Dissolving Rose

Glengarry Glen Ross

2011-11-07T12:29:00.001-05:00

I love Google Analytics. (Because of it, I found out most viewers of my blog are directed from a Russian based virgin-porn site.) I think it's one of the coolest Google products, and that's saying something. I have some ideas for it, along with many other Google products and some new things they could do, but I can't share them here. I'm applying for the APM position there, and would like to save these ideas for those meetings. I'll let you know how that all goes (within the realm of the NDA of course). I really want this job at Google more than anything, I love it at there offices. My boyfriends father works there, so I go every once in awhile (the NY branch is about 5 min from my house) for the fantastic free food. Plus its just so nice being in such an intellectual environment. Its extremely stimulating.

I digress. My point of today's post is not a new technology, it's marketing. I'm working on marketing plans for two different (yet very similar) companies I'm proposing to some venture capitalists in December. My entrepreneurship class was the main motivator for doing this, which is great because I'm learning so much and realizing what I actually want to do with my life. A small side project I had to do this week was watch the film Glengarry Glen Ross and write a paper on which salesperson I admire to be most. After researching the movie I don't understand how the marketing team failed so badly. The movie grossed about 1.5M less than the production cost, which some could attribute to its limited release within independent film festivals. But other independent movies have done fantastically. Look at almost any movie made by Fox Searchlight, and most that are top ranked at TriBeCa and Sundance. Like most of those movies, Glengarry Glen Ross has a fantastic screenplay with a jawdropping cast. The difference between them however is that Glengarry Glen Ross is based on a very popular play! So where did it go wrong? (Although I have some answers, I'm going to leave this open ended. I think I'm going to start asking more questions than providing answers. I have a lot to learn about the world, and I'm very eager to do so. Limiting my frame of mind limits my horizons.)

Incense Burners for Cars

2011-11-04T11:18:00.001-04:00

Today a friend of mine asked me if I knew a way to get his car smelling fresh. His problem with all the car fresheners they sell at the dealerships/car washes is that they run out within a month and really don't provide any strong smell like the stick incense that we both know and love. I searched online to find a solution for him but really didn't come up with one. I found this test someone did with getting a safe way to burn stick incense in his car. While his final solution, an old glass milk bottle, seems fantastic because the material is fire proof and it still allows airflow what happens if you need to stop short and the bottle falls, setting the car on fire! (Sorry for the over dramatic scenario.) A diffuser doesn't work of course because you don't want the oil spilling over the car.

In incense shops around NY you can get holders that are basically wooden crates (beautifully carved of course) which have holes in them, perfect to adhere to your dashboard with some 3M sticky pads. But that doesn't really cut it. Ash and dust accumulate fast with such a system. He wants something completely clean. Anyone have any ideas?

I jokingly suggested he take branches off pine trees. It is getting to be Christmas time. People will inevitably drag their trees home leaving stray branches all over the street, waiting to be used as free car incense.

Wouldn't it be great if we could put a concentrated scent into the air circulation system of the car. It could have a spot in the dashboard to replace the scent whenever you wanted a different scent or when you needed to refill it. You would never know about it because the smell would come out of your vents dissolved into the air. Hmm....

The Best Fake Rap Battle

2011-10-31T23:03:00.003-04:00

"While it's true my work is based on you
I'm like a super computer
and you're a TI-82"

'Nough said

2011-10-31T20:01:00.002-04:00

My boyfriend spend this past summer working in Heidelberg Germany. Having spent much of my life in Belgium most of his stories were nothing too special to me, except one. One of his coworkers had attached a blender to the front of his bike. The idea was similar to this neat guide but instead of making three smoothies, it would make one in one of those personal blenders. When he got to work, he could drink it walking up the stairs without the need to make another cup dirty. What a nifty idea I thought!

But why not take it further? Depending on how far you're riding, such that you could generate enough electricity and still have some time left over, could you use magnetic stirring? There would of course be a problem with ice so you'd probably have to use sub-zero ice cream to really make it great without the need for sharp blades. If this was possible, don't you think it would be fun to go for a 30 km bike ride and have a delicious healthy smoothie half way through while you're enjoying the scenery and the breeze?

Flow Away Snow!

2011-10-30T18:52:00.001-04:00

Yesterday the northeast suffered record snowfall for October. In NYC we received more than 3 times the old record, which was set around 1925! I can't believe that places got over a foot.

This leads me to my idea of the day. I was in Albany for a football game today and watched the home team shovel the field. Wouldnt it be fantastic to have heated fields? With global warming becoming more pressing, its definitely necessary. I think you could extend this technology to the more useful driveway applocation. The Met already has it on their staircase! Although im no expert on energy generation, cant you just capture the heat from the sun on nice and/or warm days to use for heating during snowfall? What do you think?

The Future According to Microsoft

2011-10-29T14:29:00.000-04:00

Microsoft.....good luck. I see a problem with your video: there were no bugs in that software. :P

If you can't tell, I've changed the theme of this blog. I'm going to focus in on my love of technology within the world. I think this will become my forum of ideas. Anyone want to help ponder what the future will actually look like with me? What will the political status be in 100 years? How much of a role does social media play in it?

Nightmare Before Christmas

2011-10-29T13:35:00.000-04:00

This is what New York is like right now:

Snowing before Halloween? Thank you coal plants!

There Is No Such Thing As Empty Space

2011-10-28T23:44:00.001-04:00

Well nether world, I'm not quite sure if anyone's out there anymore but I'm back. After almost four long years of college, I'm back. So much has changed!! I'm not that girl I used to be, I have certainly grown up. I don't even know where to begin, so I'll start from today with random anecdotes from the past. My life really isn't too exciting right now because my school is utterly boring. You'll catch up quickly.

I'm 21 now and a senior at The Cooper Union. To all those prospective Cooper students who may be stumbling across this as they search for that perfect school, or even to those whom are deciding whether or not the 3% acceptance rate is worth chancing: don't. This school really is great for some. You get an unparalleled education (my MIT friends can't do my homework let alone take my tests!) and unparalleled resources (Cooper alums run NYC). The school really prepares you in every aspect of the engineering discipline you're looking into, so you can work in almost anything. The problem with this school is the social life. There are about 10 people accepted into each engineering class that can communicate, and about 7 of those get kicked out between the first and second year. The rest of us stay because we cherished the rare times our audience knew about Cooper Union and got a gasp. (I was once in the elevator with Larry Page at the Google NY headquarters. When my friend told him I went to Cooper his jaw dropped, said I must be a genius, and told me to come back to him upon graduation.) If you think sacrificing 4 of the best years of your life will be worth those moments, then you'll do fine here.

Thankfully for the few of us who have communication skills, the new management style coming out of Silicon Valley is really working in our favor. I'm trying to move out there to be part of a younger, more relaxed atmosphere. As much as I love New York, I want to stop running for a minute, and just walk through life. During what will probably be the worst year of my life, I decided to escape my problems and go to the Sahara on a NSF fellowship. This was a year after my last post. Up until the point when I landed in Accra, I had been racing through life. Be it a product of my childhood or what be it, I had no idea how to slow down and stop for a moment. My experience that summer was dreadful and I don't want to recall all the details now for fear of getting sidetracked. Maybe what I needed was to run into a brick wall. Instead of dying (Though I came very very close. My intestines were overtaken by Cryptosporidium.) I was awoken. I learned how to breath in a fast paced world, and overtime I learned that even the most barren soil can grow beautiful flowers.

As I approach graduation, I'm thinking of what I love in this world, and what I love about myself. I have complete confidence that I can do great things. So here I go world. I don't care how many brick walls I run into. I'm going to make every one of them count.

Remember Mario Bros?

2008-07-04T00:38:00.002-04:00

and how they used to go up into the clouds and you'd get a million coins up there? Well right now I feel like i'm living in a dream world. I literally want someone to pinch me and wake me up because right now my head is sleeping. This is a world where the doorman knows my name and opens the door to the taxi for me. Housekeepers give me weird looks when I tell them thank you. (guess I'm one of the only people who actually appreciates it...never had a maid before) Blue skies behind one of the best views in the world: the reservoir, central park, and central park west. There are no other words to describe how I feel these days. I'm just lost in a daze trying to wake up. Only problem is if people poke me, i feel it. [; )] My world is changing. Making a complete 180 in fact. What am I to do? What's gonna happen next? Life is a mystery. I guess I'll just have to live out this amazing ride.

Polar Bears Are My Lovers

2008-06-30T10:48:00.003-04:00

Im truely sorry I haven't posted here in forever. It's been almost 2 weeks! There's been a ton going on in my life: finals, graduation, painting, packing, moving. So I don't know where to start with this post. I think I'll skip high school and go directly to moving. This blog is now my chronical of life in the east village as I see it. Start the time warp......now
It was a dark and dreary night a long long time ago. Actually it was bright and sunny on Friday. My mom came with me to see my apartment and help me drop off all my crap here. It was nice since she bought me nice gelatos and sandwichs. : ) yay mommies with nice bank accounts! Thankfully though, she left quickly. I had plans. So up up up I went to the met where I found out no one is allowed to sit on the steps anymore. What kind of bullshit is that!! I've wasted so many hours of my life on those steps and now I cant spend one minute. Bastards. After the met we decided to go out to eat. To about 6 different places. ; ) man we were so stuffed after that.
Saturday night was great. I learned I can not fake an orgasm for my life. Yes we went to Rocky Horror. In Chelsea, it was a special gay pride night. Fun fun. Our whole group of friends dressed in drag and watched people in extreme flamboyant colors dance. It was great. Actually let's rewind to the afternoon. Saturday afternoon I had made plans with some friends to go to Virage. Its a restataunt down the street which has these amazing Belgian waffles. Or at least the used to when we saw how much their brunch was and that they had no waffles we immediatly left. This was after drinking a lot of water and eating many muffins. Youre thinking " bad karma" right? Exactly! Two hours later I realized I didnt have my cellphone anywhere. After frantically searching every other place we went I knew it had to be at Virage. Thankfully when I went back they didnt remember us at all. It was behind the counter safe and sound. Thank god.
I got a 2 week membership to nysc. I doubt I'll actually use it ever again. I went on a few machine for 20 minutes. I'm sooo out of shape. The main problem is that I live six flights of steps up. That means my legs ache and I still have to do more exercising. Yesterday was purely painful trying to walk up them with a ton of groceries.
Those groceries were purchased at whole foods. I'm kind of regretting that fact because I bought all my food for the next few days before I have to go back to my parents house. That means a lot of money. But now I'm sick and I don't want to eat a thing. I blame my being sick on the burger place. Yesterday I went around to a few job interviews I saw on craigslist. One of the places looked perfect. So cute, except they only sell burgers. Even the salads have beef on them. Here's the problem: I'm vegan. I think the place just made me sick in general. Or maybe I'm just using it as an excuse. Whatever.
I got caught in the rain twice yesterday. The first time I said screw it and needed a towel the second I got back to my place. The second time i decided to just wait it out. I found a little deli to stand under. This lady and I were talking for a while. She had three really cute dogs with her in a stroller. They couldn't get wet. Poor puppies. One other guy asked her where she was from. Apparently she was born in jersey and got outta there as fast as possible. Sound like anyone? I just laughed. Then I got to reading the Post which was just sitting there. At least i think it was the post; the cover was torn off. Normally I wouldnt touch such a newspaper but there was no Times and this article looked interesting. It was about how now that bloomberg is in his last days the city is starting to go downhill again. Crime rates are dramaticaly rising, the police force has weakend in many neighborhoods, and grafitti is back on the subways. It makes sense to me. I see it everyday. Things are getting a bit worse again. The only thing I can say is yay cheaper rent! Hopefully at least. You know when stuytown first opened in 1946 the smallest apartment cost $51 (+- a few) now its at $3000. The most expensive five bedroom was $95. Currently its over $7500, I pay more than the original rent just for my cellphone. Times really have changed. Maybe not even for the best.

Diversity My Ass

2008-06-13T19:28:00.002-04:00

I decided not to go to school today since I had an interview at Ruehl. It's this really high end version of Abercrombie. Pretty nice clothes and a friend of mine works there so I thought it would be cool to work alongside him. Of course you pretty much have to wear their clothes in the store, i own nothing from them, there really isn't much of an employee discount, and the pay is minimum so all the money you make goes back to the store just so you can follow the dress code. But we shall forget that fact.
There are two things that disturbed me about this interview. One was how generic it was. Everyone who applies has to attend one. Once there the manager or whoever else is interviewing you just reads from an interview "packet" already handed to them by corporate. Literally word for word it's read out to the interviewee. Great huh? The person giving the interview didn't even seem to care much. It was just as if they felt it was a waste of time too. Wouldn't the company work much better if they had some personality when it comes to hiring? Maybe then they wouldn't be in such a bind for finding help. The second thing was their question about diversity. I guess they must ask this and make themselves seem like an all around better company ever since the huge legal scandal they found themselves in. I'll give them some credit; they really have made up for it. I only saw one blond chick working there, no one else was even white. (saturday nights, however, it's the complete opposite) My friend employee is brown too, so it does mean something about the diversity. But still, they seem to maybe be trying to hard now. The question still bugs me since they try to shun everyone, who's somewhat older or not dressed in the right style, who walks in the doors.
Either way I still love the store. Free People and Lucky Brand Jeans are more my style for casual dress but for a formal casual affair i'm all pro Ruehl. Now if they could only get that whole "suburban wannabe" thing down. I would say that i'm part of that except for the fact that my social life tends to revolve around ny. And I don't find the west village to be the shit.

Born To Run

2008-06-08T17:09:00.002-04:00

Sorry I haven't made a post in the longest time. I've been extremely busy and now finals are coming up. I may not post for a while again. But I have made some time in my frustration to post these (semi) time-lines.

New Jersey Driving Rules
16 years of age- Permit
17 years of age- Restricted Driver's License (only one non-family member in car at a time, no driving past midnight, etc.)
18 years of age- Full Driver's License

Most of my friends received cars when they turned 17.

My Dad's Driving Rules Place Upon Me
16 years of age- Pass The Written Exam
17 years of age- Permit
17.5 years of age- Restricted Driver's License (a form of ID that can not be used for it's actual purpose due to me not being on insurance)
A Few Months Later- Placed On Insurance (after insurance company starts saying that it's illegal for me to have a license but not be on insurance)
18 years of age- Allowed To Drive On Special Occasions About Once A Month With A Parent In The Car

Even my mom's friends from work have called my dad and complained to him about these rules. Yes, I'm a legal adult in 11 days and I still can't drive by myself. Not even down the street or to work. I once asked if I could and he screamed at me. Then he wonders why i spend over $100 a month going to Manhattan. Seriously when I need a loaf of bread I can't exactly drive to the store. So I take the bus, then the subway to get to Whole Foods to buy what winds up being a $35 piece of bread. Right now I need a $10 container of makeup but will have to get my ass to the Duane Reede in Port Authority because I can't drive anywhere. Please tell me the logic in all of this!

I Have Layers Too You Know

2008-05-24T17:26:00.004-04:00

They never told me the library was gonna be closed tomorrow and monday. I have free time now since I don't have to work. =)

So today I got out an atlas written by none other than The Onion. That great comedic paper we all know and love. I will now share four countries' and two states' intros with you.

Iraq
They Had It Coming

In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq in retaliation for countless atrocities committed by the nation, including the gassing of Kurdish villages, the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the events of 9/11, the sinking of the Titanic, the Hindenburg explosion, and the Holocaust.
Although Iraq-U.S. relations became strained in 1963 when Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein assassinated John F. Kennedy, tensions reached a head on Sept. 11, 2001. On this day, the nation of Iraq flew two commercial airliners into the World Trade Center, killing thousands of innocent Americans in the worst attack on U.S. soil since Iraqi fighter pilots bombed Pearl Harbor.
Despite criticism for its ensuing invasion, the U.S. claimed that stabilizing Iraq was the only way to prevent another nuclear attack like the one carried out on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by Iraq.
The U.S. plans to continue occupying the nation until Iraq either returns the kidnapped Lindbergh baby, or admits to all the acts of unjust violence for which it is responsible, including the Boston Massacre, a series of shark attacks in the summer of 1998, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Belgium
A Proud Tradition of Chocolate, And Also Some Other Stuff

While known worldwide for its delicious chocolates, mouth-watering waffles, and extraordinary desserts, there is a lot more to the nation of Belgium than first meets the eye. For instance, the country is also home to delectable pies, scrumptious pastries, custards, rich creams, and truffles.
With a surprise around every corner, be it an out-of-the-way bakery, a local bakery, or an old historic landmark like the nation's first baker, Belgium has something for everyone. Brussels, the country's capital and an architectural wonder, is the site of some of the most elaborately stacked cakes in the world, while Antwerp, its commercial center, is a fusion of old and new, with fresh eclairs replacing day-old eclairs each morning in the city's many shop windows.
Despite the nation's many culinary attractions, however, a visit to Belgium would not be complete without stopping at the breathtaking Basilica of the Sacred Heart, making a quick right at Rue Viveaux, and walking two blocks to one of the most renowned chocolate shops in all of Western Europe.

Bangladesh
God's Practical Joke

Framed by the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers, Bangladesh is home to some of the richest, most fertile soil in the world. That's the setup. The moment Bangladeshis establish an agricultural society around it, however, God delivers the devastating punch line, drowning hundreds of thousands in a typhoon. It works every time.
Though the torrential gag rushes right over most of the unsuspecting Bangladeshis' heads, some catch on and flee for drier land. While anyone else would see it coming across the horizon from a mile away, the gullible Bangladeshis soon return, giving God the perfect chance to rain horror down on them yet again. God never gets tired of that routine.

North Pole
Guess What, Kids- No Santa Here

While the North Pole still holds some mysteries, 150 years of exhaustive scientific study has conclusively proven that this bleak arctic ice sheet is absolutely void of any obese and immortal altruist living in an enchanted village powered by elf dust.
Despite the claims of so many ignorant children, who say Santa's Village is only visible to those who "believe," thousands of infallible radar installations would have nonetheless detected it by now. In addition, none of the myriad government satellites currently in orbit-devices that could photograph a reindeer carcass from space-have ever picked up even a single image of a warmly lit workshop or a giant candy cane.
If this supposed "Santa Claus" has somehow survived centuries of deadly below-freezing temperatures, he did so without a viable communications infrastructure, steady source of food, or functioning electrical grid.
However, though mountains of irrefutable evidence can now debunk any and all claims of this ridiculous figure's existence, one questions still remains: Where do all the presents come from?

Texas
Everything Sucks Bigger In Texas

Home to mega-factories that contribute to the highest levels of air and water pollution of any state in the Union, a cavernous income gap that leaves visitors awestruck, and an abstinence-based sex education system that has all but ensured it will soon have the highest birth rate in the country, Texas knows that anything worth doing is worth doing big.
From the 64-ounce sodas that add to their number-one-in-the-nation waistlines, to the highest rates of drunk driving and citizen imprisonment to be found in America, the residents of the Lone Star State pride themselves on doing everything Texas-sized.
Boasting the largest egos and most inflated sense of self-importance in the Lower 48, Texans love to talk big about how they execute the most mentally disabled criminals, send the most boys to die for the biggest foreign-policy mistakes, and drag their hate-crime victims the farthest behind the most enormous pickup trucks available.

Hawaii
Spectacular Balcony View

From their high-rise hotel rooms in Waikiki, Hawaii's tourists are dazzled by the white-sand beaches 40 stories below, as well as the tasteful watercolors hanging above their beds.
Rare jungle birds and vivid tropical trees that can't be found anywhere else in the world are easily accessible on channel 347 (TLC). In fact, all of Hawaii's picturesque wildlife is within reach at the postcard stand down in the lobby gift shop.
Though 500-foot waterfalls are mere miles away, the typical visitor need not travel far to enjoy clear cascading waters, as the full-size shower is just steps away. And the islands enchant all who partake of the complimentary shampoo and body wash.

Minnesota
Land of 10,000 Retards

The pop-drinking, Hormel-eating, dontcha-know dumbfucks of Minnesota are too stupid to have any idea why they are the laughing stock of the entire country.
From "Yah, sure" to "You betcha, there," Minnesotans have not said one damn intelligent or discernible ting since their godforsaken state was founded in 1858.
After being told by Eastern explorers that they had an unusual number of lakes, intrepid Minnesotans started counting, got stuck at 99, and just skipped ahead to the highest number they'd ever heard of, 10,000.

As I said earlier this is all from The Onion's Our Dumb World Atlas of the Planet Earth. Seventy-third edition with free globe inside and now with 30% more Asia.

Typing

2008-05-22T22:13:00.002-04:00

I'm not going to be posting for the next week...well..really until June. I'm sorry. I have to work everyday between now and then to make up for the hours I'm missing next weekend. It's prom! My friends and I are spending the weekend in Manhattan galavanting around. Don't forget, World Science Festival thing is on Saturday in Washington Square Park! I also can't write much because today I sliced my hand in half during engineering. In actuality I didn't slice it in half. I cut my palm down to the bone in a small area. It was bleeding for 15 minutes. Pulsating too. I mean it was coming out in rhythmic synchronizations with my heart. The nurse tried spraying anti-bacterial stuff on it but it all rolled off with the blood. I find it odd how I get grossed out when other people get hurt but if it happens to me i just laugh. I couldn't stop laughing all morning. Of course, going to the hospital like everyone is telling me is just wrong imo. I hate the hospital soooo much. It seems way too sterile for me.

Charity

2008-05-21T20:59:00.002-04:00

Yesterday the lady at Regal's ticket counter asked if I'd like to donate a dollar to some charity they were collecting money for. I said no and the guy I was with laughed at how insensitive that was of me. (he's from florida...not really used to people not giving a shit) As a result I decided to make today my bi-annual clothing drive day. My floor/closet/drawers were torn apart in search of clothes which are not my style anymore, too small/too big on me, or I haven't worn in a while for one reason or another. They then get counted up for worth and donated to the Salvation Army. This year I am pleased to say that I have a bag in the corner of my room worth $2,150 waiting to be given off. I could add two more pants to this and make the number 2750 but I want to keep them in case I loose enough weight in the future. I just can't see myself giving away 300 dollar jeans after wearing each about 4 times. Not really worth it.

Can He See Or Is He Blind

2008-05-20T21:22:00.003-04:00

Today I went with a friend to go to Ironman. I definitely recommend it to all. One of the best movies I've seen in a very long time. It is funny, thrilling, romantic, and technologically amazing all at the same time. Yay for multi-faceted movies! I also recommend going to the regal at union square (might be at all regals, i have no clue) because you get a free popcorn if you just give them your name and zip code. I didn't even put down my correct zip code.

What I don't recommend is having a broken umbrella when it's raining outside. I got splashed by cars, drenched from inescapable puddles, and soaked from head to toe by the torrential downpour. My clothes are currently in the side of my room drying. Hopefully they will be okay. Poor things. At first walking in the rain was fun, but after a while it tourned sour. Hm....it was when the water starting accumulating in huge sheets on my face and dripping off.

Remember how a few weeks ago I left a t-shirt at a bubble tea place in chinatown? Remember how i went back the next day to find said place but could not find it? I found it today. A month too late Karen!

Starbucks

2008-05-18T18:51:00.003-04:00

Starbucks is continuing to invade this country. I thought they would stop considering they're closing many stores due to a "slight" financial problem. But no, they're still building. In fact they're building one down the street from my house. That means that right now I can drive to 3 different starbucks in five minutes but in a months time I'll be able to drive to 3 in 5 minutes and walk to another in 2 minutes. Yes that's how close this starbucks is gonna be to my house. It's practically my bus stop I'm at every morning on my way to school. That would be great if I had money and shopped at a huge chain like starbucks.

Today I Got...

2008-05-13T16:17:00.002-04:00

Laid. Now unfortunately that's not true. I got a "college planner" from Target. Included is a $5 off coupon!

Did you read my post from yesterday? It might explain why I was sick today. My head felt so heavy in physics that it was about to fall through the earth. In reality it just hit against the desk, very hard. Way to go gravity. You have once again proven that you are the weakest force in existence.

Random Observation of the Day

2008-05-12T19:47:00.002-04:00

Bronx bound 2 train: Brooklyn- empty, Wall Street- fills up, Chambers- can't move, Penn Station- empties

Thank god I got on in Brooklyn! Why the hell was I in Brooklyn? Because I let a friend of mine talk me into walking over the Brooklyn Bridge on one of the windiest days we've had in a while. Smart.

Philosophy

2008-05-10T16:39:00.003-04:00

Have you ever thought about how random life is? Think about even 6 months ago. Where were you? What did you think was going to happen in the future? What was your life plan? In reality these things are bound to change. They did for me especially. I met people I never fathomed I'd have the opportunity to even see let alone become friends (?) with. I've found old items that have made me think about memories I haven't enjoyed in years. I've commenced on new business ventures and moved on from old traumas. I've grown up and matured. The last think I ever expected. When I look in the mirror now I see someone completely different from the girl I once saw; and that is more satisfying than a cannoli. =D

Here Is My Rant

2008-05-08T11:11:00.002-04:00

For the past couple of months I have been spending all my time in Manhattan. It seems that the island is just my heart's home and the only place I can completely enjoy myself. I feel free there. But due to the amount of time I have been spending there, all my friends in Jersey have been yelling at me for not spending enough time with them. To repair this tattered social life I once had I've been spending more time down here. Of course this leads me to miss my future home. Why? Well for one thing stores' hours suck. I was at the mall looking for a necklace last weekend and heard an announcement that the stores were going to close at 9:30. 9:30! Even when I was growing up they closed at 10. What is this world of suburbia coming to? And people ask me why I'm online so much. Give me something better to do world. Please

Subway

2008-05-06T23:42:00.001-04:00

My friend started working at Subway today. As a result she now hates the word and made sure to mention this on her facebook status. Because I am such a great friend, I posted this on her wall.

I hate when you say "I wanna go to subway" cause it's like "Which subway?" Then your friends and you go to the train subway subway and realize you ment food. But in fact you have to take the subway to get to subway. This leads to complications because you accidently sent your subway monthly unlimited pass to your friend in Florida (who neither has a subway system nor a way of using your subway card on the ny subway since he lives in florida). So after you pay him $2 to save time at the subway station and not purchase a new card you hop on teh subway train and then have to switch subway lines just to get to subway. In the end it was all worth it though because of that delicious Subway sandwich.

=D

Gasp!

2008-05-04T18:39:00.001-04:00

This morning the unbelievable happened. My NYTimes did not have a crossword puzzle. Is there some new crossword puzzle section that got left out? Or that you now have to pay for? Wtf? I don't know what i'm gonna do with my life right now.

That Happens When We Borrow Money From China

2008-05-04T17:55:00.003-04:00

Tourist son: Wow, is this high school?
Tourist dad: Yup, you gotta be like Asian to go here.

--Stuyvesant High School

*I got this off of Overheard in New York. I thought a few people who read this would love it. =D

It's Back =)

2008-05-04T00:36:00.002-04:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/weekinreview/04carey.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin

I Was So Happy Before

2008-05-01T09:53:00.002-04:00

but now ....eh, I don't care.

Hannah: Just look at this video!
Kevin: Of what?
Hannah: Jesse McCartney
Me: He is so hot.
My Principal: (Insert my last name)!

Perfect timing right. In fact it was about senioritis. He yelled at me for it yesterday because I was talking to a few of the freshman during my free block. I had nothing to do so I decided to hang with my friends who had lunch. I don't see what's wrong with that. Now today he was at his last straw because I had a coffee in the CAD lab. I understand because there is a sign saying "No food or drink in this room." But really, what does this have to do with senioritis? I've been drinking coffee in here for years. I think he saw my physics grade. 16 points lower than first marking period.

The Darn Plumbers

2008-04-30T11:05:00.006-04:00

Today was Italian Day at school. The theme started out a few months ago at my lunch table with us talking in Italian accents. We moved onto wearing clothes resembling those of a character from Mario Brothers. Currently, a different person has to bring in Italian food every wednesday. My turn now; I had canolis. Canolis are my favorite desert. I think those things make me so happy I can forget about everything. =) So now I'm happy again. I don't know why I let some things get to me so horribly. All will be good in the end. My prospects are not up and I don't see why I thought they were. Thank you canolis for allowing me to see the light again.

Billy Joel is on my iPod. And even though Manhattan is sent out to sea, at least Queens can stay.
I'm sorry that I can't draw...even using a computer.

You Know I'm Such A Fool For You

2008-04-29T22:19:00.002-04:00

Today I sat there all day listening to some of the guys in my class discuss how they'll ask certain girls to prom. I don't actually know any of the girls; they don't go to my school. (I don't blame them for that.) Even then, they were asking the girls in my grade for advice on how to ask. Now generally I'm a very cynical, unsentimental person. I don't really care for romantic bullshit. My whole life I've believed, using others examples as my basis, that anything romantic from a boy is just used to get laid. Thus I just laughed at the whole situation. It was pretty funny seeing how they're blowing prom out of proportion. It is just another pathetic high school dance in my opinion. Well, my school's is. I would love to go to another school's prom but that's not happening. I'll get over it in a minute though.

As I sat there listening to everyone scheming of creative suave advances all these thoughts went through my head. It's only now, hours later, when I'm sitting at home listening to Lou Reed playing Sudoku that I realize how sweet that is. Maybe it is only because they're trying to get laid but they're making a hell of an attempt. Those girls are lucky. They have great boyfriends.

Foundations

2008-04-29T16:19:00.001-04:00

I've had this song stuck in my head for the past few days. Thank you! (you know how you are) I'm doing it for the talent show now. lol.

Today is sunny. It wasn't supposed to be. You know the problem with that? I don't have my sunglasses. I have no clue where they are actually. Great huh? Thank god they were only my second favorite pair.

Yay! Rain!

2008-04-28T14:06:00.002-04:00

Today is senior cut day. I should be having fun right? Wrong. Instead I'm sitting at home listening to Foundations by Kate Nash on repeat. I watched an hour of Gone With the Wind then gave up on superfluous romance. Now I shall wait for Weeds to finish loading and for an email that will never come.

Originally I was supposed to go to my apartment in Woodside. Fix some things up for the summer. That got cancelled a week ago when the apartment got taken away from me. Two days later when I got it back I had already made alternative plans for today. I was going to have a party. Well due to a lack of interest because I live very far from most of my friends (they even have to pay tolls to get down here) it got cancelled. They invited me to go see a movie/eat lunch with them. Never worked out. i'm broke because various reasons I'm not willing to discuss. So what should I do now? I have friends who are mad at me for always ditching them for my friends in the city and almost no one else. I do have friends that live faraway. I guess i'll be with them on aim today. Not always a bad thing. I'll go make cookies too! Maybe some cartoons will be on tv. =) I guess this could be a happy senior cut day if only I could manage putting on a happy face.

Eyelashes

2008-04-28T11:30:00.002-04:00

This morning I burnt mine. Well half of the eyelashes on my right eye. They're not completely off, just cut in half. I guess that's what I get for trying to do something while lying down which involves fire. But now, I'm happy again. This morning I was the most depressed I've been in a while. One extreme always follows the other for me. Why? Probably because I look at that extremely happy thing and think to myself that the same event will ever occur again. All because of how paranoid I am. I don't think I ever was this way before I started doing the action that led me to burn my eyelashes. Is that even a side-effect? Maybe I just doing remember before that time.

I'm Sorry

2008-04-27T21:15:00.002-04:00

I'd like to take this time to say I'm sorry. I spent almost a week without updating the blog. I deeply regret it because I love updating this then reading comments. It makes my day. Thank you everyone!

I need to buy a record player. I got about 20 records today. I'm so excited to listen to them! It'll be my only method of listening to music this summer. See I'm going on this anti-technology thing for july and august. The only electronic device I can use for purposes other than school is my iPhone. And that's only because I pay a lot of money for it.

Time

2008-04-27T11:20:00.003-04:00

So I must be getting great at time management or something because I was able to complete everything in 2 hours. Nice huh? It seems that time has been on my side lately. Every instance when i feel rushed eventually solves itself. Some items get finished a lot quicker than I ever expected or two things get combined. Either way it makes me happy because all is good in the end.

Of course, time is also running. Constantly. This is what totally sucks. I mean think about it, why do good times feel like they go by so quickly and boring times take forever? Friday I had one of the best days in a very very long time (which is saying something because my life has been going great lately.) But then yesterday was horrible. It was so long and boring and nothing really happened. It never did have a chance though, all because it followed friday. I guess that's the reason why some days are so horrible. They may be great but relative to the surrounding days they feel like crap.

Now only time will tell what happens next.

Beeecause

2008-04-24T22:35:00.003-04:00

I'm sorry I haven't posted. My life has been ultra busy lately. Here is just a small segment, but good generalization, of my schedule.

Tomorrow I have three hours to do the following:
take a psychology final
Get a ride back to my house (about a half hour away from school with no traffic)
go to the bank, deposit a check, and move money between my savings and checking
take a bus to manhattan (there is only one every half hour during this time of day)
Find $10
get a new subway card
Get my ass up to 80th

Think its possible? I don't.

Swan's Way

2008-04-18T21:56:00.003-04:00

The last time I was at Barnes and Noble was one of my first trips there in a very long time (probably years). I have a thing against chain stores. But this time I was forced to because I won a free gift certificate from my school. To celebrate this vary rare occasion I went to the large one in Union Square. Lucky too. I found the new translation of Proust's Swan's Way. I've always wanted to read this book. First because it is one of my mom's favorite novels and second because Little Miss Sunshine is by far my favorite movie. Generally I would have bought it in French but I don't even know if the store had it in French (shoulda tried that awesome store in Rockefeller Center huh). The cover was way too pretty also. Just made me want to buy this version. So I spent most of the card on this book and the rest, well let's just say I went to the one coffee place I told myself I would never ever go to again.

Today was so gorgeous outside. I drifted out in front of my school during free block. (My college class got out an hour early so I had that time to myself.) The book gravitated out of my bookbag and into my hands. It even opened itself up to the right page. Like magic right? Naturally my eyes went to the text and I started reading it. I don't know whether it was the book, Proust's writing style, or the weather but I could not put the book down and go inside. It was so depressing when I had to go to calculus. =( Nevertheless I definiately recommend this book to anyone willing to take the time to read it. Enjoy!

Facebook...

2008-04-17T16:16:00.002-04:00

is not working right now. I can't get to the main page or any specific part. This just ruins my afternoon.

रंदोम कोम्प्लैनिंग अबाउट माय लाइफ. दोन'टी वोर्री अबाउट थिस पोस्ट.

2008-04-17T12:14:00.003-04:00

I'm sorry I didn't post yesterday. I was planning on doing so but I got home really late from a reception at Cooper Union. I really can't wait to start there. The labs looked amazingly fun and the whole community seemed perfect. That was pretty much the only good part of my day. In fact, yesterday was one of the worst days i've had in a while. Sorry, I won't bother you with my problems any longer. Let's just say that i'm odd and when i'm depressed I'm actually happier. I feel like i'm more in my comfort zone this way.

I have decided to join a gym. I really need to start swimming again. I found a really cheap one by my place for this summer/next year. That means I only have to save up another $3000 for things I want before the start of my college career. If all the forces in this world are against me though I will have to save up more. It's something i really don't wanna spend money on either. Anyone know where I could get a job? Preferably in the east village but frankly I don't give a shit. Just as long as it's a job. They're impossible to find nowadays.

Once again I'm very sorry for this post. I'm just ranting and in a very bad mood. Hopefully I can go back to my happy self sometime soon but i doubt it. A few things are not going the way i planned.

Gymnastics Bloopers!

2008-04-15T18:45:00.001-04:00

Is it horrible that I find this hilarious?

More Addicting Than Crack

2008-04-14T15:47:00.002-04:00

Play Games at AddictingGames

Two Hour Photo

2008-04-13T18:55:00.002-04:00

Slaving to Slave

2008-04-12T19:36:00.002-04:00

It's easy to find a job right? I mean, this is New York City, not exactly a shantytown in Alabama. At least that's what I thought. Up until today I figured it would be pretty easy to get a job here. We have every commercial and retail business there is. Pinkberry? There's 3 down the street. Starbucks....haha! I'm up to counting 110. (started in 2000...don't completely keep track though. Some may be counted twice or thrice.) We have Tiffany's and the Jewelry Cafe, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. Every place a teenager in desperate need of money would go to. But in typical New York style, they don't care about kids. (Though if I had a dog, I would love it more than a child. Children are just annoying.)
After getting fed up trying to find a job today I wound up on Craigslist. At first glanced it looked amazing. I found two really cute local stores in need of sales associates, no experience required. But then i looked for more and only discovered that luck was not on my side. Nothing else turned up. So now i'm gonna have to hope I get one of these jobs or else I have no clue what I'm going to do this summer. I really need money and somewhere to waste my time away. HELP!!!

Oh and I bought my prom dress today. =) It's absolutely gorgeous.

Why Am I So Lazy Lately?

2008-04-11T22:20:00.003-04:00

There is this thing that it famous
Its name is senioritis
I sleep all day
Won't do work anyway
Facebook, you have my full attention

Travels in...New York?

2008-04-10T22:06:00.004-04:00

One of my favorite things to do on weekday nights when I'm exhausted is go to work. Well, not quite. If I did that would be kind of ridiculous. But I do love taking forever putting away a cart of books with 900's on them. Today's was the best 900 cart I had in a while because over half the books were about New York City.

I'll start off by saying how retarded I think this is. We have a few shelves filled with those New York City travel guides. Why anyone would need one of them is beyond my comprehension. I do understand a few, like the dining guides. The history books are great too. But Fodors and Frommers? Come on. (A bit of a sidenote: I found out a friend of mine might choose to attend NYU over Brown. I told her not to go to NYU cause I don't want to hate her. Looks like I may just have to afterall.)

On the other hand, I love reading all these books. For some reason I find it fascinating to read about my neighborhood, my favorite stores, and the various places I call home. The books are written for a tourist and I think that's why I respect some of them so much. Some of the non-big-name travel books give a more cultural and realistic picture of this great city. They give you walking tours of neighborhoods Frommers would never seem to mention, nor would the majority of tourists ever dream of visiting. One day I will write down some of these chapters and follow them. Maybe during the summer it can help me better appreciate everything. Is this a horrible thing of me to do?

The history books are always fun too. I got to look at a ton of pictures from Harlem's hayday back in the early 1900's. Brooklyn Heights also crept in there too. Pretty awesome books. Pretty awesome waste* of time.

* Waste is a relative term, of course.

P.S. I have decided to write a book. It's going to be stupid but I have nothing better to do with my time.

Oh That Delicious Cake

2008-04-09T19:31:00.003-04:00

I have been extremely biased against fat people lately and I have no clue why. They take up too much room on the subway preventing people from getting on and sitting down. Then they have to open up the gate sometimes instead of just using the turns dial. And still they keep eating. It's not that hard to go on a diet people. Ever hear that it's healthier not to carry around that much flab anyway?

I just realized that lately, probably since I have become so tense, I directly make fun of overweight persons I know. Previously I just tried to change them. If they offered me a piece of cake I'd decline saying "Oh that's too fatening for me" even though I'm dying for it on the inside. If they weren't there I'd of course have a piece. Yet they are so I keep my desire for that cake hidden. One girl I know started wearing very tight clothes last year. Let's just say they don't look that too appealing. I went so far as to go on a diet and say "I'm too fat." whenever I was in her presence. Never did work.

On the other hand I don't like people that are anorexic either. I'm just never biased/mean to them. At least they took control of themselves at one point or another. But it is gross and I'm not advocating it. I'm just saying I won't try and change an anorexic person's lifestyle and I wont put them down. After all, they don't take up that seat that I could have taken in the subway do they?

Uh....?

2008-04-07T22:02:00.002-04:00

This is my blog for the night.
I have so much work it's a fright.
To go and get sleep
Is all that I need
But for now I'll live on caffeine.

Have a Wonderful Day

2008-04-05T22:22:00.002-04:00

Have you ever wondered why we abbreviate some greetings? I only really noticed today but most people tend to say "morning" instead of "good morning" and "evening" instead of "good evening". This really makes no sense. Good morning obviously means "Have a good morning!" or "It's a good morning!" or "Are you having a good morning?" (this one has been obsolete for a while though) or even "I hope you're gonna have a better morning than I will because mornings just suck!". On the other hand saying "morning" is supposed to have these same connotations yet never seems to achieve them in my book. If someone tells me "Morning!" or "Evening!" I will respond with "Yes I know that it is the morning/evening. Why are you so excited about it?" Taking the word good out of the statement just kills it imo. So think about this fact the next time you want to greet someone, por favor.

The Most Intelligent Roads

2008-04-04T20:26:00.003-04:00

We all know that the MTA is run by idiots. Today, thanks to the East Village Idiot, we found out that NJ Transit's people can't spell either. And you thought that was the end of the dumb transportation system in the tri-state area huh? Well guess again. I travel on Route 440/287, a road in central New Jersey, a lot. (Tonight for a wake.) The road actually starts out as 440 and then turns into 287. Well, if you look on a map you would see that 440 clearly starts at Staten Island and runs straight west. But do the people who write up the signs realize this? No. The signs on 440 West say "440 South". Not only that but after a while 440 "South" turns into 287 "North". Keep in mind that no where in between these two signs/name changes does the road turn. In essence, West is equivilant to South which is equivilant to North. Later on the road does turn north, however, this takes place much farther down the road.

Now can you see why today at lunch I told everyone I only know New York (Manhattan =) so easy) roads? Jersey just confuses me.

Thanks to Interstate-Guide.com for the pic.

Jesusmobile

2008-04-03T21:42:00.003-04:00

A friend of mine has a car we all call the Jesusmobile. Reason being, he has a bunch of Jesus bumper stickers on the back. I find these stickers and this name to be completely ironic considering the history of the car. It seems to break down a hell of a lot for a car that has Jesus overlooking it. I mean, the thing has put him in a horrible situation (because it broke down) an unimaginable number of times. Why is Jesus doing this to him?

Well...that is one interpretation. My other interpretation, and the one I am going to endorse, is that Jesus really is looking out for the car as well as my friend. You see, everytime it breaks down tends to be while he's doing something completely against the rules. So maybe Jesus is just punishing him for his evil actions. But since he never gets in trouble for doing wrong when he's not in his car, the bumper stickers must bring Jesus to him. I guess there is a lesson to be learned from all of this; if you want Jesus to be with you, bring a Jesus bumper sticker with you EVERYWHERE.

Devil's Haircut

2008-04-01T15:25:00.003-04:00

Well...not quite the devil's but the devil's prices. Since when did places decide it was okay to charge $50+ for a haircut? I will be paying $65 to get three inches trimmed off soon. And that's cheap by haircut standards! My mom wanted me to go to Bumble and Bumble but as long as their prices are $200 I won't even consider it. There are places like Orla that charge $600 too. Where is this city heading? Everyone's gonna need a Swiss bank account just to share a studio with someone soon. And where will the rest of us go? That question is one I can not answer because I will not move to Brooklyn.

Dancing In The Street

2008-03-31T21:34:00.002-04:00

One thing I love is walking home at night. Coming back from a restaraunt with all your friends, happy as hell, and listening to U2. When the streets are all dark and quiet and everyone is going about their homely business. It's so perfect just dancing in the street. You had it right Van Halen.

Computer

2008-03-31T16:43:00.003-04:00

I saved up as much money as possible last week to get a new snowboard. Only problem is I never actually went out to buy one and missed my opportunity to. I guess I should spend the money on a new computer instead. Should I buy a laptop or a desktop? The thing is a laptop is more convenient but I already have an iphone. Why do I need another piece of technology? It is my best friend yet my worst enemy at the same time. I long for the simple times. Oh like when your cellphone doesn't work on the subway so you just read. Everyone else does the same thing too. It's so nice and peaceful. Everyone is in their own world and there's nothing quite as nice as that commute with no ringing. Anyway, I don't think I want another laptop unless I get a tablet, but I won't buy anything other than a Mac too. Guess I'm not getting another notebook until that time huh. I'll go for a nice iMac. Seems like fun to me.

P.S. Finding a date to prom is hard. Finding a dress is even harder.

Ah, Those Chain Stores

2008-03-28T21:44:00.000-04:00

There are subtitles for all you non-French speakers.

Find more how to and instructional videos on 5min.com

American Pie

2008-03-27T22:50:00.003-04:00

It has come to that time of year again where I must search for a prom dress. Good thing my mom told me my budget is nonexistant. Anyone want to go to Tiffany's with me for some jewelry? lol jk I'm not that selfish.

On a more important note, Obama spoke about the economy at Cooper Union today. This brings two thoughts to my mind. One is that next year, when I actually go to Cooper and will be able to attend these talks, no one good will be speaking. No one will need to be the next Lincoln, no mayor is gonna want to see his pictures on the front of Newsweek, no fun speaches will be in my life. ='( I bet everyone $20 this will be the case. Two, why is the party so divided? I am not the biggest fan of Obama but if he winds up with the nomination, so be it. I will not argue with anyone about which candidate is better and I will sure as hell stand by my party's candidate no matter what. I say everyone should stop arguing about Hilary and Obama and instead focus all their negative energy on the rival. Wouldn't it make more sense? Divided we fail people. Divided we fail.

Oh one last thing. My school is having a talent show and my two best friends are making me sing along side themselves. Only problem is we listen to completely different music; they listen to rap/R&B, I listen to all rock except emo. I had suggested we do a cool medley with two songs from each seperate genre that sync together perfectly. So does anyone know what will work with Umbrella by Rihanna? And I don't want a cover of that song by another band. I know people like McFly did covers but that's not what I want. i'm talking about a completely different song. Thanks!

Literature

2008-03-25T22:49:00.002-04:00

A poem a friend found for me (from Deviant Art)
Weed, Weed, the magical plant,
Makes you do things, You can't,
If you smoke this stash,
You will become brash!

You will see talking Objects,
And sometimes GIANT insects,
You may get the crunchies,
So go out and get MUNCHIES!!!

Chips, Dip, Pretzels, and BEER,
A seven-eleven is always near,
OH! Weed, Weed, we love you,
Even though the fuzz say NO!

We will continue to smoke,
Never will we choke!
Oh mighty weed,
We love your seed.

So come all you Hippies!
Shout out some Yippies!
For..The..Magical...Plant..WEED
It will satisfy your greatest need.

Convert some fuzz,
Make luv to yer cuz
WEED, WEED, WEED
YAHOO!!!!!

A poem I wrote today
I think I agree
I just never admitted it before.
I wish I didn't keep so much in me
We wouldn't have this war.

But you'll realize soon
Everything I keep deep.
Then we'll lie under the moon.
In peace, we'll fall asleep.

A random saying I felt like coming up with to sound somewhat intelligent (for once)
right and wrong is a fabricated notion to manipulate the masses

Free People

2008-03-24T21:08:00.003-04:00

I really want to work at Free People. Not only would I use the discount so much but they have the cutest application ever. It is pastel yellow, written in script, has no lines or boxes, and has dragonflies all over the place. I also think that any job application which asks who your favorite bands are and which singer respresents the label most definitely deserves to be loved. Speaking of that I'm not a big fan of Strand right now. They make you sit there and fill it out and take this quiz on how much literature you know. Sorry Strand, I'm not working for you. I'll only buy from you.

Easter Crowds

2008-03-23T12:09:00.004-04:00

Happy Easter everybody! I won't be having a happy one because my parents have decided to give up on our family tradition- gambling the day away in Atlantic City. Not that I can gamble to begin with, but I like helping my mom. About 5 years ago we started this trend and spent the day at the Trump Taj Mahal. The floor there is perfect for people like me because my mom would sit two steps below me on the game floor playing poker and I would sit on the top step (where I was allowed) telling her what to do. The security guards laughed at the situation because a 12 year old was telling her 50 something mother how to play Texas Hold 'Em.

And with that I am spending all weekend in my room because of all the tourists. I decided it was time for a new knockoff Gucci purse yesterday so I went down to Chinatown. Bad idea. Canal was more crowded than I have ever seen it. All the families had to stop and stare at the watches in every shop. Didn't anyone tell them that every store has the same exact merchanise? Then there are those groups that decide it is perfectly okay to stop in the middle of the sidewalk holding everyone up. There were the multiple groups of 7+ people taking up the whole width of the sidewalk to talk to eachother. Next were the people who had to stop to take pictures. But wait! The wind was blowing their hair so they have to retake it! OMG such a tradgedy. The people I have the most sympathy for are those who look at their maps trying to figure out which way they should go next. I have no clue why I feel bad for these people. Maybe it's because assholes like myself always lead them in the wrong direction just to get a good laugh. (Though I have a new rule. If the person is nice and looks decent I will be nice to them and lead them in the right direction. If they're an asshole, I'll be a bitch. Plain and simple.) The other two aformentioned categories of tourists however have none of my respect.

What's the big deal with water too? At the 3rd and 14th street station yesterday there was a huge hold up because a very small puddle of water had formed around the base of the steps. Everyone was freaking out that they were going to get their shoes wet. I guess everyone is blind and didn't see the foot of dry pavement on both sides of teh puddle. Not to mention they could have just steped over the water. It wasn't a large amount. One last note about the subway: the MTA sucks. I stood at the 2nd and Houston uptown V platform for 45 minutes. Meanwhile 4 trains going to Brooklyn had gone past. It is so disheartening whenever this happens.

Dear Friend,

2008-03-17T21:31:00.004-04:00

Nothing much happened today. No drinking, no normal St. Patrick's Day celebrations, no special funny sightings, just my everyday life. But I did have time to think and will now like to dedicate this post of nothing to one of my friends, maybe my only true friend at my school. Many others, including those I consider my best friends and the group I always hang out with, just judge me. One of my best friends takes every opportunity possible to make fun of me despite the fact that I am not only going to a much better college than her but am about twice as high as her in class rank and can out smart her in many things. The two girls I call my best friends are fun to be with, but the moment I do anything wrong they don't seem to support me and instead tell me how dumb I was. They don't seem to look to the now and expand their minds past the very very strict sheltered lifestyle they were brought up in. So sometimes, when something very serious happens, I pretty much lack the friends I need. These three people would be the most fitting and the only three I would sometimes think of but in reality, the person this post is dedicated to should be the first person I should go to. I think that person will be in the future.

He/She is always there for me it seems. Sometimes I may hate said individual but about 5 times as much I feel they are the only one I can not only be honestly myself with, but the only one that is there for me. I would like to thank the unnamed for everything they do for me and I would like him/her to know that I will forever more be in his/her debt. We may hate eachother at times, but I think ours is a true friendship that will last forever. It is one of the few things I am thankful for.

The Voice of the Neighborhood

2008-03-16T18:45:00.004-04:00

I love how series some papers are. I don't get my news from the Village Voice. I get it from the Times. I generally only go to the Voice for going-ons, art/restaurant reviews, movie reviews, etc. but I always look at what their headlines are. Generally it tends to be something remotely political. Some radical left wing (yes even too left for me. didn't think it was possible huh?) spin of a situation. But today, a sunday and arguably the most important news day of the week left me saying "WTF?" The headline:

So the most important thing going on in the world this week did not have to do with the presidential race, the ongoing war, the financial crisis/Bear Stearn's practically filing for bancrupcy, the crane toppling over on the east side, or even that huge college basketball tournament. (Can you tell I love sports?) Nope, the most important thing that happened this week was the hook-up of our favorite arrogant Project Runway designer and his boyfriend. I bet that together, they will solve the genocide in Darfur most matter-of-factly.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday

2008-03-15T23:31:00.002-04:00

1) This weekend is something like the 20th anniversary of U2. In tribute 104.3 has decided to play all the U2 songs from A-Z. I'm really craving some other music!! Thank god for itunes. Right now i'm spicing up Bono's monotony with some Stones. What better and I to play?

2) My life has been extremely busy lately if you can not tell. Not only busy but mind numbingly stressful. I'm very worried about a few things and hope that everything will turn out okay. This truely is a life or death situation.

3) I don't understand youtube. My second to last post was about Youtube not having the video I wanted to show. Of course, the day before I posted that entry I send a request into youtube for said video to be added to this blog. That means it took them two days to add it! I don't even understand how that was possible considering the video was gone from their site on Tuesday. Did they send it to Blogger on Monday but Blogger didn't accept it? Why are programs never in sync with one another?

4) Update on my 1.5 page english essay: My teacher said she only told two people about the few paragraphs thing. Because she never told me explicitely I got a 15/100. I did get to submit it to that website though. But still a 15!! My average is shot.

5) I'm counting down the days till graduation. Why won't it be here sooner? I want to finish with high school and finally start new.

6) Friday was Pi Day!! I hope everyone enjoyed their pie very much. June 28 is 2 Pi Day so we shall celebrate again for that. (In school we have a party for pi day.) I can't wait until March 14, 2015. That will be the ultimate Pi Day. They should have a Times Square Pie Drop (instead of having the ball drop have a huge pie..then the pieces can fly out and everyone can eat it. yum) It'll drop at 9:26 I guess. How sweet would that be?

7) Today was technically St. Patricks Day. In fact, there are two this year. The Catholic Church officially made it today because Monday is the start of Holy Week. But since NY has to plan parades years ahead of time, the parade is still on Monday. And of course people go by the parade's date, not the church's date (who cares about the vatican anymore?) so Monday is considered it. I just say this whole thing is amazing. It gives us two days to get drunk! (jk...i'm not drinking either day. But all you can. Enjoy yourselves.)

Girl's cucumber

2008-03-12T18:33:00.001-04:00

Sent to me from one of my friends. I hope you think it's as funny as I do!

Youtube

2008-03-11T16:46:00.003-04:00

Why does YouTube take video's off their site? I understand that some go against their terms of services or whatever that thing is but most that they take off don't violate these. One I was planning on putting on this site but no, when i went to find it today they said it was taken off the site. **** It was so great too. A woman just came home from the gym and her husband had made sandwichs since her parents were there. But when she asked him if he went shopping because they had nothing in the house he said "I found a cucumber in the fridge." Her face as she is eating the sandwich is classic. Great commercial.

Prostitution

2008-03-10T21:28:00.003-04:00

I'm originally from the fair, small, hypocritical, stubborn, argumentative country of Belgium. Though I was born and raised here the only memories I have of my mother are on a plane or in our town. Specifically speaking, that would be Oostende. (Actually, I spent half my time in Oostende where my grandparents live and half my time in Brugges with my aunt and uncle. It was cute watching In Brugges. Not the best movie ever but I enjoyed it enough. My mom grew up in Dendemunde (sp? Lol) but then met my dad, got married, lived in, and had my brother in Leuven.)

The point of all this info: America is filled with prudes. When I found put that Spirzer was tied with a prostitution ring today it didnt suprise me. Afterall he is a married man with a family. I thought cheating on your wife iscommon place and understood here. Especially with prostitutes. The red light district in oostende was only a short 5 minute walk from my apartment when I was young. Not to mention how often I was in the east village for Pomme Frites ( one of my favorite eateries ever!!) during the 90's. So I immediatly had to question why everyone had such a big deal with the situation. I guess I originally thought they just wanted to bitch about him more than normal. That is what the media lives to do. :/

But alas, I was finally corrected. He is charged not only with paying a prostitute $4,300 for 2hours (holy shit that's a good paying job!) but also money laundering. "ah, so that's it" I thought. Maybe I'm overlooking some huge detail here put wouldnt he have been safe if he had only paid in cash? Is you take out $4,300 from the bank people may just assume you spent it on a new diamond necklace for your wife. Does anyone know the flaw in this theory?

Tid Bits of Life

2008-03-08T19:28:00.005-05:00

Strong winds + heavy rain = no electricity and cops blocking the street you live on

I hate chain stores

Victoria's Secret underwear is sooooooooo comfortable.

I'm a hypocrite to the extreme.

The return policy of amazon is not only annoying but very inconvenient. I'm no longer buying anything online.

The iPhone sucks because you need Apple's special headphones and there is no picture messaging.

Floss is really expensive nowadays. What happened to the times when you got a lifetime supply for free from the dentist?

It is wrong to like one of your best friend's boyfriend. It is definitely wrong to rationalize love by saying that he reminds you of your ex or the image of the perfect guy. It is undeniably wrong if you happen to like your dealer. It is life-threateningly wrong if all three are combined.

Rum and donuts are to Vienna what coffee and hot dogs are to New York.

Cover letters are hard to write. I'm also very lazy which probably adds to the difficulty.

My weekend is busy as hell. My life has become that way within the past few days. I can't wait till I can sleep once again. Summer, when the hell are you!

Disadvantages of Advantages

2008-03-07T22:48:00.003-05:00

Have you ever felt like you were taking advantage of someone even though you know you're not? That's what is happening to me right now and I feel more horrible than hell. See today I had a huge english paper due on Gulliver's Travels, but due to the massive amounts of work I had to do last night I wasn't able to even start it yesterday/early today morning. So that left me with completing as much as I could within an hour this morning. Now the taking advantage part comes in with my teacher. She is an extremely nice lady whom I talk to before school a lot. (I'm the only one there in the morning) I think I only feel bad because I like her as a person; if she was just a normal teacher I wouldn't feel bad about this situation. Anyway, she had told others that only a few paragraphs even were due today. After all, she knew almost everyone had 20 things to do last night and almost no one got any sleep. So I pushed it and handed in 1.5 out of the required 5 pages of the essay. This made me feel pretty shitty to begin with since it felt like I was taking advantage of her. But now it gets even worse. We have to submit the essays to a website called turnitin.com to check for plagerism. The class teacher can set a deadline for each assignment and if not submitted by that date the student gets a 0. Well, my essay is saved on my P-Drive in school and I'm at home right now. I was too busy during the day to submit it and when I was free I completely forgot about it. I emailed her explaining the situation. Thus, I feel like a dickwad myself right now. Maybe she will see everything from my point of view, but if not, I'm screwed.

Has anyone else realized that Nordstrom has gotten really cheap lately? Or is that just me?

Vermont Does Not Like Hilary Or Pizza Apparently

2008-03-06T21:23:00.002-05:00

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. I've been uber busy. Right now I don't even have time to be writing this but I welcome any sort of procrastination.

Well the primaries are over and I'm back from my ski trip to Vermont! It doesn't suprise me that Obama won there. Kinda seems to make sense considering Vermont is filled with a bunch of stoners (I have no problem with this btw...it's not mean to be derogative.)

The snow conditions were perfect this weekend. Fresh powder = AMAZING snowboarding. Of course my bindings broke sunday morning so I was out all day eating suikerwaffles instead of snowboarding. Needless to say I got over the break very quickly. One of my friends also broke his collarbone and another broke his thumb too. Nice huh?

The one problem I have with Vermont is that they are still living in hicksville out there. It seems like the whole state has a 10 o'clock bedtime. Literally. We were hungry so we decided to find a pizza place to deliver. Our search was in vain though. Every single place we called had closed around 9:30 pm, which left us hungry and tired at 2 am in the middle of nowhere. Why can't they just be open? What do people up there do for a midnight craving anyway? What if you're high? There's no rat infested taco-bells to go to? They should really get with the 21st century. And that is my tip of the week.

Desk Objects

2008-02-26T22:59:00.002-05:00

I thought it would be fun to list all the things on my computer desk right now. Here it goes.

Digital Camera
Deodorant
Lotion
Vintage Curve Perfume
Nerds
Hershey Kisses
Vice Principal's business card
Speakers
USB cable for my camera
Bank Statement
Dove candy bar wrapper
iPhone case
Another iPhone case
2 candles
a package of bandaids
Reeses Peanut ButterCup wrapper
Baby pictures of myself
Jewelry box
Hair tie
A NICKLE!!!! I'm rich now!
Checkbook
DVD with Office Space, Legally Blond, Miss Congeniality, and Ghostbusters
Two lamp coverings
CD case
rectangular foam
more usb cables
Jucy Fruit
Tootsie Pop wrappers
Silver sharpies
Business card of the VP of Parsons engineering
A form I have to mail into Columbia saying I'm going to Cooper instead
Pulp Fiction DVD
More lotion
highlighter
thermometer
two empty orange tic tac containers
lightbulbs
An Eiffel Tower miniature
A pic of my friends and i on the Cornucopia
more candles
and iHome
This laptop/monitor/mouse
My iPhone
A list of all the kids on JV soccer
my printer/scanner
last but not least, parmesan cheese

Holy shit I need to clean my desk. Maybe I should start with the cheese

The Story Of My Life

2008-02-25T23:38:00.002-05:00

Around the beginning of this school year I found myself in a pile of work. I had my normal 100 hour a week school work-load, college apps (most of which, like Columbia and Cooper, wanted many essays instead of the one common app essay. =( ), yearbook, model un and jsa conferences (these take lots of research, way to time consuming if you ask me), and work all weekend and two nights a week. Combined, I saw about 10 hours of sleep during the whole week. Yes, that means I spent more money on coffee than an investment banker, well maybe not. I didn't have time to drink it. The great part of all this work meant I was loosing weight. (Not that I really need it. The nurse called me anorexic today even though she sees me buying food from her multiple times a day.) After a while however, this lifestyle got to be very exhausting. Thus, after a week of contemplating which activity to drop (Yes I would have loved to drop school but I don't think that was really an option) I gave up weeknight shifts at work. Not a big deal to my paycheck, after taxes I only get paid a lousy $5 an hour anyway, but it seemed to be a big deal to Mr. Murphy and his evil little helper Cupid who hovers about my shoulder stalking me throughout my life. True to nature, my teachers stopped giving us work, yearbooks lightened up, conferences finished, and I had more free time than immaginable. I enjoyed this vacation for a while but eventually said "Hey, I have the time to go back to work now! I can at least earn a few extra bucks a week." And so I submitted my availability for Monday and Thursday nights. Now here is where Mr. Murphy has really decided to show how tempted he was to make my paradise lost. The first week I started (well....start, I really only started them today) my new hours, I receieved a rediculous amount of work. It won't surprise me if I get no sleep this week. That ontop of the fact that I was still sick all day and I am heading up to Vermont for a nice ski vacation this weekend. Oh on top of that, I have to get all my homework done before we leave Friday afternoon, I have to be in school Monday, and I have to go to work next Monday night.

And that is the story of my life. It has happened to me an infinite amount of times. Well, wish me luck!

Sick: A Euphemism?

2008-02-24T17:26:00.002-05:00

Sorry I didnt post yesterday. I've been extremely sick. I'm lying in my bed right now typing on my phone and reading the Voice which is actually pretty fun when sick. Why did no one tell me about this vintage clothing show that went on earlier this month? I would have loved to go. Back to my original point, I decided that no matter howsick I am I should still go to work. I hate paying opportunity costs and I'm already taking next weekend off to go skiing in Vermont. Well what happened today was not worth how much I get paid. Basically I have to walk around putting books out and receive minimum wage for doing this. The more people come to the library, the more books are returned and thereby the more work I have. Now the normal person would expect that the weekend is the busiest time of the week so you would have the most pages( what I am) working over the weekend, but no. I'm the only one. Besides the recent influx of traffic we have been receiving lately, multiple of the pages who work during the week have quit (because the job is not worth the money.) now when I come to work on Saturday morning I have a whole room full of leftovers from the week. Normally on the Saturdays I can finish that and about half of what comes in. The other half is then left for Sunday (I work 2 less hours on Sunday). On Sundays I can normally finish 70% of everything. This means that one person has done more in 12 hours than most people seem to do all week. At least the back room is neat and orderly for them Monday morning. Its my way of saying "I'm better than you" to those who put away books for a living. Now before I had said I was sick. Well today I couldn't put any carts away. I tried putting one out but I almost fainted. I feel that horrible. I also feel that horrible because the back room looks just like it did yesterday morning. Is it "sick" that I am bothered by that?

Another reason why I'm sick: I just bought a bluetooth headset. I expected it to work with the iPod feature of my iPhone but alas it doesnt. I think murphys law is still making me pay for getting into Cooper Union. Wait, I think my brother moving home was equal and opposite. The headset thing not working and my headphones breaking are my punishment for making really good friends within recent times. Anyway, I've been calling up a lot of my friends randomly just to talk with the headset. I feel so crazy/awesome using it. I also love walking past tourists while talking to it (or as it looks, myself). It just gives me a feeling of satisfaction when people think I'm crazy. :)

That White Powder

2008-02-22T10:31:00.005-05:00

Snow. What a wonderful thing. When it snows everything seems renewed and fresh. All the evils of winter seem to disappear. All of the dead trees and shrubbery seem to come back to life. Only in snow is life this peaceful. It gently falls to the ground and seems to absorb all outside noise. The world tends to stop in its path, if only for a few hours. In my book, the word snow is synonymous with love.

I love how the weather forcast called for only 3-6 inches of snow. So far I see about 4 inches on the ledge outside my kitchen window and we still have all today and all tomorrow to go. Being a meteorologist must be the best job in the world. You get paid a rediculous amount of money to be wrong. If you're right, everyone rejoices but if you're wrong it doesn't matter since no one expects anything different. I'm going into civil engineering. God would I love the opportunity to make a mistake. However, if I take up that opportunity I may wind up collapsing a bridge. Ah well, I'll worry about that in four years when I get a job.

My mom is playing the piano right now. She took the day off from work to get the piano tuned but now the guy is not coming. The music is actually really nice today. It just enhances the effect of the snow. Reminds me of Vienna in fact. I was there over Thanksgiving. (actually, Thanksgiving week. On Thanksgiving I was in....no I was in Vienna in the morning, a plane all afternoon and evening, and in Belgium in the wee hours of the night. This is my life. I like to say I grew up in a plane.) It was snowing the whole time and they were playing Mozart through the streets. The winter palace was stunning and the Cathedral in the snow was absolutely breathtaking. If you have the means, I would highly suggest visiting. (If for nothing else the free Starbucks samples. Starbucks is trying to expand into Vienna and take over what was once cafe central of the world. To do this they're giving out free samples to everyone passing by. I had about 10 while there. ;) Of course everytime I took one my dad complained. Where there was once one cafe after another there is now a Gucci next to a Louis Vuitton next to a Chanel. He used to live there in the 70's and thereby thinks the new Vienna is horrible. I would probably agree if I had seen it before. I guess my dad and I are very similar; we both hate gentrification. Only his renewed city is Vienna; mine is New York.)

A History of Evil

2008-02-19T20:22:00.002-05:00

One of the greatest videos I've seen on YouTube in a while. And that's saying something.

My Favorite Food In The World

2008-02-19T17:30:00.005-05:00

is Japanese. There is nothing I enjoy more than some nice Sashimi and Chicken Terriyaki with some Ice Cream Tempora to finish it off. And that salad. Don't get me started. I have no clue what is in the orange dressing they add but I would probably die for the stuff. (I tend to love anything orange flavored. Orange Tic-Tacs and orange soda are a daily must for me. I can not survive without them. Don't get me wrong though. I hate oranges. Weird huh?) So right now I'm sitting at school waiting for a ski trip meeting and waiting for my Japanese food to arrive.

Lukily I just found the best place. The woman I spoke with on the phone actually spoke real English. Not only that, she didn't have an accent. I could understand every word she said. (I don't have anything against immigrants. In fact it was only by chance I was born in American and this is not really my native country either. It's just that every time I call a Chinese place for delivery the lady on the phone can't understand me and I can't understand her. In the end I get so fed up I hang up my phone and go there in person. At least they can understand me when I point to the item on the menu.)

I kind of have a feeling the guy arrived a half hour ago and never called though. He was probably standing outside the door for 15 minutes and left. Hopefully that nice phone call will come. It is now an hour later. The person called while I was writing that last sentence. Peace out everyone. I'm off to the meeting.

P.S. When I first wrote the title of this post on one of my school's computers, it entered in Hindi. Pretty cool huh. I really should have left it that way come to think of it.

My Night In 2001

2008-02-18T13:35:00.004-05:00

Interviewer: HAL, you have an enormous responsibility on this mission, in many ways perhaps the greatest responsibility of any single mission element. You're the brain, and central nervous system of the ship, and your responsibilities include watching over the men in hibernation. Does this ever cause you any lack of confidence?
HAL: Let me put it this way, Mr. Amor. The 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made. No 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information. We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error.
-2001 A Space Odyssey

Unlike the 9000 series, us humans are very capable of making mistakes. Actually...I'm assuming I made a few last night. All I really remember is falling asleep at 7:30 AM. By the time I woke up at 10 I realized I didn't remember many things that happened during my all nighter. I had a terrible feeling in my head and my jeans were covered in drawings (cannabis leaves, wolves, swords, random geometric patterns, the word opium for some reason, etc.). I think we watched Pulp Fiction and the whole first season of Weeds (greatest show ever!!) too though I don't really remember them all that well. Hm...we started out at a pool hall where things just ...continued. I don't know what else to say.

My friend originally invited me over because she realized I was extremely depressed since my brother has moved home. (He used to live in L.A. but his company went down due to the writer's strike. So he moved back, much to my chagrin. Whenever I want to go anywhere alone my mom invites my brother along with me. Whenever I want to go somewhere with just us three, my mom dad and I, he has to come along. For example, my parents had told me before he moved back to ny that when he was here we would continue going out to eat many days of the week. They said that if he wanted to join he would have to pay for himself. But that hasn't happened. Instead they feel bad about saying such a thing or not paying for him so we don't go out at all. You don't know how much I miss going out to a nice sit down restaurant once in a while. Fast food with my friends every now and then just doesn't suffice. Overall, I miss how my life has been for the last 8 years. It's sufficating when he's home. And besides, he's 26. If I were 26 and had no job I would crash with friends not my parents. That's just pathetic. The worst part in my opinion is that whenever he's with us I get so depressed I don't want to do anything fun. For good reason too. When I was young and even when he's here on vacation anything I do that involves spending money is looked down upon. He yells at me for everything or else tells my dad who will just talk to me about it. It is fucking annoying.) But last night wasn't much better. I was made fun of by her brother and her best friend all night for various things. Mostly deeling with the fact that I'm very slow and out of it when I'm ultimately depressed. But they just make it worse. (I can't believe I promised to buy them Coldstone today.) It got a lot better when her friend left and we threw on some dvds. I don't remember much after that though. The details are long gone.

The one thing I remember is 12:30 when my dad came to get me. I had planned to take him out to lunch since I cancelled plans with him to sleep over this girls place. But when I got out of the door I saw my brother there with him. My stomach then dropped and said "never fucking mind". So now I'm sitting in my room listening to Jefferson Airplane on Q104.3 eating Nerds and "working" on yearbook (a.k.a. writing this blog).

I'm sorry if this was an ultimately depressing rant...or even that this post was a rant. I do feel bad about that but I have to say it to someone and well blog, you were the chosen one.

Lightbulbs Above My Head

2008-02-15T23:31:00.004-05:00

I just attempted to change all the lightbulbs in my room to fluorescent ones. Only one problem with that: IKEA. Yes that dreaded furniture store in Elizabeth and Red Hook (is this one built yet? I haven't been to an IKEA in years and even then we went to Elizabeth. I've heard about them building one in Red Hook though. Really a shame. =( Red Hook is so nice!).

I used to shop there all the time because their furniture looked very modern and captured the style I was looking for. Only problem is since I redecorated my room with all IKEA furniture my room has been falling apart. One by one each piece is coming down. First it was my ceiling decorations. I had these awesome mobiles that I taped onto it and they hung there for about a week before falling down. Yeah, that turned out amazingly. Next was my closet organizer which I hung next to my dresses. It worked well for about a month until the velcro literally fell off. I never even stored that much in it! Third was my laundry hamper which met the same end as the closet organizer. The two pieces of velcro holding the lid on don't stay anymore. (Not that this would really matter. It's always overflowing anyway.) Fourth was my bed. I currently only have one board holding up the mattress; it started out with 5. Fifth was my bookcase which snapped in half under my oh so heavy paperback novels and cds. Sixth was my cd rack which never actually wound up on my wall. I attached it the way the packet said (well..I did my best translation of Swangish (Swedish, Japanese, and English mixed) and it left me with a half hanging and finally fallen cd rack. In the end I have two huge holes in my wall. (Thankfully that wall is painted black so I just went over them in a sharpie. You can't even tell now.) Seventh was my desk. I'm still working on it but it has 2 less shelves than it used to and my mouse pad pop out part is constantly at a 45 degree angle with the keyboard pull out. Eighth was my bedside table which randomly got dents in it. Out of nowhere too. Like, I had nothing! on the thing. I never even touched it and it got dents, scratches, and the paint started peeling off. what the fuck?

What are we on...ninth? Oh yeah okay. Now we get to the lightbulbs. I have two lighting fixtures in my room. One is one of those three arm pieces where you can change the position and make really cool lighting arrangements. The other is just a small table lamp vertical cylinder which is completely solid along its exterior except for random small holes throughout it. (It produces an amazing effect!) Anyway, I went to go take out the incandescent bulbs in the larger one and as I was unscrewing it, it broke. Now I have the bottom half of a lightbulb stuck in one of the sockets. That's helpful. (If you here of a building blowing up randomly one day please provide me with the name of a lawyer who will help me sue IKEA.) The second one I tried to take out worked a bit better. It did take me a while to figure it out but I'm proud of myself. So as happy as I was I went to go place the new fluorescent bulb in the slot and saw that it didn't fit. Not at all in fact. The fixture for the bulb part was completely different than any normal bulb slot. In fact, I looked at the book and you can only use IKEA incandescent bulbs with this lamp. Now I have 1/3 of the lamp working because I already through out the two original bulbs. When the full lamp is working it uses 120 watts. So bad for the earth! Well, I decided to at least try the one fluorescent lightbulb I had opened. Therefore I went to go put it in my smaller lamp. Yet again I was disappointed. Apparently this lamp only uses some long oval shaped bulb. My new green bulb doesn't even fit through the top of the lamp so I can't even get it anywhere near the slot.

Eh, at least I tried to be good for the environment.

We Can Appreciate Them Now

2008-02-15T15:02:00.003-05:00

I just noticed that the url I had posted in yesterday's entry was wrong. Therefore I had to go back to the Times's website and search up the url again to correct the little mistake. But while searching, I found another interesting article, this one from November.

So a female condom, now improved! Wait, considering it is expensive as hell and won't be released until several millions of dollars are placed into clinical trials, how successful do you actually think it will be? Also, why do we need them? The existing form of condoms seem to work just fine and most women do seem to carry them around just in case their partner for the night is extremely irresponsible. So please explain the point to me. Maybe I'm just overlooking something here.

A Poem For You

2008-02-15T14:56:00.001-05:00

From my friend Tarun. (He has to take a writing class at Princeton this semester. Let's see if his ivy league education has paid off!)

Tarun's life poem

Life is like a pomogrannate
Surrounded by a think skin
Impossible to tell what lies within
Some seeds sweet giving the tongue great pleasure
Others sour tasting worse than leather
Yet in the end all is eaten
And the innermost seeds spit out and planted
Only to grow a pomogrannate once more
To be devoured and and start the cycle anew

It was so wonderful my eyes are tearing with joy.

Happy Singles Awareness Day!

2008-02-14T16:53:00.006-05:00

"Considering that Valentine's Day is really just a money-making scheme for greeting card companies, flower deliverers and the makers of chocolates, I'm not surprised that someone thought of a way to make money off of the single people. God bless America.”
— Hillary

I read that while reading this article about the city's new condom package design. I have to say the old one reminded me of the 90's for some reason. I guess all the subway signs just remind me of my childhood. Please explain how this is so since I rarely took the subway when I was young. Anyway, I think a little bit of culture will leave now however. The new design just doesn't seem to represent NY as much. Well, maybe they represent the current tourist haven. (Actually I shouldn't be that mean to them. They still have the circles and have the whole rainbow thing going on. But still, I'm going to continue to complain about all the tourists on the one block of St. Marks that still looks the way the whole street used to.) The good thing that comes of the switch: free condoms to all. So be safe tonight on this very fine Valentine's Day.

Overall today was amazing. I received sooo much amazing candy from my friends and in swimming not only did my team kick the other's asses but one of my best friends and I got some girls to take pictures of us doing synchronized dives; they came out perfectly. But like always there is a down side to Valentine's Day. (Before today it used to be one of my least favorite holidays. Today was so good though. I doubt I will ever retain that notion in the future.) This morning I had to listen to all my guy friends complainig about how expensive roses are this time of the year and how hard it is to get reservations at any restaurant. My best friend and I just looked at them one by one and said "Life's a bitch. Having a girlfriend is expensive. Not our fault that you choose to waste your money on something cliche."

No, I'm not much of a romantic. I feel that Valentine's Day should be special. If the guy really loves you he will do something special for you that is specifically for you. Any guy can pay for dinner and pick out a dozen red roses but it really takes a special one to be creative and plan a Valentine's Day unlike any other. Those are the ones worth keeping. (Okay this is being romanticized here. I'm only 17 and thus have no experience in such a deep matter as this one, but I like to think this way. If you agree, it'll nice to hear. =) )

I will now go back to celebrating Singles Awareness Day. For me, it consists of ordering chinese food (maybe i'll splurge just for the holiday and get myself some sushi)(actually turns out my mom is bringing home Boston Market. This sucks. I just told my dad I am sick of eating at home and he said "You won't be eating here much longer" in reference to when I move out probably in June. Otherwise in August) and sitting in front of the computer talking to my friends I love most while working on my yearbook. At least I have off from school tomorrow and Monday. It's the pot at the end of the rainbow.

My favorite story

2008-02-13T20:22:00.000-05:00

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Eigth Level of Hell - the Malebolge!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	High
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Very High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	High
Level 7 (Violent)	Very High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Very High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very High

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

i got very high on so many which reminds me of when i first read the book. i did a self evaluation thing like that and decided afterwards that the book was a fictional story anyway so there's no need to change my ways. Is that horrible?

I Am Not An Asshole, I Am A Bitch

2008-02-11T16:22:00.000-05:00

They're Even Worse
Tourist hubby: Excuse me, how can I get to Broadway?
New Yorker: Take the A, C, L, J, or Z downtown -- remember, downtown -- all the way to Broadway Junction. It's fairly far, but you can't miss it.
Tourist wifey: Wow, New Yorkers are not the assholes people say they are.

--Union Square subway station

Overheard by: Ting
via Overheard in New York, Jan 7, 2007

That was not me, but I have done similar things to people. Reading it on Overheard just made me feel horrible about it though. Maybe I'll stop in the future. But come to think of it....it's too damn fun.

Those You Love To Love

2008-02-07T20:08:00.000-05:00

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your source.
- Albert Einstein

See, it's not plagiarism, it's creativity.

Word to the wise women out there: do not wear bikini's when diving or swimming laps. The top will always try and find a way to fall off. (It's a sublaw of Murphy's)

My best friend and I are entering a Green Tech Expo competition to see if our green technology can win against others. What is it? Well, let's just say if every building in the city bought and installed it the city would probably be 25% more energy self-sufficient. After the competition in a couple of weeks I will tell you what it is. Stay tuned!

In debate club today I spoke as the main speaker for the pro side. The resolution: The drinking age in America should be lowered. The amended resolution: There should not be a drinking age in America. Basically, I stated that in the long term, the mystique surrounding drinking will be gone and therefore, no one will feel the need to get heavily drunk. Just look at western Europe. Don't they have a lower alcoholism number and less teenage deaths related to alcohol than we do? And, what I am most proud of, was my second point; if we get rid of the drinking age, our economy will be boosted and our deficit/budget problem will be solved. Now, I understand my solution of combining the lowering of the drinking age with the most ridiculous sin tax is still considered dumb by some, but think about it. During those first few months when every kid aged 14-21 decides to celebrate and experiment (I understand this will happen. My previous point is looking on the long term scale which is much more important.) they will pay an outrageous amount of money to the government. All that does add up you know. =)

So Super Tuesday is over and for the democrats it is still practically too close to call. It's sad really that we are so divided. The republicans though, well now that Romney dropped out I kind of feel bad for politics in general. Okay I do not support Romney at all (I am a hardcore social democrat) but McCain will do many things wrong for this country. Just one is creating more political parties since he is not exactly either of the two types of Republicans (Social conservative or libertarian). On Hardball today Chris Matthews even asked Tom DeLay who he would vote for, McCain or Hillary. Given the choice he responded with an apathetical tone. He said that he doen't know right now. He will have to wait and see who he likes best in the coming months. That's coming from Tom DeLay; a response saying he might vote for another Clinton white house. I will not talk about politics and preach anymore. That is not why I'm writing in this blog.

I had an awesome day. I hope you did too.

To all those GALS out there

2008-02-05T18:33:00.000-05:00

For this post we will have to take a trip all the way back to.........wait.......

last year. =D

Two of my friends decided to form a club at school entitled GALS, aka Girls Against Low Self Esteem. Because of the name I thought it was a pretty bad idea. Forget ever joining it. It turned out that the club I initially thought was about helping people feel better about themselves was a lot more than just that. The light first shone upon me at the end of last year when I saw them ordering pizza and decided to join in. The meeting wound up being so much fun I have gone to every meeting this year. In the end, I realized that the club is about people hanging out. Girls talking about issues that are present in girls' lives and being able to relate to others. It has to be the highlight of my Tuesday, besides going home to study for calc. (My life is just that amazing. That's why this blog of mine is so interesting!)

Today we studied music. In specific, how it relates to our lives and to culture. Personally, I feel it moves culture to a change. Whenever the record companies feel like pushing a new band/style of music, what everyone wears, says, and does seems to change. Or at least, it seems this way to me. In any case, we did this cute little activity where we filled out a sheet of questions asking what songs make us feel certain emotions. Here was my list:
A song that makes me feel happy;
"What I got"- Sublime, "Dreams"- The Cranberries
A song that makes me feel sad;
"Don't Speak"- No Doubt
A song that makes me feel strong;
"Young Americans"- David Bowie
A song that makes me feel mellow;
"Sunday Morning"- The Velvet Underground, "Which Way to Happy"- The Magic Numbers
A song that makes me feel energetic;
"12:51"- The Strokes, "99 Luftballons"- Nena
A song that makes me feel romantic;
"Wonderful Tonight"- Eric Clapton
A song I like to dance to;
"Sexy Back"- Justin Timberlake
A song that makes me feel angry;
"You Oughta Know"- Alanis Morrissette
A song that makes me feel really good;
"Someday I Suppose"- Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "A Comet Appears" and "Red Rabbits"- The Shins
A lyric I would choose as my yearbook quotation;
Here's a song of great social and political importance. Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz. - "Mercedes Benz"- Janis Joplin

What would yours be? I looked at a juniors paper and saw Miley Cyrus under one of the categories, I forget which one, and immediately proclaimed "Who's Miley Cyrus. That's a cool name." The response to that was a quick moment of everyone in the room turning to let me see their jaw drop. I'm sorry that I grew out of watching the Disney Channel around age 15.
The worst part about that story: I told my dad later and he even knew who she was. I now feel like an idiot.

Woot! Go Giants!

2008-02-04T16:36:00.000-05:00

At work we all decided to put our names into a little grid for $15 just to bet on the game. Now the we the grid worked was that each person was assigned a Giants number and a Patriots number. As long as the units digit of both scores matched yours at either 1st quarter, half, 3rd quarter, or final you won. Of course, each amount varied. If you won one of the quarters you would receive $150, half time was $300, and the final score was a whopping $900. Needless to say I did not win the $900 final prize. =( However, I was lucky enough to come out with $450. =)
Though shamefully i did route for the Patriots for part of the game. My numbers were 3 giants and 7 patriots. Now those are hell good numbers. I have to admit I was extremely lucky there. I could have gotten crap ones like my friend who was 16 giants 7 patriots. Now that has got to hurt. Anyway, during the first quarter i was rooting for the Patriots since i needed them to just get one touchdown so I could win some money. After that was taken care of, I wished for a stalemate. Little did I know that stalemate would last me another $150 though. =)
So what shall I do with this money? Well, let's just say I bought some new lighters desperately needed by my friend and I and I have a ski weekend already planned out in Vermont. I figure it's a good use of the money, spending sports winnings on sports.

And yes I'm a girl. In fact in my house, I was the only one watching the game. My mom started out in teh room with me but later left due to a lack of interest. My dad was no where to be seen and my brother (who just moved home from LA =( ) would walk in randomly and then leave. Please do not be shocked by the oddness of my family.

Planet Earth

2008-02-02T12:53:00.000-05:00

I am a proud tree hugger. Yes, I even have pictures of me hugging a tree just to prove my friends correct. When asked why I am so in love with the environment all I have to say is watch Planet Earth, the greatest dvd ever made about our dear planet. It is so beautiful seeing all the animals and all the different ways of the planet. I love the segment about elephants and birds finding water in Africa during the dry season. Mostly all of the imagines are just breathtaking.

I always wonder how they get such good luck shooting the scenes. I understand there are some explanations after the episodes but really, luck is on their side in the end. To be able to catch all the hunting scenes and such is a magnificent feet. And so I will leave you with a recommendation that every time you are feeling depressed about your life, you should watch Planet Earth. I will almost guarantee a smile on your face by the end.

Weather

2008-02-01T17:26:00.000-05:00

I have almost no random musings this week. Since I was "studying" for midterm everyday, nothing much went on. But today something did. As midterms came to an end, I had the fortunate luck to walk all the way to my psychology class. This five minute walk left me shivering with water filled shoes. Yes I hate the weather today. And not just today. Today it is 35 degree and pouring btw. Everyday has been horrible. Even when the sun is out it is that temperature outside where it is too cold to be enjoyable but too warm to remind a person of now and all the fun the white powder brings. And it is february too. What has the world come to when there is no snow in NY by february. The worst part? We're sitting here in relatively warm weather and rain just to get pounded by one huge blizzard later in march. Then everyone will be complaining that they can't get to work and the MTA will suck (well...that's nothing unusual).

P.S. I am extremely sick of this presidential race already. My favorite person has just dropped out and now I don't really support any of the candidates. Plus I despise the media for essentially choosing the next president themselves. Think about it, it's true.

Ron Paul Has Invaded NY

2008-01-27T22:26:00.000-05:00

If you saw two random kids taking pictures with a Ron Paul sign today :) Thank you for remembering.

Green Update

2008-01-24T17:52:00.000-05:00

These may be from the Times (well the majority) but I don't feel like looking anywhere else.
This will be a weekly update on what is going on in the world with regards to the environment, the one thing I love. My comments will follow each article title/link.

U.S. Given Poor Marks on the Environment
So the US has been ranked lowest of all industrialized nations in terms of "greenness". No surprise there. Switzerland was number one! Wow...go them. They can probably take over the world now by brining an influx of environmental imperialism and underground banks. But no, they are the Swiss and will most likely just stay at home inventing new variations on the cu-cu-clock.

Earth Scientists Express Rising Concern Over Warming
So yet another branch of the science community has come together to show the world the disastrous effects of weather change. Are there any left? And you'd really think Bush would get it by now.

Gore Says "Changing Light Bulbs" Not Enough
At least one politician is smart. This is very true but that is just the first cheap step a person can take. People have to change their lifestyle too. Like...omg is that Bono in that picture! No Way!

Whole Foods Chain to Stop Use of Plastic Bags
And this is the second and third change people need to start making: using less plastic bags and buying organic food. Personally, Whole Foods is one of the only chain stores I don't feel guilty walking into because I feel like I'm contributing while still receiving some personal gain. And no, I don't get their plastic bags at all. I bought a really nice eco friendly reusable bag from Fossil to use when grocery shopping. They're cheap too. So get yourself one!

Math Presentations

2008-01-24T16:07:00.000-05:00

I don't understand it but somehow my friends managed to relate pictures of very hot celebrities to statistics. (Can anyone else figure this out either? If so, how!?!?) Now, normally I would call this behavior extremely superfluous and shallow, and believe me, I did. Multiple times. But I am a hypocrite to the fullest extent. Thus when they asked me if I would "edit" the presentation I had no intention on saying any phrase other than "Of Course!"
So if you had to create such a presentation, who would you include?

The art of death

2008-01-22T18:04:00.000-05:00

I always find it amazing how people do, in a way, choose their own way to pass. Heath Ledger was found dead today in his apartment on Broome. Apparently he ODed on sleeping pills. Whatever the reason, it's a shame he's dead. (though it did lead into a good conversation between my dad an I. Originally we thought he overdosed on illegal drugs which lead my father to tell me i'm wrong about SOHO being gentrified. Of course I won the argument by saying only he could afford an apartment there though. Now apparently it is said to be Mary Kate Olsen's apartment. Wow..the Olsen twins. That was a long time ago!)

Like East Village Idiot said, deaths always come in threes. In life when one person dies, two more follow suit. The same things happen on tv shows like in Gilmore Girls where they repeat this very line. Anyone know why? It's a pretty interesting phenomenon.
Well the second death of the day was my poor iPhone. I logged onto aim during my very boring engineering class. I guess it thought the class was too boring as well because it fell asleep and never woke up. (OMG this is just like what happened to Heath Ledger! My iPhone is addicted to sleeping pills! Curious. I bought it at the apple store in soho too. Maybe that whole neighborhood is cursed.) Good thing is I finally got it working. Took a while and a lot of wasted battery power but it's back now and that's all that matters really. I can now go back to enjoying all the new features I downloaded like the built in GPS and ability to make/move icons. It's fun sitting there watching the icons wiggle. If you have an iPhone, I would highly recommend getting the new update.

Drinking Away my Sorrow

2008-01-21T09:23:00.000-05:00

Today has been planned out for months. I was supposed to hang out with one of my best friends but I had to move that since another hang-out session was being rescheduled for today. Well, in true fashion, those new plans got cancelled because "We have to study for midterms!" (Psh...midterms are NEXT week. I doubt they'll start studying now.) So with no other plans and only two days left to make them I asked my dad what he was doing. Arrangements were made so I could give him a tour of the new non 1980's version of soho (he never goes down there apparently) only to be cancelled this morning because "It's too cold outside." Consequently, I have nothing to do today, I am extremely sad, and I am sitting on my bed staring at a website my friend made last night. The worst part is this is not the first time, it has happened before.

Yay, he just came into my room saying we can go. He really doesn't want to but that's not my fault! He probably just doesn't want to pay the money for lunch which I won. (I won a bet on how long it takes to get from Queens to downtown.) Now I just have to finish writing my Cooper acceptance letter. Today was the first time he has told me to do it and he yelled at me saying that he's going to be insistent about this. The curious part is, up until yesterday I was the telling him to get me the check and he was the one not complying.

I'll have another post later about the wonders of the new iPhone update with GPS like features. =)

Edit: nvm, he took back his offer of going. Apparently there is no real reason so what is the point. But now he's yelling at me to come up with something to do. How would I know? There is nothing to do if he doesn't want to leave the house. i don't like this very much.

Thus I will leave you with a picture I love so much. In case you can't read it, it says "The mother of all vodka from the motherland of vodka." It put a smile on my face. Actually, I'm not russian but two of my best friends are and one of them gets the whole "go back to the motherland" thing from people in school very frequently.