New Site

Hello my one reader,
I've started a new site www.wanderingsofacrazedmind.com, from now on I'll be blogging over there. I've set it up, but so far it shows site coming soon. So give it a day or two.
H

Weekend Recap

Soooooooo this weekend was intense and you are getting a play by play. On Friday I went to Brooke Davis' house in the LBC. We had some really important things to do, first we had to drop off a package at FedEx and the employee made a Nixon joke 30 years too late. Then we went to this little Italian deli because I was craving Buon Gusto salami. Side note: Buon Gusto is freaking amazing, it is by far the best salami you can buy. Now before you go out and get some, there are different types of BG and one of them is not nearly as good as the others, but Cortina's and Claro's both carry the good kind. We then took our yummy sandwiches to a beach nearby to eat. It was fun to watch this little girl chase the seagulls up and down the beach. I decided to throw a chip at the seagulls and then they stormed us The Birds style.

After this I decided we should go on an adventure and really wanted to go to the Santa Monica's Farmers' Market but they're closed on Fridays :(. Instead Brooke took me to the Korean Friendship Bell and then these tide pools in Palos Verdes. We had to walk down this huge hill and halfway down we decided to use this little path that was booby trapped with cat poop. It was also hard for Brooke and I to walk down in loafers and Vans, respectively. Halfway down I fell down but caught myself on my hand. Then we preceded to run around the rocks looking for crabs, sea anemones, and kitties. After we went back to her place and tried to watch this movie Gummo, but after fifteen minutes of watching rednecks kill stray cats we decided to watch something else. I can't exactly remember because I had taken a Vicodin for my cramps and was a little crazy. While we were watching TV, I told Brooke about a GENIUS idea for a show based on her cat titled Clawless, because her cat, Asia, is clueless and clawless. Bahahaha I thought it was hysterical. Then the Asia preceded to vomit on Brooke's foot, I freaked and ran to get a flashlight to spotlight the damage. Anyway, maybe this is too detailed. Then we went to dinner at this French fusion place, I got a yummy pannini and French onion soup. O yeah, after the vicodin wore off I noticed my finger hurt and there was a splinter in it. It had swollen and was throbbing like crazy, and after dinner and cupcakes we had to dig it out. It was this tiny little speck of a splinter but o my goodness the pain was intense.

Saturday and Sunday were just the usual so this is more of a Friday recap. As for Media Monday I was way too exhausted after work yesterday to do that, so perhaps next Monday. Penguin is releasing a new edition of classic hardcovers with no dust jacket. These books are so pretty, I think I will buy some when they come out. You should check them out, just go to amazon and type "Penguin Classic Hardcover."

Wander on my friends, wander on.

Sick :(

Today I had to miss class because I am sick as a dog :(. It totally sucks because I had an important lab to finish today. O well, at least with the time at home I am able to study for my upcoming Chem test and finish up some stuff for Bio. This weekend was pretty good. I saw Alice in Wonderland, which was horrible. I've heard quite a few people rave about it but o my it was ridiculous. I also had bun, which is a Vietnamese noodle dish. It was amazing and I cannot wait for more. Also, had a really good time watching the Oscars with my mommy. I was so thrilled that James Cameron and Avatar didn't win Best Director and Best Picture, respectively. First, I saw Avatar, and yes it was a good movie that as visually stunning, but good movie does not equal best film. The storyline and acting were both mediocre. The only downside of my weekend was the loss of a good friendship. I thought at first I would be really upset losing this friend, but after our conversation I felt relieved. I think that sometimes its more damaging to hold on to a friendship than it is to let it go. I've decided to copy another blog's idea for Monday. From now on, on Mondays I will review any media from the last week.

So here is the first Media Monday, and there is a lot because I haven't updated in a while so I'll try to keep them short:

• Alice in Wonderland - sucked, period. The Cheshire Cat was my favorite thing.
• The Secret Life of An American Teenager - Started watching this on Hulu just because. O man the acting is horrible, but the writing is so much worse. The idea behind the series was a good one, and they could have made a really good show but they didn't. Whoever the writers are definitely have a preconceived notion of teenagers and it is so far off the mark.
• Who Do You Think You Are? - I am a genealogy dork and this show traces the genealogy of a few different celebrities, its not anything special but it's interesting.
• Flashfoward - My friend and I watched the first episode, the first episode was really good, but I've heard that it doesn't live up to the premiere episode.
• Year One - This movie wasn't very good or funny. Jack Black has because Will Ferrell, doing movies with the same plot lines and same jokes, and its old. I'm sad Michael Cera got sucked in because I generally like him.
• The Ugly Truth - Same old romcom formula.
• Big Fan - This movie was actually better than expected, it is about a fan who is attacked by his favorite player. That player gets suspended pending investigation, so the fan eventually says he does not remember so the player can play again. They did a good job portraying the fan's character. I realize that this summary is way vague but o well.
• Mamma Mia - lame musical.
• In the Valley of Elah - Good movie, you should see it.
• Rome - One of the best TV shows from HBO, they cancelled it after two seasons but it was good.
• Towelhead - Story about a young Middle Eastern girl dealing with growing up and living with a very strict father during the first Iraqi war.
• Elizabeth - Good movie with Cate Blanchett about the early years of her reign.

OK that's all of them from the last month or so. I'm toying with the idea of taking on some ridiculous project like reading all of the National Geographics, kind of like A.J. Jacobs reading of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Or I am also thinking of watching all the films nominated for the Oscars. I've got access to both and I think it could be fun. Anyway, I'm going to get back to studying now, woot woot.

Wander on my friends, wander on.

School Daze Cont'd

I meant to write more this year but this semester is still kicking my butt. I'm constantly feeling behind, but I am also procrastinating at new levels. Muahahahahaha. This is going to be a really short post mostly because I've got to get back to studying, but for the two or three of you that actually read this I plan to post more. Two things I am excited about though are that the baseball season is about to start and the Frogs exhibit at Muzeo in Anaheim.

School Daze

I've been meaning to post but I've been completely caught up with school. Let's do a quick rundown. I started the semester with five classes, yesterday I dropped the Spanish class. I've already taken a similar class and need the extra time to study and prep for more labor intensive classes. Chemistry and both math classes are off to a slow start, just easing us in to the semester. The bio class is already going full steam ahead, we've already had a labor intensive lab and the lectures are intense. What else? My trig teacher is the real life version of Borat, he's some kind of eastern European and wears tight jeans, muscle tee, leather jacket, and big silver chain to class. He looks like he is about to go to a discotheque; he also flies through the material.
I'll try to update more but with school and our Internet malfunctioning lately it was a little too difficult to get on here. The only other thing worth mentioning is that I got my hair done. It's shorter and has little blond peekaboos. I'm off to enjoy my relaxing weekend before it all starts again. I will try to post on a more consistent basis and with more interesting posts but unfortunately not today.

Wander on my friends, wander on.

Ack New Semester

So the new semester starts on Tuesday. Yep, I'm still at Fullerton College and will be for the next few semesters. I'm also switching from a humanities based major to a science major. This semester I'll be taking Organismal Biology, General Chemistry I, and Spanish 102; all three of these are 5 unit classes which take a lot of work. I am also taking Trig and an Independent Study math class. I've got most of my books and school supplies ready to go, all that I've got left is to print out some materials from some class websites and put my binders together. I'm aiming for the perfect 4.0 this semester. I am also excited about my new bag for this semester. I got it at the Army-Navy surplus store; it's a Paratrooper's Messenger bag according to the tag. It's army green and can fit all my books. Plus, it's got a nice shoulder pad thing so the strap doesn't dig into my should and a whole bunch of straps that I'm not sure what to do with...yet.



I've got a new project on my mind - building two complimentary bookshelves for the shelves already in my room. Once I get the shelves built and stained I hope to embark on the crazy task of reorganizing my book system. At one point my books were alphabetically organized by author for fiction and by subject for non-fiction. Right now there are just stacks and stacks of books bursting out of my shelves. Now I am just going to organize both fiction and non-fiction together alphabetically by title. I get it's not the most orthodox way of organizing my books but I think it'll be an easy way to do it without having me get stressed out about it.



So what have I been reading, watching, etc. recently

• Reading Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien. I've wanted to read this book for a while and recently stole (with approval) from Bean's classroom. I've read a few of O'Brien's other books and really enjoyed them. So far so good.
• I watch a lot of TV but mostly movies and stuff from Netflix or online, I'm not really into live TV or regular TV I guess. But, recently I've found One Big Happy Family on TLC. I love this show, its interesting.
• http://www.chairfag.com/ The tagline for this sight is "Because you're gay for chairs." It's just got some really cool architecture and furniture; emphasis obviously being on chairs.
• The Hurt Locker - I'd heard really good things about this movie and it's director, Kathryn Bigelow. I expected it to be an action packed movie and it turned out to really trace the team leader's character. All in all I thought it was good. A way different take on the typical war movie
• The Watchmen - Hated it. I liked the individual story lines of the characters, but that killed the movie as a whole. It was just too disjointed to follow clearly. I couldn't even finish it.
• Wallander - I haven't actually seen this but I desperately want to. It stars Kenneth Branagh as Wallander, the fictional sleuth in the novels by Henning Mankell. It's from BBC and frankly I adore BBC. Most of the shows I've seen from the BBC are awesome.

That's all for now I think. Ooh, I'm planning an architecture tour of the LA area :). More on that later.

Wander on my friends, wander on.

So Very Tired

Today I am so extremely tired. Forgive me if I fall asleep while writing this. Not many exciting things happening lately. Let's see I spent 700 dollars on books today; freak, that's ridiculous. 700 dollars not including my biology which thankfully I purchased last semester. Other than that, the fambam and I played Wii Fit Plus today. Yes we've jumped on that bandwagon. Anyhow, Wii Fit has classified me as obese (whippee!!!!) and my Wii Fit Age is 40. Hahaha looks like I've got a ways to go. It was also extremely hilarious to watch my brother and dad play the hula hoop game. Two grown men shaking their hips to no music and without hula hoops. Haha I laughed for hours. Not much else has happened, but perhaps a small run-down on what I've watched recently.

• Big Love Season 3 - I've watched the first two seasons and really enjoyed them. Season 3 has gotten off to a slow start but I'm holding out for the rest of the season before I call it a dud. PS if you haven't seen Big Love, you should check it out.


• The Answer Man - Lauren Graham and Jeff Daniels. Didn't have a great showing at the box office, but it was enjoyable. Would I watch it again? No


• Blindness - Epidemic of blindness occurs, only one woman (Julianne Moore) retains her sight. She pretends to be blind to stay with her husband. They and other blind people are quarantined in an awful facility and chaos ensues. She leads them out to a city that is empty as everything has stopped due to mass blindness. I really enjoyed this movie even though my dad did not. It definitely said a lot about human nature.

• Pawn Stars - Show on the History Channel (tied as my favorite TV channel with Discovery) about a pawn shop, only instead of just buying and selling they feature unique items and throw in the history of said items. I love random information and this show is a wealth of it.

Wander on my friends, wander on.

O Boy

I love Michael Cera....I think we'd make great friends.

Lazy January Day

Today was very lazy, I spent a good chunk of my morning cuddled up with Lola, our tiny dog. For the most part Lola, aka GatoDog, is cute, cuddly and sweet. However, she also loves to pee right in front of my door. In the last week I have stepped in her pee every single day, but it is so extremely hard to get mad at that cute little face.

Exciting discovery made today....whilst cleaning my room I found a pack of magnetized bookmarks that a friend, let's call her Bean, got for me. These bookmarks are awesome!!! First, I have mild OCD, which kicks into hyper gear in regards to my books. I just don't like when they get all crinkled and dirty, but don't get me wrong I've got nothing against used to books or anything like that. I just prefer to keep my books as neat as possible.

Currently, I am sitting on the couch watching my family play tennis and bowling with the Wii. I wonder how many families choose this virtual play instead of heading to the local bowling alley or park. At least there is still familial interaction. We also had a nice family dinner at the famous Yorba Linda restaurant, Bari Bari, to end the visit of my black brother DK and his girlfriend SL. Twas fun having them in town.

Something cool that I've come across recently...Accompanying Orhan Pamuk's new novel The Museum of Innocence will be a real life museum. Pamuk will open an exhibit with 83 displays of objects having to do with the characters in the book. This museum will be in Cukurcuma, Istanbul and will open this summer. I think this is a really unique way to showcase a book/story. Thanks to the The Guardian for covering the story.

Wander on my friends, wander on.

A Return Me Thinks

A long absence spent doing mostly nothing. Originally I had the idea that this blog would become the chronicles of my actual adventures or wanderings, only to realize with school and the like that there was no time or money to go said adventures. However, other adventures are happening in my life; navigating school, working on becoming healthy and fit, and of course attempting to survive my family.

Currently, I am spending my last few weeks of vacation reading and running. The reading I love, the running not so much. Well, let's be honest it's more like walking with bursts of jogging. The goal being to lose some weight and to run a 5k in February and walking an 8k shortly after. I'm not quite sure how that'll go but I've got high hopes. As for the reading, that's going tremendously well. I've hit up some very large used books stores run by some local libraries. Can you say jackpot? I've mostly found a lot of classics with the occasional contemporary gem thrown in, but you can't argue with a quarter a book. Right now I'm reading How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler. It's an older book on, well you guessed it reading a book. Moreover, how to gain understanding by becoming a more thorough reader. I'm reading this mostly because it was highly recommended by a friend but also because I think it will have some added benefit once the semester starts.

Other than that, I've been watching a lot of movies/TV shows over the last few months. Highlights below

• Hounddog - Film set in the 50s I believe starring Dakota Fanning. A young Southern girl who is obsessed with Elvis and in the pursuit of seeing him is sexually abused, but is eventually healed through song. I thought it was pretty powerful and a really good job by Ms. Fanning.
• Scrubs Season 7 - I love the silliness of this show period!
• Californication Season 2 - Some may be drawn to this show because of its dirtiness, not me. I love the dialogue, the writers are brilliant.
• Rescue Me Season 5 (both volumes) - I love this show. I'm drawn to characters that are broken like Tommy Gavin.
• Deadliest Catch - No explanations, this is my guilty pleasure show.
• Mythbusters - Another guilty pleasure. I like finding out how things really work and this show explains it all.
• Sunshine Cleaning - Amy Adams and Emily Blunt start a cleaning service for crime scenes. Just liked it.
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - 25 minute shows or "plays" according to Hitchcock. All of them well written and suspenseful. I've been fooled by last minute twists quite a few times.

I feel like I shouldn't end on a list but I'm done for now.

Wander on my friends, wander on.