Movie Review: Final destination 3

Final destination 3 is an example of why you should quit while you're ahead. One was good, two was better, but three has just gotten old. You already know the formula, it's boring, i fell asleep. Nothing new brought to it at all. Skip.

Restaurant Review: King of Thai

The other night, our attempts to go to a couple clubs failed, so we ended up at King of Thai. This chain restaurant has a few locations, we went to the one over by Mezzanine. The good thing about this place is that it is open late. You can go here after a club or if you just feel hungry late at night. Other than that, there's no reason to go here. Go to a real Thai place. We had thai iced tea (of course) which was ok, and then i had some chicken noodle dish. It was slightly greasy and fast food tasting, and i couldn't finish it. Not bad, but definitely not good. One friend had the spring rolls, which she liked. Another had a dish that was supposed to be a chicken curryish thing but was really just a large bowl of orange sauce. The sauce was ok, but it wasn't a meal. Our other friend had a bowl of soup, which was again, just ok. The restaurant itself had no ambiance, i felt like i was in a hotel - you even needed a card to go to the bathroom. So, skip the chains, go to the real places.

Movie Review: She's the man

There are always movies about guys dressing up as girls, i was slightly interested to see one where a girl passes herself off as a boy in she's the man. When her twin brother takes off to england, this girl fills in as him so that she can get on the boys soccer team, and beat her school's team that wouldn't let her on because she was a girl. This is doable because her school starts two weeks later than his, and because their parents can't keep track of where their children are. The really dumb thing was that she didn't look like a guy, and she most certainly didn't look identical to her brother. And, how could she not have any idea of how guys talk after growing up with a brother? What i did like about the movie is that she wasn't your typical girlie girl. She was good at sports, liked cute but comfy clothes, and got along with people without being bitchy. Other than that, this is pure fluff and a little boring, but if you notice the names, you can see they took this from twelfth night (viola, etc), so that makes it slightly more interesting. See it if you want... It is what it is. Oh, and the main guy is cute too.

Restaurant Review: Penang Garden Restaurant

There are so many restaurants in Chinatown it's hard to choose... Penang Garden Restaurant is a mixed thai, polynesian, and chinese place. it's not that great looking inside, not bad... the menu has pictures. i had mango tofu, which came in a mango shell. it was good, but a bit ketchuppy. my friend had a seafood noodle soup, and the other friend had an indian version of chinese noodles, and both were good. overall, the restaurant was fair.

Technology

As ive been sitting here, writing blogs on pieces of paper and feeling the painful cramps in my hand which is unused to so much holding a pen, i was thinking about how much computers and the internet have changed our lives. I certainly remember life before them. they existed way before i really had the occasion to use them. It wasn't till i was about 17 and graduated highschool that i learned to use the web and started using computer programs at all. Even then i didn't have a real computer, so it wasnt till i was 21 and in a cubicle i started regularly using the internet.
This seems so strange to me now, because i could never survive without it. every year my knowledge of computers grows exponentially. Now i can do things never thought of, and when i need something, i always go online first. If there's a question or something to lookup, my first thought is, oh, check online. i dont like writing or using the phone, i email. i have an ipod, a digital camera, my own websites...
with things progressing this quickly, i wonder what will happen in a few more years? already so much of everything depends on computers... And what about when kids who have used the net at 3 yrs old grow up, their brains will be uniquely wired to discover even more. It always frustrates me to hear people put down technology. to proudly proclaim they can't send emails, don't have a cell phone, etc. They need to progress. and it's not just for the young. My own mother is very proficient in these things. We email and IM each other every day. She reads craigslist and has a new digital camera. Yet there are people younger than her (not that she's THAT old or anything) who say they can't change!
im just so excited to see what the future brings. tv will be banished in favor of web shows and podcasts and torrents and we can maybe even use computers directly with our minds! I only hope we don't beome big blobs (keep exercising!)... One day i'll get with the times and get a laptop so i don't need to scribble on paper like this.

Restaurant Review: Fuzio

A friend took us to Fuzio in the castro the other day. I do regret it. Fuzio is one of those places where people go to be seen, not to eat. I guess it's actually a chain. The menu itself looks pretty good, lots of different pastas and salads, a tiny bit pricey but not bad. The meal started out good with the drinks. They have fresh sqeezed lemonade, which you can have fruit puree put into. My strawberry one was yummy, and so was the mango. The calamari appetizer was good, but you can't go there just for that... We also had the spring rolls, which tasted like nothingness, or grass. For dinner, I had a chicken, apple and blue cheese salad. What actually came was a bunch of iceberg lettuce with a couple slices of cucumber, drenched in some mayonaisey tasting dressing, with cheese crumbles and microscopic cubes of apple and chicken. It was so not a meal.. My friend had an asian noodle bowl with tofu and chicken. Once again, no flavor, no substance. Our other friend had the chicken marsala, I believe. This was the smallest meal i've ever seen! It should have been an appetizer! There are so many places we could have paid less money, for more food, and it would have tasted good. I have to say, don't go here.

Restaurant Review: 100% Healthy Dessert

There is a place on the way to my house called 100% Healthy Dessert. I noticed this the very first day we went to look at the house, because i love dessert, and if it's healthy, that's even better. So, i finally got to try it! The inside is so cute! Everything is really colorful, and you sit on brightly colored cubes, like in a children's room. They also have lime green stools with a weird handle. The menu is very diverse. I have never seen most of these foods before - things like tadpoles, curdled tofu bucket, aloe vera you eat... There are other yummy things on there like bubble tea, ice cream, waffles, etc that anyone would want. Plus, they have a few real meals. The desserts are from about $3-4, so they're so cheap you can get more than one! I had mango pudding which was so good, and it came with a cute little spoon. My friend had a coffee milk shake, which he also liked. Plus, your dessert comes with free tea. I will certainly go there again, and maybe be more adventerous and try some desserts i haven't heard of before.

badlands

san francisco has a club called the badlands, which is in the castro. right away, the name warns you off. is it called goodlands, funlands, or even ok lands? no, it's called badlands. predictably, this club is bad. i have managed to go there three times so far, and the only time i had fun, i was too drunk to remember. why is badlands bad? the music. they play plain pop off the radio, which wouldnt even be so bad, but they play it over and over again. they might play the same song two, three times a night. they also play really old stuff, really old. they put the music video that goes with the song up on the wall, which is kind of interesting at least. there's no real dj at all.. why do people go there then you ask? because it's free. this is a free club seven days of the week, and people are cheap, so we'll go there. it also has cheap drinks and specials for people who buy drinks (which i'm too cheap to do). so as long as people keep packing the dancefloor, the owner has no incentive to get better music. sigh.

Restaurant Review: Lori's Diner

I had brunch at Lori's diner on sutter st today. we were on our way to another place, but it had too long of a line. Lori's had no line, but it should have. it reminded me of mel's drive in, but i think cuter. there was a whole old blue convertible right in the place! there was the requisite 50s music playing, and old food and movie ads on the wall. very vintage. i had a blue cheese hamburger with fries and a chocolate milkshake. the helpings were huge, i could barely fit the burger in my mouth, and could certainly only eat half of it and a few of the fries. even the milkshake, which came in two glasses, was impossible to finish. im sure if i was a gym member i'd be able to eat more, but i'd still end up stuffed. the menu was huge, with breakfast, lunch and dinner items. do go try this place.

Lake Tahoe

Right after I first got to Reno, back when i still didn't have a place to live, we decided to visit Lake Tahoe. I had heard of it, but never realized how far up it was, or how large it was. We had to drive way up into the mountains, and then into this cute tiny mountain town to find the lake. The lake is huge! So huge that the water is the color it is in florida, so clear and blue, but not dark ugly blue like the ocean on the side coasts.
It was really crowded, so we had to park on the edge of a cliff road then walk along a cliffy thing to get there. i didn't have contacts or glasses on (besides my sunglasses) so that was hard. i'm pretty blind. We found a little spot on the beach to lay down on. It reminded me of going to pawtuckaway lake in NH when i was younger. After a while, we decided to venture into the water. Problem is, it's so high up there, i got dizzy just standing, and had to dive back onto the blanket to lie down so i didn't throw up. Eventually, i did get my bearings, and was able to get into the water. I had been warned how cold it was but it wasnt really. Much warmer than the ocean in new england. I cant swim, so i just had to wade around, but thats fine.
We had to get back so kim could see to her dog, so we tried to do a hurried show on the way out. When we got back to the car, something else had gone wrong - we were almost out of gas! We spent the whole way down shutting off everything necessary and practically coasted into the first gas station. I was so glad we weren't stranded on a mountain road and have to walk for gas - that's just a horror movie watiing to happen.
A very fun day though, with some breathtaking scenery.

Restaurant Review: Ichiban

After boomtown, you'd think i'd stay away from all you can eat reno places. but jesse had been talking about it for weeks - he really loved it... so i consented to go to ichiban, the all you can eat sushi place in harrah's in reno. i was so pleasantly surprised!! jesse, matt, kim and i went, and we got to sit right up at the sushi bar. for $20, you get to ask the sushi chef to make you as many sushis and makis as you want! we ate SO MANY fishies.. you also get miso soup and that friedy stuff. i didnt get any friedy stuff, altho it was in some of the sushis. the sushis were more fattening i think than a lot of them. we made sure to get the most expensive ones to get our moneys worth. we were definitely pigs, since we ate way more than the other people around us. but sushi who can resist? definitely go here if you're in reno..

adonis/dj alexander

saturday night i went to club NV with my friends. I guess this is normally a r&b club, but every third saturday of the month, it turns into adonis. someone told me that girls never go there, but everyone else was saying it's just a club, what can possibly be so bad, so i went. i really needed to go to a club that had real music, and i've heard some of dj alexander's stuff before. real dj music, not just r&b or stuff straight off the radio! we got to the club, and of course it was 90% gay guys, but there were other girls there as well. I saw one outside before I even got in, then more inside. so, for all you girls who were nervous, don't worry!
this is open from 10-6ish, for $15-20. After two, the music is more trancey, so i liked the earlier music better, but all of it was good. The atmosphere reminded me of our club back in boston called rise - just your basic afterhrs club with no dress code and music. This was a little more raunchy than ones back home in that females do not want to venture upstairs. we were tired from the night before, so we left early, but it just felt so good to finally hear real music, i was so happy. you may be asking why i didn't find the couple of straight clubs that also play real music. unfortunately, those are a tad bit too trancey. if anyone out there can find me a san francisco straight club that has my type of music, vocal house, not too poppy, just right, then let me know. And i dont want to have to wear heels (tho i saw a couple girls there that night who were anyway - bet their feet hurt the next day). this is one night i plan on going to again in the future, and being better rested so i can stay more. yay for real music!

Restaurant Review: On the Border

After we got our new place, we went back to reno to get our stuff and recharge our tan for a couple of days. on the way there, we had to stop in sacramento for dinner and we went to a chain restaurant called on the border. for a chain, it was good. the inside looks like any chilis or fridays or etc place, but it has good mexican food. i had a yummy chicken enchilada with pink sauce, refried beans, and rice. mmm i devoured it. jesse had the same thing, and matt had one of those friedy ones you know, whats it called, oh a fajita. even the nacho chips and salsa were good! definitely worth it for a chain.

Reno

I didn't end up spending too much time in reno... less than a week. most of the time we were there, we were doing stuff to get ready to find a place, and then to decorate it. my favorite thing about it was the heat. it's so nice and hot, and not even humid (although i'm not one of those who do mind humidity). because of the high elevation, you go outside, and you get a tan right away, even if you don't think you do. the scenery is pretty too, lots of hills...
going into the center of town, there are tons of casinos. there are also some of the most hickiest people i've ever seen! this is saying a lot, since i grew up in NH. everyone was dressed SO BADLY - what were they thinking? it was a redneck hick convention! even my very worstest things would look like a fashion show there! maybe it's because most tourists go to las vegas instead, and also because there's not much to do in reno besides shop, gamble, and eat. here's to hoping a magic fairy will waive her wand over reno and sprinkle fairy dust to make these people look better...

Restaurant Review: Vanita Thai kitchen

Vanita thai kitchen is right down the street from our house, so i'm sure i'll be there many times again. it's a nice little place with a very friendly waitress. the thai iced tea was good but a little watery. i had sweet n sour tofu, which was yummy, with tomatoes and pineapples. my friend had a good ginger chicken and my other friend had chicken eggplant, which i thought was delicious, although he felt a little sick. it wasn't the best place, but still good...

Weekendy, trying out new clubs

reminder, these blogs aren't on real time... events are farther in the past than you think..
yes, my first weekend in san francisco! i'll start it on thursday. it doesn't really matter to me, since i have no job, so every day is a weekend, but thurs is as good as any day...
thursday night jesse and i went out to cafe for latin nite. cafe is the same place we had been the monday of the week before, back when we were looking for a home. it was $3 or something so cheap like that, and pretty crowded. there weren't as many girls this time as before, but i'd say that girls would not feel uncomfortable there. the music started out very more traditional, then went to old modernish latin music. we had fun..
next morning, after 3 hrs of sleep, i had a job interview. we'll see how that goes, but i think the job is too far of a commute. i came back and spent the day waiting for the internet guy, and at night it was time to go out again. where did everyone say to go? why, cafe again. fri nites there are called boy bar, so i wasn't too eager to go, but as i don't know anyone really in the city, i figured its better than being at home. so jesse and i went again to the same club, two nites in a row. it was really crowded now, and we even waited in line. the door guy stamped our wrists with an i'm hot stamp. and no, everyone didn't get that one - we checked. the music was more top 40, and there were more girls (not as many still as mondays). they had some guys that looked like little boys as go-go dancers (ick). we had fun, drank a lot even tho i didnt mean to. after that, we went to Endup. Endup is an afterhrs club and fridays are supposed to be called Fag Fridays, but it wasn't actually gay. there were tons of gay guys there, but also tons of straight. as i walked into the club, the doorguy was telling the guys in front of me that there was "a lot of pussy in there tonite" of course he apologized when he saw me. there was not a lot of 'pussy' even though it did take 20 minutes to pee, due to a broken stall in the ladies room. the nite was mostly guys, and when i got separated from jesse when he went to the bathroom, i got chased around the whole club. unlike a normal afterhrs club, both of us were persued the whole time. we are cute, i know, but to me that's just annoying, especially since all these straight guys were really UGLY! the nite ends at 1pm on saturday but we only made it till about maybe 6:30 before we were so tired we had to go home. for $15 that's a lot of value, except for the fact that the music wasn't great. most of it was just generic no word beats. gets boring.
after construction and rude transit people, we made it home at 830am on saturday and slept. once again, the day was taken up by trying to get the internet fixed. i didnt know that i wanted to go out again but it was saturday nite! john told us to go to sf underground, that it was house music, so jesse, matt, a girl lisa from tribe.net and i went there. dont go there. for $5 you get a crowded bar with NO girls and bad music (shake shake shake your booty) and there was even a smelly room with guys openly smoking pot in the back. we waited only long enough for matt to pee then left. we went to mezzanine, hoping it was resident dj nite, but it wasn't. it was some random fashion show, and everyone was dressed up. none of us were, of course, so we settled on eating instead, then we all went home. whooo big saturday night.. i hope the clubs here get better...
sun morning i woke up early to go to brunch. brunch at noon is TOO EARLY! when you go to bed at 3am at the earliest who wants to wake up at 930 or something on a sunday to go eat? i made it though, and then spent the rest of the day at home doing really nothing. and so passed the very first weekend here in sf.

Restaurant Review: Mel's Drive-In

Mels is a diner chain that's popular in California. It was started in the 50s, and has pictures of the beginning places on the walls. Theres no drive through anymore. It's very cute and retro and each table has a mini jukebox with old music on it. i had a turkey burger with fries and my friends had the turkey dinner and the openfaced turkey sandwich, which they liked. yes, i dont know what was with all the turkey, guess we had turkey on our minds. they also had gigantic shakes - i tasted the strawberry frozen yogurt one, it was a little off tasting, but they liked them. i would've liked my burger cooked less, or maybe just thicker instead of flat, but it was still good. the fries were ok but not special. i thought the place was a bit too expensive for the food, but i guess the atmosphere makes it worth it.

Ghiardelli Square and Fisherman's Wharf

Today i went to ghiardelli square and fisherman's wharf. this is a really touristy part of the city. there's all the tourist museums and shops, which i'll have to come back and do later. i did get to go to the two ghiardelli stores. when you walk in they give you a piece of chocolate. mmm dark chocolate with caramel in it! there's also yummy ice cream sundaes but i haven't sampled them yet.
on the wharf, there are a ton of restaurants. the main thing everyone east there is clam chowder in a bread bowl. im not a big clam chowder person, but i wanted to be authentic, so i had some for lunch from one of the booths. it was pretty good. we walked along, and saw the place where the sea lions rest. they have a few piers just for these wild sea lions and they sleep and play there. a little bit out is alcatraz where i'll have to visit sometime. it's all a cute area, and even though i'm not a CA resident, since i've never been any of these places before, i'm still just a tourist!

Restaurant Review: Bagdad Cafe

Jesse and I were restless, and since we'd only had one meal that day we set off at 11 or so pm to find food. Someone had told us about a 24 hr place called sparkys, but we wandered for hrs and couldnt find it. We did find bagdad cafe. The main thing to know is they only acccept cash. There are numerous signs stating so, and if you're shor ton it, like we were, it limits your options. The food is diner food, and the menu is arranged in a cute way with sections like first date and hanging out and such. The waitress was very friendly and our food was good. We had french toast and belgian waffle with strawberry syrup. The downsides were that the bathroom was gross and i thought that $10 for a sandwich or breakfast item was getting pricey. Still, a cute place to eat...

Getting our house

Finding an apartment is hard. i mean, thinking back to when i first got a place in the boston area after school, i guess it was the same way... all the places were already gone about as soon as the ads went up. it's like that here, so many people want to move and there's not enough supply for the demand.
people also hate pets here. they think a cat will ruin and destroy the entire building somehow... jax has never destroyed anything.
we looked at a few places, called a bunch more, but never heard back. i was thinking we'd be homeless forever. then, matt caught an ad as soon as it got up. we were first and she ran a credit check for matt. it was a tense time... but we came, saw the place, and she told us we can have it! since there was an open house, she had to show it to everyone, but when we came back, paid and got the keys. they left, and just that quickly, the house was ours.
Now comes the fun part - getting furniture and decorating! Yay for not being homeless and yay for being a Cali girl!

Restaurant Review: Sukhothai Thai

My very first San Francisco restaurant was Sukhothai Thai. The menu was large, and I chose pork and eggplant with black bean sauce. My friends had a seafood dish and another seafood crockpot curry. The only one with a lot of food was the crockpot dish, the other two were smallish. If my stomach wasn't shrunken from no gym, I'd still be hungry. The smaller portions immediately made the food more expensive. Our dishes ranged from $7-11, plus rice. My food was very good and my friends liked theirs, though not the best. The thai iced tea was very yummy. With all the thai places, around, you might want to choose another place, but this one is fair.

My first day in San Francisco

San Francisco is about 3 1/2 hrs from Reno. I was very excited to go, a lot of people think i'm crazy to go across country to a place I've never been...
Riding through the mountains was interesting at first, we saw where the Donner party got stuck and had to eat people, back in frontier time. Looking at those mountains I can't imagine how anyone got through with wagons and horses in the snow, or even without...
After a while I just got bored We got to the city and it looked how i thought. Aftera ll, i'd seen pics and had been to other parts of California before. THe hills were so high, driving over them is like cliffs! We looked at a couple of places, ate, and then looked for a place to stay... The week rental place was gross, so we ended up at a friend's studio.
Then, I wwent to my first san francisco club, called cafe. it was monday night, hip hop r&b. It pretty much reminded me of thursday night at embassy in boston except more compact, and in boston it's mostly white kids trying to dance ghetto it seems. Here white (like me) was the minority, making everyone look much better. Still, it's not my favorite type of music to dance to so by 1am I was bored. We should have gotten there later... And when I'm bored of music, i start paying more attention to the club itself. There wer some cutish girls but they were all dancing with other people and I got mad that no one was paying attention to me. Our friends had to work in the morning, so we left a little early and Jesse and I went back to our air matress on John's floor. First day accomplished...

restaurant review: boomtown

reno is full of casinos with all you can eat places. my friend wanted to go to boomtown where there is all you can eat lobster, ny steak and more. for $20, you can have dinner, (non alcholic) drinks, and dessert. sound great? it's not. the steak was dripping grease, all grey and thin and flat. i had just one bite because i knew i'd be sick if i had more. i'd never really eaten lobster before, it's so not worth the effort of cracking it and stuff. the lobsters are pretty small. the corn on the cob was waterlogged, the ham was fatty and too juicy. the rice and salad were very good though, as well as the strawberry shortcake. most of the desserts werent too good. we all ended up too full of not great food, with tummy aches. don't go here.

movie review: the shadow dancer

i would never have watched the shadow dancer normally but i was stuck on a plane so there wasn't much to do... this is one of those emotional sentimental hallmark aww type movies, about a book editor who goes to italy to try to get his childhood hero author to write again. that guy stopped years ago and is a drunk. the editor falls in love with the guy's daughter and the whole life in general. very expected, boring and stupid movie. emotional people and mother types might like it. and, if theyre in italy, how come everyone speaks english?

Pink's Who Knew

My friend was listening to Pink's Who Knew song yesterday and it ot me thinking... Of course I've heard the song before, I have it on my ipod. I love Pink... It was just making me think about how true that is. You're with people you love (as friends or romantic) and you assume it's forever. If people try to tell you something about them you don't listen, you expect to know them forever. Then, all the sudden, you look back and they're gone.
This has happened to me a lot. My ex, dennis, who was very considerably older than me, told me it was normal, about all the people he knew so well and couldn't live without and now can't even remember their names. That had already happened to me by then but it's continued, though I'm not old enough to forget names. Even him, ironically, i never talk to anymore.
It's just really sad. Not as much when it's a matter of fading away, you part gradually because you grow apart, but especially when you feel really betrayed by a friend you start to look back and question everything. But, as Pink says in her song, just remember to 'count your blessings now' savor things as they happen and take them at face value... You might not know or like this person you feel so much for now if it's next year. But does that mean you should worry about it and ruin today? No... But I am always wary...

Movie Review: Half Light

Half Light apparently went straight to tv, but it shouldn't have. This movie stars demi moore as a writer whose little boy drowns. She becomes estranged from her husband (who was not the kid's dad) and with the help of her best friend, rents a remote house to think and write in. Only, the ghost of her son starts appearing.
This was set in scotland, and i love the accents everyone except demi has. I got a little confused at the end, but that may have been due to me also reading a book, talking on the phone, talking to my friend who was actually there with me, and looking for apartments online, all at the same time. This was a pretty good thriller, and worth watching. I'm sure you can get it on dvd.

The Longest Plane Ride Part 4: Reno

The last lane ride went by quickly. We left late again after being delayed about half an hr on the runway but we got here. Poor jax was so confused by the time we arrived, with foam on his mouth because he refused to drink the whole trip. i cleaned him some then we got our suitcases. i was so happy to see jesse and matt to help me with my luggage and take me home. or to where i'd stay for a couple of days. im on the west coast, it's so final now!

restaurant review: hugh o'neils

hugh o'neils is the local malden, ma hangout, and i thought it would be good to review it. i always review different restaurants, but forget the ones we take for granted. this is an irish pub, which is located right across from my old workplace, so naturally, it was a big lunch and afterwork hangout. i have to preface this by saying, i've never been a fan of irish pubs. irish is so american, my dislike of american food extends there. still, there were times i had to go to hugh's for lunches. i almost always got the veggie burger. veggie burgers are good, but if you want to make them at home, you have to buy the rolls, the lettuce, tomato, etc., so they're good to get at such places. the veggie burger at hugh's is pretty good, and comes with a blue cheese dressing. you also can get fries with it. i don't eat fries that often; fried food gives me a tummy ache and is really bad for you, but once in a while, it's good to indulge. besides this, there are lots of other foods such as panninis, burgers, salads, specials, and then things like pot pie - all your usual pub food. people generally like it. the place itself is nicer looking than you would expect a malden place to be, and much nicer than the previous malden after work drinking spots. for after work, they have the usual gross looking nacho with everything on it, the fried food, the potato skins, everything that turns my stomach to be near. for those who like such food, it's supposed to be good. they also have a ton of different beers and some mixed drinks (which are weak, but that's on par with a bought drink). prices seem to be on par with similar establishments, and they have things like quiz nites, irish bands playing and maybe even some dancing. they also have cute outdoor seating when it's warm, although you can't drink out there. it's a good place to try.

The Longest Plane Ride Part 3: Phoenix

My hand is twitching and my whole arm hurts from writing so much with a pen! Well, that was a close call... we boarded late in philly then had to sit on the runway an hr and half because of a storm that had happened hours before. it was so hot in the cabin... i spent the entire flight thinking i might miss the connection and have to stay over in arizona with a cat. i also was filled with a (hopefully) irrational fear that the plane would fall from the sky. i hate flying. sitting there was so long and i had no way of telling how much time had passed. then jax woke up and started crying and scratching to get out...
we arrived here in arizona at 7:10pm and then had to deplane, get all the way across the airport, have them print a ticket they couldnt in providence and got in on the last boarding call. the original two hr layover turned into not even time to pee or see if jax is ok.
i got on and had to argue with a woman who was in my seat. im 6f and shes 22f and to her, as long as the ticket has an f she should sit there. ugh. i have an empty seat next to me for once, and beyond that, a guy reading a book by wilbur smith, one of my favorite authors. my book i have is so bad i can't read it. Just 2 more hrs left... Someday i'd like to see arizona for real.

bye to stoughton

to finish off my goodbye weekend, i went to stoughton MA to visit with my nana, auntie jane and cousin becky sunday night and monday. even though they didnt live too far from me, i didnt visit them enough. my real family only includes a few people - my parents, my brother and sister (and now her boyfriend) and these three people, so logic dictates that i should play a bigger role in their life. alas, im a bad relative. when i was little, i used to love going to nana and grandpa's house. nana was always cooking me yummy food (not that my mother wasn't -her food is equally yummy). grandpa was there, silly, yet always concerned, making sure no one hurt themselves and that we picked up. there was auntie jane, 11 years younger than my mother, and the closest thing i had to a big sister. she was the first to do things like move to her own apartment, have a wedding, and have a baby, letting my mother get a bit of her overmotherliness out of her system before i got there. my oldest uncle was never really in the picture, and my other uncle was around till i was about 10 or maybe a little older, before he stopped talking to us. i loved doing things like going to the beach with nana and grandpa, or gardening, or how nana always wanted ice water and the bathroom right when she went anywhere. nana ran her own business from home, and grandpa dressed up in suits that made him look so handsome, especially when he dropped by after work when i still lived in MA. before i was born, or maybe when i was still little, they did things like go to block parties, dress up, were in clubs, organizations and everything. when i was pretty little, we had a surprise anniversary party for them and they looked so good still..
all of that changed when grandpa got sick with alzheimer's disease. at first it wasn't too bad, but then he had to retire, stop driving, and things went downhill from there. sometime i'll write a whole blog about that horrible disease. this affected the whole family, dividing it even more, and really breaking down my nana. grandpa's body died when i was 16 and i was right at his bedside. i miss him. because of all that time, the whole household fell apart. the house used to be so neat, nothing out of place, but now everything ever since is messy and cluttered and disrepair. it's not bad, if it had never been the other way, no one would notice. we all know im anything but neat. my nana spends her whole day on the sofa. she cant even stand up straight anymore. she still knits, but she can't sew, garden or cook anymore. she's in poor health, and i dont know if i'll ever see her again. her two brothers died in the past year and her sister is in a nursing home. without her business, her church, her activities and her friends (the 'girls'), i feel like she's becoming more bitter. at least i got my mother and her talking again... my cousin is caught up in being the typical teenager, a lot more flippant and disrespectful than my siblings and i would have ever dared, but i think that's partly the generation gap. she's really smart and seems to be a good person. i feel badly that as the older one, i didnt make more effort to stay a part of her life like when she was little. now that she's going into high school and is basically almost grown, maybe i can fix that. my aunt is caught up between all this, and my elder uncle who haunts the house as a living ghost, and it's made her more bitter than she would have been too. sorry if you're reading this auntie jane but its true. shes still a great person and a wonderful aunt and i love her. but i wouldnt have thought that the 'kid' aunt i saw finish grow up would end up this way. so visiting there makes me melancholy... still i think everyone is basically happy which makes me happy. and its never too late to be more involved in people's lives, even if it's from afar. and now that im going to be in california, im a great place for people to visit for a vacation. a couch to camp out on and a free tour guide!
to finish up the original thread of this blog, i had fun at nana's house. becky made me mmmm blueberry pancakes, she's become a good cook. even auntie jane, who was notorious for serving things like bread with patches of baking soda not mixed in, has become a pretty good cook. auntie jane and i went mini golfing (she won- boo) and becky and i exchanged pictures and videos of our friends. ehe even promised to accept me as her myspace friend though we'll see. so. that was my last goodbye visit.

The Longest Plane Ride Part 2: Philadelphia

It's 1:30pm and im in philly. When i got on the plane towards here, both the stewardesses were fawning over Jax so much they stopped up the line. They did say someone was already complaining about him (al he was doing while we waited was sit there silently)but not to worry about it. I bet it was the old lady who kept scowling at me. When i left the plane they said "bye jax!" He makes quite an impression...
We had another bathroom break and then hiked to our gate. Providence airport was tiny but Philadelphia isreally big; there's a whole mall inside. I should get some lunch but there's nothing that looks appetizing... This is gonna be a long wait.
I was in Philly in highschool with my family but it'd be nice if i could go out and walk around now. Oh well... Ugh there is no cheap food here, or good. I was forced to eat a chicken sandwich from some chickfilla place.
Ok it's 3:10 and after reading, writing, phone talking, well be boarding soon to leave at 3:40. Jesse better be there in reno tonight to pick us up!

The longest plane ride: Part 1 Providence

i decided to narrate this trip as it happens. Not the whole trip, as it's hrs long, but the highlights. My original ride had to cancel, but at the last minute i was able to get a ride for me and jax to the airport. once we got there, and got up to the ticket counter, i smelled something bad. jax had had an accident already. To make things worse, they messed up my reservation at the ticket counter. They had my reservation but not ticket, however that works, and they were going to have me pay $700. After a whole bunch of callng, during which i stayed pleasant, the people were very helpful and got me settled. Without the $700. During all this time, Jax had had plenty of time to spread the poop around. I took him to the bathroom and a friendly maid helped me clean him up as best as we could. Good thing, because when i went through security i had to take him out. The ticket case got wet with all the cleaning and i got harrassed at the checkpoint about that. Don't know why...
Once i finally got to the gate poor jaxxy was shaking so i took him to another bathroom and gave him half a calming pill though he wouldnt drink water. He sat under the sink while a nice stewardess helped me with him and said how cute he is. She has her own cat, Spooky. Now we're sitting on the floor at the gate because there's only about 20 seats and they're taken. Others are on the floor too. All of this and we're not even on the first plane yet! I hope the rest goes better than this...

a retrospective of providence

Of course, this was written some days ago...
I'm packing up again, getting ready to leave providence (RI) for reno tomorrow morning and thought that i should review the city where i spent the past month. of course, id been to providence before i came to stay. you've seen the pictures and blogs, especially since my friends got an apartment here last november or so. i even had my birthday here! oh im listening to music and keep having to stop my thoughts to dance (i still believe by rachel panay at the moment).
i really like providence. i liked it when i came to visit, and i liked living here. if i were to stay in new england, this would be a place i'd consider moving to. for one thing, it's very cheap. ive mentioned this before in blogs, but everything costs much less than it does in a place like boston. you get non city prices in a city environment.
a second thing is while it would be good to have a car, you don't really need one. ive gotten by all month without one. this is a fairly small city and ive been able to walk everywhere, except for one club giza some girls invited me to which was on the highway, and i heard it wasnt that great that night anyway.
providence is a old city. ive always liked historical things, and its nice to see all the houses and bulidings with plaques and dates... i would feel strange being in the middle of the country where everything is always new. i love new things juxtaposed with the old - the best of both. if it's lasted this long, it's got to be pretty or have some use.
i think the people here are less stuck up than in boston. maybe because it's smaller, so it's easier to get a bad reputation. even the whole state is small. the clubs are less pretentious, and nicely mixed up. theyre not the greatest clubs, but im sure that could be worked on. people in places like the post office and the eyebrow waxing place are even nice. and, i was able to find a friend i'd never met within a week and he actually had time to spend and hang out with me. the fact that i was able to find someone i could get along with, and sort of 'see' that quickly says something about the city. of course, the friendliness could be part of my attitude too, but i did notice it before i came to live here.
boston does have a lot more to offer culturally, and probably jobwise too, but providence is at least worth thinking about living, and definitely worth a visit.

July Books

dead until dark - charlaine harris - this book is set in a hick southern town, in a world where vampires have just been declared legal. people, of course, still aren't too sure about them, especially in this town, where they still haven't fully accepted black or gay people yet. sookie, the main character, isn't so normal herself; she can read minds. this is a mystery, with a bunch of women getting murdered, and sookie's brother and new vampire boyfriend as suspects. overall, the book isn't too good. i found it hard to focus and to remember the characters. i was mainly reading to see who the bad guy was. none of the characters, including sookie, were too likeable. not a bad book, but not good, so you might as well skip it.

blood canticle - anne rice - this is another vampire story, taking over the blackwood farm story where it left off, as told by lestat. this is good, like all of her books, and i love that the mayfair witches and the vampire saga have been joined to one now, although sadly i think it's the last one ever, now that she's converted over to christianity... read this!!

the resort - bentley little - the resort was every horror movie you've ever seen, only written down. i think that made it scarier... there's a family who decides to take a vacation in the middle of the arizona desert, in nowhere of course. The resort turns out to be evil and the usual debauchery ensues... This is fun to read late at night, but i didn't like the ending.
the family tree - sheri tepper - sheri is one of my most favorite authors ever ever. i'd been waitting to read this book for years, it had been languishing on my list and was never available. the book didn't dissapoint. another fantasy book with a moral about our life, done in a nonpreachy way. her later books have people from now time, and dora is as great of a character as the future people are. go read this now! right now!

queen of camelot - nancy mckenzie - i didnt get to finish this book because i had to return it, but since i used to read so many Arthur books i knew what happened. this is a merging of two previous books and I can tell the difference between them. the transition is almost seamless but not entirely. an uninspired retelling of the arthur story from the queen's point of view, it's not bad, must not special. for special, go for marion zimmer bradley.

the vampire journals - traci briery - yes, another vampire book! im on a vampire binge! this tells the life of theresa, a 200 yr old vampire. its kinda trying to be anne rice book but doesn't get there, still it's entertaining to read.

the resort- bentley little - this was every horror movie you've seen, only written down. i think that made it scarier... there's a family who decides to take a vacation in the middle of the arizona desert, in nowhere of course. the resort turns out to be evil and the usual debauchery ensues... this is fun to read late at night, but i didn't like the ending.

odd thomas - dean koontz- he used to be a good author but now his books are in such an annoying tone. i couldnt read this book, which is about a guy who sees ghosts. no more dean koontz books for me.

Movie review: lost and delerious

i feel like i saw lost and delerious before, maybe on tv or something - it seemed very familiar... i saw a movie about girls in those cute school uniforms (why do they make them wear those, it encourages bad thoughts) and had to watch it. the story is told by the new girl at an all girls boarding school named mouse. her mother had died of cancer and her stepmom had her sent away. she is befriended by two girls who are her roommates, and who also happen to be lovers. one of these girls' sister and her friends barge in one morning and find them in bed together naked, and this girl, tory, decides to spread the story around that the other girl paulie is crazy and crawled in without her permission and tried to rape her. she even goes so far as to get a boyfriend and talk loudly about all the sex theyre having. over the rest of the movie, paulie does go crazy, from her thwarted love and breakup. her only friends are mouse and a hawk...
this movie isnt as good as it could be. as my friend pointed out, they dont talk like regular people, they talk like a book. i didnt like the characters - mouse was too mousy, paulie was too dependent on another's love, and tory was just really weak and mean - dictating her actions on what her parents and classmates would think. the only person i liked was the headmistress, and that's only because she's the one who played hetty in that disney channel series, avonlea, which i loved. for all its bad points, it was an interesting, if overly done, movie, worth watching.

A contradiction

I feel like i'm a contradiction... if you were to meet me, im such a quiet person. lots of people think im shy, but except for at a very few things (basically things im not good at), im not. in fact, i love attention. i guess if you didn't know me very well, you might guess that... i have my podcast shockingly tasty, i make profiles online at every site i come up to, i post pictures of me and my friends everywhere, and i have this blog. i was sitting here, jumping around and clapping because my blog is getting more and more readers since i've had time to sit and write more on it, and i scared my cat. There are other ways to tell that i like attention... i hate baggy clothes, i like anything that shows off my body. I'm not really modest at all, about my achievements or letting people see me. I can be overly blunt or truthful at times. When i was little, i used to be outgoing, and although that somehow got drowned out, this whole need for attention is what's left over. I like to know that you guys are reading what i write. It gives me a certain feeling of power to know that you care enough to read it.. You may hate what im saying, and even that is great, because i was the one who created an emotion in you. I am very narcissistic.
My one biggest frustration in life is that i cant externalize this. i cant, for the life of me, figure out how to be the loud and boisterous person i should be inside. Of course, you might be going to say that there's no reason i have to be this way. but there really is... its how i feel but i forget how to make it come out. i want to be the life of the party wherever i go. i want people to instantly like (or dislike) me. i want to make an impression, instead of being the quiet, mysterious person that gets forgotten.. of course i dont want to lose all my cat like qualities... i like to be a bit of an enigma, i want people to wonder whats inside my head. and if i liked everyone so much right when i met them then my friendship might lose some of its value. so, what will i do when i hit cali, who will i be? well, we'll just have to see.