Friends/Family

So, I have a group of best friends from high school that are my family. There are six (including me) that are considered our 'group.' While there were others who mingled within, they were never considered part of the group, yet were welcomed warmly with friendship. All of us had our own unique personalities, likes, and dislikes that spanned a broad spectrum. We all were in the same grade, and all became best friends (one even became my twin, being believed by some).
First is Julie: my twin. If I were straight, we could probably be soulmates the way we mesh so well, but to think of it that way now is... well... it would be incestuous for me to even think it... blah. We have a ton in common, similar reactions to various events and similar likes led to friendship, and our small differences compliment each other well (I had a job as a beauty adviser, she as a grease monkey [mechanic]). Even when on opposite sides of the state, and without having talked to one another in a while, we both do something weird like sign up for kickboxing classes at our college during the same semester.
Second is Marie: the army girl. Smart, funny, and motivated, she was also the one I tended to vacation with when I went to random places like Palm Springs, where my sister and her friend would proceed to give her a makeover. She is tough, having joined the army out of high school (2004), being a nurse in the service, and having completed a tour in Iraq, she is someone I look up to. She handles situations well, with a capable mind. She also seems to get a lot of second-hand electronics from me... though that's not bad, since they were all in working order (^_^).
Next we have Jenny: my entertainment capital of the world. Having graduated from LMU, and being awesome as she is, this is my girl for music, movies, musicals, and anything entertainment. She has introduced me to much music and interesting movies, along with showing some of the fun things she herself wrote and directed. Talented and motivated, I know she can go far as long as she can persevere.
Fourth is April: the animal-lover. April is my animal encyclopedia, knowing much about animals, and whatever she doesn't know, she would want to learn anyways for the knowledge's sake. She is also an artist with much potential, who is constantly growing and will, in my mind, be great as long as she continues. I already called dibs on one of her paintings when she decides to sell it. :)
Last, but not least, is Caitlin: the hermit. This damn girl is impossible to reach!!! While incredibly fun and rediculously inventive, she is shy around strangers yet kooky fun with the group. She's our pirate, Galcomb Threepwood!

So, where am I going with this? Julie is down from Northern California and Marie is here from Texas, so of course a reunion is commencing. Julie is staying with me, which is always fun... Wonder Twin power, activate! The other day we hung out with Marie, who also spent the night, and today we all met at Jenny's apartment in LA and just chilled. It is great to see them again. It has been so long, and I don't have them to be with in my times of need, so I get all that I can when they're here. However, we have to resort to sneakery to lure the elusive hermit out of her habitat, so we're having one of our friends, Jiin, pull her out (by her hair, if necessary) of her place to see us. Jiin has known her practically since Caitlin was born, and so has much stronger ties to her. What a sneaky group we are! This is our master plan for the New Years, and here's to hoping that yours could be such an adventure as our lovely 'kidnapping.'

Seven Pounds

So I just watched Seven Pounds, and it was amazing! I can't tell too much without giving it away, but it starts with a scene that is a major plot point, then goes through the lead-up story to it. Snippits of information are given to you as you watch, and before it is half-way through you can pretty much guess what he is doing and why, but are so drawn to it. It is very emotional, and even I was wanting to cry at different points in the movie, be it of sadness, joy, or empathy... it was a tear-jerker. While I generally tell people that I don't suggest seeing movies in the theater unless it is for the graphics, this would be a drama well worth paying to watch! It was very moving.

Now comes the New Year

Well, the New Year is quickly approaching, and this year (for me) has gone by quick. Everyone makes their New Years resolutions, which they all break. So I'm making my New Year's resolution to not break my New Year's resolution. Oh, look, I already passed! (^_^) I just have to bide my time until the New Year is here before I can really go on interviews and find a job... :\

Who is the Bailout bailing out?

Okay, so everyone by now knows how the banks got tons of bailout money... and that they refuse to account for it! I'm sorry, if we're giving them a shitload of money they should have had anyways, the banks should definitely be held accountable. They even quoted that they weren't going to give information on how they were using the money! That immediately makes me think that the higher ups got a very nice Christmas bonus for their family, and then a measly amount went back into the bank funds to help the average American... in which we should all go there and give a hardy slap on the face... one slap for each American who can't get the funds from their bank because they claim financial hardship in this economic crisis and the risk is too high... let's all just line up and see how much skin they have left on their cheeks when we're through...

WTF?!

Okay... so... I just got laid off yesterday. No warning but the hour-and-a-half left of the job day. I understand the economy is bad, our market is suffering, and our parent company is having problems, but couldn't they have the decency to wait until AFTER Christmas?! There is no way I'll get an interview next week or the week after unless I have inside contacts. Everyone will be preparing their work load to get ahead for the holiday days off. Granted, they gave me two weeks severance pay, that still only lasts me until I can start getting interviews. I filed for unemployment, and I will start looking for work again right away. -_-
This is the way my life goes. I decide to go back to school, even register for a class, then something like this happens. ugh! Well, off I go on the job hunt.

Ally McBeal

Okay, so I always watched this show when I was younger with my mom, but I didn't really remember much about it, except I liked it and it was funny as all hell. So, I started watching it, from season 1 episode 1, and am almost complete. :) I didn't realize how BIG the show was! I mean, there's huge artists, such as Josh Groban, Mariah Carey, Sting, Barry Manilow, Barry White, Elton John, and Tine Turner! And big stars, like Lucy Liu, Robert Downey Jr., Porche de Rossi, James Marsden, etc.

So, once again, I am in love with Ally McBeal! (^_^) No reason for saying this, except to let people know. :)

The Day the Earth Stood Still

So, I'm going to be seeing The Day the Earth Stood Still tomorrow in theaters. We've already a small group built up to go watch it together. Therefore, I must do my proper research, so I am watching the original The Day the Earth Stood Still from 1951. Of course the spaceship and the alien are completely tacky compared to today's standards, but I am liking it so far. Instead of a vicious alien invasion, it is about an alien who comes in concern for the other planets, who think that if humans gain space travel, they will bring their wars and destruction to the rest of the planets and endanger them, so he comes to warn the world that they must keep their destructive ways to themselves, or else the planet will be destroyed. I so like older movies, because they actually had to rely on a good story and well-developed plot line to hold the movie up without special graphics being inserted every 5 seconds. While I'm not finished with the movie yet, I am really enjoying it and would recommend it as a must-see to film lovers. :)

Final Fantasy XI

Continuing with their excellence in the best RPG series to have ever been released (while personal opinion, it is true, so don't argue it!), Final Fantasy XI recently released the fourth expansion to their online game, Final Fantasy XI, titled Wings of the Goddess. While I am still fairly a 'newbie' in the world, at a meager lvl. 21, I have still played a decent amount of the game to be able to tell that this will be an awesome game! I am about to face my first really tough boss, of which I am excited. The game gives you the options to personalize your character with multiple races to choose from: Hume (human male or female), Elvaan (elf male or female), Tarutaru (a midget thing male or female), Galka (a large hulk that looks male, but is supposedly asexual), and Mithra (a kitty girl-only race). In addition to choosing the race, you have 8 faces within that race/gender, and also two different hair colors with each face. Then you choose to be small, medium, or large-bodied. While this is nice, it is still limited to some of the customization games where you can choose skin, eye, and hair color among changing specific features, but it's good enough. Then you get to choose one of three countries in the world to be a citizen of and a main class (starting options are Warrior, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, and Thief). Afterwards, you get to level yourself up, do missions for your country, and do quests in various areas. Once you reach a certain level, you can do a quest to allow sub-jobs, which are 1/2 the level of your main job, though exp. only gains for the main job, the sub just gives extra stats and skills. Also, once you reach 30, you have the option to go on various quests to unlock much better classes. Sadly, I'm not there yet, but I am making my way. As you do missions, your rank goes up in your country of citizenship, and when you do quests, your reputation rises in the country or area that you are performing the quest, as well as influencing your reputation in other towns that are allied very slightly. It is a very fun game, lots of running around and etcetera. While I normally get very bored with online games after a certain amount of time, I haven't with this game. I had a time I was too busy to play for a while, but the fact that I can get back into it easily says a lot in my mind. And, as stated before, best RPG series ever. :)

The Fallacies of Mankind

Don't you just love it when something small gets blown out of proportion because someone is irritated at nothing in particular, but takes it out on you? -_-
Lovely life *hums a happy tune*

Horribly fascinating...

Okay, so I have read the entire The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, which I have already highly recommended... Then they made the TV show off of it, called The Legend of the Seeker. Wow... it is... um... different. They completely botched the plot up to holy hell, making me pound my feet in anger at the stupidity of how they ruined the whole first book with some of their messed up plots. The main character, Richard, looks very young and... I want to say innocent, but it's not... it's just stupid. He is STUPID!!! Richard is supposed to be smart, cunning, and able to quickly find the answers to questions, but this one doesn't go through that process. After the problem is solved, it seems an epiphany just comes to him and he learns a lesson or something. It makes me think of the old Hercules series where they just go around saving random people time after time. Of course, I'm stupid as well, as I just can't stop watching it, hahaha... It's interesting to see how far they can deviate from the plot and how much they just leave out or skip. So far they have managed to skip an entire tribe of main characters, so we'll see how it works. :)

For those who have not read the series, it might be interesting to watch, but once they read the book, they will either laugh or cry at the way it was butchered into this television show...

The Last Remnant

So, my roommate's sister came over for Thanksgiving and brought The Last Remnant with her. I have to say, I was originally turned off from the different fighting style, until I played it myself. It is a totally unique fighting style in which you don't actually select each character's actions, but you group a bunch of characters together into a union and select one of a few options, and the characters will attack, use magic (if they can), special attack arts, or heal. At first it was weird, but as I went on, I found myself enjoying the gameplay. Each union's HP and AP (for magic and arts) is aggregate of all the characters comprised of the union, therefore making a powerful entity that (usually) doesn't die unless all of the HP is depleted. The story is of a boy, Rush, trying to save his sister (well, I'm not that far into the game, so I don't know how much further it goes). Suffice it to say that this is a must-have for RPG players!

Heat Surge TV

Have you seen these ads on TV? They used to be in the the newspapers as well.

Does anyone actually buy these? I don't know about you, but I would be very skeptical to even think about purchasing this! Who would buy an electronic 'fireplace' heater built by people who live their lives without power lines?! If that's not enough to scare people away, then I don't know what would be! I might as well ask Mormons to make me a Ouiji Board, for a rabbi to share some pork with me, and for the pope to stop wearing his gold and jewels and actually live in poverty! That shit ain't flyin'! How can you trust people who shun phone lines to create a sound electronic fireplace?

What's priceless is that they actually then show an Amish man riding a cart with the Heat Surges in the wagon! Hahaha! He's already made electronics, can't he just drive a damn truck to deliver it by now?!

When is laughing too much?

You should start by reading this.

Okay, really, when is laughing at this too much? I do not doubt the reality of depression and the effects it can have on life, but really, how convenient is it to be able to claim depression and from that, a lawsuit can be filed. I don't doubt that what this lady did was despicable. To go on Myspace, feign being a boy and have a relationship with a girl, then cruelly break it off is a horrible thing to do, but can you really blame this woman for the girl's death? Additionally, how can you seriously diagnose a 13-year-old girl with depression? Speculating, she may be over-dramatic and have tendencies to react emotionally, but can you seriously claim a 13-year-old to have full-blown depression? I think that people throw this medical term out over and over, wanting to blame the stress of life on a medical disease, so when they don't feel like dealing with the problems, they can excuse it on this psychological disorder. As stated, I do believe in depression, however I also think people over-use it.

When I was 13, I was having problems, and my parents (who were divorced at the time) took me to a psychologist. I felt depressed about their divorce, the fact that I was not really popular, the fact that I didn't like my new step-mom. After a few visits, the psychologist told my parents that I suffered from depression and he wanted to put me on anti-depressants. Luckily, my mom was adamantly against the idea and, obviously, I turned out fine. Psychologists are so willing to jump on the gun and diagnose anyone with depression and pump them full of these drugs, which has a risk of dependency, and therefore could actually give them real depression when they stop taking it.

While what this lady did was despicable, yes, can you really claim that she had a malicious thought of having this girl commit suicide? People are mean to each other all the time... if we could really sue each other for someone being mean and the other committing suicide, there would be so many more lawsuits than there already are! I certainly hope that this woman feels a lot of remorse for her actions, however, people need to realize that there are risks involved in letting your young teenage daughter go online with these social networks and dating online!!! Also, if your child really has a problem of being depressed, you have to think about what can go on in these social networks, especially with online dating. Therefore, I ultimately think that is the responsibility of the mother to have restricted her daughter from partaking in Myspace and from dating online if she knew that her daughter had depression, as this could hurt her.

But then, if she were dating a real boy, he dumped her, and she committed suicide, you can't really blame the boy for her committing suicide. So, while this lady is despicable for pretending to be a guy and have a relationship with a girl then break it off, if it were really a teenage boy, would they then sue him as if he's responsible for her daughter committing suicide? Every person has a choice, and sadly, this 13-year-old girl chose to take her life. I would not be able to find her guilty. :\

Twilight

Okay, so I saw Twilight yesterday. All-in-all, they didn't do too bad of a job with it, but for how much money the damn book is making, I'm sure they could have done better! They rushed through all of the romantic angst between Bella and Edward, making the already sappy, ooey gooey lovey doveyness of it just ridiculous, as there was no build-up to their love confessions. :\
The sound was also horrible... it sounded like they were using really cheap sound systems... harsh at many points, and.. just, not that great. Okay, I have to admit that Edward looked pretty odd on the posters and all, but he was actually pretty good looking through it, if not sometimes rediculous when having to imitate his 'dark, penetrating stares.' Hahaha... you couldn't help but chuckle as he slightly tilts his head down, squinting his eyes a little bit and staring straight at Bella, all intense. While in the book, it sets the heart with a little flutter... while in the movie, it builds a laughter in the belly. :P So, I think it would be a recommendation for people to see, but maybe not worth it in the theaters as much. I also wonder how they are going to make Jacob go through his massive growth spurt if they do the next movie... hm...

Research...

So, I knew this day would come, but that doesn't mean I have to like it! Here comes the research stage for my book... I will have to research historical times of various countries to be able to create a complete world that is believable. I need to learn how structures were built, various trade crafts, the ways of life, the ways of the political and religious system of the time, and all that jazz. I'm not saying it is not necessary, but that doesn't mean I have to like it... blah... that's what it is. As soon as I know I have to do something, I inevitably shy away from it. I need to just buckle down and do it... humph...

Twilight... Coming to a theater near you!

So, I, too, am one of those people who are totally into this series. While oozing with gushy love scenes that both make you laugh at how cliche they are and yet have your heart swelling to the size of a watermelon with your happiness. So, everyone should know what this book is about, but if not, it is a vampire novel about a total klutz falling in love with a super-hot, marble-skinned, sun-shining god of a vampire (I wouldn't mind one of my own) who happens to be a 'vegetarian' vampire (does not feed on humans). He wants nothing more than to protect his klutzy Bella, yet puts her in danger when a hunting pack comes upon his 'family,' one of which decides that he will make the succulent Bella his mark, and a race begins to see who is faster: the hunter, or the hunted.

Okay, so I said it yesterday, but I will be seeing the movie tomorrow. Lucky for me, I have absolutely no standards when going into movies, especially those modeled after a book (even more a good book). So, while knowing it might be disappointing, I still will see it, and will have fun! (^_^)

Dragons and nothing to do with them...

So, when I had decided to start writing my book, I had just started reading this trilogy by Margaret Weis. It's a fairly interesting story about a woman who is next in line to be the Mistress of Dragons - the leader of the kingdom of Seth and the strongest in magic who would be their leader in protecting their people from the dragons. However, little do they know that in reality, the Mistress is not all that she seems.

Draconas, a young dragon selected to be the Walker (a dragon who can walk in the form of a human), has a plan to remove Maristara, a rogue dragon who broke the dragon laws by taking over the kingdom of Seth, by sneaking into her kindgom and trying to capture the Mistress of Dragons. He tricks the kingdom of Idylswyld into thinking that a dragon is attacking their lands (he's only nibbling on some cattle and burning a few farmlands), and requests the king to travel with him to Seth.

Little does Draconas know that what he thinks is the truth of the matter is not even close, as betrayals, hunts, and danger ensues as their plan changes with each new discovery.

Somehow, having nothing to do with what I was writing, this became a sort of muse for me. I would be reading it, then a sudden flash of a new plot point would form in my head (as I was reading, so then I'd realize I've read 1-3 pages without actually processing the words on them), completely unrelated to what I was reading. Lucky for me, all this happened in my very beginning stages, so it gave me a nice push forward in my book and lots of inspiration. This is another book I recommend... while not nearly as good as Terry Goodkind, it is still worth a read.

My life...

So, I joined the Big Brothers Big Sisters organizations recently, and I was lucky enough to immediately get a match! I want to respect privacy, so he will be C. C seems really cool! He's 10 years old, almost going to be 11. We'll probably have our first hang out sometime this weekend, so I'm definitely looking forward to it!

And, I'm going to be seeing Twilight in the theater this Friday! Ooh, I'm so excited! I'm one of those types who have read the book (over half-way through the second, and I only started two days ago)... and I am looking forward to seeing it! :D

Terry Goodkind - Wizard's First Rule

This is one of the best series I have ever read! Terry Goodkind really knows how to keep you in suspense. I lost a lot of sleep reading this book through the night, sneaking in reads during my small breaks at work, and ultimately lending it to a friend to read. This continued with the rest of the books in this series, where I would read, lend, then we would discuss.

Richard is a simple woods guide, pure of heart and a great control of his anger. He sees a woman being chased by some men and helps her. This sets into motion his discovery that he is the Seeker, a man born in times of crisis to seek out the truth and bring justice where it has not been served. He soon finds himself riddled in multitudes of prophecy, none of which he intends to follow. Only, when he tries to run from prophecy, he only seems to fulfill it in ways nobody could have foreseen.

There is no ranking system that could rank how high this book is! Not only is it great in story, but also in its themes. Try this book out, you'll love it.

Welcome to me...

Welcome to the start of my blog. This will probably seem like a hotchpotch of random posts, but that's all right... random is good! To tell a little bit about myself, I am an aquarius, born in '86. My blood type is O, and I totally fit the personality of it: open-minded. I like to keep an open mind about all things, listening to everyone's opinion. Of course, I'm also fairly confident in what I believe, and am more than willing to argue my point.

I love fantasy... I love to read. Some of my favorites are The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind and The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. I'm not sure if I will ever read anything as well-written as those series. However, I have always wanted to write a book, and am now following that dream. I am in the rough stages of getting one together... I have thought of the basic plot lines and the setting for what will be the first book in a series. I'm still brainstorming the way that magic will be and character names... the details... :)

Welcome to my blog, and I hope you find it interesting enough to follow.