60

*HAPPY DANCE*

59

Coming to:



Will bring:



Not to mention:

58

I took a much needed nap earlier. After that all-nighter with A, it became more and more of a necessity. I briefly talked to TN as they were out the door for breakfast. Princess woke up and jumped on her daddy's lap, so I got to say "Hi" to her. I can't wait for the DC excursion tomorrow to buy Tinted Windows tickets.

I don't know why, but I'm becoming more and more anxious to get back to school. I'm ready to start reading my $100 textbooks. I'm ready for my projects. I'm sitting in my reading chair, and Maxx is sitting next to me in his chair. He's barking at my slippers right now, because he's being tortured. He has the tendency to chew slippers, and now that he's stuck in a chair he can't get them. Last night's convo with bitchface was more annoying that it was awkward. She kept asking me questions about Isaac, my current relationship with him, etc. For one thing it's none of her damn business. Secondly, how does it feel to finally find him inaccessible due to his gf?! I kept rubbing it in her face how much cooler Katie is.

How the tables have turned, buahahahaha

Danielle

wierd question, do you still talk to isaac ?
11:18pmGiselle

I haven't really seen him these days
11:19pmDanielle

ok

its his birthday today right
11:19pmGiselle

I think so...

wow
11:19pmDanielle

i duunno i am coming home for the month and i think im gonna send him an email, it seems really weird to come home an not tell him

expecially since he still house sits from my parents haha

i dont know his girlfriend or anything though i dont want to upset her

u think that i should?
11:21pmGiselle

its your call

his girlfriend is really cool
11:22pmDanielle

ug it weird

haha
11:23pmDanielle

its weird*

i really don't know what im supposed to do
11:25pmGiselle

it's hard to say

Jeebus help me!

ATTACK OF THE BITCHFACE: THE REVENGE!

Part two of this post (not featuring photos)

I went back to school shopping with my dad today. It was a spontaneous thing; he went to pick up his meds at Walmart, and I saw all the back to school stuff. I walked over and saw things that I needed. I was originally going to check out the make up since I'm fresh out of foundation, but I've gotten so lazy these days to put on make up that I didn't bother. I got two binders; one with this cool design. I got it for inspiration. The design aspect came to me in a dream for an idea. It combines graphic design and religion. Now I can make my vision come to life. The other binder I got is recycled material, as well as my spiral notebooks. I've very particular, so I had to double check if it was college ruled. I can't do wide ruled paper. I got a planner that would inspire my graphic design part of me, as well as a desk calender. I feel like I have everything else I would need in my room; pens, filler paper, highlighters, etc.

I feel like today was the day to start freaking out over school related matters. I finally figured out the reason why I still owe $27 for tuition payments. I talked to Juhi, and she told me that she doesn't know what to do about tuition. She told me that Peabody tries so hard to give their students any left over, and their tuition is up there with MICA. She told me that she's going to have to take a bunch of art history classes. She was considering MICA since it'll just be right there, but I warned her about the people and the price. I told her that Towson is just 20 minutes away from where she'll be. She and Jake will be getting an apartment in Balto City, since she still doesn't have a car. Juhi began freaking out about classes, because she hasn't registered yet. I asked her if she received an appointment date, and she told me "no." She told me that she received an orientation date; it's a week long. I told her that's where she'll be registering. Towson had the same process, only ours wasn't a week long...if you were lucky. I told her that the classes she'll need will be cheaper at Towson, and they're good. Plus I could help her out. I took the art history classes at MC, but I have to retake them since they're not the same curriculum. None the less, we can hang out after class. I swear Baltimore is the new Rockville.

57

I officially have plans for the next two months. First:



Second:



Then it's back to:



After that, it'll be the last day of:



Later a bunch of art geeks and I will be heading here:



We will also be going here:



While there, we will see:



And visiting:



Doing a little:



And if there's time, we'll be going here:



We have to bring David Meneses back to his compound with his people.

YAY FOR MINI ROAD TRIPS! I can't wait!

56

Work was craziness as always. John was in the store tonight, so a ton of his friends stopped by. The good thing about John's friends is that they tip. There was a point in the day where we had to sing five consecutive times in a row. Let's backtrack a tad...

Went to church. Mom told me about the sales that she saw at Arundel Mills, and wanted to go back after church. We went to lunch, and then hit up Old Navy. Since today/tomorrow will be Maxx's one year anniversary since I've brought him home, I made sure to look at the pets section. Today would've been the day that we met Maxx at Tommy's house. Tomorrow will be the day that I officially brought him home. Over this year, I've learned that he is very reluctant to go outside when it's raining, even if he needs the bathroom. I found a raincoat for him to wear lol! I also got him two shirts; one stripped green and the other is blue with an argyle design. I also found a small polar bear toy. He did a test run wearing the rain coat, because it looked like it was about to storm again. He looked absolutely adorable in it! It even has a little hood to cover his head. After Old Navy, we went to Tommy's house. My dad had to talk to his mom about California, and if there's any way they could find cheap airfare and a rental van. Tommy showed me a bunch of videos from College Humor podcasts and youtube. If we're ever in California and near a Six Flags, we found a few new roller coasters to hit up. He showed me the videos he was texting me about the other night. Basically it's about the anger issues of this rich white boy, and how he reacts. I feel like there's something more than anger management. He's very destructive, he tried to hit his dad with a baseball bat. Our parents settled the California deal; my dad will be leaving the Monday after we come back from NYC. His flight's at 6:47 am, and that means we have to be at the airport by 3:00 am. Yay.

Back to work. John and I discussed my future schedule. Just about everyone's leaving for college, and he's running around trying to fill in extra dates. I told him that I'm going to extend my work stay until September 18, because I really do need the extra money. Basically I'm taking over Megan's shifts, since she's going to College Park and will have to stay on campus. I know the first week of September is going to be HELL. I'll be working four days in a row. I should really check my schedule again, just so I know it won't conflict with my work schedule. I know I'm going to be extremely busy the first two to three weeks, but at least my final paychecks will look good.

After work I drove up to Waffle House to meet up with Dani, Daniela, Jess, Jenny, and Mike. It was almost like your cliche scene in a TV show, friends sitting around a bar, bitching about work. Only we were sitting around in a diner. Jess told us about how David is considering doing stand up comedy. She said that she thinks he would be good. I said, "Yeah. All the audience has to to is look at his face, and they'll start laughing!" Everyone burst out laughing, especially Jess. She said that she told him the very same thing when they had this conversation. HAHAHAHA! Great minds...We talked about the zoo trip/DC excursion picnic that Jose arranged for Tuesday, but the majority of us may not be attending. I said that I need to save my money for NYC. I almost forgot about Tinted Windows, as well. Daniela joked, thanking me for the invitation. Dani said, "whatever bitch. At least it's not like a phone call at 3 in the morning from Jessica asking, 'hey, can you take me and Daniela to the bus station so we can go to New York, and you're not invited.' And also, 'can you take me to the metro?'" I told her not to feel back, because I got the same call and was pissed about it. Daniela apologized and said that she didn't think that anyone was up for a spontaneous trip to NYC. Um, I am! Only when I have money, and we're going at a decent hour. Mike told us this really great story about his work. We all took turns telling short tales about stupid customers who ask stupid questions. He works at EB Games, which is also my old work. He said that this customer asked him if they sold games, and he told them that the store only sells cases. Empty game cases. The customer believed him. Mike told the customer that if they were to go to the shelves and open a case, it would be empty. The deal is that we only have the cases out for display, while all the games $20 and under are in baggies behind the register. Anything more than that is behind the register locked up. The customer asked why anyone would spend thousands of dollars on empty cases. Mike said, "Collectors items. Basically that's all they are."

55

Tonight was literally girls night at work. I got to work just as it began to storm. Poor Caitlin and Amy got caught in the rain trying to lock up the patio furniture. Sandra and I were watching them from behind the counter, while we helped customers. She asked me if Caitlin knew that there is a jacket that she could wear. I told her that it wouldn't have done any good, since Amy was stuck with her. They were having a hard time with the lock for the patio furniture, and Nathalie didn't realize that they were still outside. She told them not to worry about it, and come back in right away. It was so bad that it even began to rain in the store; the door was still open. When then girls came back inside, they were drenched. All of us stood around and laughed at them.

I have to say that work was actually fun for the most part. There was a brief moment of frustration when this large group came him. We stood around for almost 10 minutes, while they held up the line having their own conversation. We kept saying over and over that we can help the next person who's ready, but they continued having their own convo. Finally one of their sons comes up and orders. We explain that we are out of cake batter (which tastes like ass), but we have the sinless cake batter. We do the whole spiel over how the medium's just a penny more, and the kid decides that he wants it. When I say kid, he's a teenager, fully aware of his surroundings and able to make his own decisions. His parents start arguing about the size, and finally the kid tells us his order. We didn't think that we would have enough sinless cake batter to make the medium cup, so we said that we could do half of that and half vanilla. We were mistaken, and we told him that we could go ahead and do it. His parents literally start arguing again about how the ice cream should be made amongst themselves. It's really not that serious. His parents' banter was about how we could split the medium ball of sinless and mix half vanilla, so other person could have at least half VS how it's stupid when we could just take the medium ball and make whatever the hell this guy wants. I decided not to get in to it, and help the next customer. I didn't know these people were with the pain in the ass family, and I do the spiel about the penny more. The mother and daughter yelled, "NO! NO!" when asked if they would like the medium upgrade. For one thing, I'm not that deaf, and secondly it was just a question. I start complaining to my other coworkers about these people, as well as Sandra who had to deal with the first family. After they finally moved on, there was another situation involving yet again, cake batter ice cream. We originally didn't have any ready, so this woman orders something else. As she's paying at the register, Amy announces that we now have cake batter available, and this woman throws a shit fit. Caitlin is trying to tell her that we could give her a lid (she got a cookie doughnt you want some), and she kept saying "no". This other group behind her did the same thing. The line had died out, and that first pain in the ass group was still there. I didn't really give a damn, and began to talk about them while they stood in front of us. Claire came out to the front, and asked what was going on. All of us stood there complaining about how people need to chill when we run out of things. We didn't have the cake batter ice cream while those other people were ordering, like Claire said, "Oh well, that's life! What more do you want us to do?!" We start talking about the pain in the ass group, especially the father. He was the one who initiated the first argument about the ice cream with his wife. Sandra was taking his order, and she kept asking him if he wanted any mix ins. He was giving us shit, saying that he doesn't know what we have or what we put in the ice cream. All of us stopped and looked at him dumbfounded. Sandra flailed her arms in front of her, saying that all the stuff you see right there is what we put. He kept looking at the mix in jars, and said, "I don't know, I don't understand why you keept asking me this. I don't know what you guys put in here, I don't know what you want me to put..."*HEAD->DESK* I wanted to slap him at that point. How big of an idiot can you be if you can't open your fucking eyes and read the labels!? Is it THAT hard?!

When things quieted down and we finished all necessary work, we stood in the back making top 10 lists. We did a top 10 pop songs of the '90s, you know Hanson was in that list. Another was top '90s trends, then s top 2000s list of whatever. We started talking about shows and some how the conversation lead to Degrassi. It turns out that almost all of the girls at work love Degrassi. We all agreed that we can't really get in to the new seasons, because of the new characters. They completely killed the show for us. One thing's for sure is that none of us can wait until that Degrassi movie comes out. At least it'll bring back the original people. Another humorous thing about Degrassi is that the story lines are pretty much reruns. Mia complaining that she's tired of being a mommy, and wants to be a normally high school student. Um, you should've thought twice before having sex, stupid! That Indian girl having sex in a van down by the river (Matt Foley, anyone) and regretting it. The Asian girl trying so hard to be popular, that she's a compulsive liar. Oh, how Liberty's brother looks NOTHING like her. We did the whole line of who got knocked up, who got STDs, and who got royally screwed over in the show. We all think that all the girls did get knocked up in real life, but got abortions. Another funny thing we discussed is how Jimmy's a rapper now. He goes by the name of Drake, and his song is on the radio. All of us laughed about how he'll always be Jimmy Brooks in Degrassi, in the wheelchair after Rick shot him. Sandra cracks me up. She said that if she ever saw him, she would say, "Jimmy Brooks! You're supposed to be in a wheelchair! What are you doing up there dancing, and all of a sudden you have a 'fro?! You're Canadian! You're not hard!" Later in the night all of us broke in to song when Blink 182 came on the radio. Overall it was a good night.

Just in case you're wondering about "Drake" aka Jimmy Brooks. ROFLMAO!!!1

54

Just watched "How to Be". It reassured my 11 year old self that I was right, everyone needs help. Even your therapist. Blaming mommy and daddy can only get you so far. It's cliche, think of something original. Think of something else, like an irrational fear. Taking an example from the movie, one character used to be a happy, vibrant child, until one day he began to worry about heart attacks. He spent the majority of his life in recluse, and had some form of agoraphobia. One believed that he could change his personality and attitude by changing his clothes. He didn't allow himself to feel emotion. The main character had to grow up with insufferable parents, who dealt with repressed issues of their own childhoods, which resulted in a broken family. The main character makes a failed attempt to make up for a lack of a childhood, but only drifts further apart from his parents after his mother admits that she feels personally responsible for giving birth to "a worthless son." The therapist dealt with an abusive mother who thought he couldn't do anything right. In turn he tries to tell people that any problems they encounter are not their fault, but that of the worlds. Like the tag line says: "Sometimes we all need a little help."

nothing better to do

I took Maxx to Petsmart and spent a good $30. I went to work before that to pick up my check, and reviewed the schedule. Diana was there, and she asked me if I had told John when I plan on ending my work for the summer. I told her my plans for working in to September, so I can have some extra money for school. She was thrilled to hear about that, and she told me that John will more or less give me extra hours. I have to make sure I remember to bring my letter tomorrow when I go to work. I also have to review my class schedule.

At Petsmart, Maxx got a ton of attention. The minute we walked through the door, this mother and her two children asked if they could pet him. I didn't make it even a whole foot until another lady wanted to pet him. This woman and her special needs daughter spent a good 10 minutes playing with Maxx. I think they're from the Humane Society or something, because the mom mentioned something about checking the cats, and they were cleaning their cages. Her daughter was so happy to be playing with Maxx, and Maxx was clearly having the time of his life. It was so cute to watch the two of them playing. The same mother and two children wanted to play again. This guy hanging around waiting for his dog to finish gettinga hair cut played with Maxx. He told me he was hiding in the aisles, because his poodle was getting groomed. He was afraid that his dog would spot him, start to fidgit, and mess up the groomer. I saw the poodle, it was the standard sized breed. It was so cute. I also saw a black lab retriever going in for a hair cut. The poor thing was so frightened, that it tried to squat and hold its weight down. Unfortunately it failed, and was being dragged to the back shaking. Its owner tried to lift it up, but failed. I couldn't help but laugh, because Maxx is the same way. The one thing I heard the entire time we were there was that Maxx is the sweetest dog they've ever seen. While looking at the carriers, I saw a dog stroller. I have to remember to tell my mom. I told my dad, and he inquired as to how much it is. It's $75, but I have coupons! So it'll only be $60. We're thinking about getting him that when we go to NYC next month, otherwise it'll be a pet hotel for him. My only concern is the places we're going. The city won't be bad, but we have this joke about how he gets "flat tires" after walking for how long. Plus it'll be really crowded. When we go visit Father Jack, I doubt they'll let him in. When we visit my family, I don't think they'll let him in. There's also the issue of finding a pet friend hotel. We're planning on staying in the Springhill Suites like we always do, but I don't think they allow pets. I just talked to Tommy right now, and he said that an overnight stay for Maxx would be about $35 or less. That's not too bad, so I think it would be best. I just saw the amenities they offer, and it's a nice room. They have a tv, they get blankets, cots so they don't sleep on the floor, regular meals, snacks, play time. The only issue with this boy is that he's picky about his food. I'm going to have to make chicken ahead of time, and instruct them to shred it for him. I'm sure he'll eat his dry food when he hears the other dogs barking.

So for dinner I had vegetarian corn. Lots of vegetarian corn. HAHAHAHA! It was really good.

53

Last night's dream was so much better. It was filled with hot guys. My dreams tend to go in series; the first one involved me, Robert Pattinson, and one of my guy cousins. I think we were about to play a card game, and Robert Pattinson and I were a couple very much infatuated with each other. Awesome. Part two involved me in a shopping mall somewhere, and there was a march for Invisible Children going on. For some reason, Blake from TOMS shoes was in it, and we struck a huge conversation about Invisible Children. We met up again later in the day, and after that it segued in to part three. I can't remember what happened in the last part, but I do remember it was bland. I guess that would explain why I don't remember it.

I've come to the realization that classes start in a month. I have one month to live it up while I can, and I see NYC being my last hurrah. My cousins and I were supposed to plan an us only beach day trip, but I don't know if I can see that happening. I began thinking of my class schedule, and I'm determined to make it to the Invisible Children meetings this semester. I joined the club last semester, but I never made it to a single meeting. I think my Thursday class ends 15 minutes before the meeting starts, so that will give me 15 minutes to walk from the CFA to the Psych building. Speaking of NYC, I can already see the meet up with A not happening. I know my family is going to hold us hostage per say, and our outing to the city will be a quick stop. Random note: Maxx is literally in my face whining. It's sort of freaking me out as I burst in to laughter right in front of him. Sigh, I guess that's a cue to get up and go pick up my check, and bring him along while I'm at it.

52

I just had the worst nightmare. I was in Virginia Beach with my parents, and we had Maxx and Buddy (Tommy's dog) with us. For some reason it was the end of the world, so everyone in the vicinity was scrambling to create a makeshift bomb shelter. I hid the dogs in a good spot, and ran to find my own hiding place. When I come back to check, the dogs are gone. I made friends with a Filipino actor that I've never ever seen in my life, who most likely doesn't exist, and his wife. I tell them to call me if they see the dogs. We try to exchange numbers, but the phones began to screw up. It was weird, I think I had a Blackberry in my nightmare. The only hiding places were left were inside of the circular clothing racks in department stores. I find a place and begin to hide. The sky starts rumbling, and then I decided that I should go look for the dogs. I see a black Chevy Monte Carlo with a modified engine (the car looked like a piece of shit) begin to pull out of the area and I spot Maxx inside. I start yelling at the car to stop as it came to a red light, but it kept speeding. I had to chase the car for blocks until it reached a neighborhood. I spot the house it pulled in to, and the car drives past me again. I begin to yell at it, but I walk towards the house. The people standing around were your typical trailer trash rednecks, and they ask what happened to me. I tell them I just chased after that car, and it was a nice car. I notice that they had a bunch of dogs already, and smooth dachshund on a lawn chair. I cut to the chase and ask them if someone had brought over a long hair dachshund wearing a red bandanna. I tell them that's my dog, and they begin to put up a fight. I told them that someone let the dogs loose, and I'm just trying to get him back so I can end this nightmare. A daughter who appeared to be older than me tells me that she lost a Pomeranian, and never got it back. I tell her that's unfortunate, but that's my freakin' dog inside. I start to call Maxx, and he rolls over for a belly rub as always. I pick him up, and start babying him so I can start running with him in my arms. For some reason David Meneses was there, and he starts to defend me by saying that rightfully I deserve to take this dog home. Then he starts plotting, but saying that I could give him a ride back home while I was still holding Maxx. The rednecks started rambling, and the daughter tells him, "It doesn't matter, she's not leaving here with that dog no matter what." Someone said something about me being able to come back next week to pick him up, and I yell that I'm not coming back for anything, because I'm taking Maxx home. David and I begin to run, and we made it back to the department store. I find that my original hiding place was taken up by an elderly woman, so I let her have it. I find another one within my parents' range, and I hold Maxx for dear life as we hide. After that I woke up. Crazy stuff!

51

Tommy and I had a bit of a late start this morning. I woke up a little later than I expected, and I text him to tell him that if I don't answer the door right away, I'm in the shower. He didn't leave his house until 9:50 am. He told me that his dog's stomach started rollin' and he was cleaning out his colon, diarrhea, diarrhea.
LMAO...I remember a conversation on facebook involving many renditions of the diarrhea song.
He got to my house at 10 something, and we started our day with Waffle House. It was around noon that we had finished up there, and began to drive south. Thinking of things to do, I mentioned how I had an urge to go to Towson, and possibly White Marsh. The original plan was to do that, until Tommy mentioned how we haven't been to Potomac Mills in years. The plan was averted to Potomac Mills. We were stuck in traffic for a good 30 minutes around the Tyson's area. Even as we got closer towards the Woodbridge area, the traffic picked up again. It was all the construction. We acted stupid when we saw the Potomac Mills sign, and took pictures of the entrance. People looked at us like we were such tourists, but it was exciting. The last time I was there, I was about 9 or 10 years old. That place has definitely changed a lot. It's not as busy as Arundel Mills. There's a new movie theater and a Costco. The Ikea is still there. We talked about how we used to complain every time we went, because our trip always ended at Ikea, and everyone would always buy a ton of stuff. The itis began to kick in as soon as we entered the mall, and both of us were trudging along. I wasn't really trying to buy anything, except a reading light, and Tommy found this kiosk that sold belt buckles with the belts for a reasonable price. I think Tommy was the one who was going to do more of the shopping. We both assumed that the mall would go full circle, but it ended with exits to the parking lots. We had to turn back around and go towards the food court, where we parked. As soon as we reached the food court, we hauled ass to Starbucks. The itis really kicked in, and we were in dire need of caffeine. We got our drinks and decided that it would be a good idea to sit there for a while. They had a really nice lounge area with really comfy couches. Both of us almost fell asleep there. The one thing I noticed about Potomac Mills is that it's Pinoy central. It almost reminded me of the malls in the Philippines, only there weren't 20 Pinoys going "psst!" We did our round of the second half of the mall, and made it as far as Five Below. From there we made our way to Ikea; oh my gosh! Of course now that we're old enough to appreciate it, the trip to Ikea was more welcoming. I scanned the lighting area and found a really nice desk lamp for $5. We saw some cacti, and Tommy kept telling me to touch it. I told him to touch it, and that inane argument lead to me telling him to touch it with his face. We browsed through the ready to hang art, and deliberated on which pieces each of us would get when we get our own places. They still had the Audrey Hepburn picture, so of course I would get that. There was a beautiful photo of Paris; the entire photo is black and white, but the Eifle Tower is the only thing in color. Tommy showed me a photo of a twisted tree on a beach he would get, and some abstract impressionist paintings he would like. On our way towards the warehouse/check out area, we saw a display of pet furniture. There were dog and cat beds, a cat couch (I would still get it for Maxx), mini tents, toys, etc. I thought it was the coolest thing!

The drive home was a nightmare. We had hit the rush hour traffic, and took a wrong turn somewhere. The signs in Virginia aren't helpful, so you don't know where you're going until you've missed the exit. We ended up taking the Wilson bridge to PG county, and drove up from there. Traffic was horrendous, and there was no other outlet until we've reached the College Park area. From there I exited off, and drove through Wheaton and dealt with that traffic. The sleep deprivation really got to us; we began laughing at the stupidest things. I saw a car with a hanging tag that said, "I love my Bichon Fries". Tommy asked how one would pronounce that, I jokingly said, "bitch on fries (think french fries)". That pretty much became the new inside joke. Tommy had to leave my area no later than 6:30 to beat his mom home; I guess she thinks that her son is at school "studying" for God knows what. We both talked about our plans to crash as soon as we got to our houses. I told him how I'm going to lounge in my chair and read and take a nap, he said he was going to turn on his laptop, put some music on and crash in his bed. We barely made that deadline, I pulled into my driveway at 6:20 pm. As soon as I got home, I changed, grabbed my tote bag of books, assembled my new desk lamp and put it to work. None the less I fell asleep reading. Impromptu road trips are always fun. We plan on going back next week, only this time we'll hit up Potomac Mills much earlier.

UPDATE part DOS

Keep in mind that I was gritting my teeth and ranting to A about this the whole time I was chatting with her:

Danielle

hey stranger

hows the photography
12:27amGiselle

I have yet to actually take a class

I'm about to in the fall

how's chicago?
12:27amDanielle

awsome, its a great city

well despite frost bite in the winter haha

i have been in class all summer though

so I am a bit burnout but I am done this week so Im ready to have the month of august off
12:29amDanielle

i havent had a day off all summer because of internship, school and work

so are you going to take photo at mc or did you ever apply to the mica
12:32amGiselle

I never applied to MICA. I went for the campus tour, but the tuition was too much. I'm at Towson now, and the classes I've taken so far are good
12:33amDanielle

yea i took some classes at towson while at mica

i liked it

yea i dont want to think about my student loans

expecially now with grad school added on

uggg
12:34amGiselle

that's going to suck
12:34amDanielle

haha yea

i guess
12:34amGiselle

I have a friend who's going to MICA in the fall and they only offered him $11000 in scholarships
12:34amDanielle

hows maryland
12:34amGiselle

sucks as always

there's nothing to do around here
12:34amDanielle

haha

im coming home for the month of augus

but i guess nothing to do could be relaxing
12:35amGiselle

true

all of us will be heading back to school next month

except for the mc people, I think they go back in september
12:36amDanielle

i was gonna say august is early

we start sept 3rd
12:36amGiselle

I know Maryland, Towson, and I don't know what other schools start sometime around the last two weeks of august

I'm not really looking forward to going back to school just yet, but oh well
12:37amDanielle

ug yeah i just had a final today and one more paper and artist book to go
12:38amGiselle

artist book?
12:38amDanielle

yea we have to make a book based off of what we learned in our internship
12:38amGiselle

oh

sounds cool, but at the same time really stressful

it almost sounds like my design II sketchbook
12:39amDanielle

yea i think im gonna make a flip book
12:39amGiselle

nice
12:39amDanielle

r u living in bmore

12:39amGiselle

no I'm commuting

I can't afford a place, and the commute's not so bad when I take the back roads
12:40amDanielle

yea i commuted for a little while

then i gave in
12:41amGiselle

haha

I've had one too many bad experiences in bmore to alienate me
12:41amDanielle

yea i hear that i was def ready to leave

when i did
12:43amDanielle

had my car broken into so many times
12:43amGiselle

there are apartments in towson that are cheap, but I still can't make rent

I don't think I could deal with that
12:44amDanielle

i was by mica though

towsons a little nicer

r u working
12:44amGiselle

I've gotten lost in the ghetto many times, bad experiences around power plant

yeah
12:44amDanielle

i work just on the weekends but still have to build some of my rent into my loans
12:44amGiselle

me too

I'm not making enough to even buy a text book
12:45amDanielle

aww where you working
12:45amGiselle

unfortunately cold stone

I'm trying to get other jobs, but the economy is preventing it from happening
12:46amDanielle

yum
12:46amGiselle

I used to work at MC when I was still there as a TA
12:46amDanielle

which one i will have to come get ice cream
12:46amGiselle

olney
12:46amDanielle

i have been waiteressing

onley im there

haha
12:49amGiselle

where have you been waiteressing?
12:50amDanielle

at this place called tavern on rush

but when i lived in md i worked at clydes that was good money
12:50amGiselle

how much did they pay at clydes?

I was considering waiteressing, but I know other places were paying $3 something an hour
12:51amDanielle

well its only like 4 somthing because they base off of tips

so usually like a 80 to 150 a night

on a average day
12:51amGiselle

I need to work there, even on the weekends
12:51amDanielle

and they train so they don't care much about experience
12:52amGiselle

that's good
12:52amDanielle

from what i remember
12:53amGiselle

I just need something better
12:54amDanielle

yea its tough to jugle work and school
12:54amGiselle

it is

I'm just hoping for a job on campus
12:55amDanielle

that would be nice
12:55amGiselle

I tried getting a job at the book store last semester, but they weren't hiring
12:55amDanielle

well good luck this year
12:55amGiselle

thanks, you too

12:56amDanielle

well it was good talking to you maybe i will bump into you at coldstones...i cant wait to get home

i guess i should try to sleep i do have to get myself up and to my internship in the morning

have a good night

12:57amGiselle

you too

UPDATE

WHAT THE FUCK!? WHAT THE FUCK!? WHAT THE FUCK!?

I just noticed that I have a new message on facebook chat, I'm thinking it's from my friend Charlie. I look at it, and it says "New message from Danielle!" I freeze. To backtrack, Danielle is Bitchface. MY Bitchface. Bitchface is Isaac's ex. Isaac was a former crush. Clearly this girl had a problem with me. We were never really friends. Out of the blue she messages me with "Hey stranger, how's the photography?" I tell her that I'm about to take a class in the fall, and I ask her how Chicago is, but she hasn't messaged me back...at least that I know of. Fuck, she did. Ugh...

50

I have officially lost faith in all American literacy.

How would you pronounce the following? "Strawberry Blonde". Every person who has attended some form of a public school system that has failed many knows about silent "e"'s. Here's what I get all the time: "strawberry blondIE". It's BLONDE! BLONDE, you half wit! When learning to read, you learn that there are some words that end with an "E" that are silent, and some that are pronounced. For example:

"Taste". Pronounced "Tayst". Not "Taystee".

Here's another: Creme de Menthe. Here's what I hear: "Cream de Menthay." Apparently every single letter in a word must be sounded out. Speaking of sounding out:

"Germanchokolatekake."

I've used this one before. When you learn to read as a child, you are told to sound out the letters and try to form parts of the word until you get the complete formation. Here's what I get:
-Germanchokokake
-Germanchokolate
-Germanchokakake
-What the hell is that?
-How do you pronounce that?
-Germanchokolatcock

Say it with me: GERMAN-CHOCOLATE-CAKE. Now say it all together really fast!

Another one is "Strawberry Banana Rendevous". What I hear is: ren-de-voose", strawberry banana rende-something, that strawberry banana thing. Occasionally I would get one or two people who can properly pronounce it.

The kicker is when it comes to the sizes. When asked what size do they want, instead of reading the labels that are screaming at them right in front of their faces, they have to ask, and look at us like we just mutated after explaining we go by these sizes. Even then it's still a difficult task to say "Like it," "Love it," Gotta have it."

As I segue from the impromptu rant about literacy in this country, or lack there of, I had to make sure that my knowledge of reading was still in tact. For weeks I've been telling myself that I need a lounge/reading chair. Mainly a reading chair. I have this arm chair in the basement that's been around since Germany, but to transport that from the basement to the living room alone would be hazardous. It's too heavy, and I don't know what kind of surprises have been inhabiting underneath and behind the chair. Albeit it is a comfy chair, ideal for reading. It was a no. I've been searching around online through the College '09 stuff, and all of those circular lounge seats that I saw at Target are at least $50 and up. I could buy one now, but there goes my funds. So that was also a no. For some reason the idea of Ikea popped in to my head, but I realized the price would be about the same as the Target option. Then I remembered this chair that we got from Ikea years ago. It was a lounge chair that used to be in the living room, but it was placed in the basement. I used to use that chair for reading all the time. It wasn't like any other chairs, this one already had a reclining back, so it felt like you were lying down while still sitting up. I traveled to my basement and examined all the corners and spaces, clearing that there were no surprises hanging around. I pushed the chair all the way to the stairs, and began my struggle to pull it upstairs. The chair wasn't as heavy as I thought it would be, but it got stuck on every step. As soon as I got upstairs, I had another dilemma; where to put it. It used to be under the divider that separated the living room and the dining room, but it was bad placement. I tried to place it in the corner where the phone is, but it still didn't look good. I finally decided to move Maxx's house over a bit and put it in between the curio and Maxx's house. I brought down my tote bag full of books and my iPod and began reading for a few hours. I even fell asleep in it at some point. My mom was complaining about the living room light being on, because she was attempting to rest on the couch. She told me that she's going to get me reading lamp at her work. I used to have one that you could clip to the chair or the backboard of your bed, but it broke years ago. I have a feeling that's were all my readings for class will be done from now on. My mom asked me what was wrong with the dining room chair, and I told her that I didn't have the option to recline like the chair I use now. When I read, I want to be able to switch positions, rather that just sit up straight and sit one way all the time.

The plan for tomorrow is hang out with Tommy. We were supposed to have a later time, but he realized that he had to get something for his final project at 4:00 or 4:30. He opted to start around 9:00 am so we can actually get a lot of hanging out in. I know he's going to be going to California soon. I told him to have fun, but he said most likely not. Our grandpa can no longer legally drive, and Tommy can't rent a car. Plus the area my grandpa lives at has nothing. Trust me, I used to live there. The only interesting thing was that we were down the street from grandma and grandpa's, the developing shopping center with the grocery store, "Lucky's," that had the creepy clown who gave cookies and balloons. Plus we were across the street from the Budweiser and Jelly Belly factories. To actually do anything requires a car. You would have to drive to Vacaville (cows grazing along the hills next to the highway) or Valejo to get a change of scenery; even then we would only go there for Goldilocks and Red Ribbon. Sometimes I still don't understand why my family goes to those establishments, when we can cook the food ourselves. Those two restaurants I just mentioned are Filipino establishments. Then again I was raised on that stuff, so I can't really complain. Only now the only thing I can eat there are the cakes and desserts I grew up on. To get to a mall, movie theater, etc, you would have to go to Sacramento. To have some sort of excitement requires a drive to San Francisco. That's about 2 hours I think. In the end this still doesn't help the fact that Tommy will be motorless, possibly foodless. My dad and I were going to go; dad so he can get the car and drive us around the state, me taking over on occasion, and me to cook the foods my grandpa loves. I remember the Christmas that was held at my house, he gave me his blessing by proclaiming that I was the best cook since my grandma. Little did he know that he was flipping me off as he gave his blessing. We all laughed, because we know that he has dementia and was unaware of his hand gesture. That became a sort of inside joke since then. He hadn't eaten food like that since my grandma died, so it was a huge trek down memory lane for him. I was cooking those dessert egg rolls when he made that statement, and my family has the tendency to "test them to see if they're 'edible'". He got first dibbs of course, and he pretty much demolished them. I feel sorry for them, I wonder what they're going to do. I know my uncle isn't far from them, so hopefully he and our cousin CJ will take care of them. We have family down south, but they're a good 4 hours away. Plus they're not reliable in the culinary department. They only know how to spend money, not save it or use it towards something practical. Their idea of a complete meal is a sandwich and ramen. As long as their house and appearance are presentable, they're willing to starve. I was going to ask Tommy to buy me some Filipino DVD's, but since he'll be immobile it wouldn't be such a good idea.

Not all will be lost in the travel department. I have to return to NYC next month. When I say "have to" I really mean it. An only family friend is dying of cancer, and the doctors gave him 6 months at the most to live. He's a priest that befriended my family when they migrated from the Philippines to Guam; Father Jack. He's the one that looked after the boys, especially my dad, to make sure that they weren't getting in to any trouble. When they did, he was the one they had to answer to. They were his alter servers, and he remained in touch with our family after he left Guam to go to another parish. I remember my grandma would write letters to him every day when she would stay with us. He baptized how many of my cousins. I met him when we went back to Guam in '92, but I don't remember. He did a great service to my parents, especially. My dad ran to him in a panic when he decided that he wanted to get married, and Father Jack pulled A LOT of strings to get them married in the 3 days that my dad had left on leave. He explained that normally they have to go through that entire process, and asked my dad if he was absolutely serious about getting married. When my dad was growing up, Father Jack would keep that extra close eye on him, because he knew of my dad's temper. My dad would always say that if it wasn't for him, he would've ended up just like his friends now; in prison or dead. I've seen him a lot of family pictures before, and my uncle sent a recent picture of him now. Think of Little John from Robin Hood, only Little John has an eating disorder. It's frightening how much weight he's lost. When we went to NYC last weekend, my dad's old friend was on his way just as we were leaving to see Father Jack. He informed my dad after his visit that we better go now. He's not doing so well, and again he has 6 months or less to go. I have to go back and thank him for all he's done not just for my family, but my parents. I put in leave at work, because I was scheduled for one of the days that I'm going to be in NYC. I explained in my note that a family member is dying, and I'm not going to have any other opportunity to see him. John is cool and I know he'll understand. Plus I didn't put in my two weeks yet, so I'll make it up the dates I had to call out in to September. It just sucks that this is happening to him Father Jack. My dad told me about how we're going to need to make that emergency trip back, he broke down crying. He couldn't believe the drastic change in appearance Father Jack has undergone. Normally I'm super excited about going to NYC, it's my most favorite place in the world. This time it's going to feel strange.

Changing the subject, it's now 12:05 am. I have to get up at 8:00 am to shower and get ready. I wanted to get some more reading down before going to bed, but that requires me getting off this thing. I should get on that. I went to search for "the Time Traveler's Wife", but I couldn't find a cheap copy. I'm considering going to the Friends of Library used book store, Wonderbooks (formerly Book Alcove), and checking Unique for any used copies. Borders or Barnes and Noble didn't send me any good coupons that would be useful, and Target or Walmart weren't selling the book. Target used to have a ton of them, but for some odd reason they stopped selling it. I did see the Julie/Julia book, and I would like to pick that up. I also saw the Julia Child cookbook, and I would like to pick that up, too. For now I'll stick to finding a cheap copy of Time Traveler's Wife. I got my other book in the mail yesterday, it's from this used book store in Georgia. It's supposed to be like Daedalus Books. The book is called, "The Starving Artist's Survival Guide". I thought it was supposed to be a straight humor book, but it does offer a lot of insightful advice, especially on dealing with rejection the first hundreds of times. The one piece of advice that really stuck out the most was dealing with critiques. The book says that one shouldn't be bummed when your fellow classmates give you bad reviews; the only review that matters is the professor. Even then you need to read up on their bios to see how legit they are. It goes through all the stereotypes of artists and the judges, as well as what to look out for.

49

I just woke up from an amazing nap. Sleep deprivation struck once more, and I really needed a nap before work. It wouldn't have looked good if I was falling asleep on the stone. I really don't want to go to work tonight, but as always I need monies.

I don't think this week will be as eventful. Possible hangout with J, a hang out with Tommy on Wednesday. I'm still trying to think of something to do on a budget when Tommy comes back to MoCo.

Nothing really happened on the weekend. I stopped by work on Saturday to pick up my check, and everyone asked me what I thought about Harry Potter. All of us agreed that it sucked in terms of the book. Thursday I saw the same homeless men that are always on 355. I gave a dollar to one always stands on the off ramp to Old Georgetown Rd. I pulled up the light at 355 and Old Georgetown, and it was the same old guy. I had another dollar ready, but he stopped further down from my car. I unbuckled my seatbelt and bolted from Groucho. I ran up to the guy and gave him the dollar. He laughed and said that he could've came to me. I told him not to worry about it. I've seen this guy many times, and he's definitely fragile. After the light turned green, he waved to me as I passed. I know everyone in their luxury cars were wondering who this lunatic was sprinting from an old '93 camry. I've always said that we need to help the world starting with home. If you can afford a luxury car, you can spare a dollar. I also came up with a new saying: It takes one random act of kindness to change the world. And one crazy person running through traffic to lead by example ;)
It was such an adrenaline rush. I was still feeling it as soon as I got into the Starbucks at Barnes and Noble. It would come as a shock to me if a person said that they couldn't believe I ran through traffic to help a homeless man. At least from someone who knows me. I know I needed those two bucks just as much as those two men do, but I can always make it up. Next thing to donate to: TOMS shoes. I'm trying to get them before school starts, so I have a comfortable shoe to wear during studio. I think the only real studio I have this coming semester is photo lab.

I reading through my facebook friend updates, and I find it interesting that Ashley's arguing with people about abortion. Everyone knows my stance on abortion; we share the same pov. We both think that if you can make the decision to have sex, then you should be responsible for the baby that is conceived. At the same time I do understand that not everyone sees eye to eye, and I feel that this is my personal choice. What people do with their bodies is their choice. It's a strange situation, I'm pro life, but at the same time this comes off as pro choice. I think the only difference with me is that I actually listen to the opposition. She has a million updates arguing with people on facebook over abortion. Personally I find it ridiculous when people fight online. It's just as effective as trying to kill someone with a teddy bear. Then again that's still a bad example, you could suffocate the person, depending on the size the of the teddy bear...fighting online is just as effective as trying to kill someone with a pebble. It's childish really. Someone could appear as a total douchebag online, but when confronted in real life they run with their tail between their legs.

It's just about that time. I should get ready for work. I'm feeling kind of lazy, and I don't think I'm going to put any make up on. They've seen me au natural before, today won't be a difference. Plus I've also ran out of foundation. I think I'll bring my books to work. God willing the store will be dead, and I'll have some time to read. I'm currently reading "Veronika Decides to Die" and "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (British edition)". I want to know what the difference is in words. The first book I mentioned is really interesting. It's about a woman who decides to commit suicide, but wakes up in a mental institution. She comes to realize that she no longer wants to die, but start fresh and go back to her old life. The only problem is that the concoction of pills she swallowed caused incurable damaged to heart and she'll die within a week. I can't wait to finish that book to find out what happens. The author wrote the book, "The Alchemist" which is also a good book from what I heard. I could've gotten that at the Strand, but again lack of funds strikes. Oh well, I could always order it. I should really get ready for work.

48

Sleep deprivation has finally caught up with me.

NYC was fun as usual! The first part of our trip was circling around the Jersey turnpike. My dad wanted to get breakfast, and saw a sign for Cracker Barrel. He didn't want to stop at those truck stop bathroom/restaurant places (thank God). We reached the turnpike, and my dad got off at the wrong exit, so we drove around for an hour. This is where I had to start using my GPS on my phone. All this time I kept thinking to myself, "hmm, I should really get a car charger for my phone," I never got one. I could've really used it on Friday. Anyways, we finally find Cracker Barrel and take a break to have some food. I found that peg game that's on every table, and I was determined to beat it. The object of the game is to leave one peg. It's on a triangle and it says:
---Leave 1 peg - You're Genius
---Leave 2 and you're purty smart
---Leave three and you're just plain dumb
---Leave four or mor'n you're just plain "eg-no-ra-mooose"

After lots of time and frustration from previous attempts, and there were many for past trips, I finally beat that stupid game! I was having a conversation with my parents, when it just happened. I don't know if I could repeat it again.

After breakfast we get back on the road and I crash automatically. I don't know if it was the itis, or if it was sleep deprivation, but I was KO from the moment we left the house. We arrived in NYC, and I had to start directing where to go. We made it to the Strand with ease. I was in heaven when we got there. The Strand was having a massive sale outside, there were books on sale starting at .87-$1. I get inside and soaked in the ambiance. It was hot and muggy. The amount of bodies in the building didn't help much either. I break out my list and starting snooping through the store. First I had to locate the fiction section. I found all my books with ease. The night before, A warned me about flying books. She said that there are ladders placed around the store and in between sections, so you can get your selection yourself if it's on the top shelf. I wasn't so much afraid of flying books, I was afraid of me flying off. I had to use the ladder a few times, and considering how cramped the aisles are and how many people were moving in and out, people would have had to look for for a flying me. The one section I almost fell in was the poetry section. Of course Federico Garcia Lorca's books were on the top shelf! There was another cart in the way where the ladder was, and the poetry section mixed with the film section. I was deliberating on which book to get, since there were only two selections. People were trying to squeeze by the ladder, and I think they finally realized that it wasn't going to happen. All this time I continued to stand at the very top debating. Good thing I didn't wear a skirt! I decided to get both books, since they were really cheap. One is a bilingual anthology of some of his work. The other is a book containing his work he composed during his attendance at Columbia University, and his short residence in NYC. After asking the staff, I had to make my way to the second floor to the children's section. There I found the fantasy section that didn't contain Harry Potter. I was appalled until I realized they were moved to the center. The guy at the info desk said that there probably was a slim chance of finding the British version of any of their books, since the computer couldn't pin point what was in their inventory. I found Harry Potter in Latin. The problem is I don't read or speak Latin. I found the American versions, which I already have. I found a purple hardcover that had different artwork, a signature of the author, and different font for the title. I noticed that the publisher wasn't Scholastic. Just to be safe, I checked the page were the publishing info is contained. It was a British hardcover version "Goblet of Fire" AND it's a first edition. It was only $20! I saw the British paperbacks of the Sorceror's Stone and Chamber of Secret`s, but I was running out of funds. I didn't want to use a plastic bag, so I bought one of their totes. It was special edition bag with artwork by Art Spiegelman. At the end I spent $60 in the Strand, but it was well worth it. I read every chance I got while walking around.

Next stop was Canal St. We got lost trying to retrace our steps, so we had to go all the around the FDR back to W Broadway. The GPS was failing, and so was my battery. We passed a Verizon store, but of course I didn't stop. We made it to Canal St and went to our usual parking garage. We didn't really buy anything there, except for the Mario power up mushroom plushies for Keisha's birthday. I got her 4 of the mini plushies you attach to your phone, and one for our niece. We also got each of them a big power up plushie. I got a bunnie rabbit plushie that's now dangling from my phone. I went inside and I also got a Hello Kitty wearing a tiger costume. My mom said I should get another design, but I told her the tiger is to represent school; Towson tigers. It doubles as a mini bell. We walked over to this old bakery/restaurant that was shut down by the health inspector just for kicks, and it turns out that it reopened. There my parents bought 1 and a half dozen siopao, and I got a some buchi buchi (sesame balls with the bean paste inside) and almond cookies. We made an attempt to go midtown, but we were stuck in traffic for two hours trying to leave Canal. There my dad decided that we should just go home from there. That sounded good. We were on our way to this pet boutique to get something for Maxx, but it was too much of a hassle to drive. I crashed as soon as we got out of Lincoln tunnel. All I remember was waking up as we entered one of those truck stop places to get gas, and I said I needed some food. After about a half hour we were back on the road and I crashed once again. My dad laughed at me, wondering how it is I was so tired when he was doing all the driving. Honestly, I don't know. My sleeping habits really got me. I guess it's a good thing since school starts next month. Oh God...

47

Countdown to NYC!!!! I can't wait!

I spent the entire night talking to A. She's so hilarious, I had a fun time chatting with her. We talked for a good 4 hours, and decided that it was time to get some sleep around 4:00 AM her time, and 5:00 Am my time. We talked about Harry Potter, and how she's going to see it on Friday. Three of her brothers have seen it already; M couldn't stop talking/laughing about the movie. The conversation moved towards how our family members used to try to scare us when we were younger. The best one was M trying to scare Z by hiding in her closet, but ended up getting locked inside by accident. She told me a lot about "bitchface" (hey, we use the same term for girls we hate), and her stank feet. She told me how bitchface tries to insult everyone by saying that J is a pushover, Z is a fatty and needs a diet, and A is the house bitch. She's one to talk. She's too busy trying to be a desperate house wife! The best part of the story was the competition for designer handbags. K is apparently really into Balenciaga, and has a couple. N has them because T buys them for her. A told me that she "thinks T secretly likes them" LOL!!! Bitchface asked I if her could get her this bag called "Bag-lang-ga-cia". He had to ask K several times what it was, because he had no idea what bitchface was talking about. She reminds me so much of the customers who come into the store and say "germancho-co-latatee", "germanchocahkeh", "germanchocolatcock". It's really not that hard to read. BTW, I hope you got the last one hahahaha. It really was said! Anyways, I inquires the price on the Baglangcia purse and almost flips a shit. It's way up there with the other designer bags, so I'm not surprised. He ends up getting Bitchface a Coach purse instead lol! A even told me that Bitchface pronounces "Dolce and Gabbana" as "Dol-ace". What the hell is Dol-ace? A and I talked about designer purses, and how we both view them as fragile. She told me that she has a Prada bag that T and N gave her when she was younger, but it's still in the dust bag. I told her about my small Gucci purse that I've had since I was little, but it's not really functional for me since it's so small I can only fit my wallet. She asked me if I buy these bags often and I said no. We both said "can't afford them" at the same time. For me it's not really efficient to have a designer bag, especially with the kind of word that I do. I need something that I could just throw around, and not worry about getting broken up. Plus I told A that the price I pay for a designer bag, is the same amount towards a new camera.

We talked about NYC and how she can be her own person there. She also told me about the one time that she and T were in the same bar. Someone asked if she is T's sister, and she asked "Who is T...?" Then the person told her that her brother is upstairs. He was on this balcony thing, a drink in one hand and "waving the gayest way possible" HAHAHAHA! I told her that I would completely horrified for her, before she could even finish the story. If that was me, I would live in a constant state of paranoia. We talked about the Strand, and I told her that I'm going tomorrow. She told me that it's easy to get lost in there, but they have a lot of great selections. She told me that there are books so old, that the pages are yellowing. They have classic leather bound collections, some new books, out of print books, foreign books. I told her how I'm on a mission to ind the UK version of Harry Potter. I don't want to blow my money away on the entire collection, but I would like to get Deathly Hallows if they have it. A told me that they would most likely have it. She also told me about how there's a good reading spot in the poetry section. I'm so excited to go there, I've been waiting almost a year. Of course knowing me I'm going to get lost. She warned me not to expect the comforts of a BN, because this place is almost like an old warehouse transformed with fluorescent lighting. They people are extremely helpful, and there are other things besides books on sale towards the front. There's a cafe somewhere inside. I'm looking forward to this. She also told me about another great cafe somewhere on 12th St. I told her how my family and I usually play it by ear, but always hit up Chinatown. Now there's no point to going to Canal St, when the entire strip has been shut down by the NYPD. She showed me the family library at her parents' house. I would love to have a room like that at some point; a hybrid of a studio and a library. I told her that my room is the designated library in the house. It seriously looks like it's competing with the book mobile at the moment. It doesn't help that I'll soon be adding to my collection.

I should be getting out of my bed. Adrie called me this morning, asking if I could dog sit for her next weekend. I told her that I'm working all weekend, and she asked if she had woken me up. I told her that she did, clearly voice says it all. She asked me if I ever wake up before noon, and I said no. Does it sound like I do? I woke up around 1:00 PM, and I'm still sitting on my bed. I really need to get up now.

46

THEY DID NOT STICK TO THE BOOK. A lot of sexual inuendos, but still not to the book.

45

Sleep deprivation before a midnight premiere is not a good thing.

Especially when it's coming from friends who are in a panic to get tickets. The right tickets, that is. My phone has been exploding the past 24 hours from friends screaming, "HP tickets at Rio at 12:01 AM are sold out!!! FUCK!!! WHAT DO I DO?!" I just have a blank stare on my face, shrug to myself and mutter, "I'unno..." Megan was the first to panic. She just now returned all my texts and phone calls that I had left weeks ago, and was freaking out about not getting tickets at Rio. She found tickets to Rockville, and assumed that we were all still waiting to buy ours. I told her that Daniela and I have purchased our tickets weeks ago, so it looks like we're the only ones going to Rio. She calls/texts me a few minutes after I had gotten off the phone with Daniela that she found tickets at Rio. Crisis averted.

The phone call with Daniela was more of a rant session while I was on my way to work. I complained that people really don't listen to me about these things. She complained about how people are accusing us of leaving them out of the loop. And by people, I mean David. I sent this mass message on facebook last month, asking who wants to do the HP midnight showing. David said he was in. From then I kept sending more messages about being on the look out at fandango.com for tickets. He told Daniela that no one, meaning me, hasn't said anything about the tickets or the event. He really wants to go, but "I don't have internet, wah wah wah..." That's funny, because HIS NAME was the first to show up on the mass message reply! He could've talked to people, gone to the library, something. I told Daniela that he shouldn't hold me responsible for not informing him, when we discussed this last month. It's not like we came up with this idea two days ago.

Megan called me back, and now her dilema was what is she going to do with the three Rockville tickets she had purchased before finding the Rio ones. I told her to scalp them, or pass them along to her brother. Dani was another person who flaked out, so she may be taking the Rockville tickets off Megan's hands. I told her about David, and she made the same point I made about the message. Whatever. I told her about the plans to meet up at 8:30 to guarantee a parking spot, and we'll all get dinner at CPK and kill time. Everyone loved the plan thus far, so I think we're good.

Jenny messaged me later that night, and told me that her card was rejected the first time around. She managed to snag a ticket, so I don't have to worry about her. Natalie messaged me on facebook and asked what time we're going and where again. I guess she changed her mind. Stephanie probably couldn't get a ticket, so she's just going on Wednesday. Carla decided that she wants to tag along, and messaged me yesterday about which theater and what time. All of this craziness was going on while I worked the shortest shift of my life. One hour. Awesome. I escaped a full scrub down of the entire store, so I was happy to have left. Diana was pissed that Paul switched with me without informing them. Plus he was in deep trouble with John and Diana.

After leaving, I went home to change clothes, and met up with Daniela, Jess, and Rob in Germantown for sushi. Jess and Rob heard about the almost arrest, and wanted the full story. As soon as I mentioned Will's name, they turned to each other and laughed. Of course anyone would get into trouble with Will! We all had this idea that park police was a joke, but after that night and my story, we know they're legit. Jess found out the hard way as well; she was arrested by one, along with Dani and Sam. They pretty much said the same thing Joe told me at work, "you got really lucky!" We hung out for a little and got ice cream at Cold Stone. After that we parted way. I was told that I had morning plans, but I guess it's not happening. Or it's not happening...yet.

The final panic happened this morning. And you know how I feel about being bothered in my sleep! Claire text me this morning about how she couldn't get a ticket to the 12:01 showing at Rio, but got a 12:02 ticket instead. I had no idea that she wanted to go with us. I told her I don't know what to do, except she would try to enter with us. She called Rio and explained her situation, and they told her that ALL OF US would have to change our tickets to accommodate her. While lying in bed, disturbed by my wake up call, I thought to myself, "No! Screw that!" There's nothing I could've done. She text me again saying that she found a ticket with the right time, and all is well. Now she was wondering if she could ride with me since she's passing my neighborhood. I told her tonight's plans, what time to meet, etc, etc. Then I went back to sleep.

I swear, when I say get your tickets now, I'm not playing around. The past 24 hours, my friends expected me to work some sort of miracle that would find them a ticket. I'm not Harry Potter!

44

This is going to be a good week, so Alex and I have concluded at work.

Today: work. I was asked at 3:00 AM by Paul to see if I could sub for him tonight. Three days in a row I've worked. At least we close early today. It shouldn't be as busy, since it's Monday. Plus this would make up for any lost time for Saturday. I'll still get my 4 and a half hours. Score!

Tomorrow night is Harry Potter. I've finally gotten hold of Daniela and Jenny. Jenny has yet to buy her ticket, and Daniela and I are all set. Stephanie wants to join us, and I still can't get hold of Megan. I don't know what the deal is. Whatever, I've already told Daniela and Jenny that we should meet up around 8:30, so we can claim our good parking spots. Then we can just walk around and get dinner or something. Barnes and Noble is open til 11:00, but I don't think we'll be staying that late. We should also leave early enough to get a good spot in line.

Thursday is a possible meet with J, A, and their cousin.

Friday is NYC!!!! My dad called me up this morning, and asked me what I wanted to get at the beach if we went. The beach we were planning on going to has outlet malls. I told him that I didn't really know. It would be nice back to school shopping, but I have enough clothes to last me a very long time. Then he asked me how I felt about going to NYC, and what I would get there. I told him about the Strand; an 18 mile long book store. I've already composed a list of books I want to get when I go there. The only deal is Maxx. We can bring him, but we're afraid that he's going to get tired from walking so much. The plan for Friday is NYC. YES!

Saturday another possible meet up with J. Go to the Black Cat to pick up tickets for Tinted Windows. Sunday is work.

43

It started with a house party. And I almost got arrested.

Carla threw a house party to celebrate her entire house being vacant. Normally if anyone was still at home, she would be in some serious trouble for this. I arrived in her neighborhood early, because she said that she needed help setting up. I went to the Starbucks across the street from her house, because I was a good hour early. She text me, asking if I can go to her work. I drove across the street and surprised her. We stood around talking, trying to catch up as we waited for the time to pass. She was off at 8:00 pm, and I helped her clean. The first to arrive were Ava, Wes, and Ava's friend Andy. People didn't show up for another hour. The most part, the girls spent it in the bathroom talking and doing make up. Carla's high school friends showed up, and then Silva and Ed. Rachelle showed up with a friend of hers, and then Claire. Daniela decided that she was going to go home after work. Jess bailed. Flora didn't come, because she was probably finishing up packing for the week long beach trip that started today. Will showed up a little later. The party was small, so a few of us kept suggesting that we should move it to DC. We were dressed for some of the clubs, and it was a rather small party. Natalie decided that she was going home. Andy had to go home, so Will, Ava, Claire and I took up to the Metro. After that we made our impromptu trip to DC. Claire directed me to Haines Point, since we weren't allowed on the monuments at the hour were arrived. Haines Point was closed, but the girls had to pee. I quickly pulled over, and Will and I got out to take some pictures. The view we had was next to the Potomac, and it was beautiful. I told them that we should move this somewhere else, plus I didn't want to get in trouble. Will was the last to get in the car, but this is were the fun started. Park police was doing its rounds, and was about to turn in another direction when it spotted my car. It averted and came my way. Will jumped on my front bumper and all of us were yelling at him to get off, because police. He got in the car, and in a panic Ava told me to drive. I sat there, because a) we were already spotted, and b) that would've caused more problems. The cop got out and had his baton ready for some reason. He asked why we were here, since the park is closed. I said that Will had to pee and we got lost, so we were trying to do a u turn. He told Will to get out of the car. I started to panic, because I know the three of them had been drinking at the party. Plus Ava had been drinking at the party, and she's under age. Claire confessed that she had a beer in her purse. I flipped out on her for that. I had a mini panic attack, and the girls kept telling me to calm down. All of us noticed that the cop was checking out my car and license plate, I guess just to run the tags. I panicked some more at that point. I heard the cop yelling at Will at first. I heard him ask Will for ID, which Will said that he didn't have on him. I heard the cop tell him how it's illegal to not have a form of ID on you. I also heard something about how there's a police station up some direction, and there were bathrooms. I was afraid that he was going to searched the car and/or do breathalizers. I did the only thing I could do at that point, pray. I prayed so hard during those 5 long minutes we sat there. Will got in the car, and the cop did the routine license and registration. He asked if it was my parents' car, since my name isn't on the registration. He also asked if there were any drugs, alcohol, guns, weapons, etc. We all laughed and said no. I told him yes, he handed my stuff back. I apologized to the cop again, because I genuinely didn't know there were bathrooms up the street. He told me directions to get to 395, back to GW Parkway north, and then to 270. He told us to have a nice night, and followed us out there. He went around my car because I was driving the speed limit, and I just waved him off. I apologized to Will several times that night, because if anything I didn't want him to get in trouble. I didn't think he was going to ask him to step out of the car. We asked Will what he was being interrogated about. He told us all the stuff I heard, and how it's illegal to pee in public. The cop asked Will if he had been drinking, because of the way Will talks. He's just an overly happy person. Their conversation went from tense to chill; he said that the cop was cool after they cleared things up. Will told him that we weren't from around the area of MD near DC (pfft), and he was showing us around. I know I always said that Will is trouble, and he is. Obviously! But he took the fall and I couldn't thank him enough.

We were making our way to Adams Morgan to get a jumbo slice, but Claire (who suggested getting food at a diner along the way) changed her mind to chocolate chip pancakes. Will directed us to Tastee Diner in Silver Spring. We had the coolest waitress. She made some amazing milkshakes, and she told us that she's the only one who does it there. She joked around with us, and made sure we were all taken good care of. I definitely left her a generous tip. If you're ever in downtown Silver Spring and are in need of diner food, ask for Roxanne for your waitress. The diner trip at the end made up for what had happened a few minutes ago.

The entire night people kept calling and texting us to come back. I take that the party was dying. No one really showed up after we left, and Ed bailed out at some point. I know a few people were crashing at Carla's. I confessed to everyone that I was in desperate need to get out of there, because it was really boring. We didn't do anything, but sit around an stared at each other. Of few of us art geeks had our own conversation. Other than that, it was blah. I talked to Cedric on the phone a while, and I tried to convince him to come to Carla's in the beginning. He told me that he was going to see Bruno, and I dropped hints that I wanted to see it too. He was having an emo boys night out with his drummer. He told me how he got fired from Guitar Center, and now he's still job hunting. He told me that he moved back in with his parents, now that school's over for him. I yelled at him about why he didn't tell me, and how he's always complaining about how he misses me. To clarify why I was mad, Cedric literally lives 5 minutes up the road from me! I could just hop in my car, and be at his house now. We were supposed to have brunch this morning, but I was praying that he would forget last night. I didn't get home until 4:00 AM, and didn't get to bed until 5:00 AM. He forgot, because he didn't call me. Thank God!

When I got home, I decided against uploading pics from last night, because I saw that Carla was on. I told everyone that it's not like we bailed out, we told everyone that we're going to DC without them. Ava and Claire kept saying that Carla pretty much hates us right now. No offense, but we were doing anything. There was music playing, but no one was dancing. So...*shrugs* I checked that movies website to see if Bruno was uploaded yet, but I saw that Little Ashes was now available. That totally made my night! I tried watching part of it before I fell asleep. I got to the part were Dali transformed his image from the traditional Spanish garb, to a more fashionable '20s outfit. He also began to make friends with Lorca and Bunel. I have yet to finish that movie, since I've been raising help about seeing this flick about Salvador Dali. I should really emerge myself from my room now.

It ended with a house party, and me bailing after Will, Claire and Ava got out of my car.

42

Got called in to work today to cover for someone. Checked the work schedule. Not a single weekend free. Dammit. Same old pain in the ass customers. No offense, but I half expect black people to be loud when they tell me their orders. I don't read lips very well. Or do I? None the less, my day was spent asking "what" several times. This one mother got mad at her daughter for speaking like a mouse when she was telling me her order. During our busy hours, I was working the register. I called a customer that I was helping at the time a douche bag while getting his change, but he didn't hear me. During one of our dead hours in the beginning of my shift, I drew a Harry Potter puppet pal with a countdown to Half-Blood Prince. Alex came in to get some ice cream, and she asked me if I drew that. She told me that she plans on seeing it at the midnight release as well. Diamond told us that she's planning on doing that as well. It'll be a Cold Stone party. I told them that I'm dressing up against my will, and Alex said that she may dress up. but isn't sure yet. I got a bag of Bertie Botts jellybeans earlier, and I'm actually afraid to eat them. I'm waiting until the movie to open them. I also got that HP cotton candy gum that turns your mouth blue. That'll be awesome.

Now for some random pictures:

Appetizing.



New Moon on 32





Shalom Bitches



Bath time

41

"Pffft...fat people! Seriously!"~Tommy

I hung out with Tommy today. It was a much needed hang out, I haven't seen him or really did anything with him in so long. Before I met up with him, I stopped by work to change my tax status and pick up tips. All is settled with my tax forms, and Uncle Sam won't be screwing me during tax season next year. We were supposed to go to Annapolis Mall, but like every poor college student, he was almost out of gas and couldn't afford to pay. Plus it didn't help that he "misplaced" his gas card. We kept it really local and drove up the road to Arundel Mills instead. We made a single round, and stopped in the Disney store. I noticed that they had some more of those boxes I bought a while back, so I got one for my mom. This time they were only $4.12. Crap. Oh well. The lady who rung me up was the hiring manager. She recognized my name on the ID, and told me that she still has my application on file. She said that the reason why I haven't heard back yet, was because they needed clearance on whether or not I'm Disney material during the interviews. Apparently I am, so she is going to put me through the final round of interviews. She explained that their store is highly interested in hiring me, but I still have to go through the application process. She was also afraid that I had taken another job offer. Here's hoping and praying that I get this job. We stopped in Hot Topic and I marveled at all of the latest Harry Potter merch. They brought back the Bertie Botts jelly beans, droobles: the cotton candy that turns into gum and turns your mouth blue, and blood pops. Tommy and I found some Power Rangers clothing on sale, a hoodie caught our eyes. It was on sale for $21, but I wasn't willing to spend that much. He wasn't either. He did find a Power Rangers belt buckle on sale for $8, so he got that. I found a cute purple hat with a puff ball. I didn't notice until later that it was a Paramore hat. The singer wore it in the "Decode" video. It looks like this, only the color was tweaked with a camera lens:



I love it! The next stop was Five Below for any potential junk contraband (there was none), and Auntie Anne's to use our coupons for free pretzels. We walked into the movie theater very casually, hiding our outside food as much as possible. Luckily our uncle was there, and doesn't give a damn, so we got in easily. We watched Transformers II, it was awesome! During the previews I got to see the New Moon trailer. I recognized the music when the Summit Entertainment logo showed up. Tommy told me, "no, you're wrong! it's not what you think." Until the red truck appeared, then he just said, "oh...nevermind." We talked quietly about how he and Josh agree that Twilight is overrated, just like the Harry Potter franchise. I turned and looked at him and said, "Josh!? Mr. ZOMG-YOU-HAVE-TO-WATCH-AND-READ-HARRY-POTTER-OR-THERE-IS-NO-MEANING-TO-YOUR-EXISTENCE Josh?" He said that he didn't know, and shrugged. Josh is only contributing to its overratedness, because home boy is going to the midnight premiere, just like I am.

As soon as the opening scenes of Transformers started, Tommy and I simultaneously grabbed out pretzel bags. He looked over at me and then himself, and made the comment, "Pfft..fat people. Seriously!" I couldn't stop laughing. The movie was hilarious, but definitely had a low blow to the Afro American community. It also enlightened me as to how the Air and Space museum is DC really looks like. Of all the times I've been down there, and I've gone quite a lot, I never knew there was a flight pad and a hanger behind the building. In fact, I wasn't aware that there was a desert behind the Smithsonian! Wow! Way to go, Michael Bay.

On my drive home I realized two things; my mom wanted more than one box, and there was a full moon. It was orange and amazing. I pulled my car over on the side of the highway, waited for some cars to pass, got out and started taking pictures. I only took a few so I could get out of there quickly. I'm sure people thought I was insane. Anything for art, well ALMOST anything.

When I got home I played with Maxx for a while. I waited up for mom to come home, and I tried to leave Maxx downstairs as I went to go to bed. My mom notified me of Maxx's current post at the stairs; staring up and waiting to be invited up. He kept crying at the bottom of the stairs, and I gave him. He ran up the steps and went straight into my room. He knows his apartment B. Now all is well and he is perfectly content in his bed. With that in mind, I should be getting to bed.