Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

Here is an update on my life through iPhone pictures:

My first peppermint mocha of the season. Nom nom nom.

Also, 99c Advent Calendars from Trader Joes! Whee!

(I don't know why it comes up sideways. It's fine on my computer. Stupid)

Here is my HouseElf, aka NB, leaving photos of himself on my phone.

Having a HouseElf is useful because they do things like:

Laundry/Making the bed

(Uh, yes, my room is a hot mess)

Putting up pictures on wall.

As you can see, my HouseElf is not trained in uncrookeding pictures, so he artfully decided to stagger them.

He also does dishes and bathrooms.

The End.

Twilight

Today, my 4 o clock class was canceled because of Thanksgiving. (Is it normal that spellcheck says there's only one L? I thought there were 2...let me know, someone. It might be American spelling or it might be Amanda Can't Spell.) Anyhoo, Emily and I were at the UV, famous for their $6 movie tickets, and noted that Twilight was playing at 4:15. Uh, hells yea. Then I texted Rona, and she decided that it was worth skipping class for.

You know what that means...

Overall, I did like the movie. Quite a lot. I thought it was a good adaptation with a great cast, but some of the editing was a little awkward, they could have used a leeetle less exposition and also I wish they would have put a couple more million into the special effects, because while it looks good for the most part, there's a couple of really awk looking 'flying through the air' moments that ruin the movie.

Question of the day: How are there so many non-white people in this tiny ass town in WA? Like, props to the movie for having such a diverse cast, but you KNOW that aint real life.

First off, cast. Because that is obvs the most important.

Kristen Stewart was amazing. Or I thought so, I've read that she was boring but um, read the books, Bella is dull as balls. She got a bit into it sometimes, but she was cool and her hair was very pretty. Her make up might have been a little distracting at times.

Robert Pattinson was hot, duh. His voice and looks were kind of channelling Hayden Christensen in Star Wars at some points, but only in the best of ways as opposed to the angsty teen ways. He was really great when he or someone else said something awkward, then there would be a pause and then he would just get this wtf kind of look.

Others: I LOVED Jessica. In the book, she was annoying as eff. In the movie she was HILARIOUS. Mike was cuter than I thought he'd be. Eric was Asian, and basically had the same character as all the cool funky Asian guys of the last couple of years - 21, Disturbia, Nick n Nora.. Nikki Reed was pretty great, and looked better as a blonde than I expected. Jasper was funny. Alice was pretty, I really liked Victoria... I mean they were all great. Charlie was awesome too, way more of a DILF than you'd have expected. Jacob had bad times hair. So did Cam, he's much hotter in magazines. Carlisle's voice was a little over-actingy at the end.

Best scene: Oooh, it's a toss up for me between the baseball scene, the scene where Edward first drives Bella to school and looks really hot and puts his arm around her, or when he appears in her room and they make out. For the making out, duh.

(um, I stole all my pics, and this one has a watermark... please don't kill me, whoever owns this!)

Best-worst scene: When Edward first smells Bella in the science lab... FUNNIEST FACE. I didn't think he was meant to be that obvious, and he def didn't look like he wanted to eat her. He looked like he wanted to throw up.

Worst scene: When Bella figures out that he's a vampire and says she's not scared, and to make her scared he insists on making her see him sparkle? That makes no sense. Taking off your shirt is not going to make a girl scared, only mildly disappointed that there are no abs.

Best parts: Apart from the cast .. and my list of best scenes... the cinematography was beautiful, everything had a really nice look to it. The soundtrack was pretty amazing, except where the eff was Decode? Some of the dialogue was really hilarious. Rob's wardrobe was sharp, and by sharp I mean hot. Oh actually you know what, when Cam beats Bella up, that was pretty good. Look out for Stephenie Meyer's cameo, it was god-awful and oh so great.

Worst parts: Like I said, a couple of the special effects shots really ruined it for me. This will break everyone's hearts, but the 'dazzling' really looked more like 'sweating'. And when Edward jumps out the window with Bella, they take some leaps that look like really bad wire work, I think if they had more force pushing off it would be more believable. Um, 'Spider Monkey'? Horror horror. That was Rob's own invention I think, but it was a fail fail. And then they're in a tree, and she's all 'this doesn't happen! this isn't real!' but er, hello, he pulled exactly the same trick when he dragged you to the clearing to see him 'sparkle' and you didn't seem phased at all at that point. Did not make sense. Likewise, how did you know James was tracking you before they said anything about James being a tracker? Other than that... some of the dialogue was really expositional, there was a scene where they sit on a rock and he tells her about being a vamp... pretty dull stuff. This is pretty minor, but when Eric 'lost control' of his van, I thought it looked like he was out to get her on purpose. Just the editing there, I think. The other question was, in the prom scene, why was Bella wearing leggings? That's a fashion faux-pas if ever there was one. And even if it wasn't, how the eff did she put them on?! She's wearing a bloody cast!

OH flashbacks = BAD TIMES. Really dramatic shots in the Phantom Of The Opera sepia of Carlisle turning people and them making horrid faces. Hmm... seems like Carlie might be the weakest link here.

Lots of people made a really big deal about the Cullen house not being like in the book, but it really didn't bother me, I quite liked it.

But, you know, that was a pretty detailed thing of what was bad, just so you're prepared. Because really, if you are or ever were a fan girl, it's totally worth it. Just for the *sigh sigh* I wish someone would look at me that way and say 'you're my life now' and stuff...

Warning: Worst date movie ever. Boys, the only way you can benefit from this is if your girlfriend watches this and is feeling really mushy and you do something nice like hold her hand... but any sex you have will be purely the slow candle-lit type, so I wouldn't bother if I were you. Send her off with her friends and be prepared to hear about how inadequate you are.

Full of wit and hysterics

At Starbucks today:

Barista wants name for venti iced green tea. I say my name. He says:

"A-man-Duhhh!" And laughs uproariously.

Oh yes, Barista Man, you are sooo funny and original. I haven't heard that joke 16 times this semester. (Oddly enough, only this semester has it become really popular. Am I missing a pop-culture reference?)

Spread the News

It pains me to say this, but I really miss GP. You know, when we actually had to learn the news. I feel like these days I know nothing. I didn't find out about the big train crash until... 3 days later. I found out about the boy who got stabbed by campus from someone's facebook status.

Spencer Pratt said something on the Hills about him and LC (I think...) hating each other like Iran and Israel, and I was like, what a tool, I think he means Palestine. But today I read that he actually was right, Iran is having issues with Israel. Who would have thunk it? Anyway, my conclusion was that if I was more ignorant than Spencer Pratt, I am in dire straits.

Solution? I'm going to have to start reading the news. Look out for my daily facebook status of some kind of news update. Gotta keep peeps in the know.

An Eventful Trip To Starbucks

And here I was, worried that I wouldn't have anything to write about for the rest of my life.

I've been sitting on the couch wooing/watching TV for 3 days straight, and tonight, my eyes were feeling particularly square. I was also ready for bed, despite having only been awake for 9 hours. So, at 10:15 pm I decided I needed a quick Starbucks break.

Then, on the way home from Starbucks, I see these cop lights in my rearview mirror. (It is literally 2 streets away from my apartment, so the fact that I get pulled over is really really pathetic.) I have had this great fear of getting pulled over, ever since the great road trip of '08 where Rach and I were pulled over in every state from California to Canada. Anyway, I was all effeffeff oh no, as I roll down the window, not entirely sure that I was even meant to be stopping since the lights weren't flashing or anything.

Cop comes to my window. My headlights were off. Damn. "I'm so sorry! Oh my god, I didn't even notice!" Also, my stickers are expired. *What the eff are stickers?!* Lisence and registration please. "I don't have a proper registration because my car company (EFFING FELIX) was meant to do it for me and they said it would be sent to my house but I haven't gotten it yet!" He takse my stuff away. He comes back, tells me he is going to give me a warning.

I pull the foreign card. "I'm so sorry, I'm not from America, I didn't realize I needed new stickers!"

"Oh really, where are you from?"

"Singapore."

"Oh are you mixed?" I babble for some time about being mixed, he tries to make the Asian connection (he was Asian), asking if I spoke Chinese. I babble about being too late to take it. He comments on my accent, inquires after my major etc. Babble like a brook. Laugh about needing a job or a husband. He gives me some tips like parking in a structure so I don't get a ticket for the stickers, but don't worry, it's a fixit tickit, do you know what that means? No, I don't. It means when you fix it, the ticket goes away. Grooves.

But here, have my business card. Call if you have any questions at all. Okay I will! Yea, call soon. Okay! Bye!

Drive home, sniggering to myself, cursing my forgetfullness.

I'll Never Be Indie

I would love to be Indie. Really I would. I'd even settle for faux-indie. However, sitting here in a very boring Micro-econ class, I have come to the realization that my dreams will never come true. Here is why:

Cool Indie Music - Those who know me well, or even just sort of, know that I am musically challenged. I rely on various wonderful sources for my music: daddy, cousins, roommates, significant others... and all of these ensure that I am never ahead of the curve, and also that I never have to know who or what I'm listening to because it is just played for me. This makes it difficult to be all supportive of some unknown band, unless one of the above happens to drag me to a concert. With recent aquisition of car, I also listen to the radio but that just makes me even more mainstream and also, I still have no idea who I'm listening to, as usual I can only hum along.

Cool Indie Clothes - I hate vintage shopping. I would love to love it, but I don't like the smell, or touching old things, or the idea that I am wearing something that has been worn by some stranger's armpits. No thanks. I also don't make my own alterations to generic pieces, nor do I support small boutiques. I am definately more of the Payless kind of girl (which has actually gotten a little ridiculous. This morning in class I triumphantly noted that the girl next to me was also sporting some Payless footwear, then was horrified to realize that I am obviously over frequenting the place...), and nothing gives me more pleasure than a shopping spree at Wet Seal / Forever 21 / (horror of horrors) Elegance at the UV. For those of you that aren't familiar with USC's amazing University Village, Elegance is the only clothing store and is basically like someone inhaling the worst of Hong Kong and sneezing it up in the ghetto of Los Angeles. Anyway, my point is: my style just doesn't cut it.

Cool Indie Job: I don't even know if this is actually indie, but I've always wanted to work at a record store a la Empire Records (but as previously discussed, this is just not in the stars for me) or else, how do the kids at Borders and Hard Rock and almost any cafe always look so cool? Any job I've ever done has always had the resume-building incentive of getting me closer to being swallowed up by the corporations.

Cool Indie Smoking: I don't, but dang it looks cool. I know there was that whole "smoking isn't cool thing", but really, who are you kidding? It's super cool. Not when I do it, because I cough up a black phlegm filled lung with every puff, but everyone else does pretty good with it.

Cool Indie Artsy-ness: I am not talented enough to be artsy. I would love to be a great photographer and take beautiful over-exposed polaroids of my friends and I lying around in our quirky outfits, unforch I am definately more the drunken snaps on my digi cam facebook photo kind of gal. I also can't write songs, or poetry, or publish a zine, or do a comic strip, or make beautiful art. I can barely write screenplays and even those aren't very good.



And here is the worst one, that I definately do not have. It is also the no 1 thing that you need accodring to wikiHow under How to Be Indie:

Cool Indie Mentality: "Recognize that being indie isn't just having the look. Indie is all about embracing individuality, and consciously deviating from elements of mainstream society." Well sheet. There goes my dream. Because I am tragically mainstream - last week I watched Jumper and am desperate to see Definately Maybe. And I like to copy people. And I like mainstream society, especially the TV watching.

So really the only thing I can do is lie on the grass between classes with the Neighbour Boy and doze in the sun. For those few moments I feel terribly chic and trendy, but then I realize that my butt crack is showing and it's back to reality.

PS. I stole these pictures off this girl-I-sort-of-know's facebook, without her knowledge and thus duh, permission. As such I will probably be imprisoned for copyright infringement or something. But she does terribly cool things and is my secret hero.

Damn The Man!

So, last night USC kids gathered in force to fight for their right to... party. I mean, the fighting wasn't part of the original plan, but when the police showed up it pretty much became the new black.


It was really weird, like living in the 70s in the times of protests and rights, but without actually having to care about anyone or anything except being drunk. DPS or LAPD, whichevs it was, was pretty impotent. They had a good 50 people in their riot gear trying to storm a college block party, but sort of not knowing what to do other than walk forward and stop and have a chat. I guess they got fierce in the end when they brought out the foam batons, but really... I was seriously considering looting Ralphs, since the long arm of the law was busy that night.

Starry Eyed

Time: 1:50 pm
Date: Saturday, 19th Jan 2008

Who? Ryan Philippe, Ava and Deacon.
What? Buying food. Wearing some really suspicious don't-look-at-me combats/hat/aviators
Where? In n Out at Century City

And then? Some mean car wouldn't let us pass on the road. Oh hey Ryan. So we followed him for a bit.

The End

Still Smarting

Today was Bonding with Beverly day -- since our junk shopping has gone all non shopping, this now consists of getting waxed.

OVERSHARE TIME -- BOYS, CLICK AWAY

Stripped, at Wheelock place, is considerably better than A Touch Of Class at the UV in LA, classy as the establishment may be. Why?

Waxing room:

Stripped: Little cubicles with cute msgs on the ceiling for you to look at.

ATC: Little cubicle in the middle of hairdressing salon with walls that don't reach the ceiling so hair cuttees can listen to your howls of pain.

On the table bed:

Stripped: Freshly laundered towels.

ATC: Paper off a roll. Possibly what people use to bake.

Wax they used:

Stripped: Regular hot wax for the 'less' painful parts. This cool bubblegum looking wax that doesnt use strips for the TRES painful parts.

ATC: Regular hot wax all over, with lots of "relax, it hurts more if your muscles are tensed". Easier said than done.

Price:

Stripped: S$ 49.20

ATC: US$ 35 ish (without tip)


Stripped was way fast too. That's good because it gives you less time to think about the impending doom as they stick the cloth to you and make sure it's ready etc etc. My only issue was that my woman scolded me a lot. Like a lot. Mostly for shaving, because it gives you ingrown hair and is only cutting it not pulling it out from the folicle etc etc. IDK. Bev's woman was nice apparently. But maybe because Bev didn't commit any offences. I had at least 2 more that I won't mention.

Movie Marathon

Someone please please drive me to a movie theatre and leave me there for days

1) The Golden Compass

2) Juno

3) Atonement (James!!!)

4) 27 Dresses

Crutchfield Electronics

xoxo - gossip girl...

Spotted: Angry Banana outside Leavey Library pretending/trying desperately hard to be a cool fratty. Seemed to be planning some sort of (promo?) event at the 9-0 with small group of Greeks, which he thinks will be huge. I have my doubts. Also regaling Greeks with drunken tales such as "he was sooo wasted!!"

Post-Thanksgiving Pre-Christmas Celebrations

Secret Not-Santa Turkey

The Rulez:
1) Must be under $10 or handmade
2) Must be a secret
3) Must be amazing

Apart from no 2, we kept it pretty good.

Here are the prizessss:



Dear Shawks, Here is a turby twist for your unruly hair. Love Rach.


Dear Mom, Here are some hello kitty things because you love her. Just keep that shizz outta my room. Love Me.


Dear Rach. Because You Love Nuts. Love Mom.


Dear Ronez, I'm sorry assholes like Clark steal your snapple. Love Shawks.


Dear Amanda. Here are some really awful socks. Love Ronez.

Life's funny like that

Remember how I was complaining about my computer-lessness? Well, on the way to bringing my computer to the Geek Squad (I'm not being rude, that's honestly the name of the computer people here...) I passed this sign up thing for the Campus Movie Festival.

It looked like you had to register online to get the free gift bags, and I thought, hey why not? So after posting on this, I went to check out the site and registered a team for the festival. Basically, I have til Tuesday to produce a 5 minute film.

But the AMAZING part is: they provide you with a macbook and digital camcorder to work with, so I am now computerly endowed.

Fab.

Go Trojans!!!

My computer has trojans. The irony is not lost on me. (For those of you that don't know, we are the USC Trojans over here...)

As such, I am left rather internet-less and moping around the house with nothing to do but eat and watch tv.

I am typing this standing up at a computer terminal in the School Of Business. It's a little like being at an airport, but without a chair.

But here's what I wanted to update with yesterday:

I was looking particularly ravishing yesterday morning (read: actually really ugly and definately just-rolled-out-of-bed). So who should I run into but the Trifecta of Good Looks?

First, I bump into Stephen's Golden Boy. And of course he engages me in a longer-than-usual conversation. Then, it turns out that he is hanging with My Handsome Handsome Man of last semester, who joins in the conversation. Of course. Meanwhile I am self-consciously wishing I had bothered to wear more than a dykey black t shirt. So, we have our bitter-sweet parting (Sweet because then they can stop looking at my frumps, bitter because I love both of them...) Then, naturally, after pretty much ignoring each other for 2 years (that's not ENTIRELY true, but it might as well be), guess who finally says 'Hi' to me? None other than Hayden Christianson Lookalike, crush of my freshman year.

And you know, up until recently, 2 of the 3 were deeply in love, but it seems their girlfriends have chucked them. I don't know how they could do that. In the words of Manny from Degrassi: If it were me, I'd love you for months...

Really, the only way it could have been worse/better is if I had seen Fireworks-and-Competitions and the Fox.

Fatting Around

So, my guilty pleasure as of late has been Food Blogs.

Here's my current fav: La Tartine Gourmande.

From what I gather, she is a food photographer. An AMAZING food photographer. And, she has all these little anecdotes to go with the pictures and recipes. And some of it is in French! But always with translations so don't worry, you don't miss out.


(I just stole that from her portfolio... hopefully, she won't sue me.)

Makes me wish I had photography talent and also that my 10 years of French classes had taught me more than "Je m'appelle Shaun" (even though my name isn't Shaun).

But beware, reading food blogs is a double-edged sword. You are almost guaranteed to get hungry from it and then go foraging for snacking food, thus ensuring that you will never have a flat stomach and legs that don't wobble when you breathe. You also get grocery-envy, a dreadful disease where you are suddenly taken with the desire to make whatever you are reading about only to realize that you don't have any of these ingredients/have all except the critical one, and it's 2am so Ralph's is closed, and even if it was open the produce is nowhere near as nice as what it could be if you had a car and could drive to a better supermarket... and you have no money anyway.

Shake your Money Maker

Mother Of Mine has just informed me that The Family has decided that I should be graduating in 3 years (i.e. at the end of this year). As I am obstinately refusing to graduate even a semester early, I have been informed that I will have to be finding my own life-funds come senior year - tution will be covered though.

After much thought, here are my current options:

1) Find Sugar Daddy. May have to try my hand at www.seekingarrangements.com, see if I can find me a silver fox who wants to spoil and pamper me/ make sure I am not living in a cardboard box.

2) Sell Screenplay. My main problems with this are a) finishing a screenplay b) that screenplay being commercially viable c) finding an agent d) finding someone who will buy it.

3) Turn Holding Cell Into Brothel. A plan which has been discussed between Rona and I on several occasions, on account of us already having a red light in the window. However, if we can't even get people to take it when it's free, how will we ever get to charging?

4) Sell Eggs. May have to lie about sinus problems ( I have a cold) and exzema (I was camping and accidentally rubbed poison ivy on my inner elbows) but other than that, I should be good right? Alternatively, I could invest in chicken eggs and then actually sell eggs.

5) Find Illegal Work. If millions of illegal immigrants can do it, I guess I can too. But this is definately a last resort.

Thoughts?

Thoughts

1) Had I not been waiting for fish to cook, we probably would have been in the store at the time the crime went down.

2) Had we been in the store, we would probably be in the fresh produce section.

3) I spent my recovered money at Ralphs... was this a warning??

Just another day on the job...

Crime Alert.

Location: Ralph's next to my house.

Crime: Not really sure.

Suspect: African-American male. About 1 foot when slumped on the floor. 40-60 years of age.

Description:

Rona, Rachana and Amanda left the house to go to Ralph's. Outside, they noticed a small crowd peering into the side door, and a ruckus was occurring within.

When questioned, witnesses said that a fight was going down. The three noticed an old friend leaving the store and interrogated him also, but due to his shaken-upped-ness, he could only say that he 'just wanted some milk'. Being brave, the three were like eff this man I need my food. However, using great prudence they decided to start at the frozen food section and work their way towards the fresh produce, where security guards were attempting to intervene.

The air was thick with pepper spray, causing customers to lurch into sudden coughing fits whenever a deep breath was inhaled.

It seemed that the hullabaloo was done with by the time they reached aisle one, as the cleaning crew had come in and members of the security detail were just standing around. However, Amanda got a nasty shock when she rounded the corner for a bag of broccoli wokly and came toe to toe with the badguy. She jumped back and found an alternative route that was still a little too close for comfort, but had Rachana with her this time. (Tip: Always use the buddy system!)

Rachana overheard the detainee claiming 'this store is about to be robbed'. Conspiracy theories about the homeless of the neighbourhood rising up and committing a series of robberies was discussed amongst the girls, especially with regard to the Early Morning Robbery At GunPoint At Starbucks, only days before.

When the three left, the detainee was lying on the floor outside, surrounded by bloodied security guards and some LAPD guys.


Remember now, you heard it here first. And if you didn't, serves you right for not reading on time.