Talblog

Back From Joshua Tree

We went to Coachella/Joshua Tree this weekend, here are some pics [link] I had never been to a desert before. It would be great campin'

OH SHIT!

My commute may be a disaster tomorrow. What the hell am I gonna do?

Happy Birthday MATT!

I know I missed it, I think it was wednesday or something. Happy birthday sucker!

VA Tech

as most of America feels, the whole situation is just disgusting and gruesome. the more details that are released brings a new level of sadness. i'm thankful that none of my friends currently go there, but some have siblings and children who do...luckily they were not caught in the crossfire. i'm sure this will initiate another wave (and with good reason) of legislation to enforce gun and ammunition control...granted, if a crazy f*ck wants to shoot up a bunch of innocent people, i understand that he/she will certainly find a way, but i fully endorse making it as hard as possible for them to do so. oddly enough, i actually have a gun license, but recognize that gun control laws aren't around to eliminate my 2nd ammendment rights, but intent to prevent unnecessary deaths. i just wish the NRA and right wing republicans could recognize that as well.......but for the time being, we mourn.

this has been going around today:

Nerd test

If you get this joke, you are a nerd. I am going to assume that no one who reads this is as nerdy as me, so you can consider this your nerd test. If you pass, then you should feel bad, as I already do. By the way, please don't ask me to explain it, because as I do, I will feel worse and worse about myself and my whole lot in life. Though, when I got it, I laughed hard and for a while.

I need to buy a cheap desk lamp

Lamps 1,2,3,4 are my favorite cheap ikea desk lamps. Which one do you like?

Out West and Back Again

I had a quick trip out to LA this week for work, but I got to come out a little early and spend the weekend with my brother and his wife, his in-laws and new baby son. I felt so lucky to have the opportunity to come out and see my new nephew at 6 weeks old. He is so small and cute. He'd probably be 2 before I saw him on my own dime.

I was treated to a lot of great home cooking by the whole family (my sister-in-law and brother are both trained chefs, which rocks) and Dollie's dad created a "Pork-tacular" for easter with smoked ribs and ham and potato salad and other good stuff.

I also got to try a frozen treat from Pinkberry for the first time, which was really good. I've never had anything quite like it, I guess its a good thing it hasn't made it to the east coast yet.

The real reason I was out there was for a photo shoot for work - my first big out-of-town photo shoot, which went really well. We worked with this great photographer named CJ Burton from Calgary (used to live in LA so we shot there) and should have some really interesting ads.

Took the red eye back on Wednesday and I'm still trying to get back on east coast time. TGIF! I need the weekend to adjust. Anyway, hope I can come back and see you all next time.

Law School Bound

I haven’t posted for a long time and I figured it was time for a bit of an update.

I believe my last post was about how I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life. I had left wanting to be a police officer and was a bit frantic. I got some great ideas from the blogstaff. I went to the bookstore and checked out What Color is Your Parachute. It was a good starting point but still nothing shot out at me. With no answers in sight, and the knowledge that only I was the one to provide them, I just let the whole thing rest for a while. I quit worrying.

I continued on, going to College for Police Foundations and found it easy-peasy. It was annoyingly simple. Grades 90-95+. Just a bunch of silliness. However, though my grades were great in everything, I could still find my weaknesses in the program. It seemed I was doing the best in the law classes that incorporated things like the criminal code, federal statutes, provincial statutes, and case law. I wasn’t excelling as much in the actual policing related classes. The classes more prone to teach the proper procedures of arrest and the correct way to write a police report. Blah!

There were a few times when I asked a question in class and the instructor scoffed, "Thats a question for lawyer foundations!" Ha, it was really that simple, 'Lawyer foundations.' The next thing I did was go out and buy an LSAT prep book. Next, I booked an appointment with my trusted academic advisor whose sons are both practicing lawyers. I thought a chat with her would be the best way to possibly get some information about applying to law school, and more importantly, if that was what I really wanted to do.

I arrived at her office and had a great talk with her. She was the newly appointed the Associate Dean of Social Sciences, not merely an advisor anymore. She looked at my University grades sans the College 90's which don’t really count. (College and University are different in Canada) She said that I had a good shot. She told me that if I work hard year round, summer included, I would be able to get my grades polished off enough to get in. She said that coupled with the diploma I will receive on top of my degree almost makes me a shoe in.

Great!

So here I go. Just recently I've enrolled in summer courses including an LSAT prep course. I've booked my LSAT test date (Sept. 29) and I'm volunteering like crazy. Law school bound I am! Mind you, I still have to be accepted.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to let everybody in on what was happening since my "Im having a bit of a problem" post some time ago. I guess it just goes to show you. You were all right, it did just click...

Hit the jump to see Queens University Faculty of Law - LL.B Program

http://law.queensu.ca/students/llbProgram.html

Justin

Lyrics Day

I was wondering if anyone was reading this... I am in a lyrical mood today. Post some lyrics in the comments would ya?

Oh Comely, by Neutral Milk Hotel

Oh comely
I will be with you when you lose your breath
Chasing the only meaningful memory you thought you had left
With some pretty bright and bubbly terrible scene
That was doing her thing on your chest
But oh comely
It isn't as pretty as you'd like to guess
Oh comely
All of your friends are letting you blow
Bristling and ugly
Bursting with fruits falling out from the holes
Of some pretty bright and bubbly friend
You could need to say comforting things in your ear
But oh comely
There isn't such one friend that you could find here
Standing next to me
He's only my enemy
I'll crush him with everything I own

Your father made fetuses
With flesh licking ladies
While you and your mother
Were asleep in the trailer park
Thunderous sparks from the dark of the stadiums
The music and medicine you needed for comforting
So make all your fat fleshy fingers to moving
And pluck all your silly strings
And bend all your notes for me
Soft silly music is meaningful magical
The movements were beautiful
All in your ovaries
All of them milking with green fleshy flowers
While powerful pistons were sugary sweet machines
Smelling of semen all under the garden
Was all you were needing when you still believed in me

And I know they buried her body with others
Her sister and mother and 500 families
And will she remember me 50 years later
I wished I could save her in some sort of time machine
Know all your enemies
We know who are enemies are

Goldaline my dear
We will fold and freeze together
Far away from here
There is sun and spring and green forever
But now we move to feel
For ourselves inside some stranger's stomach
Place your body here
Let your skin begin to blend itself with mine

Fantastic

A Reporter from the Washington post thought it would be a great experiment to take the worlds foremost violinist and have him play in jeans and a t-shirt in the washinton subway station for change? What would happen?

On that Friday in January, those private questions would be answered in an unusually public way. No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made. His performance was arranged by The Washington Post as an experiment in context, perception and priorities -- as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?

article

Latest Music

Enigma: A Posterori
- I was expecting at least something on par with his last CD Voyager but, wow, he phoned this one in. Boring, uninspired not in the least bit interesting. There might be one track that I would
consider good but an overall forgetful effort.

Macy Gray: Big
- Ok. So Her first CD, On How It Is, was great. Second CD, The Id, way ahead of its time, groundbreaking, indulgent, lush and crazyily creative. Then something happened. Either the pot got to her or someone told her she was going to burn herself out or she just became an engine for jingles but the 3rd CD, The Trouble With Being Myself, was safe and boring and adult contemporary. With Big her supposed return to her roots of her first CD I'm just disappointed. The production values are sparce and sophmoric. There are maybe 2 or 3 tracks that stand out but otherwise another forgettable CD.

Tracey Thorn: Out Of The Woods
-Touted as her first CD in 25 years (of course forgetting the amazing work she's done with Massive Attack and Everything But The Girl), Out of the Woods sound slike literally a work that should have been produced 25 years ago. Dated, unoriginal and in no way representative of her vocal talents the CD is another disappointment. 1 or 2 standout tracks but other wise forgetable as well.

That said I'm listening to the new Hybrid: I Choose Noise (another stellar effort from them), BT: This Binary Universe (very ambiant and moody), Danny Elfman: Serenada Schizophrana (an orchestral piece commision by the American Composers Orchesta to write a concert piece that was a modern composition), Lily Allen: Alright, Still (thanks to Becky for giving this to me a while ago and me forgetting it) Outside of that everything else sucks.

Happy Easter!

a little belated, but here's the bunny cake i made this year. he's so cute! i eventually made his eyeballs blueberries. he was quite delicious. Rocco and i hosted yet another successful holiday meal at his house last night. you all should have been there. =)

Cycle.

Living in SF, you basically hear the cyclists side of every story.. what with the critical mass, the mountain bike being invented 20 miles north of here, and global warming and all. Lately I have been getting a bit pissed at the whole culture though, driving on my new route during the morning commute, seeing cyclists blatently putting themselves in harms way on busy, road-rage filled streets during rush hour.

I wish I could ride my bike to work... but I think I would probably take the street's that don't have 4 one way lanes and timed lights across the city... ya know?

Illin'

Normally when you are sick and you wake up in the morning, you gauge how sick you are... realizing that right in the morning it is probably the worst it will get. Then you decide whether to do anything that day, or just sleep it off. Today, I chose wrong. Progressively my lil' sniffle has turned into a hurricane.

I swear everyone here is staring at me saying "why isn't that asshole at home". Unfortunately, I carpooled today and was not the driver. So I have been counting the day pass in 15 minute increments, trying to breath and not sound disgusting - waiting for the day to end. Man, I shoulda chose different today.

I am normally the guy who thinks "that asshole should go home, he is sick!", how here I am. Guh.

Wednesday Morning

I should preface this with why I've lost faith in Honda. About six months ago I had my annual maintenance done and they MIS-rotated my tires -- basically when i reversed, my tires were going the correct direction. Four months later Honda fixed the problem, but only after Sears realized what they'd done. Sadly, Honda did not re-align the car, hence why my car needed to go to the spa today. Bah! …………

Well nothing is easy that's for sure. I felt like my trainwreck roommate this morning - completely disheveled. I drove my butt to Torrance, CA to finally get my tires realigned since my car (Kit) can make a right turn on it's own. On my way there I kept getting calls from work....look people, I'M NOT THERE, no buggy me.

I arrived around 9:15 and the guy is like, oh we don't align, just balance and rotate.... Whaaaaaaat? But I called the day before to check!!!!!!! So they balanced and rotated for free, then I got to go down the road for an alignment. Bah! To "improve" the situation I had thrown all my misc crap in my trunk, forgetting that I'd have to get my wheel lock OUT of my trunk, UNDER all my crap, IN the wheel well. Meanwhile the guy (frank) is trying really hard not to laugh at me.

Ugh, so I dig dig dig and my wheel lock is missing! FUCK YOU HONDA!!!!! What the hell did they do with my wheel lock????? It's always in my wheel well. Has been for five years. So at this point, I'm practically IN my trunk digging around for the thing and frank is holding up my trunk floor so I can wedge myself in further to root around, all the while I'm squealing and cursing Honda.

Frank is certain I'm mentally unstable.

Then he asks me to check my glove compartment before i drive Kit into the dealership at 80mph. WHY would it be there?!?!? "Just a hunch" he says.......well there's a reason Frank is the car guy. Mind you, my glove compartment is not much better looking than my trunk. I am a stupid girl. Frank watches as napkins, old registrations, tire gauges, manuals, expired parking passes, tampons and mascara come flying out of the little compartment. And what's left? A silver wheel lock rolling lightly from side to side. hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, PEEK-A-BOO!, it says to me.

I throw it at Frank, in appreciation.

That is NOT where it belongs. But he assures me it is a default location to always check and that maybe I should continue to keep it there. Sure, so when someone wants to steal my SWEEET tires they can just check the glove box, instead of having to earn them and dig through my trunk like I do. Uuuuuuuuh huuuuh.

So I repaid Frank's hospitality by opening my can of mini-dew at his register and accidentally spilling it on the floor. F*ck! I'm hopeless. Now I'm on my way to the alignment place for more vehicular fun. Ooooh I need gas first, KIT, make a right turn into Chevron! (She does).

Happy hump day!

Missy "stupid girl"

One day

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