Went to Disneyland and California Adventure instead of work yesterday. We kept seeing large black beetles EVERYWHERE. One fell out of a tree onto my shoulder while we were waiting for the Indiana Jones ride. I guess they don't bite or anything, but they were ginormous.

Finally checked out the refurbished Space Mountain, and I submit to you the most awesome automatic on-ride picture ever:



It's a pretty good picture of the girls in front of us, it's a great picture of shmitz, and a mediocre picture of me. But the old guy falling asleep in the back was awesome.

Congratulations Rachel and Justin!

more photos

Thunderthunderthundercats ho?



(Also chili)

Now, don't get me wrong, Forever 21's mannequins have always been super creepy. But they seriously kicked it up a notch this time.


(click to see larger version)

The emaciated frames, the hairless heads, the ragged clothes, the slinking posture. This, my friends, is how the Zombie Revolution is going to come for us. Not from a virus, not from a secret government project gone horribly terribly wrong. From a shopping mall near you, and in high heels and ugly sunglasses.

I never wore nail polish much, but there was a ton hoarded in my room (I theorize that during my teenage years, I was part dragon. Because I hoarded EVERYTHING). Despite its age, it's all still usable-looking, but I know I'm never going to use any of it. So! Is anybody interested in:

• Shockingly 80s Pink


• Pearly Yellow


• Several shades of icy/steel blue


• A dark teal color called "T-bird"


• "Jelly Bean" Purple


• "Prowler" Purple


• Glittery Gold

Let me know and I'll find a way to get it to you!

Tonight is 31 Cent Scoop Night at Baskin Robbins. Go! Get ice cream! Now!

So the gorgeous azalea bonsai that reddog_san gave us bloomed beautifully for about 3 weeks and then nose-dived into twiggy leafless death. A few weeks ago, we theorized our apartment was too shady for it, and got a little growth spurt by letting it sit on our balcony for a bit, but one day of neglect and it completely withered.

So now I've got this four-pound box of "acid-loving plant food", the list of which includes:
( A very long list of acid-loving plants )

Does anyone have any experience with those plants? Any recommendations for a balcony plant or shade-loving houseplants that will survive my not-so-green thumb? As much as I want delphinium for the name, I remember a bouquet I got once being... big and unwieldy. (And apparently also poisonous! Oooohh.)

From shmitz's dad's memorial service and general trip pictures in Alabama:

Whee Regional Dialect Meme~

( Meme )

There's quite a few photos I took with my mom's camera that she'll need to get to me before I complete this, but here are the ones off of my camera that turned out okay. Whee bridal shower!

I've drawn many many many crappy pictures over the years. Lots of drawings I used to be proud of are laughable compared to my skills now, but I know that if I hadn't spent all that time practicing, there wouldn't be skills now to compare those relics to. I live and believe in the platitude "Practice makes perfect", and it was because I wasn't afraid of being bad and exposing people to my initial work that I learned.

Probably longer than I've wanted to learn to draw, though, I've wanted to learn to play a musical instrument and learn to read music. Particularly the piano, because they've always been the most accessible to me. I've actually got one waiting for when I have a house big enough to put one. Except unlike drawing, being bad on the piano can give people headaches, or prevent them from watching TV, or otherwise creates noise pollution on my cohabitants. Growing up, no one ever asked me to stop drawing because it didn't impose on them, but I've shut up or been asked to shut up playing the piano before. It's become a phobia that transcends my better logic, and I hate it.

The fear sneaks its way into other audio, too. I've got $51 unspent dollars on Amie Street because I don't ever want to do my "sample track for a couple seconds, skip to the next" method of finding music, for fear of annoying shmitz. I don't ever pull out the keyboard from the closet, and when I do, I never try much of anything new, for fear it'll sound bad. I got some crappy music composition software from Fry's once, but its illogical interface and this noise pollution fear completely deter me from doing anything with it.

I feel stuck and frustrated. I hate every pair of headphones I've ever tried, and in the long run, they won't help when I get my real piano. I try to convince myself to start taking lessons, so that at least if I'm crappy, it's a more organized style of crap that some authority believes will lead to my improvement someday. But I know I'd have to practice at home a lot if I wanted to be any good, and all I've got is a 10-year-old keyboard that makes this horrible white noise when you turn it on. And again, I spent $40 on something called Cakewalk that I can't figure out and gave up on. Get better quality headphones? Get a better quality keyboard? Get better music software? How can I justify those kinds of expenses when I can't bring myself to use the ones I've got? How do I even know that the problem is my tools and not just the person using them?

Stuck stuck stuck. And I've only got an hour left to look for Amie Street music before shmitz will wake up, so I'd better get to it before I'm too afraid to.

So they dismissed me immediately after the jury orientation, which meant I had to go to work after all. Boo.

But I got Trials and Tribulations and a Phoenix Wright plushie in the mail from spiderfaerie, which makes the best Jury Duty consolation prize ever. ^_^ Many hugs and thank yous!

(And you even got us two copies so shmitz and I can play at the same time! The neighbors are going to wonder what all the shouting is about.)

Poll #1149090 Jury Duty Activity Kit
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

I got summoned for jury duty tomorrow! What should I bring to keep me occupied while I wait around all day?

(icon changed for appropriateness)

I've been on a mad flower photography kick recently, but it's been too windy or rainy the last couple weekends to get out to the local botanical gardens. So I've been wandering around on lunch breaks and taking pictures of flowers I see. I'm really proud of those two because the backgrounds were all nasty parking lot and streets, and you totally can't tell. <3 No Photoshopping or nothin'.

If, by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you,
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowances for their doubting, too

If you can wait, and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And not look too good nor talk too wise,

If you dream and not make dreams your master,
If you can think and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with triumph and disaster,
And treat those two impostors just the same.

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken,
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build them up with worn-out tools,

If you can make one heap of all your winnings,
And risk it all in one turn of pitch and toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss,

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew,
To serve your turn long after you are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you,
Except the will which says to them "Hold on".

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings, nor lose the common touch,
If neither foe nor loving friend can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute,
With sixty seconds worth of distance run,
Then yours is the earth and everything that's in it,
And, which is more, you'll be a man, my son.

The 1337th photo taken on our camera:

So I've got a jar of my mom's homemade apple butter and my coworker's mom's strawberry jelly. I'm not a toast-and-spread sort of person, so I doubt they'll get used the normal way. Does anyone know of some creative uses for preserves? Can I put them in cookies or something? All recipes and advice much appreciated.

So I'm on a mission to redecorate my childhood bedroom with a modicum of design aesthetic. All my Sailor Moon stuff is coming down (if you want anything, let me know), I'm repainting the walls, I'm going to clear out my cache of packratted knick-knacks, and I'd really love to get a smaller desk that isn't so ginormous for what little space I have.

Remembering ks0girl's reasonable success with furniture from Freecycle, I joined my local group with the thought that I could get rid of things and get new furniture for free, since my budget for the project is $200.

And they're like piranhas for everything. Seriously, I can hear them swarming and snapping over the internet.

OFFER: Non-working GE Turntable Microwave Oven
Taken five days later.

OFFER: chipped plates and bowls for mosaic projects
Taken one day later.

OFFER: New Mug with 4 Packets of Green Tea
Taken a half-day later.

OFFER: Beer Tap Handles
Taken three hours later.

OFFER: Huggies Coupons
Taken one and a half hours later.

So, uhh, maybe it's back to thrift stores, garage sales and Craigslist. I mean, I guess I could put out a request, but I'm also not sure if it'd have four legs, not be cracked down the middle, and not have cigarette burns on the edges. And I get the feeling that you get in trouble if you say you want something and then change your mind when you actually see it.