asian friends have nicknames, so he had to give us two Alans a couple of new names. Alan 12 (not me) was then dubbed White Rice, and Alan 3 (me) was given Kung Pao Chicken. I think Haley is Green Tea. Then Spenser wanted to know why only the Asians got cool nicknames. So he got Mashed Potatoes, and Brent took Gravy. Then at Trotter's, Haley called White Rice "Jasmine Rice" for some reason, and Brent noticed that Sara and Colleen didn't have nicknames, so he gave Colleen Strawberry Shortcake, and Sara got Apple Turnover (or just any baked apple treat, really). Then I had a bit of inspiration. Everyone remembers the Spice Girls, right? Baby, Posh, Dopey, and Bashful. Or something. my proposition: What if the Spice Girls were Asian? Scary Rice, Posh Rice, Sporty Rice, Sexy Rice, and Baby Rice. I don't mean to imply anything, but it's GENIUS! So Alan 12 became *anything* Rice, from White to Jasmine to Posh.

Anyhoo, back to the concessions stand. We all told this gal our nicknames, and she commented that Brent should be something like Cream Cheese instead of Gravy, because (quote) "you're so white and creamy". [hilarity ensues]

When midnight rolled around, Brent took Haley home (presumably, that was their destination, since Haley couldn't watch the movie because it would have made her get home at 2ish. But then after the movie I got a text message from her at 2ish anyway, implying that she had no intention of going home that evening anyway, having just met this Brent character at the SSProm...) and the five remaining of us went to see the movie. But before I get to the meat of the movie here, let me say this: The previews totally ruined a lot of things for me. First, the new Herbie movie. All through that trailer, I wanted to dig up Walt Disney, walk him down to Disney Inc. and assist his corpse in bitch-slapping whoever it is that's running Disney Inc RIGHT INTO THE GROUND. I mean, I had wanted to ignore the signs of Disney's downfall, because all the Pixar films were totally awesome. But make no mistake: Disney/Pixar is really more like just plain Pixar with some kind of parasitic leech attached to it, and just plain Disney is really more like a steaming pile of turd. They DESTROYED my beloved Herbie!!! It's so hip and un-innocent now! *cries* Second, the Dark Water trailer. Why is it that all scary movies have to have a little girl singing a nursery rhyme in an eery manner? One of these days, Mother Goose is going to sue the pants off Hollywood. Finally, Disney again. They stole "Don't Panic". BLATANTLY STOLE it for the Chicken Little trailer. Damn them.

Oh, yeah. The movie. It was a great movie, if a bit unfaithful to the book at times. But that's OK, because there's no way the entire first book would fit in a feature film uncut. I must say they did the Guide narration superbly, and Marvin's complete essence was captured perfectly in both movement and speech, but the leaving out of the Beware of Leopard scene is INEXCUSABLE. If it's not included in the DVD, I'm going to scream. And if they don't follow this one up with the rest of the trilogy, I'm going to scream.

Hint. Find Red/Blue 3D glasses before going. They enhance a particular scene. Also, always stay through the credits for easter eggs. And never forget your towel :)

GRMR Large Group Wind Ensemble Contest

Wed, 06 Apr 2005 04:00:21 GMT

Today was the Green River Music Region contest for large wind ensembles.

WE WERE AWESOME.

Audio Files available!

America: Where A Bumper Sticker Gets You Banned

Sat, 02 Apr 2005 02:55:42 GMT

[trawled from kuro5hin.org]

America: Where A Bumper Sticker Gets You Banned (Op-Ed)
By ayoung
Wed Mar 30th, 2005 at 07:51:05 PM EST

A bumper sticker? It can't be. Who would care about a bumper sticker?

As I sat across the table from three stoic Secret Service agents, I started to think about the country I live in. We were always told growing up that what separated America from everywhere else is the First Amendment and it's protection of free speech.

But these agents painted a very different picture. They said that unnamed Republican operatives had removed my friends and me from a meeting with the President for a slogan on my friend's car.

A week ago, Monday, March 21, 2005, in Denver, Colorado, President Bush hosted a "Conversation on Strengthening Social Security" (These are events where the President is attempting to sway public opinion on Social Security privatization). Two good friends and I wanted to participate in this Town Hall-style meeting, and we acquired tickets through the office of Rep. Bob Beauprez (R-CO). After being seated, we were forcibly removed before the President arrived.

We requested a reason for our dismissal but were given none.

When we got to the event all of us were asked for photo identification at the door, which was compared with a computer printout. Was this a blacklist, like the one in Fargo?

My friends Karen (a marketing professional) and Leslie (an environmental lawyer) were both stopped, while I was allowed in. They were informed that they had been "ID'd" and warned "Don't try to pull anything, or you'll be arrested and sent to jail".

They were, however, allowed into the hall.

After being seated in the audience, we were forcibly removed before the President arrived, even though we had not been disruptive. A man, who had talked to my friends outside, came up and demanded that we come with him.

This guy, wearing a wire, with lapel pin that looked the same as those worn by the Secret Service, shoved me forward and led us to the door. He refused to answer any question, although I kept asking "Who are you?", "What's going on?", and "Where are you taking us?"

He later grabbed my friend Karen, who was returning from the restroom, led her out forcefully as well.

At the meeting with the Secret Service (03/28/05), Lon Garner, special agent in charge of the Secret Service district office in Denver talked about the fact that these people imitate Secret Service agents.

Speaking about people who present themselves as Secret Service agents, Garner said "This is a common problem we have encountered." "We are bothered as an agency."

Why were we removed? Not for creating a disturbance. We were sitting there quietly. Not for looking like radicals. We were dressed in business attire; I was wearing a tie. It was for a sticker on a lawyer's car.

That bumper sticker says "No More Blood For Oil". I must have seen this slogan a million times, and never once did I consider it dangerous. Apparently, someone does.

Others have had similar experiences around the world at these events.

When Bush was in Arizona that morning, Steven Gerner was turned away at the door because of a t-shirt he wore.

Maybe someone else would just sit back and take this treatment, but we're not.

These people, people who control the executive and legislative branches of our government, apparently think they can silence their critics by spying on them and hiding behind unnamed operatives who intentionally present themselves as Secret Service agents.

Obviously, this is not working. If they wanted to keep people quiet, they should have let us stay. Surely this is not the reaction they were expecting.

Progressives aren't the only ones complaining about the Administration's crackdown on free speech. Even The American Conservative is concerned to the point that they think Hiliary could make it a campaign issue.

Photoshopage

Fri, 01 Apr 2005 05:47:22 GMT

Today I spent quite a bit of time in photoshop trying to make a new, improved Durch Cow.

Enjoy!

LJ Photos

Wed, 30 Mar 2005 15:09:02 GMT

Strangely enough, immediately after I posted that last entry, my webserver got dozens of hits from this website. I went over to check it out, and apparently there's a scripted page that automatically culls the most recent images posted to Livejournal and lets people view them. So hundreds of people around the world saw the amazing Durch Cow last night. Wonderful! I'll try posting more pictures more often for random viewing pleasure :)

Jazz and Spaghetti

Wed, 30 Mar 2005 05:08:38 GMT

So tonight there was a big Jazz & Spaghetti event at Auburn Riverside (in case you didn't know, rivals with Auburn High), and several jazz bands were playing, including ours. The food was great, the music was great, and of course we all had a great time.

As for a more detailed chain of events, after my after-school math classes, I took Daniel home to change and leave for Riverside. We had to stop for drumsticks on the way, so we ended up a bit late for the 5:00 warm-up call time.

When we [Daniel and I] arrived at Riverside, first we didn't know where to park. How am I supposed to know where the band warmup room is in a foreign high school? Meh. Anyway, when we got all that straightened out, Cory, Jessica, Haley and I all kind of chilled in the hallway waiting for stuff to happen. Haley was supposed to be warming up, but she didn't bring her music so she just decided to hang out with the rest of us in the hall. It reeked of permanent marker (more on that later). We saw some pretty strange things in that hall, including some sort of girl's track team running up and down the halls, plus various middle school kids (yes, there were middle school bands playing too), including this one girl who simply did not choose the right size pants to wear. *shudder*

Once 5:15 rolled around, we migrated on over to the cafetorium to spaghettize. Mmm, large plates of spaghetti and generous helpings of garlic bread. The tables were all covered with big sheets of paper and each table had a cup of crayons on it, so we did what anybody would... draw!

Cory and Jessica drew a lovely picture of a dying Raven (the Riverside mascot) being shot with an arrow by a Trojan (the Auburn mascot). Clearly visible are the words "dying raven" and "trojan man". Excellent artwork by Cory that belongs with the greatest of them, including the masterpiece that is Erin Durch's cow.

After the AHS jazz band finished their part of the playing, Cody, Haley, Scottie, Michael, Derek, and Daniel (my brother) all came over to spaghettize with us. Drawing continued and even got a bit out of hand with... interesting references to "Trojan Man". Cory got entirely giddy (possibly accelerated by the fumes of the hallway, but who's to say?) and Cody got out of control with his ice cream, pouring more chocolate syrup on it than there was ice cream to begin with!

ANYway, it was a great evening. Support your local music programs! Now for me to do my homework...

CWU Music Festival Music

Thu, 17 Mar 2005 07:22:42 GMT

Dupree finally got the CD copied for me so here's the music, as promised.

128kbps CBR MP3, other compressions available by request.

Linky

Surplus Auction

Sun, 13 Mar 2005 06:52:34 GMT

Today there was a county-wide school district surplus auction. They had all sorts of things there– palettes of old computers, filing cabinets full of sheet music, pianos, and even old buses! Everything sold for dirt cheap too. I spent a grand total of $2.39 after taxes and got two lots containing (among other useless junk): two HP LaserJet 4si printers, two PowerMac G3s (one AIO, one desktop), and a Sony Trinitron TV set! The only problem is finding a place to put it all (and a way to use them all!). At least now we have a decent printer (183k page count and still going strong, these old things were built like tanks!)

One of the buses (not full-size, slightly short) sold for $1200. A full-size piano went for $45. A little Wurlitzer organ got snapped up for $1! I couldn't believe the prices these things were going for. I just wish I'd had a better way to transport my winnings– I would have bought more!

Anyhoo, this evening I went to see Honk, the musical rendition of The Ugly Duckling, at my school. It was great! I especially loved the song "Together", because both Anni and Vicki (my friends, they played Lowbutt and Queenie, respectively) had so much fun acting out the scene that it was just plain enjoyable– warts and all!

CWU Music Festival

Fri, 04 Mar 2005 06:40:31 GMT

Today the AHS Wind Ensemble went to Central Washington University for a music festival.

I'll write more later (time for bed now).

Roxy: The End

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 08:07:31 GMT

Yesterday, my mom let the Tacoma Humane Society take Roxy in. We are simply unable to take care of her well at this time. I really wish we could keep her (already I miss her massively), but our family needs a little time to get things sorted out, and a big dog doesn't fit in right now.

I had already created a video of this wonderful dog... sadly, I had anticipated it to be reminisced upon long in the future, Roxy growing old along with us. Now it appears a fitting tribute.

Video (MPEG-4, should play fine in QuickTime Player)
Small Download (56k) :: Medium Download (DSL) :: Large Download (cable)

I hope she is adopted by a family that can give her more love than we did.

Roxy

Sun, 06 Feb 2005 07:39:32 GMT

Mom's back.

She's really weak and tired, and she wouldn't let us let Roxy inside the house when we got back. She wants to get rid of the dog. I don't want to.

Now Roxy's scratching at the back door to be let in, and all I can do is sit here in my room alone. Why can't we let her in, just not in Mom's room? We can easily vacuum up all the dog hair anyway.

:(

Blustery

Sat, 05 Feb 2005 05:24:10 GMT

This past week, we had amazing weather. Sunny all day long, not a cloud in the sky. That changed this morning, when rain and wind persisted all through the day. Augh.

Tomorrow Mom's coming home! We (Jay and I) will be driving to the airport around 10AM to pick her up. Daniel can't go, however, because he has an all-morning Jazz clinic at school.

Anyway, the house is a mess and we have to clean it up before she comes home. Augh.

Stuff

Mon, 17 Jan 2005 07:12:42 GMT

Today's Sunday!

Things are definitely different without Mom around. I want her to come home soon.

Tomorrow I'll be installing a hard drive in an iBook, and practicing my clarinet, and doing my homework.

*sips a Sprite*

Toetsje

Tue, 11 Jan 2005 07:03:58 GMT

Dana Sibera loves animals.

Tonight I cry for her mouse Toetsje (Dutch for 'Keyboard'), terminally ill with inoperable malignant tumours.

Dana bought little Toetsje, a female mottled black and white mouse from a pet store in August of 2004. Much to Dana's surprise and delight, Toetsje was pregnant from the start. Muis (her existing female mouse, ginger-colored) got along well with Toetsje after a bit of drama at first, and the two lived in harmony as Toetsje gave birth to and raised a litter of little ones, named after keys on the keyboard.

Through my internet contact with Dana over the course of more than a year, I've been able to gain a sense of what kind of person she is. Kind, humourous, compassionate, loving, and friendly, she is my most respected role model. Now she's gone and gotten me all emotional with wonderful pictures and moving stories.

<danamania> toetsje is dying :(
<danamania> there's 11 tumours all over her body I only found 2-3 days ago, and she's getting noticeable worse day after day
<alan> no!
<alan> what causes the tumours?
<danamania> I remember crying happily when she was pregnant - looking at this pic - http://www.danamania.com/temp/yesmum.jpg - here was this tiny animal, taken from a pet shop with such an uncertain future, and given a home where she could have her bubs and raise them safely.
<danamania> and she did, like an awesome mother :)
<danamania> Mainly genetics
<alan> how long have you had her?
<danamania> since August 2004
<danamania> I'm pretty sure she was young then
<alan> aw, that's so sad. you've only had her for a little while
<alan> but already her lil babes have given you such happiness
<danamania> aye... she has her babies all around her too - and they're well
<danamania> it's painful to see her in such distress :(. Her breathing is laboured any time she tries to do more than eat & sit
<alan> worse than muis was before the operation?
<danamania> yeah - muis was just lumpy
<danamania> she could run around fine, just with a big grape on her side
<danamania> some tumours are benign, others metastasise - like toetsje's have.. and they do it to the lungs first
<alan> oh no. have you checked with a vet yet?
* danamania is tomorrow
<danamania> I know there's nothing they can do for her
<danamania> but I think it'll be sleepytimes for toetsje by friday
<alan> is that pic (yesmum.jpg) from when you first got her?
<danamania> yeah - either the day I got her, or the day after
<danamania> she's almost smiling in that pic
* danamania cries
* alan offers shoulder
* danamania bawls on it
<danamania> thanks
<alan> you're such an amazing person, dana. you're making me cry :'(

Thinkin'

Fri, 07 Jan 2005 07:25:00 GMT

I recently finished the book Soon by Jerry B. Jenkins (the author of the Left Behind series), and it got me to thinking.

In the book, the end of times is near—not already here, as in the Left Behind series, but fast approaching. Many miraculous signs unify the underground Christian factions into rebelling against the tyrannical USSA government. These signs include pillars of fire, earthquakes, and drought. But I, the constant skeptic, can't put myself to believe that God would show himself in such a blatant way. Yes, I am a church-going Christian. Yes, I believe in Biblical miracles. But I cannot wrap my mind around a modern-day interpretation of miracles.

I would like to put forth my reasoning and hypothesis.

I see much hope in science proving the fact that God exists. Evolution does not counter Creation, but rather supports it. First came land and water, then plants, then animals, then finally people, in a logical chain of events from simple to complicated. The fact that 'seven days' is is stated is simply a simplification. But I digress. I believe in the 'divine clockmaker' of sorts, in which God set the universe into motion like a finely-tuned clock, very complicated, but self-running. As such, He does not intervene directly into the physics of the world as we know them-- rather, things just happen.

I believe that modern miracles are similar to the Exodus plagues (for the most part completely natural occurrences) attributed to God and intended by God to change something.

Tsunami.

Yes, you heard me. I believe that the recent tsunamis in the Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean area are miracles. God is sending a wake-up call. What it is we are to wake up from, I do not know entirely. But I do know that the world as a whole has become a more sinful place over time, and while God did not intend to kill millions of innocent people to wake them up, I believe He is drawing the world together to pay attention. Wake up. There are bigger things in this world than just your next meal. Everything you've built up for years, God holds the power to destroy in a split second.

Take my words with as much salt as you like. I do not claim to know everything, nor am I claiming that this is the teaching of any church. It is just a conclusion I came to on my own.

Thank you for reading all the way through this.