TREASURES!

So I'm back in Hays going through all of the boxes that I brought from California trying to find all of the things that I need to take to my new place. I'm specifically looking for a couple lamps. But, of course, whatever you are actually looking for you never find.

However...

I have come across a treasure trove of memories and nostalgia. As I was putting away some DVD's into my dad's entertainment center, I found a bunch of cassette tapes going back to the late 70's.

There were some actual tapes from recording artists. A copy of MJ's Thriller takes the cake for best tape in the box. While a tape of Milli Vanilli's Girl you Know its True takes the prize for the tape that I'm most likely to be listening to right now. Hint: I am.

Don't even lie. You know you were rocking out to Blame it on the Rain. Wow, remember those Africa medallions? FUCKING SWEET!

Other than listening to people's voices that don't belong to Rob and Fab, I discovered a bunch of tapes that my family recorded when we were children.

My childhood was always in a state of flux (which is probably the reason I'm pretty much game for moving or trying new things). While my mom moved to the US for work my dad decided to keep his ophthalmology practice in the Philippines for a while longer. So, we would live in the US with my mom for a couple years, then go back and live with my dad in the P.I. for a couple years.

I actually spent Kindergarten, 2nd grade, 5th and 6th grade in the P.I. This probably explains my "fobnation" and could be the reason I've decided to grow out my hair.

Quick hair update: My emo bangs are slowly creeping to the tip of my nose. I can almost do the Panteen shake of my head to get the hair out of my eyes. I have no idea how I'm suppose to style this thing, but screw it, I've let it grow this much in the summer, I'd might as well keep it through the winter.

Back to the tapes. So, as we moved from continent to continent, we would record tapes for whichever parent we weren't living with at the time. When I first found the tapes I was wondering where I could listen to them. With the change to CD's then to digital, Walkman's are extremely hard to come by. Thankfully, my parent's still have a super old skool Japanese Karaoke machine. I had to preface that it's Japanese, because all of the writing on it is in Kanji.

Oh Snap, the jam is on! Sing it with me...

Girl you know its true. Oh oh oh, I love you.
Yes you know its true. Oh oh oh, I love you.

Damn, that's catchy.

Enough of that. I need to get these cassette recordings onto CD or Digital format. If anyone out there has ever done that, please let a brotha know.

FYI, I used to speak Tagalog pretty damn well. Also, my child voice is pretty cute. Given the fact that I was also a very cute child, I was definitely under a constant threat to get my cheeks pinched. Sadly, that is no longer the case.

Shoot, I'd better get back to sorting this stuff. Hopefully those lamps pop up. As I used to say on the tapes:

Sige na po!


SLTSFMM

It just don't feel the same
Gotta blame it on something
Gotta blame it on something
Blame it on the rain
Blame it on the stars

"Blame it on the Rain" by Milli Vanilli

Damn, Labels Suck!

As we were putting in the final touches on the condo renovation (more on that later), my cousin really put me in my place.

It seems that I will actually have a roomie while I'm going to school here. I have a female cousin who will be entering her freshman year as well. Since her family lived in town they had decided to save money by not putting her in the dorms. This of course bummed her out considerably.

This prompted me, being a knight in shinning armor, to let them know that I would be O.K. with her staying at my condo if she wanted too. Of course she jumped at the chance at moving out of the house and being able to live off campus immediately. I did say however, that I wished she could have lived in a dorm; for this was something I didn't get to do at all and I feel like I missed out on some memories.

Honestly, me volunteering to share one of the two extra bedrooms was a bit selfish. My cousin can cook and I know she'll help keep the place clean.

Alas, back to the "putting me in check"...

As we were doing some final painting touch ups I decided to bring up some rules for our living situation.

Jokingly (OK, maybe not completely jokingly), I told her I didn't want any "dudes, bro's, homies," or anything with a Y chromosome coming over after dark. But, I advised that I would be completely amenable to any bikini clad coed's that she might need to bring over for a study session.

She turned and said wryly:

"And then what? I'll introduce you as my MIDDLE AGED cousin who's back in school again?"

GOD DAMN! I guess REALITY really is the biggest game buster.

When the hell did I turn middle aged? F it all to HELL!

Quick update on the renovations. I just recently got home and showered, I was there till about 2 am to finish painting the stairs. Granted that I was pretty high on paint fumes, but I think the stairs came out looking pretty good. Can't remember if I mentioned this earlier, but instead of carpeting or putting laminate flooring on the stairs, we just kept them wood and I painted them black.

The condo is looking very modern, I sure it is the coolest looking one in the entire complex. All that is left to do is to clean the place up from top to bottom, then get some furniture up in that place.

Oh well, I'd better get to bed. I'm heading back to my parents house in Hays and I'm leaving for Kansas City tomorrow so I can take my brother to the airport on Friday. I also have to start packing for CALIFORNIA!

SLTSFFM

When its time to live and let die,
And you can't get another try,
Something inside the heart has died,
You're in ruins,

"21 Guns" by Green Day

If I mumbled...

If I mumbled my weekend would probably sound a whole lot more exciting. For instance, if you would have asked me what I did on Friday night...and if I answered with a low mumbled sentence you may have thought I said:

"I was cocking some whores!"

Exciting, albeit somewhat vulgar.

However, my life isn't a porno movie. And, I probably have never "cocked a whore". My Friday night was spent "caulking some floors".

The major renovations for my new/old place are complete. I was applying caulk to seal the new laminate flooring against the base boards.

I used the term: new/old because I will actually be residing in the same condo that I lived in during my first stint at Mizzou. My parents actually still own the place, so it was a great fit for me to take over again. Great news is that I'll only be taking care of utilities...which is awesome for my current negative income (which I hope to rectify in a month, more on that later).

I spent all week deep in D.I.Y. mode. D.I.Y., for the uninitiated stands for Do It Yourself. While this could be referring to "self love" (no more on that later), in this context its meant to refer to the upgrades my mother decided the condo needed.

Every single surface of the place was renovated. We pulled up all the old carpet and linoleum, which were holdovers form when I lived there previously. Needless to say the carpets were in pretty dire straits. We also painted all walls and ceilings. I even spray painted the outlet covers a nice metallic sheen to match the stainless steel coverings I commandeered from my place in SoCal.

With my very artistic sister's help, we also constructed a national skyline in my bedroom with the accent wall paint. We have a skyline of monuments from LA to Chicago to DC to NYC to Maine. I have to do some touch up work on it, but I'll definitely upload some pics (for those of you who cannot or refuse to visit me...punks!)

The house is mostly done. Other than the aforementioned painting touch ups and minor issues, the last hurdle is to paint the stairs. The condo is a 5 level apartment. There are 24 stairs (4 sets of 6 stairs) dividing the place up into the 5 levels. You walk into the living room with a set of stairs leading down to the kitchen and a set leading up to the office and 1st bathroom. From there the stairs wrap around to the next level, where another bedroom and bathroom are. Finally, one more flight of stairs leads to my bedroom...where, unfortunately, no magic will be happening.

Oh back to painting the stairs. Since we put in the laminate flooring, my biggest concern was the stairs. In my last condo, we hired a professional to take care of the stairs. This time, we only had the local expertise of a very artistic cousin (who just received a full ride to college for art). However, she is quite adept at the laying down of said flooring (her parents own several rental properties in the area so she had gotten good experience). But, she hadn't done floors yet.

With an epiphany, another cousin (who may actually room with me) suggested that we just paint the stairs black to give it the urban/loft feel. I dig that idea. Once we cleared it with the land lady, who I luckily have a good relationship with, painting was a go and having to laminate the stairs was tossed out.

How it will turn out will be interesting, but I did pick up some special paint from Home Depot with some anti-slick powder mixed in. With this powder, hopefully you'll never have to read a blog about my sliding down 24 steps on a sore ass.

I'll post up some picks when I'm done. Better yet, come visit and see for yourself!

SLTSFFM

I wish I could,
Leave and never return,
Baby, I know I should,
But for you I'd burn,
Stay away,
I can't stay away.

"I Can't Stay Away" by The Veronicas

Ragnarok Approaches...

Ok, maybe I'm being melodramatic about my birthday (not too subtle reminder for you folks). In case you didn't know Ragnarok, is an armageddon of sorts from Norse mythology.

Seeing as my birthday is approximately 22 hours away, I sit here a reflect a bit. I'm normally a huge fan of birthdays and birthday celebrations. I'm also a big fan of cake (more on that later).

Typically I'm relatively enthusiastic about celebrating my day of emergence from the womb. But, after passing the magical third decade threshold; I'm a bit more reserved. I suppose some of this can be attributed to where I live now. In the OC, 30's are the new 20's. Hell, for some people, the 30's are the new 18's. However, here in the Midwest, I'm more acutely aware of how much older I am than many of my peers (though I still pass easily for a mid-twenty year old -- or so I think).

Oh well, another day wiser I hope. Today is actually my lovely mother's birthday. Shout out to my birth giver. Word to my moms.

I suppose that's why we're close. I missed sharing her birthday by 3 hours...I guess I wanted to chill in the womb a little longer so I get my own day/cake -- such a Leo.

I hope to have a pretty chill celebration. I'll actually be heading back to Kansas City and then to Columbia with my mom, siblings and the two little ladies.

Quick side note: Sleeping babies are the cutest thing ever. No, not just because they aren't crying, but they have such soft sleep. I was watching my niece sleep for a bit, and she would let out the cutest little sighs. She must have had a good dream at one point because she actually made a whistle.

I also had forgotten how much babies and little kids move while sleeping. I can remember back as a kid I would often wake up completely upsidedown or rotated at the end of the bed.

So, our family caravan will leave Kansas on Saturday and make our way East. Who knows, maybe we'll end up going out for drinks on Saturday night since my siblings will be in town as well.

I'm trying to finalize my West coast trip details as well. As of now, I'm not quite certain of the dates; though I will be there for the final weekend of August of course. I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to fly again. I may see a psychiatrist to help me with this phobia. I don't really think that would help. I would like to see a hypnotherapist...or I would appreciate if someone could just drop some chloroform into my soy milk - Mr. T style.

"I pity the fool who is afraid to fly!"

We'll see what happens...

I'll also be setting up my new spot in the next coming month. I think I may have mentioned it before but I'll be moving back into the condo my brother and I shared during our undergrad years. We'll just need to do some minor repairs and upgrades and it will soon be open to any midwestern visitors.

Oh, here's a random new feature of the blog. Lets call it: RCCOTM

That stands for Random Celebrity Crush of the Month. I know, kinda retarded but sometimes I have no idea what to blog about. So here is the RCCOTM for July 2009.

Shoot...I didn't really have one, so I'll just post 2 since I just saw them recently. And by saw them recently I mean on the internet and TV, not that you would have thought differently.


1A. Hyori Lee - Korean Pop star

I've never, ever seen a woman strike this pose in real life (other than yawning maybe). I'm guessing somewhere in a man's DNA we are genetically programmed that whenever we see a female this particular posture we immediately think: Aw HELL YA, I'd smash that!!!

Why is she RCCOTM?

My cousins actually got me watching a Korean reality show called Family Outing. It's a pretty entertaining show. Its very attractive when a pretty girl doesn't mind making fun of herself and can mess around. Check out one of her music videos for her song U Go Girl. I have no idea what she's saying...but I guess that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

1B. Anna Ellison - Art Director for Charm City Cakes

Russian dolls? I'm actually just like a Russian doll. You open my pants and there's another little me waiting for you....hmmm, that didn't sound quite right.

Why is she RCCOTM?

She's cute and she makes cool ass cakes. She's on the show Ace of Cakes on the Food Network. Check it out, its pretty sweet. Get it? Ahaha....haha....ha....

But, in the alternate parallel universe where we actually met and dated. She would break up with me because I'd probably put on 50 pounds and she'd get fired because I'd be secretly eating all her creations.


Ok, that's it from me right now. Next time I blog I'll be 32...sheeesh, when the F did that happen?

Don't TEAS me bro!

Ok, the title was a lame joke referencing this awesome moment in TASER history. Honestly if you ask me, the police were probably a little harsh. But, the dude was a bit of an attention starved douche nozzle. If you're going to be a little bitch, you're probably gonna get tased. Lesson learned!

Just wanted to drop a quick update about the TEAS test in case any of you out on the Internets was wondering.

Thankfully, I did well. I actually scored in the top 98th percentile nationally (the scoring was pretty immediate since this is the last scheduled exam for the academic year).

Woo to freakin the hoo!

This pretty much guarantees my acceptance to a couple of the programs here locally. However, I may not even need this test score because I may not go to those programs...more on that later.

On odd note tho, typically my English scores on these types of tests are the highest -- its been this way on the ACT, GRE & GMAT. But, my English scores on this test were my lowest. I actually scored a 57% on Punctuation! My overall English grade was 82%.

I guess, I don't know, how, to: properly use; commas & and colons, "or" semi-colons -- and, dashes!.??!

Thankfully, I was able to compensate my lack of Engrish noledge with a 100% in Reading Comprehension, 94% and 87% in the Math and Science sections respectively. Side note, I thought my Science score should have been higher, but they asked a few Physics questions -- a subject that I've completely forgotten about. Also the they asked some stoopid questions about rocks and clouds, who cares about that shit? =P

Oh, I apprently can't spell without "spellcheck" (this I do not dispute). But hell, who can these days?

Well, that test pretty much wraps up most of my summer responsibilities. The only thing I need to do now is figure out what program I want to get into.

Regarding that, my mother is executing a full court press about med school. Apparently she's already looking into medical schools in the Philippines so she can ship me back there, since my undergrad grades will probably not hold up here (ahh, to be 18 years old again and drinking the semesters away).

Lots to think about for sure...we'll see where the wind blows.

Time wasters...

So, I'm just killing time until I have to take my TEAS test. It's roughly 2 hours away and I'm ready for it. I had a good week of final review and took several practice tests. Again, its pretty much another SAT or ACT (depending on what side of the country you went to high school). Since I've already knocked out a GMAT and GRE (both of which I never put to any use by the way), I'm not too worried about this test.

I was thinking about working out now, but knowing my stupidity I'd probably end up straining a muscle and being uncomfortable during the test. So, I decided just to chill and head to campus a little early. Its an over cast day and its been raining off and on all day, but atleast the temperature is down in the 70's.

To help me kill time I've actually been frequenting a couple websites that I thought I'd share in case you haven't been there and need to kill some time. I usually jump onto these sites to have a quick giggle and to waste a few minutes of my life. If you "checked" yes to both criteria I suggest you pop on over to Texts from last night and FAIL blog.

Texts from last night is supposedly where people post text messages they received from the previous night's debauchery. Yes, I'm sure a lot of it is manufactured by people trying to be funny, but I'm sure there is a lot of truth in those text messages.

It made me realize a few things:

1) There are a LOT of whorish people out there
2) There are a LOT of people who get completely wasted out there
3) Why am I not a part of this LOT of people?

Here are a few of my favorites:

"(919): Seriously. Destroy her vagina. Do it like an angry baboon mating with a gentle manatee. "
Wow...you can't get much more descriptive than that. That is an awesome pre-intercourse pep talk. I was about to photoshop a descriptive picture of a baboon in the throws of passion with a manatee...but I thought its best to leave it to the imagination of the reader.

"(724): also, i may or may not be wearing a cape right now. hint: i am."

This could easily have been me after 4 too many Yeagerbombs.
"(205): woke up this morning wit a massive hangover. walked to my truck and found at least 35 for sale signs, a stop sign, and a julie kim sign...need answers (1-205): yea, you decided to become a real estate agent last night on the way home from the party. You started bitchin about how Julie Kim was stealing all your buisness...."

Seriously though, Julie Kim is probably the best realestate agent in the tri-county area.

Failblog is just a bunch of pictures and video's people send in about "failures". I'm sure some of it is photoshopped, but much of it is entertaining none the less.

One that I thought was funny since I was actually looking at a children's maze book (not working on it, it was just near by!).


Hmm, looking at a maze with no solution makes me want to watch the Labrynth again. Jennifer Connelly is HOT!

Speaking of Jennifer Connelly, I finally watched He's just not that into you. I give it 2 Strictor heads.

It definitely had some cute storylines. Pretty cool ensamble cast. But damn, it really makes me not want to get married. Maybe just being together without having the whole wedding ordeal is ok. This on top of hearing from a childhood friend that he's going thru a divorce as well. I guess my stance is that I'm going to be damn sure I'm ready before taking the plunge. However, my favorite storyline in the movie is between Jennifer Aniston and Ben Afflect.

Well, I guess I'll start getting myself into "test taking" mode. FYI, that means I'll probably go take a dump and watch a movie from Netflix. Wish me luck!

SLTSFFM

In every loss, in every lie, in every truth that you'd deny
And each regret and each goodbye was a mistake too great to hide
And your voice was all I heard that I get what I deserve

"New Divide" by Linkin Park

Dora is a crackhead...

OK, Dora the Explorer isn't a crackhead, but after watching way too many hours of Dora over the past week or so, I think I'm going a little batty. First, I think it would make for a hilarious drinking game, and it would probably be very entertaining to watch if you were high. I'm pretty sure in today's episode the characters kept singing that they needed to get to "Cocaine Island". However, I was up pretty early to watch this episode so I could be mistaken.

"Hey kids, can you say Ya-yo? Ya-yo!". Bet you didn't know that Diego packs an Uzi!

I must admit though, the creators of Dora do have a great formula that captivates children (and simple minded people like me for that matter). I found myself answering the questions Dora and Diego would ask, and I've been repeating "Backpack, backpack, backpack" in a sing-song way in my head all day. Freaky...

I'm taking a quick break from studying to blog. I'm finishing up some final review for my TEAS test on Tuesday. So far so good. I should be ok as long as I don't start rushing through it. Sometimes during the practice tests I start getting bored or something and made some silly mistakes. Funny thing, I don't remember ever learning about sentence structure (you know, all that dependent clause and subject/predicate BS) during JR High or High school. Hmm, maybe I was in the Philippines during those lessons.

The rain was really dumping on us today. There are a lot of sky lights in my parents house so the sound of rain drops get really amplified. Its good though, the rain had been missing their town so we needed a good storm. Also, with the cold Northern air, its cooled down the temperature considerably. We're in the 70's today, albiet with overcast skies. Hopefully the rain stays away tomorrow so I can go mow the lawn again.

I plan to head back to Columbia on Sunday. I was going to leave today but decided to extend my stay a bit. This way I can spend more time with my parents, sister and my two adorable nieces. The little one was suffering through a bit of an elevated temperature so they took her to the clinic this morning. Thankfully she's fine, nothing a little bit of baby Tylenol can't help with.

That's all for me right now, its time to take a comprehensive test. Then, maybe go try and catch the new Harry Potter movie (hard life I know!). Best synopsis review I read about that movie: Horny teens pretend to care about Voldemort. Awesome!

SLTSFMM:

I'm tired of all this round and round we go
You can't decide if you manna be trife or treat me right
So round and round we go
While I decide that I don't wanna ride anymore
I'm sick and tired of you taking me
Round and round we go

"Round and Round" by Ne Yo