Saturday, August 30, 2003

Subject | "Romance Novels and pictures"

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Haven't had the energy to blog lately - been obsessing over all the work I saved for the last twenty-four hours of summer, dear heaven. Key Club Summer bulletin, Grogan's bullshit let-me-ruin-your-last-days-of-summer project, SAT practice (let me ruin your entire life conspiracy), and an inability to write fanfics.

I saw Lara Croft: Tomb Raider [The Cradle of Life] the other day with Stacy. AHAHAHAHA, it was a terribly predictable movie with a horrible ending and bad lines, but that's exactly why we went to see it, so what am I complaining? It was actually terrible fun to be watching it and making fun of it (the theater was nearly empty anyway), although the end was especially tedious when I was waiting for her to shoot her Irish (I think) ex-boyfriend. *bang* Didn't need Angelina Jolie's eyes tearing up as she pulled the trigger, either, but oh well.

I did like the scene where she was riding on that pretty black horse and shooting targets, but she was wearing a dress (that's incredibly uncomfortable and impractical - can possibly frighten skittish horses) and she was riding English SIDESADDLE. Sidesaddle is from the era where woman couldn't possibly ride astride because it was rude and manly, an era which can also kiss ass, except for Mr. Darcy, because he can't be blamed for coming from then.

Who writes this Snape a Day stuff? It's perversely hilarious. [“YES POOKIE PUDDING NOW RAWWRR,” Snape replied.]

At any rate, I was much hurt by Earl saying my last entry was completely useless. (Not really :P) I was wondering if long entries weren't just long blathering documentaries on My Fascinating Life And Nintendo Too, but screw that then :P

I beat Pikmin, btw, in less than a week, which tells me I really need something else to do. Pikmin informed me at the end that I lost [massacred] 752 Pikmin to fire, drowning, being squished, being eaten, or other various hazardous occupations, oops.

My dad wanted to watch Pirates of the Caribbean, so he and my mom and I went and watched it (me for the second time). Didn't enjoy it as much as the first time, but it's still what it was before, a fun and entertaining movie, and Orlando Bloom is still hot, so why not?

Congrats to Sarah btw, for getting your license; I have to go renew my permit. I'm beginning to be afraid of driving - not of driving itself so much, but more of driving with my dad, because when I make mistakes, he yells, and I assure you, I make ever so many mistakes. See, one really must not slow down when making lane changes, but I did that, and one should look over one's shoulder when backing up, but I didn't do that, and about parallel parking - well, we won't talk about that.

There is an enormous black spider on the ceiling right above the second floor here, so I can't kill it without falling to my doom, and can only stare at it as I think of it waiting to find me in the middle of the night and send me to my doom. (Wonderful little cycle going on here.) It's not a black widow, though, I've killed dozens of those and I'm very familiar (one might even say intimate) with them by now.

Went and got those glossy little cutesy photos at the mall with Stacy. We spent at least an hour trying to get coordinating outfits at my house, and we gave up because either everything I own doesn't fit her properly or just looks terrible on her. She is slimmer, taller, and more broad-shouldered than me, so it didn't quite .. work. It ended with her and I leaving the house with what we wore in :P at any rate, I have 25 little pictures (we picked what we thought was a pleasant silvery-gray background, but it ended up having Big Fat White Cranes flying all over) and she does too, so if you want one tell me :) I almost look nice. Oh, and Stacy is showing some MAJOR leg in this picture because of how her skirt's slit slices up, isn't that nice? (My shirt makes me look frumpy, so I can't say anything.)

I bought two Nora Roberts novels the other day, and HAHAHAHA, one of them was particularly bad. Not that the plot was more tedious than usual, but I disliked the characters. For one, the woman was a romance novel writer, and I can't help thinking that when a romance novel writer does that, she's making the character a Mary-Sueish reflection of herself. And what do you know, the terrible novel that the author in the story was working on is going to be published as a Harlequin historical (dear god, a wild wild west historical) in a couple months. Yuck.

The guy was irritating me for some random reasons - a bit boring, not at all charismatic, the type who romances with flowers and wine (gimme some straight "In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repesssed" any day) and et cetera. My dislike of him as a romantic hero was confirmed when I discovered he was Republican :P it's rare that Roberts discloses the political leanings of a character (it tends to turn off the reader), and last time she did so, the person was a liberal anyway :P bah.

So reading Pride and Prejudice, and I love the part where it says, "He spoke of apprehension and anxiety, but his countenance expressed real security." Tsk, tsk, Mr. Darcy ^.~ smug surety is a no-no in the romance world, even if you are one of the sexiest men alive. [Hell, I would've said yes, but that is, after all, why Darcy never fell in love with me and has his beloved Elizabeth instead.] I should thank my sister for giving me this as a birthday present btw, as it's the complete works of Jane Austen. Good stuff to have :) although one must be particularly careful not to smudge the pages - this is not a copy one lovingly smooches.

I just heard a very loud fluttering noise near the window, and I looked over and found an enormously large moth flapping anxiously. I considered killing it, but my bloodlust is being saved for that black spider should it ever come close enough, so I trapped it in a CD spindle cover and let it loose outside. Besides, I have qualms about killing large bugs - it's just so squishy. :x The other day I was cleaning up outside, and there were VERY LARGE COCKROACHES running around, so I took a shoe (my dad's :P) and went SMACK SMACK SMACK and though they died, it was disgusting enough that I couldn't bear to clean their corpses away.

I know it's not nice to make fun of very sheltered people, but I just remembered this one conversation I over heard at my cousin's engagement party. It was my cousin's fiance's aunt, and apparently she got directions to a location somewhere, and the directions were wrong *dum dum dum* Where did she end up?

Woman: "Goodness, I realized we were in downtown Los Angeles!"

Table: *gasp*

Me: o.O

I'm assuming she doesn't mean the tall-building part of downtown LA, but rather the part with street signs not written in English? Koreatown is definitely in downtown LA, and although it's not a part where there are daily shootings, there are definitely occasional shootings, lots of graffiti and no police officers.

Tomorrow is my grandfather's annual memorial service and is the first time ever my grandmother can't come (she was thirty-nine when he died) because she fractured her hip, and that the day after I get to go to Raging Waters with some very darling friends (*arches brows at Taleen and Tanya*). Good stuff :) Damn it, the only bathing suit I have is my racing suit, though, and that thing is REALLY TIGHT (two sizes smaller than your practice suit) and it hurts ;_;

Damn, I am good. I just killed that bastard spindly. Little thing was still alive after I squished it, but it fell off the ceiling and crashed to the ground (two stories below), where it was wriggling madly before I ended its life.

Hey, I spared the moth. And on that note, I end this absurdly long entry.

Posted by Kylara @ 10:46 PM PST

Thursday, August 28, 2003

Subject | "When one needs sleep"

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The alarm clock woke me up yesterday morning to a commercial.

It was a commercial with one of those British voices sampling a fine drink.

But, a bubbly girl cuts in and tells him that this exclusive drink he loves so much is at 7-11! Because it's like, their new diet-pepsi slurpie!

And he tries very earnestly to convince her no.

And she insists, and even gives him evidence as to her side, whereupon he pauses and then, with much irritation, gives up.

I swear to all of you, I thought Christina and Spencer were doing some sort of freakish skit in my room, and I've never been so terrified in my life.

In other news, I'm almost done with Pikmin (am trying to beat this very big and ugly snail at the moment - a JUMPING snail) and Sarah came over today (it's yesterday now), and I burned CD's and we watched Marmalade Boy and Kodocha in viciously terrible quality o.O; yeouch.

I need sleep. Waking up early tomorrow. Blech, English project to do too! (Poll: Whose summer assignment was worse, Grogan's or Thomson's?)

Posted by Kylara @ 01:17 AM PST

Tuesday, August 26, 2003

Subject | "Books, and getting drunk on them."

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So, haneoka.net's server moved for a bit, and as suits my brilliantly good luck, I lost the blog entry I had posted at that time. It was a beautifully long entry, full of descriptions of wimpy ninth graders, odd parents, and people hitting on Christina.

But the server ate it, so it is gone.

I went shopping yesterday - as my sister termed it, "back-to-school shopping". May I make a very childish comment? OH YUCK. But we only bought clothes, no school supplies (though I've already bought a TI-83+! Earl, I want the penguin game)... and it was a very long day. Bought two pairs of jeans, a pair of green cargo pants, four shirts (I think, it might be five), two skirts, and three - yes, three - bras, for a total of $320. Ouch. I think my dad thought we were kidding for a second when we brought him the bill.

I think it's slightly odd that I'm doing this back-to-school stuff though, because it's not like I A) don't buy clothes during the school year or B) am a guy that thus wears the same jeans and three shirts all week long. But what am I complaining? I like these clothes! And a thank you to my sister, who put up with me throughout the day (I think she was going to strangle me at one point).

I also bought Pikmin, which for those of you who don't know, is a Gamecube game where you are a spaceman (the height of a quarter) who crashlands on a strange planet and enlists the local radishes to help him. I'm not kidding, actually; the radishes are actually little 'pikmin' (he names them so after his favorite brand of carrots), which you direct by whistle blows and various other commands. You grow them by plucking them out of the ground.

Basically, they're your slaves, and you make them carry stuff around for you so that you can get off the damn planet. It's an extremely disturbing game, especially when you enlist your pikmin to fight enemies (nothing creepier than watching your adorable little helpers get eaten, except maybe watching them drown), but it's extremely fun and I like it a lot, that is, ignoring the odd statement this game makes ("Grow slaves and FEED THEM TO LADYBUGS"). I heard there's a Pikmin II coming out in October, so maybe I'll get that sometime - if I ever have time during this horrible school year.

Debate: should I tease the tenth graders I know about having Beidelman? I am very, very tempted - and I mean, what other benefits will I get out of having taken that class?

Went to a Key Club officer training session today at Mr. Thomson's. He has a really cute little boy, btw. Was not very productive, although I did hang out with Taleen and Tanya, which can't be discounted :) I also picked up Imitation in Death. When I got the phone call saying my book was in, I ran down to the damn bookstore (this is about 8 long city blocks) where I had been earlier that day (ASKING about the book) and bought it. It was really fun and entertaining, kinda like when you go for some cheap booze rather than fine wine, but it rocked :P and so I'm very hyper about it (nothing like trashy romance pseudo-horror books to pick up your day), and extremely glad that the next part Remember When is coming out in just a couple weeks, and will be even gladder (don't suggest the glad game, though, or I'll shoot you) that the next installment.

Book buying is an expensive habit, though. Today's book cost $7.72 or something like that, while Remember When is going to eat $20 out of my wallet in just a couple weeks. Bah. Our Key Club is putting a great big EmphaSIS on literacy for children this year, so we've suggested doing a fundraiser to earn money for new books and stuff - and our President was like, "How about we earn $500? That's a big amount, right?" and I replied, "Sure, that's a bit less than one hundred books, optimistically." [Realistically, we'll probably only hit about 80-90 books.] She seemed shocked. ?_? Does she not buy books? Children's books aren't any cheaper than your average adult book, except for the fact that they don't always come in hardcover (I'm pretty sure the Unfortunate series is pricey, and I know Artemis Fowl is - let's not get into HP [$29.99?]). Even if we get a good deal with a store somewhere (that can write off the loss into taxes), we are not getting a whole lot of books here.

Btw, the author that I keep buying is Nora Roberts, who is definitely like a drug - kinda addictive, really unhealthy, trashy, and a Hoover when it comes to money. She herself sucks in energy from around her or something, or how else could she have published so many books per year? She has two regular hardcovers (both of which I already/will own), the two In Death books (I own), and then the three Key books coming out in two months (which I will look at and possibly own, unless they're as stupid as they sound).

Hm, I want to go read book number one in the In Death series now :) for those who don't know, the one I was raving about (Imitation) is 17 of 17, not including two short stories and the one coming out in about three weeks. :P I own all of those, heh. So, back to reading #1. Have a good day, and keep your Pikmin alive (I lost 13 today - they got roasted by fire).

Posted by Kylara @ 12:44 AM PST

Tuesday, August 19, 2003

Subject | "Schedules"

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EDIT: KYAAAA! My computer came today *_* I'm so happy. Setting it up, so next time you see me I'll be on it (hopefully). :O

Well, I suffered through registration today. I'm posting my schedule here - comment and post yours, too! :)

Period 1: English 11 (H) - Grogan
Period 2: Calculus AB AP - Pauer
Period 3: Comp Sci A (AP) - Weiser
Period 4: Biology (AP) - Childress
Period 5: Spanish 3 - Mills
Period 6: US History (AP) - Thomson

I really wish someone else was teaching AP Biology. If the class is really bad, then I'll just switch out after awhile *shrugs* I wish I had gotten Ms. Tindell instead of Pauer for AP, but.. blah. The other teachers are good :) I'm glad I got Ms. Mills for Spanish, though. Tell me your schedules!

Posted by Kylara @ 10:21 AM PST

Monday, August 18, 2003

Subject | "Engagement Party"

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Well, the engagement party is done and over, registration comes in two days, my new computer comes in this week, and I have new manga :) so it's a good and bad week.

I'm guessing my house is actually bigger than it looks, because forty people fit surprisingly well through the house and into the backyard. Actually, it didn't feel like it was really crowded at all :O It also looked really nice. It helped that the tables were all nicely decorated, especially with the flowers my cousin bought from the flower mart in LA. (The chinese lanterns we strung up also looked good, even if that's not my usual taste in decorating.) I have some pictures of how it looked in my yard..

here ==> backyard1

and here ==> backyard2
Yes, those are tiki torches burning. No, they are normally not there. They were not my idea.

Considering that this is maybe a fifth or sixth of the walkable area of my backyard, I think that's pretty good :) In another part of the yard, we put up a REALLY big green tent for the food to be in.. it worked out really well. Later, we realized that can more or less fit (might be a bit crowded, but not much) about 160 people into the yard. Uncomfortably, probably 200. Problem? Uh, they'd be parked all the way down to Victor's house, and there are only two bathrooms on the first floor. :P So my dad says if we ever want to throw another big party, we'll keep it to 60-70.

Yeah, "another big party". Once people found out that the house owners had three daughters, they'd go, "Oh, how nice! You can use this tent for THEIR engagement parties!" I heard this all night long. Aren't we planning a wee bit too early?

Speaking of planning a wee bit too early... My aunt was at the party as well, and she looked around the backyard, and evidently she liked it so much (previous family parties at my house have always taken place indoors) that she called up my mother bright and early this morning (I'm guessing this was burning in her mind all night long) and informed her that her son's wedding reception to the girl he's dating will be here.

By the way, my cousin is on his third date with the girl in question, and I do not believe location of wedding receptions has been a topic of conversation.

If anyone would like to see my family, I posted a picture here ==> Family Picture :O

It will undoubtedly be the only time I post a picture of myself here, as I hate pictures. But hey :P

Yes, these pics were taken with a digital (mine). :O Aunt #2 is the one that likes future planning. We all look very shiny because it was a very warm evening. MY cousin Daniel there is slouching - jeez, the guy wears a shoe size of FIFTEEN AND A HALF. I can never keep track of how tall he actually is (he's definitely the tallest of my family, being asian and all :P). Haha, this is the guy who introduced me to Nintendo 64 when I was nine :)

I have a lot more aunts, uncles, and cousins than this, but some of them couldn't make it.. partially because one of my cousins just had a baby! *squeals* Yesterday morning. They named him Ryan :) YAY! It's not a traditional Asian name! No David or Daniel or Paul or Peter or Eugene or Michael or Brian or ... you get the point.

Later during the party, my sister Joan and I went inside with Daniel and we played Nintendo 64 & Gamecube :P I set these consoles up earlier because I heard there were little children coming, but they didn't, so we decided to play.

Daniel is the BIGGEST CHEATER I've ever seen play :P for those of you who've played Mario Kart 64... think to yourself of Wario Stadium. -.-; I can't believe he did this.. we thought he was just trying pathetically, but after about three minutes of trying, he took his cart and he *bounced* on the first bump from the starting line, and he jumped right over the dividing wall and skipped half the course. He did this for all three laps and came out as first place, hahaha ^^ he cheated on Royal Raceway, too (he was actually trying courses based on what cheats he could remember).

My cousin is a great deal more polite than my guy friends. Rather than telling me that I got "ripped off" on my computer, he said that "whoa, that's expensive". :P Apparently he paid $600 for his. He and I debated the pros and cons of buying and putting together yourself.. yes, he won. :P Kiss my ass.

Btw, N64 looks really bad now compared to Gamecube.. we alternated between Mario Kart and SSB Melee, and the difference is a LOT. ^_^;

I bought some new manga today - I.N.V.U. volume 3 and "Wild Act". There's a ton of stuff out :O Chobits 7, Flame of Recca 1, MARS 13... I got a sampler manga, too. It's great :) it had an excerpt from Petshop of Horrors there (unrelated to the movie or TV or whatever of a similar name). I really wanted Basara v1, but I couldn't find it, unfortunately, nor could I find Hana Yori Dango [Boys Before Flowers] v1 either. Bah. But Wild Act was very cute, hahaha ^^

I finished Grogan's summer english project and turned it in around 1:30 on the fifteenth. What an absolutely aggravating essay that was -.-; SO BORING. I was up to around 5 a.m. trying to do everything but the essay (Andrew would know, he was working on it too :P). Bleck. I can already feel the clammy hands of school wrapping around my neck.

You know, Chris, is that how you write in English class? Do you get just one big F, or a whole string of 'em?

Let's do a little MST here. Comments in italics are me.

"wat the hell i could have made a better computer for less that a 1000"

See, I had this urge to NOT entrust $600 of equipment to a boy who can't spell "what" correctly.

"do u even read my comments ne more"

No.

"my god aish"

Aish? Ailish is a name, but I don't think it's God's.

" a computer isnt worth over a 1000 dollors"

Pardon the hell out of me, but what IS worth that much money, then? SAT classes? YOU?

":sigh:"

Forgive me for disturbing you, O wise one, that you have to sigh in frustration over silly me.

"well its your new computer congradulations ^_^;"

Why thank you, I can tell you mean that so heartily.

"well now all u need is dsa"

Excuse me?

" so u can dl anime faster "

If my pace of acquiring anime isn't fast enough for you, dear, then please, let me not bother you with the products.

" and i wish u can go online more often not using your other sn but a different one"

So I can have this type of pleasant conversation with you?

" b4 i start resorting to the phone new sn "watashiwakaze" just incase u didnt know"

I dunno if Andrew remembers, but my dad tends to hang up on guys that call too often - not that I can't just slam down the reciever myself. And when did Chris become the wind? And what type of wind, exactly? The kind referred to in "passing wind"?

-End MST-

That comment caught me in a mood of annoyance. Anyway.

Sarah, interesting trading site. :O My sister has hers organized in this one fat table (it's really scary to look at). I am highly amused to see that you are advertising manga I've given you as part of your trade. Btw, people like to know the quality of that sorta thing (listing the scanlator is good, too) so I would reccommend putting that, plus how much memory all of this is.

"DUDE! You're getting a Dell!" What is this? People keep quoting it and I am lost in a dark cave of confusion.

Right, I'm gonna go read a book. :) See a lot of you at registration, joy. (I'm at 7:00, how about you?)

Posted by Kylara @ 12:13 AM PST

Tuesday, August 12, 2003

Subject | "EEEEEE HEE HEE HEE"

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^^ I hope everyone likes the title of this entry.

! The countdown to my cousin's engagement party is ticking away, wrapping its chilly hands around my throat. >.>; It's on the 16th, and everyone in my house is cleaning and cooking like mad.. dear god. It's a party for 40+ people, held in my backyard & house... we have a large backyard, so this is not impossible, but the cooking and cleaning involved.. *shudders* My mom keeps experimenting. I've had like, four types of chicken in two days, plus deep fried dumplings. ?_? What happened to just frying them?

Unfortunately, I'm not done with Grogan's summer english project, either, which is due the 15th. A 500 word essay is really very little, but I'm going to have to nitpick at it.. oh, well, thank goodness it's not like Thomson's.

I went to the dentist yesterday. I do not have a good track record at the dentist. It seems like every time I go there, I have a cavity or SOMETHING.

Well, this time I didn't have a cavity. Oh, no, not a cavity. I was getting my hopes up that she would just clean my teeth and let me leave.

"Oh, dear, what's this on the x-ray?" she exclaimed.

"Oh, look at that. The nerve is dead! *tsk tsk*"

I HAD TO HAVE A FREAKING ROOT CANAL.

;_;

She didn't even give me a novacaine shot. "Oh, don't worry, you won't feel a thing."

..

I THINK I FELT THAT LONG NEEDLE SHE DRILLED INTO MY TOOTH.

*bitter* It wasn't even my fault that the nerve died. Result of some bizarre congenital defect, thank you very much.

I blame my parents. -.-

On the upside.. Look at this!

*cackles madly* With a few modifications, THAT baby is my new computer ^^ my dad just bought it - a Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.66GHz with 120 gigs of memory. :) It'll be shipped in on Monday. We're not buying a new monitor, so the price came down to (with a $100 rebate) about $1053. (I know it says like $700 something there, but we upgraded a lot of the details.) An-y-way :) I'm so happy ~ money is kinda TiGhT, so I'm a bit surprised.. but this computer won't crash every other hour! (This one quite literally does.) So happy ~

One more note of bizarreness: my dad bought me not one pair of shoes today, but TWO pairs of shoes today. ?_? Combined, they're a bit less than $90, and I've bought just one pair of shoes for almost that much before (because my dad hates shopping so much, he just buys the first thing I say looks nice and fits).. but I have no clue why he told me to get two pairs. ?_? One is a pair of blah white sneakers I can use for walking (they're very cushy), and the other was indulgence.. :P Skecher low-cut black boots, baby. *squeals* They're really uncomfortable and really cute. ^_^; I got a blister from wearing them today - just walking from my house to the 7-11 - so they're not at all practical. BUT THEY'RE REALLY CUTE.

..

Extremely odd news tidbit for today that I'm sure greatly disturbs the boys who read this blog perfectly: "After 67-year-old Hurshell Ralls went into surgery for bladder cancer, he came out of surgery missing more than he ever expected. His penis and testicles were gone."

That's almost as odd as those flash crowds (which sound like a kind of bizarre fun). :P I have to help my mother do some typing now, so see ya. Bye now ^^

Posted by Kylara @ 06:05 PM PST

Friday, August 8, 2003

Subject | "101 Dalmations"

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Oh god in heaven. What is with you people today? I don't understand.

I signed on today on MarsRei21, and who instant messaged me right away? Before Arnold S. (yes, that Arnold) had even welcomed me back? (He's my AOL voice.)

ADAM N-something (I can't spell his last name). This would be the one I nearly throttled in Spanish class, Lozada.

o.O;

And this was before I went to my blog and saw that there were - not just twenty, or even thirty, but ONE HUNDRED AND SIX - AND COUNTING - comments.

Now, I know I'm a fascinating person whose life is of indescribable interest to my darling friends, but I'm not that fascinating. So I open my blog entry to find that Augusto and Andrew have been indulging in an orgy - comments being the least of their fun, and YES, please take that the wrong way - and I remember once reprimanding Sarah and Spencer for using my comments as a message board, but I can't see the point anymore.

::huddles up in a corner to die::

I'd delete them, but I don't feel like plugging them into graymatter. Would take too long. But I'll kill you if you do this again :P silly boys.

Oh, and Christina, they're too busy arresting the hardcore people to arrest you. Rest assured and handcuff free. (Unless, of course, someone is over there with you and the velvet padded kind. Or do you go for leather, my dear?)

http://bhskeyclub.0catch.com

That's the site Adam wanted to link me - um, I shall pardon his layout for now, as he made it with *coughcheapasscough* front page (Augusto, I know that lovely shade of blue is exactly to your taste), but at any rate, it's the online scrapbook for Key Club, Adam being one of the historians. Taleen, darling, why didn't you ever mention this to me? At any rate, there's a lovely picture of Earl's backside as he puts together registration packets (under "Scrapbook":sub Counseling Office). Doesn't that turn you all on?

(Janice is trying to burn some comment-orgy-people's minds out.)

At any rate. I offered to make a more.. um, serviceable layout for the page. Adam said "okay", accepted, blah blah blah. ^_^; I just don't want to think about that blue thing. I still might make an online version of the bulletin.. but god, our webtech people are kinda scary. Apparently, they're making the website now, and Andrew (webtech andrew) said: "it's a lot better, has a lot of flash". Why do most asian webtech boys I know think that Flash is the eternal salvation for a website? God, I HATE FLASH. It freaking takes forever on 56K and constantly crashes or freezes my browser.

Yes, Augusto, you are so far the exception (is mostly filipino considered asian? Or are you like andrew and earl and 1/256 Chinese?), but if you join the general crowd, I will disown you.

Blech. Anyway, today my family and I were working on the backyard.. again. There's this one 800 square foot area of the yard where we used to have our pool (Will Smith in Bad Boys II: "That ain't a pool, that's a puddle wrapped in plastic" type of pool), but it got blown down in a storm. (It didn't have water in it, okay?) At any rate, we flattenned it out, broke up the concrete (this was a terrible process), added top soil, blah blah blah, and then today we finally put the grass in. :O It looks really nice - but talk about having one huge ass lawn out there now. (The 800 square foot part combined with the other half of the lawn over there.. it's complicated, one day I'll take a picture of it.) Unfortunately, my dad purchased this one weird type of grass - it's really easy to walk on because it's so short, but it doesn't match the rest of the lawn. Oh well.

Oh, yeah, I got a Movie Watchers card. At the AMC's in San Diego, you can't purchase a ticket at the student discount if you don't have a card.. which I think is really weird, btw, and I wonder if they'll do that at the AMC's here, too. Anyway, the cards don't cost anything and you eventually get free tickets, so it's not a problem. At the AMC's there, you give them your movie watcher's card instead of your ID, and they'll give you a movie ticket at the purchase price accordingly. ^_^ Soooooo ~ what would you do? Obviously, if they'll take the card over your ID, then your ID is no longer neccessary..

.. It doesn't take a genius. In the birthdate area, I filled out 05/03/86.

Hee hee. I am now seventeen ^_^ rated R movies are okay for me! hee hee ^^ if they do this at the local AMC, I'll be set, won't I?

Btw, I saw Bad Boys II. Lot of dirty humor, but it was absolutely hilarious.. not a good movie, just incredibly funny. I enjoyed the scene in the video store -- that entire thing is absolutely terrible, but I couldn't stop laughing. (Neither could the audience.) I mean, a conversation containing comments like "When you popped me in the ass" and "keep your erection in this box here with my momma" is going to be bad :P but it was sooo funny. I can't help it, I'm cheap.

Not in price, that is. ~.~

I like Lorik's blog, and I'll change the link right now ^^ but why a Hanakimi layout? My heart :P Hanakimi will probably end soon (about thirty volumes).. and Hana Yori Dango is ENDING in the next issue! :O At like 35 volumes, it's one of the longest running shoujo manga out there. Shocking.

I can't believe Arnold S. is running for governor. I'm horrified. I may like him in a few action movies here and there, but ..

.. well, I'm a liberal democrat. 'nuff said.

That's scary.

Posted by Kylara @ 02:45 PM PST

Wednesday, August 6, 2003

Subject | "[arghish]"

Music |

Mood |

Working on history project. Took an HP character test :O

#1 Ron Weasley
#2 Sirius Black
#3 Lord Voldemort
#4 Fred/George Weasley
#5 Professor Alastor Moody
#6 Professor Severus Snape
#7 Harry Potter
#8 Professor Minerva McGonagall
#9 Draco Malfoy
#10 Professor Gilderoy Lockhart
#11 Rubeus Hagrid
#12 Professor Remus Lupin
#13 Professor Albus Dumbledore
#14 Hermione Granger
#15 Neville Longbottom

I know there are a lot of guys in HP, but seriously - did my first SEVEN RESULTS all have to be male?

I like my #1 result, like my #2 result, am highly amused by my #3 result, adore my #4 result, am extremely disturbed by my #5 result, somewhat bothered by my #6 result (I take excellent care of my hair), annoyed about my #7 result (::strangles #7 after reading Order of the Phoenix::), indifferent about being #8 although I do like her, amused by #9, and after that I really don't care, although it's interesting that Christina and I both got the lovable, round faced Gryffindor for #15. He always comes in last, doesn't he? Poor thing.

I NEED TO WORK. Darlings, how does my magazine cover look? For AP US.

burgessesmagazinecover2copy

I'm very worried. :x It's a lot of photoshop mishmash. Look okay? Andrew made fun of the seal in the upperleft and the collector's edition. Well, heavens me :P I was trying to be tacky with the collector's edition thing, though, because you ALWAYS see them and they're really, really ugly. Are you people doing bibliographies for this thing? :x I am. Is this unneccessary?

Have already changed the sharp lowerleft corner of the old capitol, thanks Stacy :)

Posted by Kylara @ 01:34 AM PST

Sunday, August 3, 2003

Subject | "Tchaikovsky and bunny rabbits"

Music |

Mood |

BLOG ENTRY 100. I feel proud. :) Congratulations to me ~~~~

Wow, today is my dad's birthday :) So a happy 54 years to my dad. Joy, joy.

For his birthday, actually, my family went to the Hollywood Bowl yesterday for the Tchaikovsky spectacular - with fireworks. We picked up some food and had a picnic there, then sat waaaaaay in the back with our cheap tickets and listened :) They played his one and only violin concerto - which was super long, and I hadn't had that much sleep that day, so I .. accidentally.. fell asleep ^^; only during the second measure, because that one is very soft. But I was well awake during the second half, where they played a very festive song that I don't remember the name of (lots of bugles though), and for the last song, they had The Most Evil Marching Band On Earth come assist.

It was USC's Trojan Marching Band. Come on, what did you expect of me? ^.~ We're a UC family. They were the trombones for the Extremely Loud 1812 Overture, which starts off deceptively soft. (For those of you who don't remember, this is the one with the cannons.) Anyway, it's supposed to be about Napoleon's defeat at the gates of Moscow (I think I sealed this part of my brain off), so during the song - I kid you not - the roofs of Moscow, made out of some sort of wire, rose up above the Hollywood bowl. And then the cannons went off, in lieu of fireworks - lots and lots of fireworks. Very bright :) it was cool, actually, even if I've seen better firework shows.

And for their encore, they performed "Waltz of the Flowers"! ::cackles:: I'm so into this ballet after watching Princess Tutu, so I was thrilled to hear it. So pretty :) I love the finale. I actually like what I've heard of Swan Lake's ballet music better, but Nutcracker is classic.

Last Thursday, I went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Don't smirk or make snide comments, because this place is nothing like the zoo. They have a lot of animals in wide enclosures that are *really* cool - several miles square at least - and in those particular enclosures, they keep animals that would normally be together in the wild in that same enclosure. Meaning, they had one big area devoted to North Africa, and there would be animals from North Africa there, all roaming around (that is, the herbivores, NOT the carnivores). :O I saw this one giraffe (17.5 feet tall) pick up its hoof and step on a musk buffalo. O.O Our entire group (to see the plains, you have to take the monorail or a photo caravan) was shocked. Apparently the giraffe was asserting his dominance over the plain.

I also fed a giraffe, although not that particular one, and it sorta drooled on my fingers. That thing has one Long Tongue. I saw a baby giraffe, too, and it was soo cute XD it was a very pale color of tan with darker brown spots.. and very short. Aww :O saw a baby gazelle, four days old (very small lump in the grass) and a baby rhino, two weeks old (*squeals* it was adorable).

I saw some very ugly birds, too, like the turkey vulture? Dear god.

We went to the feral cat areas, but the lions were hiding, the tigers were hiding, and we could see the cheetah's head...

... Right before it went to sleep. Hardy har har. Lions spend at least 20 hours a day sleeping.. aren't they lucky?

I also saw a pack of wildebeasts (wildabeasts?). As we passed them, I whispered to my sister, "They killed Mufasa!"

She did not take it with amusment. I think I still have the bruise from her Elbow of Doom.

Anyway, I would really reccommend going there. They had some nice shows, too - the bird show had some very talented parrots SINGING. "I leeeeeft my heart in San Franciscooo.." it had trouble with the "t" at the end of the words, but it did a pretty good job.

I'm working on the evil AP US History project right now.. er, what was Mr. Thomson THINKING? They're taking forever. I have to finish part I today, then part II tomorrow, then part III on tuesday, thus turning the stupid thing in before ten hundred hours on Wednesday.

Then I get to work on the English project. :O I'm reading a book on geisha, how about everyone else? There's a picture in here of Gerald Ford trying to eat with chopsticks with a geisha sitting on each side of him.

Um, they look a lot prettier than him. o.O

Reading Harry Potter fanfics.. lol, I like reading the Hermione/Draco ones just because they're so BAD. Most of them can't help but do a love-hate syndrome, and I think that while Hermione is quite disgusted with Draco at times and certainly dislikes him, I doubt that she actually hates him ^^; and he's more obsessed about Harry (you can practically hear him muttering unfriendly jinxes about him). Here's a quote from one: "Hermione grinned and squeezed his hand. She surveyed the aisle to see if it was all clear and then pulled Draco to her, "Kiss your witch, Malfoy.""

No further comments.

Back to the damn history project. Question 2: Describe what [John] Winthrop envisioned when he called the Massachusetts Bay Colony settlement "a city upon a hill."

I'm a little wary about this project because I don't know how much to actually write. I mean, with Mr. Barberia, you could write as little as possible as long as you still answered the question (he called me a literal minimalist), and he'd dock off *gasp* five points. Out of maybe 150, and you were supposed to feel the pain? Er, I'd have been in more pain finishing those packets Really Very Thorougly. Also, with my English teacher (She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named), you just wrote 8uLL$h!T and she accepted it with a Very Big Smile. Eeep. [Speaking of 8uLL$h!T, anyone read today's Non Sequiter? Look for Sunday's - it's in color. HAHAHA.) However, I get the idea that these tactics don't exactly work with Thomson.. hmm. (Who is, btw, a very scary Mafia, but we caught him anyway.)

Damn it, back to work.

Posted by Kylara @ 08:06 PM PST