1. What curse word do you use the most?
I don't know, probably damn or shit.

2. Do you own an iPod?
Yep. Classic 60 gig and an old school shuffle.

3. What person on your flist do you talk to the most?
Roxana.

5. Do you still remember the first person you kissed?
Yep.

6. Do you remember where you were on 9/11/01?
At home, having a sleepover with Tessa.

7. Would you rather take the picture or be in the picture?
Be in it -- I loooove having pictures taken of me.

8. What was the last movie you watched?
Gorsh, no idea. I haven't watched a movie in ages. Maybe Up.

11. Do you ever take medication to help you fall asleep?
Only when I'm sick -- then I take it to clear me up and it makes me drowsy as a bonus.

14. Has anyone told you a secret this week?
Nope.

15. When was the last time you had Starbucks?
Er...last weekend?

16. Can you whistle?
Yep.

17. What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
Height, hair.

18. What are you looking forward to?
Spring effing break.

19. Did you watch cartoons as a child?
Yeah.

20. Do you own any band t-shirts?
Several Beatles shirts, one Pink Floyd sweatshirt.

22. Is anyone in love with you?
Yes.

24. When was the last time you cried?
Dunno.

25. Are you on a desktop computer or a laptop?
Laptop. My desktop is turned off at the moment.

26. Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos?
Nope.

28. Would you ever date a girl/guy covered in tattoos?
Probably not.

30. When is the last time you slept on the floor?
Uuh, my birthday? Probably since then, I crash a lot.

31. How many hours of sleep do you need to function?
I can go on none. Though I'm less than awesome.

34. What did you do last night?
Kung-fu.

35. Do you use sarcasm?
Never.

37. Are you picky about spelling and grammar?
Ehh, sort of when I feel like it.

38. Have you ever been to six flags?
Couple of times.

39. Do you get along better with the same sex or the opposite sex?
Opposite.

40. Do you like mustard?
Only yellow, and yes, more than almost anything.

41. Do you sleep on your side?
Sometimes. Mostly it's on my stomach with my torso twisted to the side. And I end up on my back.

42. Do you watch the news?
Only the Daily Show and the Colbert Report.

43. How did you get one of your scars?
I have some little ones on my fingers from slicing avocados...
I don't have real scars.

44. Who was the last person to make you mad?
Hmm, I'm not sure. I think Roxana.

45. Do you like anybody?
I like tons of people, and I love a few of them too.

46. What is the last thing you purchased?
Tank tops.

47. What side of the heart do you draw first?
Right.

49. What colour is your razor?
Pink.

50. What is your blood-type?
No idea.

51. Who would you want to be tied to for 24 hours?
Roxana or Daniel.

52. What is a rumour someone has spread about you?
None that I know of.........

53. How do you feel about carrots?
Good? Hungry? In love? I don't know.

58. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator?
Want to die.

59. What’s your favourite kind of gum?
Trident, the orange one.

64. Do you know which US states don’t use Daylight Savings Time?
Arizona and Hawaii. Live next to AZ, so it makes it easier for me to remember.

66. Do you want a bright yellow ‘06 mustang?
Uh, sure? You offering?

67. What’s something you’ve always wanted?
To go to England to watch/meet Arsenal.

68. Do you have hairy LEGS?
Not right now.

69. Would you rather swim in the ocean or a lake?
Ocean.

70. Do you wear a lot of black?
Nope.

71. Describe your hair:
Brown, super straight and so long that everyone feels the need to comment, including the waitress this morning.

72. Do you have Entomophobia?
No, but I'm not a huge fan.

73. Are you an adult?
Uh, young adult.

74. Where is/are your best friend(s)?
Within CA. Except, maybe not, because one of them is on his way to WA, and I don't know where exactly, cause I can't remember when he left.

75. Do you have a tan?
I have a soccer tan.

76. Are you a television addict?
Yes. =)

77. Do you enjoy spending time with your mother?
Yeah.

79. Do you like orange juice?
Yes.

80. What sign are you?
Aquarius.

Boredom

When I say "I'm Bored" it can mean any number of different things. Sometimes it means whatever I was doing previously is not longer managing to hold my interest and I really do just want some suggestions of things to do now. Or maybe I finished a project and I'm looking for a new one to start. Sometimes it means I've been sitting too long and I need to move around - or it means I'm physically tired and looking for something calm and still to do.

For me it is very often one of these two things: either I'm lonely or I need to get out of the house. My loneliness can be for different people. Maybe I'm missing my mom and need her attention for a while. Maybe I'm missing my friends and need to make some plans to see them. Or I could need to get up, get dressed and get out of the house, even for just a trip to the store. Sometime even the simple act of getting out of my PJs and brushing my teeth will be enough for me, and then I can happily go back to whatever I was doing before.

Your job is to find out what "I'm bored" means to you, your children, and your family.

A blog of things to blog about

The Story of My Most Serious Injury
The Person I Admire Most
This Will Be My Epitaph
Why I Love My Hometown
Why I Hate My Hometown
Why I Was a Childhood Bully
How I Shop
How I Choose to Spend My Money
I Wish I Spent Less Money on This
Why I’m in My Current Job
My Ideal Job
My High School Clique
My Worst Subject in School
If I Had a Super Power
Here’s Where My Opinion Differs From the Majority
Why I Voted the Way I Did in the Last Election
Why I Don’t Vote
The Cause I Really Believe In
Why I Came To Religion
Why I Don’t Believe Anymore
Where I Find Spirituality
My First Kiss
My Worst Kiss
The First Time I Had My Heart Broken
Why I Travel
Why I Don’t Travel
My Philosophy on Raising Children
Why I Chose My University Degree
My Favourite Place on the Planet
My Greatest Sin Against the Environment
Why I Married My Spouse
My Most Hated Movie
The Book That Changed My Life
My Unexpected Mentor
I Couldn’t Live Without This Song
If I Hear This Song Again, Radio Personalities Will Suffer
I Have the Craziest Uncle Ever
Why I Believe in Luck
Why I Don’t Believe in Luck
How I Earned My Worst Karma
Where I Volunteer
Why I Don’t Volunteer
My Favourite Item of Clothing Growing Up
If This Celebrity Knocked On My Door, I’d Run Away With Them
Why I Care About Celebrities
Why I Love This Sport
Why I Hate Sports
When I’m at My Most Self-Indulgent
How To Be Selfless
My Childhood Dreams, and How I’ve Fulfilled Them
How I Learned Patience
How My Hard Work Paid Off
I’ve Never Been More Surprised in My Life
What Scares the Shit Out of Me
The Only Thing I Can Teach You

A quote that I especially liked

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself. -- Neil Gaiman

My notes about a stupid parenting book

Well, right off the bat this book makes a terrible impression. The title is "Get out of my life but first could you take me and Cheryl to the mall?" And of course, the proper grammar would be, "Get out of my life but first could you take Cheryl and me to the mall?" Now, I'm not saying I always use perfect grammar, but I'm not writing a real, published book, a book people are going to pick up off the shelves in a real bookstore. Doesn't this author have an editor?

It only gets worse from there. One of their examples of a teenager talking back:

"Cynthia, would you please take out the litter box?"
"Why are you always picking on me?"

The author translates the imaginary Cynthia's words into, "No, I'd raher not take out the litter box. I would rather get in a fight with you."

I don't believe, as a teenager, that that's really what Cynthia is saying. I think she's just saying that she's busy, and doesn't feel like dropping it to take out the litter box.

Another quote: "The first step is to accept a child's right to say what he or she has to say, no matter how stupid or unreasonable. You don't have to listen to all of it, you can leave whenever you want, but you respect their right to say it."

My first problem with this is the assumption that whatever the teenager has to say is going to be stupid or unreasonable, when I know for a fact that teenagers can have intelligent, reasonable things to say and usually do. Sometimes they can be unreasonable - just like adults.

My second problem is that thought that the parent can just walk away in the middle of their child speaking. While of course, this is true, it's certainly not going to endear yourself to your child and make your relationship any better. It's saying that you don't care about them enough, or value their thoughts and opinions enough to even bother listening to them. Also, if you walk away, it gives them the right to walk away when they feel like it. Why should they have to listen to you when you're being stupid and unreasonable?

Just for the record, I'm about four pages in and I could have complained about WAAAAAY way more than just these couple of things. But I'm choosing to leave it at that for the moment, so I can get back to reading it.

I think you have a problem with your brain being missing

Well, actually, the fair went really really poorly. But I don't really want to talk about that right now. I would rather talk about the fact that I cleaned my room yesterday. Top to bottom (well, mostly). All the clutter got taken care of, I moved the big orange chair into the backyard, moved my TV so I don't have to kill myself to watch it, washed my window sills, changed my sheets, made my bed, moved a couple of my chests around, put away all my shoes and bags and hung up all my clean clothing. And vacuumed. The plans looks beautiful. I still haven't put the doors on my closet, but soon, soon I will. And once I do that the room will look even better.

Plus I've been watching Firefly. Good times are had.

The Two Ends of the Spectrum

Davin's been bugging me for a while about watching Dexter - the serial killer who works for the cops show. I haven't bothered, mostly because I'm lazy, partly because it sounds kind of gross. Finally though, just a few days ago, I caved in and watched the first episode.

Within two nights I'd watched four. It's so good. Yes, a little gross, but it's stylized enough that I can watch it without making me feel too squeamish. And I love Micheal C. Hall. A lot. He plays the gay brother in Six Feet Under (bizarrely the two shows he's famous for are both about dead people. Type cast?)

Now I haven't watched it for a few days and I'm itching to start watching it again.

And Roxana has been harassing me to watch Arrested Development ever since she was in Paris and watched all of season three. Matthew and Jocelyn have told me several times that I would really like it and I should watch it, but I haven't because the little bits and pieces I've watched I haven't really liked that much. They were amusing but made me uncomfortable in a bad way.

But finally I started watching it, a couple of nights ago. And yes indeed, it is really amusing. Jason Bateman has the best expressions and Michael Cera is so adorably awkward and sort of sad. I'm enjoying it, I must admit.

My dad is finally, finally, FINALLY reading the 7th Harry Potter book. Our TV has been broken for a while so instead of watching soccer at night (thankfully the TV held out until after the European Championship and English Premier League finished) my father has been reading the Harry Potter books. So he's finally caught up and managed to make it to the seventh book. He's just got past the wedding I think.

I'm off to the Orange County Fair. Hope it goes well!

Rosie