Careless Verbosities

aww. i remember that song. it's my fifteen song.

100 Years by Five for Fighting

"Every day's a new day... 15 there's still time for you Time to buy and time to choose Hey 15, there's never a wish better than this When you only got 100 years to live" 2004 was about thinking and reflecting - but isn't every year?

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Slipping
I hate to acknowledge this, but soon I'll have to be removing that THANK GOD IT'S SUMMER!!! group from facebook becaues it will no longer be summer! It's a scary scary thought despite me already excitedly making preparations for school.

And did anyone else notice the sneaky tacking on of an extra week? We never start the day after labor day!

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Must Be Dreaming
Pay close attention
Don't listen to me from now
George'll be flying this one
And it's anyone's guess how he does
This is the right turn, wrong universe
Taking me in full bloom
Fireball, careful with that
There, see what you made me do

I must be dreaming, or
We're onto something
I must be dreaming, for
I don't fall in love lawlessly
I must be dreaming, or
Pinch me to waking
So undeniably yours
As long as I'm losing it so completely

Incendiary glance
Be, come, and collide in me
<zoom in> <enhance> <hold>
While I go helplessly sky high
Magic eye sugar rushing don't

I must be dreaming, or
We're onto something
Hey just watcha make me for
I don't fall in love lawlessly
I must be dreaming, or
Pinch me to waking
So undeniably yours
As long as I'm losing it so completely

Euphoria
I can't take any more of yah
I'm losing it
Euphoria
I can't take any more of yah
I'm losing it

I must be dreaming, or
We're onto something
Hey just watcha make me for
I don't fall in love lawlessly
I must be dreaming, or
Pinch me to waking
So undeniably yours
As long as I'm losing
I'm losing it

(I must be dreaming)
I’m losing it
(I must be dreaming)
I must be dreaming
(I must be dreaming)
I must be dreaming

I must be dreaming

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Creativity Blossoms
Wow. First week of July is coming to a close almost already. Summer is zipping by a little quickly for my taste. I need to record it so I know what i did every single moment. Such a memory packrat. I'm always afraid of wasting my life and my time. Every year I say I'll make this the best summer of my life and pack it chock full of activities. This time I'll take a little time to relax, smell the roses, and figure out exactly what it is I should get done before College stress and frenzy starts this year and next summer. There are many yet unfulfilled goals I've had in the back of my mind. One was reached today.

I finally made the mobile out of twine, spam CDs, and a dilapidated coat hanger. It's a delight if a little stiff. It wasn't very difficult and time consuming. I like I like.

photos later. I got caught up in other stuff.

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mental headbobbing to good music
Got back into knitting recently and knit myself off a scarf matching the purple hat I knit last winter. It's sooo fuzzy.

Went to see the fireworks yesterday. Downtown. Dragged along Marcell. Didn't find the folks I was planning on finding. The fireworks apparently start at 9:30 and end at 10:00. I didn't know that so we arrived off the train at Roosevelt at 9:50ish and caught the last bit of the fireworks. It was amazing anyways though. Then we just wandered around Downtown Chicago towards the Randolph train station. Joined a ring around this silver (gold?) coloured pimp who was demanding money before performing. He had a little posse of minion kids around him trying to encourage the crowd good naturedly. We left and went to Walgreens to grab food. Yum yum. Cookies and chocolate and chips. Then we grabbed the train.

The train was very crowded so a group of half tipsy half drunk teens (our age) were crowded around us on the top. The one we ended up talking to the most was Andrea (I think?), Henry's old GF. They were fun if a little insane. I think my nose was immune to the scent of alcohol by then. Downtown stank of it. We shared our cookies. They were from Flossmore and had a heck of a long train ride to get back home! Josh (I think) said that it took 45 min to an hour. I mean, jesus!

One also had an empty beer bottle in her bag that the checkers back in the station had obviously missed. LOL. Earlier on the train some guy had asked if there was more liquer and everyone said that they'd thrown it out because there were inspectors saying no glass bottles no alcohol. One of the girls was like, what's the point to having it now? I took it to mean they were already drunk and had had a lot and were going home to more in an hour anyways. Marcell and I were laughing at their antics.

~blank~

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la di da.
cheers for clean rooms, easy classes, renewed hobbies, and chocolate.

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spring cleaning
Yay. My room is cleaner and more organized now. Technically, I'm not satisfied yet. It could still do with some major organization. I also found a pair of chopsticks I've been looking for for the past year. It was one of those "OMG IT WAS RIGHT THERE I"VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS FOR SO LONG GAAAAAAHRRHRHR!" moments.

I also attempted to affix that cpr face to the door. So far it's fallen off three times. Until I get my hands on some better tape, I'm leaving it on the ground where I kicked it. I don't fancy having a rubber face fall on the ground in the middle of the night of its own accord.

~hopeful~

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Burble
There's strange singing filtering in through the open windows of this fine, if somewhat chill, summer day. An open air concert near the Co-op, perhaps? It's happened before...but rarely this loudly. Isn't there some code about too much noise near this near the hospital and so many residential buildings? I wouldn't mind normally but I don't like his singing. Too many "Whoa-oooh-oh"s and too little voice talent.

Finished this year's summer reading book already--decent testimony to it's appeal and quality. I'm afraid I was half asleep while reading parts of it, so perhaps I'll honor it with a reread...later...

rar. Angel is nowhere to be found (by phone, at anyrate). She is to run with me. ¿Dónde estás, amiga? Quiero correr ahora--hoy, por lo menos.

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Chinese, first day
So that class is just somewhat insanely easy. I feel like a cheater, though, since I've already used the book we're using and gone up to lesson 15 (we're currently on lesson 1 in class). I was slightly impressed by the vocabulary my classmates knew, but they're pronounciation was...wince worthy at times. My point of view has switched completely. Before I was petrified that everyone would be very advanced and I would be at the bottem of the class. Now I'm trying not to feel patronizing towards them and think "aww, they can understand Chinese!"

I'm not the youngest either. There are two other high school seniors in my class. Oh.. and there are 7 kids including me in the class. A law professor, a korean graduate student, 2 high school seniors, a college junior/senior(?), and a new graduate. 2 others have asian faces... although i'm not sure what the other nationality is. I'm guessing korean.

eeks. I'm still a bit high-strung but it wasn't that bad. For all my tenseness and worry, Lilla was correct, it was almost boring. However, that's not saying I've got nothing to learn...I need to get more comfortable and there's still vocab I haven't mastered.

Wheee, Chinese here i go!

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choosing a name
Oh, what a dilemma. This is my first chance to actually start using my given Chinese name (aka my middle name) as my name...and it's pretty, I do like it. Problem one: I haven't really learned how to write it so that could be embarassing. Problem two: I'm not used to it so I might not really respond to it. Problem three: My classmates may not be able to pronounce it (haha).

Apparently my mom doesn't care because she wasn't actually the bestower of the name, and my grandmother doesn't even really like it because it doesn't quite make sense in Chinese. In other words, I shouldn't feel guilty for ignoring it.

But I've become attached to the name. It's so unusual that it's the perfect username. It's also fun when people take one look at it and blanch. And, once again, it is my middle name.

But, a conclusion seems to have been reached. My mom suggested a similar but more sensible name (that i may end up changing my middle name to...we'll see). Shiyin. Poem music, essentially, or the sound of a poem (ish). It sounds just as pretty in Chinese although I worry about american butchering. Now...if I can quickly (ie in the next hour) memorize that, I'm set.

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WotD
transmogrify trans-MOG-ruh-fy, transitive verb:
To change into a different shape or to transform, often with bizarre or humorous effect.

I didn't realize that was a real word. I suppose the lesson learned here is that Calvin does not make up words and everything he says is legit--despite the fact he's a 8 year old kid or something. He's failing all his classes yet has got an impressive SAT worthy vocabulary. What fun.

The strip in question starts with Calvin asking Hobbes, "Hobbes, want to see my Transmogrifier?"

even as a kid I recognized the "trans" part, but the -mogrifier was a mystery to me. I assumed the word was a well made up but pseudo word all the same.

The "Transmogrifier" turns out to be an upended cardboard box large enough for Calvin to stand within (which really isn't saying much). It's got 'TRaNsMOGRiFiER" written on one side and a dial with the choices eel, baboon, bug, and dinosaur (and invisibly, tiger?) on an adjacent panel.

Needless to say, Calvin is transmogrified into a miniature tiger (mini-Hobbes!).

~amused~

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funny crabs
My mom bought 8 live blue crabs from chinatown last night for our dinner and, in preparation for steaming them, dumped them in the sink. The crabs promptly took a hold of one another and refused to let go. There ensued a mini battle between the desperately clutching crabs and my mom and me. We eventually got all the crabs into the steamer, but later discovered when we were eating them that many had lost their pincers. My mom picked a crab that had 5 attached to it (3 were not his own). There were at least 2 that actually had no legs at all. It was pretty insane and funny. My mom was like, "They're forming a network!"

~sleepy~

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Awww, ickle puppies!

You Are a Golden Retriever Puppy

Tolerant, fun-loving, and patient. You are eager to please - and attached to your frisbee.

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Back with vengeance

You Are Jean Grey

Although your fate is often unknown, you always seem to survive (even after death). Your mind is your greatest weapon, literally! Powers: telepathy and telekinesis, the ability to project thoughts into the mind of others, communication with animals

The movie was quite awful. The new X-Men movies have never endeared me, but this one is the worst yet. For some reason, perhaps because I'm a comic book purist, I've never truly liked any of the actors or their characters. They are all similar to the character they play, but all of them are somewhat...off. (I like Magneto and that's probably it. He's Ian McClellan after all, even if he's not really like the comic's Magneto.) There's something about Wolverine that turns me off. I took an instant dislike towards him, which makes the movie all the more agonizing when he and Jean become the central characters.

Not all of my dislike for this movie stems from my own personal biases, though. I'm not a great judge on acting, so I'll refrain from commenting on that aspect. However, I can say with conviction that the script writer sucked. There were lines that just made me stare in shock, wondering how it managed to get by the directors! Maybe it was because of lousy acting, but whatever it was, the lines came out sounding either really cliché or just plain wrong. I found myself wincing it was so bad. One of these moments are when Logan and Beast have a short exchange.

(loosely rendered)
Logan: I thought you were a diplomat.
Beast: I am, but there comes a time when one needs to...*hits several guys in short succession with satisfying grunting noises* Oh, you get what I mean!

There is also the problem that the whole plot seemed secondary to the need to lead up to the next movie, whatever that'll end up being. The "big climactic end" was totally a cliffhanger. All those disappearing people will definitely play a part in the next film. The two friggin cliffhangers at the end clearly point to another film being made. And this movie? The one we're all here to see? They just leave everything undeveloped and hanging. I mean, nothing exciting happens regarding the kid. Angel just kinda... fades into the background. We see Juggernaut about.. two times in total, I think, and leave him passed out unconscious on the ground. The whole ending was a stupid let down...not that there was that much tension building up anyways. There were some clever bits, such as the part with the replicating guy, but Magneto's whole "WE SHALL DESTROY HUMAN KIND" seems a bit old, haven't we heard that before? It was stupidly simple and there really were no plot embellishments at all.

I must admit, though, that I knew the part of the comic plot line that related to this movie, so the whole phoenix "twist" was not a surprise to me. Perhaps this would have counted as a plot embellishment? I dunno. There was too much left unexplained and so much that's unrealistic. I mean... Magneto could have so easily won. There's no way that a handful of X-Men could have actually successfully stood up to thousands of mutants unless Magneto was just an arrogant idiot. He really cannot be that stupid to have gotten as far as he did, can he?

And really... I don't think my purism biases are the source of all this dislike. HP&GOF was certainly different from the book. I mean, some of the characters weren't even introduced (like Winky). However, I still enjoyed that movie spectacularly while watching it and one of my complaints was that they had to cut stuff out (like the quidditch world cup).

In conclusion: I cannot prevent you from seeing the movie. I myself would have gone even if I had read such a review as this before hand. It's curiosity and the "must watch movie" hype, and I understand that. But perhaps some of you will wait until the movie is out of DVD and save yourselves a few dollars by watching it that way. Yes, I truly believe it is that bad. But, then again, watching it on the bigscreen does give it a little more bang for its buck. The choice is yours, dear reader, I am merely providing you with the materials to make a well informed choice.

~adieu.

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Disney princes
Wow. Uh... who's he again? I never owned this one and watched it all of maybe.. one time? I suppose this calls for a rewatching if I'm to identify "my perfect guy" or whatever. Excuse my cynicism, it's late.

You scored as Prince Phillip. You want a guy who'll fight a dragon for you, and who'll fall in love with your gentleness as well as your beautiful singing voice! Prince Phillip 75% The Beast 75% Aladdin 69% John Smith 69% Prince Eric 50% Prince Charming 38% Who's your Disney Guy? created with QuizFarm.com

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I seem to have skipped a few months here..
Hah. So I've returned. I don't see what's so special about an online journal. The novelty before was that I could type out my entries instead of having to write them out by hand (a tedious process if there ever was one. My handwriting sucks). Now that I have my own private typed journal (I love it so much, yes I do!), I have been letting this page fall into disrepair and all that.

I mean, I was saddened last time I resumed because there was a big chunk of my life that was missing, but that's not true anymore. Is this site really that fun? I suppose so. But I need to give it a purpose. Perhaps a movie review blog? Or just a critique of the multifarious aspects of my life? I suppose with summer arriving soon, it could serve the purpose of keeping others up to date with my life since I won't be seeing my friends everyday.

At anyrate, this place must be very private now. Previous readers have surely given up hope of seeing life from this page and must have abandoned it long ago. I'm sure some will trickle back as a chance encounter informs them of the new stirrings. We shall see. If you come here, be sure to leave me a greeting so I can welcome you back and congratulate you on your persistence. I suppose I should update those sidebar things now...

~apathetic~

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