Ick!

I'm super bummed!

Mitch was supposed to watch the VP debates with me, but he has class.

Then Daniela said she would watch the VP debates with me, but she has to teach.

No one else here seems to care that much about the election.

I'll have to sit at home with my Chocolate Pecan Pie-din (Get it? Like Biden? Oh well, I tried) and laugh at Palin all by my lonesome. :(

This is really cool.

The Death Star comes to San Francisco.

Sometimes, I just want someone to listen to me for once, and not make me feel like my problems are so much less significant than theirs. We all have problems, and they're ALL significant. Can't we all just listen to each other, instead of all these one-sided conversations, mostly about...not me? I'm not saying that all conversations should be about me, of course not, but a little give and take would be nice. I just spent three hours with someone who spent the entire time talking about her and her boyfriend. I'm so happy she has a boyfriend, but you know...can I please tell you about the fact that there may be giant Pacific octopuses out there that are thirty feet in diameter? THIRTY FEET. Can you imagine...running into one of those things while scuba diving? Oh my god. How about keeping one in an aquarium? What if it tried to escape? Can you imagine being a janitor doing a night shift, and you hear this weird squelching sound and as you turn the corner there's this huge, dark, amorphous blob oozing towards you?

I mean...it can make a girl feel like she's not very interesting.

The following transpired as I walked to Safeway.

A woman and her dog were walking towards me. I think her dog was a pit bull? I don't know anything about dog breeds.

Me: Too dee do dee do...

Dog: Ooh, someone to pay attention to me! (hurries towards me and looks up at me with a "Oooh, I'm so cute, please pet me!!" kind of look on his face)

Me: Oooh! Cute doggy! Hi, doggy! (pets doggy)

Dog: I am pleased! (wags tail)

Woman: (smiles at me and tugs on the dog's leash) Come on, Sub-Zero, come on!

She named her dog Sub-Zero. TOO COOL.

Argh, the cinnamon stopped working!

They started crawling all over it a few hours after I put it down.

Fucking...little...fuckers.

But Mitch and I think we might have found where the ants are coming from, but we're not entirely sure. We're keeping an eye on said area very closely. If we do, in fact, determine that it is their point of entry, there will no holding back. Tobasco sauce, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, boric acid, mint extract, Simple Green, 409, dish soap, crushed white chalk, anything that the internet says will off the little punks I will mix all together and dump right on top of them.

Eat that, ya bastards!! 

Mitch and I have been dealing with a very obnoxious ant problem for a few months now. We were completely ant-free, until one day, we found a huge trail of them marching back and forth across our kitchen floor. We found a nasty rotting potsticker under our stove and tossed it. But they've been around ever since.

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I went to Costco and bought some delicious dried mangoes. And they weren't cheap, too: about fourteen dollars a bag. But we hardly ever get them, and figured this would be our little bi-monthly splurge.

We awake this morning to find that someone (I know that this is going to sound mean, but it was probably Mitch, as I had no mangoes yesterday) left the bag wide open on the kitchen counter and all the precious mangoes were completely overrun with ANTS. They also managed to find Mitch's stash of locally grown organic artichokes, and were going to town on those as well. BASTARDS.

We tossed the artichokes and the mangoes (WAAAAAAAH! I didn't even get one!!) and proceeded to spray 409 and Simple Green everywhere to kill the little fuckers. Of course, from previous experience it would be only hours before they would return. So, with internet in hand, I went searching for a way to get rid of these little pests for good.

Mint, said one website. Drip mint extract everywhere and they will scatter. Well, I did happen to have some mint extract, and poured a little bit in front of a few ants. They did seem to have a panic attack for a moment, but as soon as the extract dried, they were on their way again. So they were probably more freaked out about the fact that it was wet than the fact that it was minty. Another website said black pepper. I dumped some black pepper near another congregation and again, mass panic. But as soon as the pepper settled, they were crawling all over it. This time, I think it was the sights and sounds of a bunch of relatively large objects falling from the sky that startled them.

I finally tried powdered cinnamon. I sprinkled it in front of one lucky ant. He kept walking towards it, but then, quite suddenly, stopped, and started to carefully move around it. I sprinkled it in front of some other ants. Same reaction. They did not want to get NEAR the stuff. One guy actually tried touching it, and he jerked back several millimeters (which I would imagine to be several feet in human terms). He seemed a little disoriented, then turned and headed away from the pile of cinnamon.

I couldn't believe it. It worked! They hated cinnamon! They didn't want to get near it!

I have not sprinkled cinnamon all over my kitchen, and mixed it with some water to make a paste so I could apply it to vertical surfaces. I really hope this works. I'm so sick of ants taking over my kitchen. I also hope that cinnamon doesn't stain white counters.

DAMON ALBARN AND JAMIE HEWLETT JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THEY'RE MAKING A NEW GORILLAZ ALBUM!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god OH MY GOD! I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD EVER HEAR THOSE WORDS EVER AGAIN! DAMON ALBARN AND JAMIE HEWLETT ARE MAKING A NEW GORILLAZ ALBUM! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT I CAN'T BELIEVE IT AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH I'M SO EXCITED!!

I'm trying really hard not to hyperventilate, but not doing a very good job.

I have fallen deeply in love with Dan Savage and kind of want to marry him.

Unfortunately, he's pretty darn gay, so I suppose that isn't happening any time soon.

Dan Savage is an advice columnist, but unlike Dear Abby, he answers questions about sex. Stuff like, "I find myself sexually aroused by the idea of wearing a firefly outfit and hearing the word 'flapjack.' How do I bring this up with my boyfriend?" Dan is crude and sarcastic in many of his answers, but he sure is funny and he offers very good advice.

I recently read a book he wrote called The Kid. It's about how he and his boyfriend tried to adopt a child. It made me laugh and it made me cry, and I go back and reread certain parts over and over again. It also kind of reinforced the idea that I would very much like to adopt a child, if I ever decide that I want to have kids.

It certainly was a surprise that I got so into this book so quickly and how much I enjoyed it. I hardly ever read for pleasure, but I could not put this book down. I've come to realize that I don't like complicated stories. Not a lot of symbolism, fancy words, or existential stuff, just people...doing shit. I love stories like that. Which kind of makes me feel like a moron, but whatever.

Still. If Dan suddenly realizes that he's actually straight and dumps his boyfriend (although I also kind of hope he never does because he and his boyfriend sound great together), I'd be all over him like white on rice.

In other news, I visited my uncle in LA this past weekend. He's actually not my uncle, but he's been my dad's friend for forty years and they sure do act like brothers when they're together, so I call him my uncle. I'll write it about my trip later. Project Runway is on.

I just gave Natalia this big long lecture about the TV show Battlestar Galactica and now I'm all excited. It was complete with pictures and clips.

I'm such a geek. But it's awful nice talking about that TV show with someone other than Mitch.

I got a new icon.

IT MAKES ME ALL DIFFERENT COLORS OF HAPPY!!

:D

And speaking of cephaolopds, tomorrow, Joe and I (and maybe some other people, I dunno) are going to the Castro to participate in the Little Mermaid Sing Along. Which is so fucking...incomprehensibly exciting I can't even begin to...comprehend it.

Even though I loathe the song, "Part of Your World." But "Poor Unfortunate Souls" is like the best Disney song ever. EVER.

My cousin is visiting me in Santa Cruz right now!

It was totally spur of the moment. She called me up and was like, "Hey, I'm feeling antsy. Want some company!" And then I can has a Natalia!

We got sushi and played in a park yesterday. Oh, and hung out with Daniela for a little while, which was fun. Today, we did a little clothes shopping, and I got a new purse. It's covered in octopi! It was thirty bucks, but I don't care. I love it. And my old camouflage purse needs to be retired.

I also found a boobalicious purple magician's costume that, with the right accessories, make to look like a boobalicious Joker outfit for Halloween. I'm debating whether I should get it (it's $70), but damn, I look good in it.

We also sneaked into the aquarium and tried to find the octopus in his tank. Mitch and I went there the other day, and we managed to find the little guy. He was sitting in the very top left corner of his tank. You had to smash your face against the glass to even get a glimpse of him. Today, he was no where to be seen. I was super disappointed.

Natalia was all like, "WOW!" about the sunflower stars, and we poked some sea anemones and sea urchins at the touch tidepools. They were holding a wedding at the aquarium, and someone brought in this beautiful white wedding cake covered in white chocolate sea shells. It was SOOO gorgeous. Then we sneaked back out.

We then went down to the real tidepools, and it was like SUPER high tide. Seriously, you couldn't even get to the mussels, and usually they are readily accessible. We nearly got washed out to sea a few times. We took some pictures and hopped around, but there was nothing really interesting around besides a bunch of sea snails and some GATGOR (unidentified green algae). So we then sneaked into an old person's community center (it said, "PRIVATE PROPERTY NO TRESPASSING" around all the doors), to find a bathroom, because Natalia and I really had to go pee.

Then we meandered back to Natalia's car, where we ran into a kitty and some small puppies. We took some pictures by the huge blue whale skeleton and the elephant seal statues. The male elephant seal tried to eat my head.

Now we're just kind of chilling. I need to make dinner soon.

I love my cousin.

I started writing a story today. I haven't had an idea for a story in a long time. Well, I've had a few, but this is the first time I'm actually putting...effort into it. It feels so...exciting! It's like seeing an old friend.

HOLY CRAP!

Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn made a commercial for the Beijing Olympics!!

Mitch and I are watching the Olympics and being all...domestic. I like it. It's nice.

My aunt Lordes, who I have not seen since I was 3 (I'm not even sure if I spelled her name right), is staying at my parents' house, and I am going home this weekend. I don't remember anything about her. She had glasses and lots of black hair. She also didn't know what it meant to clean produce, and ended up washing some potatoes my dad was going to cook with in soapy water and scrubbed them with a sponge. That is literally the only (positive?) story I have ever heard about my aunt.

I'm a little nervous. What am I supposed to talk to her about?

Gah. Curse my shyness.

I decided to come back to Santa Cruz. My uncle Steve seemed stabilized and they were going to move him to UCSF soon for his liver transplant. They were planning to do it today, but never got around to it, for whatever reason.

I didn't feel like I was doing much in San Francisco, so I came back to do some homework here in Santa Cruz. As you can see, I'm not getting much of that done, either.

I have so much work to do and I just can't get myself motivated enough to do it. I wish I could. I have...so much fucking work to do. God dammit.

My uncle's condition worsened yesterday. I was told this right before seeing the Dark Knight, so I spent most of the movie in a mild state of panic (don't apologize, Natalia, I would have found out from Shea one way or another).

A few minutes after I left the Dark Knight, I called my brother and he relayed the news to me. I started crying outside the movie theater because I was so stressed out. So that wasn't, you know, embarrassing. My uncle was alive at the time, but he was on a respirator and needed to get on dialysis.

I went back to my apartment, had a meltdown, then Mitch said we were going to Oakland to be with my family. I cannot even begin to explain how...awesome my boyfriend is. I mean, seriously, there are no words.

At 11:30 at night, we left for the Bay Area and got there around 1AM. I found my family sprawled across a hospital waiting room. It was fortunate that Mitch and I brought pillows because many of my relatives were resting their heads on the floor and plastic floor arm rests.

Shea, Gabe, Mitch and I talked for a while, then Mitch laid down on the floor and went to sleep.

I can't remember much of what happened next, I was so tired. I talked about the Dark Knight, I remember that.

I eventually curled up next to Mitch on the floor, who was the biggest blanket hog ever. And they blasted the A/C ALL NIGHT.

Then I found a somewhat comfy spot on a couch and took a nap for a few hours.

While I was sleeping, my uncle had to get surgery again, but I don't really know why.

Around 8:30 AM, I heard that Uncle Steve made it through surgery and that he was doing well, so Mitch, Shea and I went home.

Then we took a fatty ass nap, and here we are now.

Not entirely sure what I am going to do now. I should go back to Santa Cruz, I have finals next week. I have a final on Monday that I haven't even started working on yet. I wonder if I can e-mail my teachers and ask for an extension.

Yeah, definitely seen better days.

Incidentally, the Dark Knight was pretty fucking fantabulous. If you have seen it, do not let the somberness of this post stop you from leaving comments about how mind blowing it was. Because it was fucking. Mind. Blowing.

I get to see the Dark Knight tonight. I'm very excited. I wish I had a purple jacket to wear. I would love it if people dressed up like the Batman and the Joker. And then chased each other around in order to please the masses of people waiting in line. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Very excited. I've been waiting to see this movie since the end of Batman Begins. I bet it's going to be AMAZING.