This is version two of the blog, which currently contains 133 published posts. To some extent, this blog represents the creative excesses of a design enthusiast who is somewhere in the process of applying to grad school, working at a law firm and resides in the Financial District of New York City.
I am or soon may be very much addicted to “the YouTube” (it’s in quotes referring to a journalism conference at Emory where a bunch of old guys talked about the journalistic impact of “the YouTube”).
Anyway, my sister’s friend Bill has created a homemade (but very professionally done) video called 24 Hour Pizza Delivery which is a spoof off of the television show 24. Check it out if you want a few chuckles. My sister’s ex is the asian guy.
Kendra’s birthday was yesterday. Pictures and post incoming.
Valentines’ Day has always been a bit of a mixed bag for me.
In 10th grade, I got a stomach virus on Valentines’ Day, but I was supposed to do a presentation on the prohibition that morning (Humanities, Mr. Fain, in case anyone is wondering). I started speaking, but broke down in tears because it hurt to breathe. I remember giving Mr. Fain the most withering look of sarcasm when he asked me if it was an “emotion or physical problem.” I didn’t end up doing the presentation, but got sent to the nurses office instead. On the walk down to the main office, some random lady kept following me and asking if I “wanted to talk about it.” Bitch please, I’m having difficulty breathing. I don’t want to talk about anything.
I ended up getting picked up by Jeffrey’s mom (family friend) and taken to the temple. I basically lounged about in the babysitting room all day – which would be fine except the babysitting room is meant for babies and I was 15. Anyhow, I ended up choosing to watch Antz because a) it was better than Barney and b) it was the closest thing I could do to actually celebrate V-day (earlier that year, I’d watched Antz in a group with a guy I’d had a crush on once upon a time.)
That was probably the worst Valentines’ Day I’ve had. The rest have varied from unmemorable to awkward.
As for this Valentines’ Day, I’m not sure when I began doing this, but at some point I started passing out valentines on V-day again. It seems each year I give out more valentines so it’s become a bit of an ordeal, haha. However, my preparations for this year went pretty well. I bought my valentines over winter break and starting putting them together and writing notes about two weeks prior. (I try to write something in each one so it’s not just a piece of paper.)
I was tempted to stop given that they’ve become a bit of a bother. However, the summer after graduation the topic of my valentines came up (I remember that we were in Java actually, haha) and I realized that some people actually kept theirs. So, I – happily – plod on.
A while back, I did a project for JRNL 311 (Electronic Communication) where we had to choose a topic, report on it, and build a website for it, along with Stein and Mcmillan. Anyway, Mcmillan and I revisited the Center for Puppetry Arts – our topic of choice – this past weekend along with Dave and Singer, which was actually quite fun. We watched Tales of Edgar Allen Poe (last time we watched the Velveteen Rabbit). We couldn’t take pictures inside the show, but here are some from the museum. There’s also more on the project website.
Anyway, afterwards we all went to the Majestic, which is this diner that Dave is obsessed with. It was, however, actually quite good. I’ll try to get a picture of it next time cause you have to see it to understand.
Oh, and one of the IT monkeys at work introduced me to a new game called Plasma Pong which seems a little too addicting for me to install on my computer right now. Nevertheless, during the next break…maybe. It’s like pong, except you can shoot out or suck in plasma with your paddle, and the game has a pretty impressive rendering engine for the plasma for any of those die-hard dorks out there.
In other news, I watched one of the most depressing movies ever. I was looking for a fluffy Korean drama-ish type movie. You know, just some silly characters in some ridiculously cheesy setup. Anyhow, I ended up watching Sad Movie (yes, I do realize that perhaps the title should have tipped me off, but try to work with me here), which stars Tae-hyun Cha (My Sassy Girl). I mean, the description I got from IMDB just said it was about some people struggling with their relationships.
Anyhow, it turned out to be like a Love Actually from hell. There were 4 pairs of people, each with a different type of relationship. Except, whereas in Love Actually everyone had issues, worked through them and then was happy, in Sad Movie, they all have issues, work through them and then miserable things happen to everyone! So depressing! Anyhow, the moral of this story is: Sometimes, things are more obvious than you would think. Lesson learned.
For a long time, there was a Container Store ad that would play on 106.1 KISS FM in Dallas, Texas that had circus music in the background. Then, there’s be a pause and the voice would say “I see we have more time” — and then the ad would start up again.
That phrase is kind of what I feel like right now. After deciding to ditch j-school, as corny as it sounds, it feels like a world of possibility is open to me again. For starters, I finally had time to finish part one of the WordPress Plugin Tutorial that I started working on over winter break. I plan to have two more parts to it, but hopefully someone will find what’s there useful.
I’ve been having lunch – and we have, like, hour-long lunches – at least twice a week with my roommates. And I’ve checked out a bunch of restaurants as of late, which is great. I discovered that I rather like Indian food. We’ve ordered from Udipi (South Indian food) a couple times, but one of the sales reps told me I should check out Mirch Masala (North Indian food). Apparently, North Indian food has more meat and South Indian food is largely vegetarian, so if you like meat then North Indian is the cuisine for you. (The reason for this is because South India has more vegetation due to its proximity to water, whereas North India relies more on livestock.) Anyway, he was right and it was delicious, though the service was mediocre.
The do, however, give little keychains with to every customer, which I thought was kind of cute.
But anyway, we also had the Top Reps dinner on Wednesday, where we take the three reps who have made the highest amount of sales out with all the business managers to a fancy dinner. We went to a restaurant that we have trade with called Sala. I ordered crab enchiladas and duck tapas, both of which were pretty good, but not great. The restaurant definitely chose style over substance. However, I had a lot of fun and it was a great night. I also think it really “recharged” the reps to get back in the office and sell some more. Pictures of the my food and the restaurant below.
Meanwhile, I have rediscovered Tetrinet, which is, I suppose, a kickback to my high school days. We spent an excessive amount of time playing Tetrinet in class after exams were over during senior year. It’s not the healthiest of habits to restart, especially now that the Wheel Online Redesign team is fully underway, as is my role in heading the PR department for my marketing class. But everyone has their vices, right?
I wound up reading this because it was the only title I recognized out of a random pile of books in a waiting room. But I’m generally weary of books and movies that are so blatantly sappy that it’s difficult to muster up any type of emotion that’s remotely genuine. Nickolas Sparks, for example, I cannot stomach. (I remember reading A Walk to Remember on a bus and making faces at it while I was reading. This is coming from a girl who used to read Sweet Valley books, so you can imagine.)
That said, I actually liked Mitch Albom’s newest, For One More Day. I’d been avoiding reading anything of his for a while for the reason listed above, but people seem to like him. Anyhow, according to the back of the book, it’s “the story of a mother and a son, and a relationship that lasts a lifetime and beyond.”
And yes, the novel itself is as sappy as it sounds. The chapter titles say things like “Times When My Mother Stood Up for Me” and “Times When I Did Not Stand Up for My Mother” — that sort of thing. However, the book’s saving grace is the mom character, who is actually quite likable. Moreover, the ending actually surprised me quite a bit, which I wasn’t expecting (please ignore the redundancy in that sentence, thanks).
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the book (but maybe a little disappointed in myself).
