we got it "as is" for $150, with a leaf, so it can expand to accomodate more people. it was originally $550. this is so wonderful!! i am absolutely in love with my table. it's so funny how quickly my homemaker instincts click in. we're gonna go back soon to get some chairs, we're not about to drain all of our funds in one shot. we've got everything we need to start, and over time we're replace the hand-me-downs with new items. the funniest part was testing out the couches. we'd spot a couch we liked, feel it, and then sit for a little bit. once we decided how we felt about that couch, we moved on to another one and repeated. i'm not obsessed with searching online for various pieces of furniture and other things that we might want to purchase. hopefully i'll have some apartment photos soon!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
homemaker
billy and i signed the lease for our apartment on saturday! we'll be moving this week. aside from the obvious "moving in with my boyfriend" excitement, i can not wait to have my own place to decorate! i have my own kitchen to cook in. i even have my own bathroom to poop in. i love appliances and furniture and area rugs and curtain rods! it's so wonderful. we're getting a lot of hand-me-down furniture to get us started, but today we made our first purchase for the apartment!!! we went to the always awesome crate and barrel outlet and got the greatest buy ever!
we got it "as is" for $150, with a leaf, so it can expand to accomodate more people. it was originally $550. this is so wonderful!! i am absolutely in love with my table. it's so funny how quickly my homemaker instincts click in. we're gonna go back soon to get some chairs, we're not about to drain all of our funds in one shot. we've got everything we need to start, and over time we're replace the hand-me-downs with new items. the funniest part was testing out the couches. we'd spot a couch we liked, feel it, and then sit for a little bit. once we decided how we felt about that couch, we moved on to another one and repeated. i'm not obsessed with searching online for various pieces of furniture and other things that we might want to purchase. hopefully i'll have some apartment photos soon!
we got it "as is" for $150, with a leaf, so it can expand to accomodate more people. it was originally $550. this is so wonderful!! i am absolutely in love with my table. it's so funny how quickly my homemaker instincts click in. we're gonna go back soon to get some chairs, we're not about to drain all of our funds in one shot. we've got everything we need to start, and over time we're replace the hand-me-downs with new items. the funniest part was testing out the couches. we'd spot a couch we liked, feel it, and then sit for a little bit. once we decided how we felt about that couch, we moved on to another one and repeated. i'm not obsessed with searching online for various pieces of furniture and other things that we might want to purchase. hopefully i'll have some apartment photos soon!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
ageism is all the rage[ism]
i love old people. they're awesome. my grandma was, hands down, the greatest woman ever to walk this earth. my great grandma was a close second. part of what made my grandma so awesome was that she was totally aware of her limits. she was not comfortable driving far, driving at night, and driving in bad weather. so guess what? SHE DIDN'T DO IT! if she knew that she had to go somewhere and the time, distance, and/or weather was going to be an issue, then she would find another ride. so what is up with all the cotton puffs out on the road driving 10-15 under the speed limit? if you can't handle it, then back the eff off! i'm sorry, i know that old people want their freedom and independence too, but it's preventing so many people from driving as efficiently as they should be. the other day i was approaching an intersection where there was a traffic light that was yellow and had then turned red. there was a car ahead of me who failed to break until after the light had changed to red. the car was stopped LITERALLY in the middle. It wasn't like the car thought they could make the yellow and then realized they couldn't. No, it was quite obvious that the person was just unable to react to the visual stimuli (traffic light). It was so bad that the driver had to put the car in reverse and nearly hit me. In addition, the cars that were driving perpendicular to us had to go around the poorly stopped vehicle. They probably would have been best off running the red.
Reaction time is a critical part of driving. There have been many times that i've had to quickly slam on the breaks, or swerve to avoid a small animal. if your reaction time is slow, then you're only increasing the probability of causing an accident. It's not fair for you, and it's not fair for anyone else that you share the road with.
Reaction time is a critical part of driving. There have been many times that i've had to quickly slam on the breaks, or swerve to avoid a small animal. if your reaction time is slow, then you're only increasing the probability of causing an accident. It's not fair for you, and it's not fair for anyone else that you share the road with.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Separation of church and brain
I am an atheist. I don't believe in a god or a higher power. I don't buy it. I used to be agnostic before i really developed my own thoughts and opinions. I believed in something because I thought that you had to. Neither of my parents are religious. I do not preach my (lack of) beliefs. I respect people who do believe. That's great, if you believe in a higher power and it helps you to guide you in the direction of becoming a better person, then i couldn't be happier for you. I respect that, different people believe different things and who am i to say what's right and what's wrong? HOWEVER! Please do not turn around and try to convert me to believing.
So here's a little story: A few weeks ago, at work, i found myself in a discussion with the teacher and aid that i work with. We were talking about HORSES. (Horses happen to be repulsive to me. Don't like them. They're gross. They are beasts) My teacher mentioned how horses sleep standing up, and commented that she was curious as to why they sleep standing up and wondered if their legs ever got tired. I'd never really thought about that, but it was a funny little thing to think about. I was quick to dismiss it because, frankly, i don't care about horses or if they dislike the fact that they sleep standing up. The aid then said (verbatim) "God has a plan". WHAT?! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! HORSES SLEEP STANDING UP BECAUSE GOD HAS A FUCKING PLAN?! You mean to tell me that she is perfectly content in thinking that horses sleep standing up because GOD has a flippin' plan?! this gets a giant 'WHAT THE FUCK?!' I don't care who you are, or what you believe, there's got to be a little more to "God's plan" than that. I nearly fell off my chair at the thought. Of course, i had to jump on the wonderful interwebz and find out the real reason why horses sleep standing up. I'm not going to explain it, but you can feel free to click here and read a fairly basic explanation. And just as you (hopefully) expected, the reason has NOTHING to do with God or his fucking plan.
I'm not going to tell you to not believe in who/whatever you believe in. I'm not going to tell you to hate horses, even if they are the worst. But, I will tell you that you need to be able and willing to back up the things you say with a little more of an explanation than someone you're not entirely positive even exists has a plan. That certainly is NOT why horses sleep standing up.
I really don't even love publicizing my lack of faith. Billy and I have talked about this before. He doesn't believe either. Anytime the question of affiliation comes up, we'll say that we're atheists. every single time we get the same reaction, a look of pity and/or disappointment followed by a comment along the lines of "really?" or "aww, how come?" I don't ask you why you DO believe. i don't go door to door talking about scientific research that happens to explain the happenings of the world. leave us alone. there's plenty of information out there that we can decide for ourselves! I especially love the people who admit that they are unsure of the presence of a higher power, but believe "just in case" (Pascal's Wager). That's nice. Do me a favor and question what you know, because you could be missing out on a lot of information.
So here's a little story: A few weeks ago, at work, i found myself in a discussion with the teacher and aid that i work with. We were talking about HORSES. (Horses happen to be repulsive to me. Don't like them. They're gross. They are beasts) My teacher mentioned how horses sleep standing up, and commented that she was curious as to why they sleep standing up and wondered if their legs ever got tired. I'd never really thought about that, but it was a funny little thing to think about. I was quick to dismiss it because, frankly, i don't care about horses or if they dislike the fact that they sleep standing up. The aid then said (verbatim) "God has a plan". WHAT?! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! HORSES SLEEP STANDING UP BECAUSE GOD HAS A FUCKING PLAN?! You mean to tell me that she is perfectly content in thinking that horses sleep standing up because GOD has a flippin' plan?! this gets a giant 'WHAT THE FUCK?!' I don't care who you are, or what you believe, there's got to be a little more to "God's plan" than that. I nearly fell off my chair at the thought. Of course, i had to jump on the wonderful interwebz and find out the real reason why horses sleep standing up. I'm not going to explain it, but you can feel free to click here and read a fairly basic explanation. And just as you (hopefully) expected, the reason has NOTHING to do with God or his fucking plan.
I'm not going to tell you to not believe in who/whatever you believe in. I'm not going to tell you to hate horses, even if they are the worst. But, I will tell you that you need to be able and willing to back up the things you say with a little more of an explanation than someone you're not entirely positive even exists has a plan. That certainly is NOT why horses sleep standing up.
I really don't even love publicizing my lack of faith. Billy and I have talked about this before. He doesn't believe either. Anytime the question of affiliation comes up, we'll say that we're atheists. every single time we get the same reaction, a look of pity and/or disappointment followed by a comment along the lines of "really?" or "aww, how come?" I don't ask you why you DO believe. i don't go door to door talking about scientific research that happens to explain the happenings of the world. leave us alone. there's plenty of information out there that we can decide for ourselves! I especially love the people who admit that they are unsure of the presence of a higher power, but believe "just in case" (Pascal's Wager). That's nice. Do me a favor and question what you know, because you could be missing out on a lot of information.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
how to be the best host[ess] you possibly can
As many of my friends know, I love to cook. I especially love to cook for other people. It's more enjoyable to see people enjoying what I spend my time (and money) preparing, and it's also nice to get compliments when people like your food. When I was younger, I had terrible anxiety about eating over other people's houses because I was such a picky eater. I always keep that in mind when I prepare dinners for my friends and family. Here are some important things to remember when hosting dinner parties.
1. Know who you're feeding.
You're not going to make bacon and eggs for Hasidic Jews. Take into consideration various diet choices and preferences when selecting a meal to prepare. There's nothing more disappointing than to go for dinner and not be able to eat what has been cooked for you. Many people are vegetarians, vegans, and just don't like certain foods. It's a good idea to tell people what you're making, and even be open to modifying your meal to accommodate everyone.
2. Make enough food.
I know that we live in an overindulgent society, but if you're inviting people over for dinner they shouldn't still be hungry when the meal is done. There should be enough food for people to have seconds (if they so desire, that's their prerogative).
3. Cover the various food groups. (or as many as possible)
Just because you don't like vegetables, does not mean other people don't like them either. An easy way to cover this is by preparing a salad of some sort, which happens to be quick AND easy. It is not acceptable to only serve a main dish sans vegetables or starches (rice/potatoes/etc.). A good idea is to reference the food pyramid as a sort of check list.
4. Timing is vital.
If people are coming over at 6, they should not be waiting to eat at 9. Dinner should be nearly finished when guests arrive. I'd say an appropriate wait time is 30 minutes. While they are waiting and you are finishing dinner, there should be drinks or some other entertainment to keep them distracted and out of your kitchen. If you're inviting people over, they are your guests and are not to be employed for kitchen assistance.
5. Set the table.
Have the table already set, so that everyone can sit down and eat when the food is ready. If you will be dining buffet style, make sure you have enough serving dishes and serving spoons.
6. There will be thirst to be quenched.
People get thirsty when they eat. Have soda, beer, or iced tea on hand. Just because you don't drink certain beverages, doesn't mean your guests won't want them. Depending on the event, it's usually okay to denote the evening as B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Beverage/Beer), but they should know ahead of time. If you have a themed dinner, it is extra nice to have a specific beverage that compliments the meal.
7. Desert?
You don't have to prepare an elaborate desert. Ice cream or sherbet is usually enough to please the masses. Especially if you just prepared an elaborate dinner. If you want to bake a cake or a pie, it's a good idea to have it baking while dinner is being eaten. That way it will be ready when people have finished eating, and it will be fresh and warm. Coffee and tea is also a good idea.
8. Volunteers are welcome.
Unless they offer help, a good hostess will not as for help cleaning up. You can do that when the guests leave. If they offer, you can accept, but you should insist that they don't. You made your mess, and you'll clean it too. It's a good idea to clean as you cook. It is unacceptable to have a sink overflowing with dishes because someone will feel compelled to offer help. Never guilt your guests.
*9. Pot-luck (most of the above rules do not apply to this)
When planning a pot-luck dinner, make a list of what people are bringing. A good dinner doesn't consist of 5 different kinds of dinner rolls. It's okay to ask someone to make something different so as to vary the dishes.
10. Enjoy yourself.
It is not a good idea to bite off more than you can chew. Don't plan a dinner party for 15 if it is going to stress you out. It's okay if you're dinner party is small. If you stress throughout the entire preparation, it won't taste as good and you won't enjoy it as much.
If you follow my rules, you will avoid having unhappy or dissatisfied guests, unless your cooking sucks. Don't invite people over for dinner if you can't cook.
1. Know who you're feeding.
You're not going to make bacon and eggs for Hasidic Jews. Take into consideration various diet choices and preferences when selecting a meal to prepare. There's nothing more disappointing than to go for dinner and not be able to eat what has been cooked for you. Many people are vegetarians, vegans, and just don't like certain foods. It's a good idea to tell people what you're making, and even be open to modifying your meal to accommodate everyone.
2. Make enough food.
I know that we live in an overindulgent society, but if you're inviting people over for dinner they shouldn't still be hungry when the meal is done. There should be enough food for people to have seconds (if they so desire, that's their prerogative).
3. Cover the various food groups. (or as many as possible)
Just because you don't like vegetables, does not mean other people don't like them either. An easy way to cover this is by preparing a salad of some sort, which happens to be quick AND easy. It is not acceptable to only serve a main dish sans vegetables or starches (rice/potatoes/etc.). A good idea is to reference the food pyramid as a sort of check list.
4. Timing is vital.
If people are coming over at 6, they should not be waiting to eat at 9. Dinner should be nearly finished when guests arrive. I'd say an appropriate wait time is 30 minutes. While they are waiting and you are finishing dinner, there should be drinks or some other entertainment to keep them distracted and out of your kitchen. If you're inviting people over, they are your guests and are not to be employed for kitchen assistance.
5. Set the table.
Have the table already set, so that everyone can sit down and eat when the food is ready. If you will be dining buffet style, make sure you have enough serving dishes and serving spoons.
6. There will be thirst to be quenched.
People get thirsty when they eat. Have soda, beer, or iced tea on hand. Just because you don't drink certain beverages, doesn't mean your guests won't want them. Depending on the event, it's usually okay to denote the evening as B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Beverage/Beer), but they should know ahead of time. If you have a themed dinner, it is extra nice to have a specific beverage that compliments the meal.
7. Desert?
You don't have to prepare an elaborate desert. Ice cream or sherbet is usually enough to please the masses. Especially if you just prepared an elaborate dinner. If you want to bake a cake or a pie, it's a good idea to have it baking while dinner is being eaten. That way it will be ready when people have finished eating, and it will be fresh and warm. Coffee and tea is also a good idea.
8. Volunteers are welcome.
Unless they offer help, a good hostess will not as for help cleaning up. You can do that when the guests leave. If they offer, you can accept, but you should insist that they don't. You made your mess, and you'll clean it too. It's a good idea to clean as you cook. It is unacceptable to have a sink overflowing with dishes because someone will feel compelled to offer help. Never guilt your guests.
*9. Pot-luck (most of the above rules do not apply to this)
When planning a pot-luck dinner, make a list of what people are bringing. A good dinner doesn't consist of 5 different kinds of dinner rolls. It's okay to ask someone to make something different so as to vary the dishes.
10. Enjoy yourself.
It is not a good idea to bite off more than you can chew. Don't plan a dinner party for 15 if it is going to stress you out. It's okay if you're dinner party is small. If you stress throughout the entire preparation, it won't taste as good and you won't enjoy it as much.
If you follow my rules, you will avoid having unhappy or dissatisfied guests, unless your cooking sucks. Don't invite people over for dinner if you can't cook.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
for serial!
i'm going to take it down a notch from my failed attempts at wit and humor and redirect my ramblings towards self-help. everyone else has offered up their thoughts on the rihanna/chris brown debacle, i don't know all the details of that specific ordeal, but i have some strong opinions on the issue at hand.
i am not and have never been in an abusive relationship. my parents were never abusive towards me. i don't think i've ever been abusive towards someone else. there is never a situation where it is okay for someone to hit you, hurt you, or put you into a compromising position. i know people who've been sexually abused, pretty much every girl i know has been on the receiving end of some form of unwarranted sexual reference, and i know several guys who have been blackmailed and/or guilted by crazy women. it happens on both sides, it's not just men beating women. trust is a really important aspect in any relationship. once that bond is broken, it is virtually impossible to repair. if your significant other cheats on you, it is more than likely that they will do it again. similarly, if the person you are with hits you or degrades you in any way, shape, or form, it will not end there. you are DELUSIONAL if you think that they are going to change. additionally, you are allowing yourself to live in a volatile relationship if you remain with that person. it doesn't matter what they say to you when you're alone. it doesn't matter what he buys you. if someone is endangering your physical and mental state, then there is nothing they can do to redeem themself. your significant other should be able to treat you the same in public as they do in private. like i said, i've never been the victim, but i know how it feels to have someone take advantage of me. it's horrible, and i know it's hard to walk away from that person, but your life is never going to improve by sticking with someone who is able to treat you badly at all. women are typically worse than men because men are, by nature, more independent than women. girls, you just gotta suck it up and be single. it's not the end of the world, and you'll be better in the end. don't let this person convince you that you can't live without them, especially if it's with black eyes. if he betrays your once, HE WILL DO IT AGAIN. i promise.
i am not and have never been in an abusive relationship. my parents were never abusive towards me. i don't think i've ever been abusive towards someone else. there is never a situation where it is okay for someone to hit you, hurt you, or put you into a compromising position. i know people who've been sexually abused, pretty much every girl i know has been on the receiving end of some form of unwarranted sexual reference, and i know several guys who have been blackmailed and/or guilted by crazy women. it happens on both sides, it's not just men beating women. trust is a really important aspect in any relationship. once that bond is broken, it is virtually impossible to repair. if your significant other cheats on you, it is more than likely that they will do it again. similarly, if the person you are with hits you or degrades you in any way, shape, or form, it will not end there. you are DELUSIONAL if you think that they are going to change. additionally, you are allowing yourself to live in a volatile relationship if you remain with that person. it doesn't matter what they say to you when you're alone. it doesn't matter what he buys you. if someone is endangering your physical and mental state, then there is nothing they can do to redeem themself. your significant other should be able to treat you the same in public as they do in private. like i said, i've never been the victim, but i know how it feels to have someone take advantage of me. it's horrible, and i know it's hard to walk away from that person, but your life is never going to improve by sticking with someone who is able to treat you badly at all. women are typically worse than men because men are, by nature, more independent than women. girls, you just gotta suck it up and be single. it's not the end of the world, and you'll be better in the end. don't let this person convince you that you can't live without them, especially if it's with black eyes. if he betrays your once, HE WILL DO IT AGAIN. i promise.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Watchmen
cough! cough! as many of you know, i've had droves of crappy days at work. my class is pretty awful and i'm also not loving the staff either. so today, i took a half-day off because i had a "doctors appointment". it's extremely difficult to write with sarcasm, so i'll come out and admit it here, i did not really go to the doctor. instead, we went to see the watchmen.
it was good. i can't really decide how i feel. sometimes i feel like really popular actors do too much and it's hard to believe them as the role their playing, so i like that there were lesser known actors in leading roles. however, i didn't really care about any of the characters. at one point i was curious as to how the movie was going to resolve the problem at hand, but i didn't especially care about what happened to the specific people involved. maybe i would have felt differently if it were a better-known actor or actress. the songs used in the film were very cliche and just seemed a little too popular to be used in this specific movie. it really is true that the music and soundtrack affects how you perceive what you're watching.don't get me wrong, i like most (if not all) of the songs, but i just wouldn't have chosen them out of the millions of songs out there. it just added a little too much "cheese" to the entire story. playing "hallelujah" during the soft-core porn sex scene was just terrible, it was hard to not laugh/feel like i was doing something wrong by watching. i'm not sure whether the movie was meant to be cheesy or was just tried too hard to appeal to people unfamiliar with the watchmen. i know it's based on a comic book and isn't real, but certain parts were just lame, such as the sex scene. i wish they would have explained rorschach a bit more, i had no idea what was going on with his mask. luckily, billy was able to explain that to me afterwards. i think i'm gonna read the original so that i can better understand.
all in all, it was good. not great, but not bad either. it wasn't a wasted day. i enjoyed it. it would have been better if billy didn't have to get up and move in the first 30 seconds. some fat lady came in and was on her cell phone which distracted him, he moved to a different seat because he didn't want to miss anything. i thought he was going to move back, but didn't. also, i had to get up and use the bathroom part of the way through. it's very long. i would advise you to avoid drinking anything before or during, otherwise you're probably going to need to get up too.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
I can do the failure which it has?
amidst my internet travels, i have come across some great [sub]sites. on the top of i can has cheeseburger (LOLcats) there's 8 or 9 links tabs. two noteworthy tabs are fail and engrish. they're similar to lolcats, in that there's one theme throughout and it's basically just pictures and videos.
fail blog has pics and vids of fails
fail blog has pics and vids of fails
so for example, 
this is funny because it's supposed to be the glowing finger of the loveable 80's movie character, E.T. It's funny because it looks like a vibrator.
For those of you who don't know what "engrish" is, urban dictionary offers some really good explanations. i've conveniently linked it for you. i really enjoy this site because i often replace my "L"s with "R"s (especially when talking to Birri (Billy, if you're an r-tard)), and i love hello kitty, which pretty much seals the deal in my appreciation of japanese culture. so, on this site, people can post images and videos of ironic and poorly translated japanese to english statements. for example,
it's pretty safe to assume that whoever made that shirt just took a japanese phrase and punched it into babelfish or a similar translation program and printed whatever came out. for those of us who took a language in high school or college, we know that such programs translate word for word. this is ineffective because different languages organize sentences and phrases much differently. also, words don't always have the same connotation in different languages. on top of that, we have a lot of homonyms in our language and meaning is easily lost. so yeah, it's humorous to laugh at the short-comings of other cultures! (in "engrish": That is in order to ridicule the fault of humorous other culture!)
this is funny because it's supposed to be the glowing finger of the loveable 80's movie character, E.T. It's funny because it looks like a vibrator.
For those of you who don't know what "engrish" is, urban dictionary offers some really good explanations. i've conveniently linked it for you. i really enjoy this site because i often replace my "L"s with "R"s (especially when talking to Birri (Billy, if you're an r-tard)), and i love hello kitty, which pretty much seals the deal in my appreciation of japanese culture. so, on this site, people can post images and videos of ironic and poorly translated japanese to english statements. for example,
it's pretty safe to assume that whoever made that shirt just took a japanese phrase and punched it into babelfish or a similar translation program and printed whatever came out. for those of us who took a language in high school or college, we know that such programs translate word for word. this is ineffective because different languages organize sentences and phrases much differently. also, words don't always have the same connotation in different languages. on top of that, we have a lot of homonyms in our language and meaning is easily lost. so yeah, it's humorous to laugh at the short-comings of other cultures! (in "engrish": That is in order to ridicule the fault of humorous other culture!)
Monday, March 2, 2009
by the by
i went to the library yesterday. i got a library card. i walked around and couldn't find the scholarly journals, so i perused the comic books and graphic novels. then i left. i wound up doing my research on the east brunswick public library website. it's so great that i don't actually have to go there to utilize the resources!
Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!
i'm going to try to reignite this thing...it had a very short-lived run in the past. i'm pretty much jumping back on the bandwagon, but it makes sense since so many of my friends live a trillion million kabillion miles away from me. also i'm pretty much the worst phone person ever, as per the fact that i'm socially awkward. sooooooo, yeah, let's see how long i maintain this again. it's like when i was little and i told myself that i was going to write in a diary because it seemed like something that little girls did. i would write something stupid like "i painted my nails today and i got some nail polish on my finger. i hate when that happens." and then i would never write again until months later when i remembered that i had a stupid diary.
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