http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8x14cLGh5o

My favorite part is the song at the end.

Happy Feet. Tomorrow. One minute dance party!

Christmas in November?

So since when is Christmas the next holiday after Halloween?

It seems to me this year that advertisers tried to get a jump on the competition by starting their campaigning before the trick-or-treaters even got home. They thought that if they started early, they might get some early gift card sales and people would by in. Either the same advertising firm works for everyone, or everyone had the same idea. November first employees pulled down the Halloween decorations and rather than put up turkeys, here comes Santa Claus. And it makes me want to vomit.

Thank goodness the music hasn't started yet, because I don't know that I could handle the 47.5 different versions of Jingle Bells running through my world for the next two months. The nationally recognized day for Christmas season to start is the day after Thanksgiving. Everyone knows it. Come on now people, at least give Veteran's Day its due.

We done good folks. We done good.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1108AzGayMarriage08-ON.html

"Arizona voters first in nation to reject ban."

Y ingles nunca va a ser mi lengua oficial. Nunca.

Election day is tomorrow.

And I couldn't be more excited. Beyond the fact that all of the mudslinging slam ads will come off of television and radio, and all of the obnoxiously colored signs will be pulled from the streets, I'm excited to vote for technically the first time.

I know. I'm 22 years old, meaning I was old enough during the 2004 presidential election to vote. I tried. I tried to vote in the Democratic primary as well. "Tried" being the operative word in both of these sentences.

The Democratic primary was my very first voting experience. I was pumped. I got up earlier than usual so that I could hit the polls before work, I had no idea how long it would take. My polling place, which I had verified the night before, was a little church nestled in the debaucherous bars of Tempe. I parked, but didn't see any lines or people for that matter, and got a little concerned. But as I went inside, I was greeted by a few seniors (the elderly kind, not the about to graduate kind) who seemed very excited to have a voter, especially a young one. Or maybe I had spinach in my teeth and they got the giggles out of it. I wasn't on their list of people to vote there. I verified my address and they assured me that I was in the right place.

"You are registered Democrat, right?"
"Well, no, I'm registered independent."
"Oh, there's the problem. You have to be registered Democrat."
"Wait. Arizona is an open primary state [another fact that I quadruple checked before hand]. That means that as a voter registered independent, I get to choose which primary to vote in. And since Bush is an incumbent candidate, and there is only one primary, I get this one."
"Well, all of that is true. Except this isn't a 'primary' it is a Democratic candidate selection poll [or something else equally ridiculous, I don't really remember what she said]. And you have to be registered Democrat to vote in those."

So I left. I left, and I cried. I know, laugh at the stupid girl who gets worked up and cries. But this was serious to me. It was my first opportunity to exercise my right to vote, and I followed the rules. Before I registered independent, I made 1,000% sure that we were an open primary state. I followed the rules, and still got screwed. So I cried. Get over it.

The funny thing is that people in power wonder why young people don't vote. Or why any people don't vote for that matter. After my first experience, I [and I hate to say this] understand better why people don't vote. They have a bad experience, and so they don't go back. Not me though, I had a Bush to vote out of office, and nothing was keeping me away from exercising that right in November of 2004. Or so I thought.

In October and November of 2004, ASU was buzzing, as we had the opportunity to host the final of the series of presidential debates leading up to the elections. Being a journalism student, I had the opportunity to work with a division of ABC and actually be in that scary looking high-security area. I had to get a background check and all that jazz to get my press pass. We even got to write press releases and put together packages in class regarding the debates. I was so pumped about this election, it was a bit silly.

Election day comes around. Again, I'm prepared. I check the polling place, and it's the same as last time. I've moved since registering, but never changed anything, so I went by the old address. The line was long, but not Space Mountain long, so I wasn't too worried. Until the time kept ticking on, and on, and on. So I missed my Tuesday night class. Too bad, it was voting time. And the time passed easily because most of the people in the line were ASU students, and generally friendly. There was a rotating group of people who brought snacks and drinks to us. Sweet. I was still pretty hungry and, with a little persuasion on my part, got a pizza delivered to the line. I shared my pineapple pizza with my fellow voters as the sun was setting. It was romantic.

As we finally got close enough to the door that we could see inside the building, we started getting yelled at for things like talking, and laughing, and I think looking the wrong way. I got inside, up to the table, and lo and behold, I'm not on the list. The man who was working's bedside manner had either faded with the day or never existed in the first place. Before I could even ask any questions, he was quick to answer them

"You're probably in the wrong place. You could try to go to another one, but you'll probably get there too late, and it would probably be the wrong place too. You could fill out a provisional ballot here, but it probably won't count. Because you're probably in the wrong place."

To his surprise, I took the provisional ballot. Not that he made my odds sound good, but there was no way in hell I was just going to walk away. So I filled it out. He gave me my copy of some paper with a number on it. He said I could call to check if my vote counted the following day, but it "probably wouldn't." I thanked him and left. And you guessed it, I cried. I was confused, didn't understand what happened, and to top it off, the guy was a real jerk. Not only did I cry, I called my dad, and cried. Lay off, I just care.

I never called. I didn't want to know that it didn't count. I wanted to hold on to the hope that it did. So I didn't call.

And now, two terrible voting experiences in my back pocket, all I want to do is go to the polls tomorrow and be a voter. I want my sticker. I want to get my sticker, wear it to work, and know that it actually means something this time. I want to have a good experience so I can tell all of my lame ass friends that don't vote, that it's worth it. That sure, I got shit on by the system twice, but there's no way I'm going to let that keep me down. I have a right to vote, and I will never let a shitty system or crab ass election worker take that away from me.

And neither should anyone else.

I miss Halloween. :(

Your results:
You are Iron Man

Iron Man 95% Supergirl 82% Spider-Man 80% Green Lantern 80% The Flash 80% Wonder Woman 77% Catwoman 75% Robin 72% Superman 70% Hulk 50% Batman 40%

Inventor. Businessman. Genius.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Expectations are the worst thing to happen to humans since, well I don't know, they're bad. So many people go into situations with expectations for what is going to happen. If they expectations are met or exceeded, great! What a phenomenal experience. But what happens when those expectations aren't met? The person is already so emotionally invested in the event that they expected to happen that they miss all of the other wonderful things and possibilities spinning around them. And I think that it is much more sad for someone to miss out on all of those things around them than for their initial expectation not to have been met.

This isn't in relation to anything specific, just a fairly recent realization.

I need out! I want to live somewhere that I live, and I don't want it to be here. I've been feeling like I'm separate from the world around me. Not the "the world is moving fast and I'm in slow motion" that people in the movies feel. I feel like I can't touch the world around me, like it's there, but it isn't. If I were to reach out and touch something, my hands would go right through it kind of feeling. I need out.

So thanks to the help of the amazing and talented Bob, my footage is shot and sent off to California. Hopefully I will hear something either way soon. I'm excited, and I know that I did my part, and was myself, and if that fits with what they're looking for, great! If not, oh well. I'll default to being a surly softball coach.

What an f-ing rad weekend! I might be moving soon :)

Anyone know how to cure tendonitis?

I wasn't sad about it before. I was just mad. I'm sad now.

What an exhausting weekend. But it was awesome. It's nice having two days off, and going back to work is relief from the weekend.

Let's start with Friday. After not failing my math test, I played two games of intense softball(it was super humid=extra tiring). Then proceeded to the cowboys and indians party to live it up. Knowing that I was getting up the next morning rather early, I left at a modest 2:15ish. Went to bed around 2:30 and a short 4 hours later got up to go skydiving. Yay! Second time, just as fun. It might be my new hobby, if I can set aside the money to get certified. Then, rather than taking a nap and letting the body rest, it was off to the rock gym to do some climbing with my girls for a few hours. I slept well last night. Add in three and half hours of softball today, and you get, that's right, me not wanting to do math homework.

Sweet. Camping next weekend. Yay!

Wine + Love Actually + Calc III homework = unproductive evening

It's funny how you can want something for so long, and once you have the opportunity to have it, you don't seize it and clutch it with all your might. Funny.

Grey's Anatomy Season 2, pre-ordered, should be coming to my door as soon as it gets to stores. I'm excited.

Living with mom has been good. It's definitely different, but good. It's kind of weird being on the Monday through Friday kick, but I dig it, and I'm not going to complain.

School starts on Monday, and I'm enrolled. I'm pretty excited to be doing something other than just working. And yup, I'm a nerd, taking medical and bio ethics and calc 3 just for funsies.

So we're home. Pictures and stories to come. Every morning I wake up and feel like I should be on the boat, it's very weird and disorienting. Also, I already miss my boys :(.

I'm officially homeless. And it feels pretty great. Today is departure day, we'll see you all in August!

So exactly this time next week, I'll be gone. So will Justin, but not the rest of the entourage that we were expecting, it should be interesting. I'm excited, and actually feel about as prepared as I think that I will. Moving stuff sucks. After I get back, and eventually move somewhere, I don't want to move again for a really long time. Or, I want to have enough money that someone else can do it for me, or offer up a furnished place and buy new stuff. I'm kidding, I just really don't like moving stuff.

Q. What does a bee sit on?

Wow.

Any advice on how to sleep through the night?

Pizza for dinner, pizza for breakfast. It has fruit on it, so it is kind of breakfast like. Covers some food groups. We are officially within one month of the big trip and two weeks of the Mexico "slave-labor" (as Brian likes to call it) trip. I am starting the freak-out phase. Mostly because I have to start moving my stuff out of the apartment, but can't take it to my dad's, where most of my other stuff is. The spread is probably going to be about 50% of my stuff at dad's, 30% at mom's, and 20% at the Fortress. I can't wait to have it all together in one place. It will be like reuniting long lost friends. My socks haven't seen my PS2 in forever, it's going to be romantic.

In case you all were wondering, a line drive to the quad doesn't feel too great. But hey, I still got the out. But I do have a large bruise on my left leg, just above the knee. I'm talking big and purple and dark blue, I'm dreading the yellowish-green phase. But as I was leaving the gym today, a couple guys started talking to me, and one of them thought that my large, ugly bruise was a tattoo, "I thought it was weird, maybe a cloud or something, but whatever." Thus proving my theory of wearing headphones to the gym, if you do, people don't talk to you, if you don't, they do. Too bad my iPod is at the Fortress. F it, maybe I'll just wear the headphones and pretend that they're plugged into something.

Also, Ashley watered the plants in the shower. That makes me giggle, yet is quite efficient.

I also have a growing concern for the fact that when we get back from our adventure this summer, I will be homeless, unless I want to live with Mama Bear (and Hic Fiance Bear and Kids). I'll have to figure something out.

Happy Birthday to Brian!!!

Also, I have successfully made a batch of rumsicles (rum + the versatile otter pops) and they shall be consumed with frozen alcoholic delight :)

Went to see Take the Lead tonight. It makes me want to dance, and excited for the summer. I'm hoping for some hot latin dancing. Yum.

On another note, I polished my shoes tonight. It was pretty exciting.

Thanks Guillermo, pretty interesting little test. It has a really good user interface.

Also, if you scroll over the colors, it tells you what they mean.

Pirate party tomorrow. Be there or be [ ](that's supposed to be a square, but it looks more rectangular than anything else. ) Bring $$ to give to us though, it is a benefit of sorts.

No work today (jury duty), tomorrow (awesome), or Sunday (awesome-er), and two gallons of rum in my car. I'm totally psyched for this weekend.

March on.

I went to the immigration march yesterday, to support my co-workers and friends, and to be there. It was pretty great. There was no conflict, everyone was there to support each other, I was impressed. Of course I donned my peaceful white shirt. To sum up my feelings on the issue, I will give you snippits of conversations that I've had with people in the last week.

Conversation #1(with Nichole at work, discussing how the restaurant was going to handle it, and the thought that the cooks might get fired if they don't show for their shift)
Me: Do you really think that that is a good idea?
Nichole: Think about it, for every Mexican that doesn't want to work, there's one at home who does.
Me: But they DO want to work, that's the whole point.

Conversation #2 (with my mom, she was shocked to find out that I was going)
Mom: Well, some people say that they contribute to the economy, but they are making money, and sending it home to their families, and they don't even pay taxes.
Me: Whoa, whoa, whoa. They do pay taxes. They do.
Mom: How? That doesn't make sense.
Me: They get paychecks. When they are filling their paperwork out at their new jobs they don't say "I don't need to pay taxes because I'm an illegal immigrant". They pay taxes.
Mom: I..
Me: Do you want my friend Armando's number? You could talk to him about it, he was just struggling trying to figure out his tax return.
Mom: Well, not all of them do.
Me: Neither do all Americans. [Yes, I understand that the ratio of those who pay to those who don't is not equal between legal and illegal residents]

Conversation #3 (with Carl, about the jobs that they do)
Me: Think about California's[where Carl is from] agriculture. Do you think that that economy would survive without those workers?
Carl: I'm sure that they would figure something out. They'll find a way.
Me: Yeah, but not for the pay that they're offering.
Carl: Exactly, people will be getting paid a decent amount for the work.
Me: They'll be overpaid, our cultures have a very different work ethic. People will do less work and get paid more money. Don't get me wrong, I think that the workers should get paid more, but the same people who want whites picking their oranges want to pay $1.19 a pound for them, and it just isn't going to happen.

Conversation #4 + 5(me thinking to myself and getting mad)
Me: Wow, so people think that it isn't ok for immigrants to come work for $5.15 an hour, that they are keeping the minimum wage low, but those same people think that it's perfectly fine for us to send our work off to other countries, like India, and pay less than federal minimum wage for their labor. Wow. [angry face]

Me: They want to ship 12 million immigrants back home, but they don't understand that they'll just come back. Yes, we have a problem with illegal immigration. But to fix the problem, we have to assess the cause of it, and make changes there. If my teeth were yellow, yeah, I could get white strips and whitening gum and toothpaste, but they would just turn yellow again unless I cut back smoking and drinking coffee[two habits that I don't actually have]. Seriously.

I was reminded of that last thought when we were walking yesterday and a group was all holding onto a large American flag [like when we used to play parachute with the big orange tarp-like thing] and chanting:
"Aqui estamos, "We are here,
y no nos vamos, and we aren't going[anywhere]
y si nos sacan, and if they take us
nos regresamos." we'll come back."

Also, I'm a bit sunburnt. Again.

The Wedding...
A small selection of the many pictures of a beautiful day.

Off to Cali...

Josh + Jo = 4 eva!

As much as I hate it, I had to do it. Kisses, and see you kids soon!

Gotta love good hair days.

WTF?

University of Germtopia is on spring break and my respiratory system is Daytona Beach.

Back from Vegas in one piece. Although I may now have lung cancer. Wow, it's smoky there. And if you are a young girl planning on going with other young girls, you might want to avoid March Madness weekend. It's like a shark's feeding tank walking through the sports book areas of the casinos. But it was fun fun fun. Pictures to follow.

I may have one-upped you on this one G. I may have quit a job over an aversion to hangers. Haven't decided yet.

I like the dentist. That may be weird, but I do. I like going there. Good times.

Vegas or bust. I'll see you all when I get back.

So I woke up with a sore throat this morning. You might be wondering why this is significant. Well for the past two weeks, up until the last about two days, I have had "the death". "The death" seemed to be easing up, just for it's second cousin, "the really annoying follow up cold that wont be as bad, but you'll probably be just as miserable," to swoop in. But I don't work a double today! Woohoo! And I was supposed to get up at 5:30 a.m., but I didn't wake up, and got to sleep in! Double Woohoo!

If anyone wants to defy "the death's" second cousin and go to the baseball game tonight, holla' at yo' girl. Or call me, because I don't particularly take to people hollaring at me.

My sandwich this morning was wonderful. I actually ate it a few minutes ago, at 1:45ish, so it wasn't really this morning, but it feels like it, so therefore it is. Four commas in that sentence, impressive. But a Boca burger on Beyond Bread? I mean, all the alliteration, you can't go wrong!

I don't really know where I'm going with all of this, but have a lovely soy filled Monday!

The newest piercing, on both ears.

I'm ancy. And not just in this particular moment. But in my life in general right now. I'm ready to start actually looking for a career, but the problem is, I don't want one. I love having a flexible schedule and being able to take off time whenever I want. How could I give that up?

I'm so ready for Cuba already. Something needs to happen. Something needs to wake me up from this constant day dream state that I am in.

I want to learn to tango.

Stole it from Meg. Do it.

Have a fantastic day! I know I will.

"It was for Mike, but then I changed my mind. Is that bad?" I love Ashley.

I think that as of tomorrow I will be organizing a strike at the good old Robin. Demands including that managers can't take vacations unless all team members who want it have two days off and/or less than 40 scheduled hours. This should be interesting. I might be looking for a new job soon.

Happy birthday Mollie and Becca, the party was good times!

I officially hate my mom's dogs. And she wants me to train them. The prospect of money is enticing, we'll see how this goes. If I get attacked again, I don't want any "I told you so" attitudes.

"We've been too small for too long." Mary J Blige song that I heard today.

Arizona is really just a little too beautiful to stand this time of year. We should all soak it up, because it wont last that long. But it's beautiful days like this that make us want to live here.

Softball tonight, you should come. I feel like hitting a homerun tonight, or at least a triple. Yeah, that should do.

Those are the random thoughts for now. I'll be back with more.

Myke would be so proud...

Which Disney Princess Are You? Belle You are bookish but incredibly pretty. Belle was first seen in Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

So, holy crap, we still have a lot of beer. We'll just have to do this again sometime.

I can't really explain to anyone who hasn't had poor vision before what this is like. I got back from my follow up, and not even 24 hours later my vision is already better than 20-20. It is amazing, I can see everything!

No work 'til Monday, a fun weekend awaits.

Let's define some roles here. I am a server, not a servant, maid or babysitter. You are a guest, a customer, not my boss. That is all.

Today is the big day. Hooray for eyeballs!

The toaster is like a slot machine where you always win. I love it.

The hammock has been reading tested. I got up this morning and had myself a nice short read to start off the morning, it was nice. Oranges were falling and it seemed to get colder as the morning progressed on, but it was nice. I love my hammock. I love it lots.

In addition to playing softball last night(and kicking some serious ass might I add), we played a rousing game of destroy the grapefruit. It was fun. Brian is much better at this game than I am.

This morning commences the first of the next seven shifts that I work, in the next seven shifts that are available. It should be awesome. And by awesome, I mean awesome knowing that this weekend will be full of eyeballs, football, beer and the absence of work.

"Eyeballs" is my favorite word. What is yours?

Guess who just submitted her resume to apply for her first "job" job? If you guessed that it was me, you're right! I submitted my resume and a writing sample for an sports reporting position available at the highly esteemed publication, the Ahwatukee Foothills News. It's a start, and a start that I wouldn't have to move across the country to see if I liked or not. :)

Being mermaids!

Chocolate cherry + bright auburn brown = bye bye blonde!!

I love plums, and softball. Also, I am sad without my puppy, but she is not sad. And that is good for her. Even more also, I hate ASU and am terrible at eating sunflower seeds without eating the shells. That is all.

Your task for the day:

Go to www.google.com. Type in the word "failure", without the quotation marks. Click "I'm Feeling Lucky". Laugh.

My head hurts. The sickness has been put on me and I don't like it. I'm happy to hear that Noel is out, she is cool.

I don't have my phone, if you have been trying to intialize communication with me. Just so you know. If you have, and I don't call you back today, I hate you.

The War on Christmas

may be over. I don't know if we democrats won or lost this fake war, it might not even be over. But if it isn't, we should ease up on Christmas, we've got to save our energies for The War on May Day and The War on Flag Day, Groundhog Day, Grapndparents Day, etc. But the big one, the war that I'm not even sure if I'm courageous enough to fight, is The War on Administrative Professionals Day. I mean, we're out to kill the spirit of the country, but mess with Administrative Professionals' Day? I think that that's just going too far.