Award of the Day

Goes to.... drum roll please....
Safe Banana

No comment needed. Just pure brilliance and awe.

new new new

Oooooooooooo...




Yes!!! I have a new laptop and it likes to take pictures of me!







Ahhhhhhh......







It can take videos too, I'm sure you are on the edge of your seat waiting for the first video blog. Be patient, it may take a while!

Totally unrelated and not at all a photograph taken with my new laptop.

My favorite flowers, renuculas!!! Taken with my new favorite camera, Canon EOS Rebel xTi!!! I love them both equally.

Fell free to send me a bunch anytime ;)





More photos to come... today I went on a shopping trip with Jen and we got ourselves into all kinds of trouble, like wanting to purchase nearly everything in Pier One and scheming an elaborate plan on how to steal the giant tortoise from "Pet Kingdom" without the store clerk recognizing. Well, admittedly the tortoise scheme was just me, but it was nevertheless a fun trip.

I bought a lovely new bowl for my James, my schizophrenic beta fish, and a decorative elephant whom now graces our mantle!!! I love both and will post photos soon! Hopefully, I will be purchasing/acquiring a turtle or tortoise in the near future and consequently this blog my become a shrine to the glory of the shelled creature that I will love and cherish forevermore... no matter what Steve says about raccoons stealing him/her away for dinner!

Devil's haircut in my mind

Back to school... Spring quarter has begun.

This is the first quarter (since I've been at UCSD) that I am really excited and interested in all of my classes. I am getting used to this place, slowly but surely. Although there are still areas of the campus that I have never stepped foot on- this place is huge! And I'm still not used to the fact that there is not graffiti in the restrooms :) and no hot oatmeal in the price center :(

One of my classes is called "Computer Game Studies". And no this is not an April Fool's joke. It's a legitimate course and a legitimate field of study. As I learned today the first dissertation on gaming was actually written at UCSD in 1985 and since then research in this field is slowly becoming integrated into the academic system. And the course I am taking is the first offical gaming course offered at UCSD. Oh yes, I am part of history in the making! Most people whom I tell, "I'm taking a computer game studies course at UCSD" think I am joking. And most of the guys, that is after recovering from the fact that I am not in fact messing around, have this great expression on their face and I can tell what's running through their mind... "What!?! I am totally at the wrong school! I would Ace that class and Does this mean I could major in computer game studies? That is my dream!" It's quite entertaining. My roommate and boyfriend were both interested in my text books and I have a feeling I will be asking them both a million questions as the course continues.

So today, I go to the first lecture, convincing myself that I will be ok in class of mostly men. Surely, I will be one of the three females enrolled in this course. And it is most probable that the one or two of the other females will inevitably drop out before long. Leaving be to fend for myself in representing all of woman-kind. Well, quite to my surprise there is actually a good portion of female enrollees! The girl who sat next to me, immediately turned to me and commented that she was relieved and amazed that she wasn't the only female in the room.

I have never been in an academic course quite like this one... the amount of excitement in the air could be cut with a knife (or should I say a laser or some sort of WoW weaponry - which I will come to know very well in the next few months). When the professor began to divulge names of some of the games we would be playing, discussing and analyzing, the students would erupt into laughter, shocked by the fact that, yes, indeed we will be getting credit and earning a grade by discussing Mass Effect, playing WoW and yes, even further... we get free accounts (provided lovingly by our corporate sponsors Sony). The greatest reaction of all came when the professor announced that while we are expected to play games in the lab during our designated times, we would also need to play at home. The class erupted into laughter and professor continued to apologize saying, "...that's just the way it has to be... everybody has to do some homework now and then".

velingIt was quite entertaining to watch my classmates (males mostly) literally sit on the edge of their seats, hanging on every word that came from the professors mouth, marveling at each new announcement of games to be played. Even more, I have never been in a class where in the first session someone asked a question every other minute. Usually the first class meeting consists of the introduction of the slybus and a short lecture where virtually no student volunteers to speak whatsoever, expect for the occasional "Do you grade on a curve?" and "What's the format for the midterm/final?". No sir- my classmates couldn't wait to dive right in... within the first five minutes the professor asked if anyone had questions and 6 people raised their hands.

As the class went on, I found out that the girl sitting next to me was taking the course mostly for the same reasons I am. We both took a previous class in which we had to read a study on narratives in gaming and listened to a lecture about gaming, both of us are communication majors and both of our boyfriends play RPG's/MMO's and other video games) Luckily we are both in the same lab class together! So tomorrow we get to play Spacewar! and Adventure. I'll let you know how that goes!

So, one of the other reasons I am taking this class is because I am interested in studding the social networks that are created through gaming environments. And, the more I think about it, the more it makes me want to research this topic. I personally, would not in any way, consider myself a "gamer". I am not competitive and some games simply bore me. I think that is why I am so attracted to this topic, because it is something outside of my realm. A friend asked me yesterday if I was planning on going to graduate school. My immediate response- "NO WAY! I am already tired of school!" but, hearing what some of my T.A.'s are studding makes me want to reconsider the idea of grad school. One of my T.A.'s is studying the social constructs within country music and how this genre of music creates its own culture. You can literally study anything you want.

So great what does this mean? More school! Ooooooo that sounds so painful. Yet, the more I talk to friends who have graduated, entered "the real world" and become professionals, all tell me how much they miss school and how hard/exhausting/demanding their professional lives are. So who knows... now I am actually thinking about reconsidering grad school. And while reconsidering this I have even begun to reconsider my career too, maybe I don't want to go into PR or event planning.... if I go to grad school maybe I will want to become a teacher at a community college. I've always said that bad teachers have inspired me to become a teacher, knowing that I could prevent even just a few students from having to take a course with a teacher who is uninspiring, boring, abusively slow and the worst public speaker you've ever encountered who gives lectures that make you wish you were in a prison camp than sitting in class.
This has been a strange day... all within the course of a couple hours I am suddenly re-thinking my academic career and my future. All because of a computer games course and my friend who asked me if I was going to grad school. Life is a stange thing and it's a good thing it's not predicitable because if it was I would be bored out of mind. Yeah, I've got the devil's haircut in my mind.

Strange things I've seen while sitting in the library today.

A man dressed like Waldo. Suspenders and all. Funny thing is, I am pretty sure that is just the way he normally dresses. He had green hair and was typing furiously only to break his attention when approached by a woman who seemed very unpleased with him.

This next one is gross... A man's nasty hairy butt. Yes, yes, in the library. Did he forget to put on his boxers today? I think so. Ok, it not his entire butt, he is sitting across form me at a computer. I pray that he is just oblivious to the fact that he is exposing himself, rather than doing it purposley.

Someone sitting across from me searching through a toolbox of sorts with all kinds of miniture gadgets. Power cords and peices of styrofom popcorn, baby light bulbs and more. "Is he making a bomb perhaps?" I thought to my self. He picks out a few items, then puts them on the table in front of him, types something into his laptop and puts the items back. He is most likey just an engenierring student creating something brillant. But, nevertheless looks like he is a bombmaker. I wonder if the FBI will start trackin my blogs now. Well, FBI: if you are reading this, I am totally kidding, he is not a bomb maker, just a student who carriers around lots of random gadgets.

Random note: the ucsd gisel library has a serious lack of electrical outlets, such a bother!

While laying in bed on tuesday night the following thoughts ran through my head:
-Why is it that the only way I can have a productive day is if I wake up before 9am and imediatley take a shower?
-Why hasn't Tyra released all of the seasons of America's Next Top Model on DVD?
- Why don't I own a copy of 10 Things I Hate About You and have it on loop in my room?
- Why can't I see my best friends everyday? That was the one of the only good things about high school.

Last night, while brushing my teeth, I remembered something. Now, to you, this going to sound absolutley ridiculous... but, it to me its really exciting! I remembered a song that my grandmother used to sing. She had handfull of old folk songs that she used to sing to her children and grandchildren. It makes me sad to think that things like folk songs are something our generation lacks.

The lyrics are:
Show me the way to go home
I'm tired and I want to go to bed
I had a little drink about an hour ago
And it went right to my head
Where ever I may roam
On land or sea or foam
You will always hear me singing this song
Show me the way to go home

So the fun part of this song comes, when she would sing it backwards... kinda...

Home me the way to go show
I'm bed and I wanna go to tired
I had a little hour about a drink ago
And it head right to my went
Roam ever I may when
Over foam or sea or land
You will always sing me hearing this song
Home me the way to go show

In class, watching a really old movie about the Evangelical missionaries working in Honduras during the Regan Administration. This is why I am writing a blog. 30 more minutes and I'm free!!! This is the first week of classes and one of my professors hasn't shown up for the first 2 classes. Good start.

Just to let you know I am newly obsessed with http://threadless.com/ if you're not obsessed yet... you will be soon. And you can thank me.

That's all for today.

Three little blogs...

Attempt 1:
I just deleted the blog that you are supposed to be reading. Don't fret... it was boring and basically consisted of the various reasons why I will most likely be "written up" tomorrow at work for missing my shift on Friday (called in sick) and a no-call-no-show on Saturday (opps). I am over it. So, like I said, don't fret.

Attempt 2:
So I just deleted the other half of the second attempt at a blog.
Summary:

• Are there any bars that are casual (but not dives), girly (but not lesbian), nice (but not expensive)?
• Champagne+pomegranate juice is Delicious, with a capital "D". Sharing a bottle with your best friends, while reading a Cosmo magazine is even better.
• After hanging around Lauren's brother and his high school friends, I realized that I would not repeat high school, even for a million dollars.

Attempt 3:

I bought the last of my Christmas gifts today. I left the house for 3o minutes and spend $50. Most of which was spent refueling the ancient beast of warped metal and plastic to which I am a slave. The Toyota will be the death of checking account.

Right now I am looking at a sky mall magazine. Mostly because its the only magazine that I could find in the disaster I call my bedroom. I don't have enough energy to read a book right now. Has anyone actually ever purchased something from Sky Mall? I felt quite ridiculous taking off the plane with me. I slipped it into my bag discreetly, hoping no one would catch this grievous act.

Since this blog has no theme or plot I might as well let you know that I am pretty sure that any day now, my laptop is going to explode into a thousand pieces then maybe morph into a laser shooting squid which will demolish my existence. No, but seriously, it has started playing this fun game with me where it just turns off with no warning. Yeah, it doesn't even have the decency to flash the blue screen of death. Just blackness. s

I just layed down on the carpet, next to the heater... sleepy! It's so warm... I should go to bed. Must wake at 5:30 am.

Goodnight Internet.