The World's Turning Point

I heard today that Britney Spears lost custody of her children. I do believe that the world is becoming sane again.

Frustration

I guess the best word for what I'm feeling right now is frustration. I believe that I am a good person. At least the effort I put into being a good person should count as actually being one. I try not to make judgements about people, I don't constantly ask others for help, and when I remember, I'm pretty darn honest.

So why is it that I'm so frustrated? It's because I went to visit my cousin today--completely at peace with myself because I was proud of my achievements in the past 3-4 weeks. I've held an 8 hour internship for 3 days a week, I went to school every night for another 4 hours and on weekends, I worked at my mom's restaurant. What responsibility! (Very unsual for me.) I had heard that my cousin received a brand new Mac Notebook, but I wasn't sure which one...I went there only to find that she got the Pro. Here, I paid for my own and it's still not a Pro. I mean, I love it anyway. It's done a lot of good for me. But all she did was ask her mother for one and there it was delivered to her front door step 2-3 weeks later. A pro... Keep in mind this is for someone that didn't formally graduate high school because of two failed classes.

Are we really doing the right thing by rewarding children for tiny accomplishments? All she did was pass a summer school adult class. You don't even have to try in those classes... I rarely get big presents from my parents. I mean, my dad buys me some clothes here and there, but he's in the fashion industry. How can he not? I get food from my mom, but she's a chef. It' only natural. Plus these are everyday necessities. Sure, a computer could be considered a necessity, but they had a computer. It was fine until they loaded it with stolen music and viruses.

My dad keeps telling me that I'm a better person for earning the things that I have, but it just frustrates me at how spoiled rotten today's youth is. I had one schoolmate in high school that broke her ipod and it was replaced in the same week! She didn't exactly look like an exemplary student, and if I'm mistaken, she was probably high for 7 out of 8 hours of the day. Wonderful.

Then there are all those children on My Super Sweet 16 on MTV. They whine and stomp their feet until their parents get custom upolstery on their already $80,000 Range Rovers that they don't even have licenses for. And we, the public, encourage this type of excessive rewards. For what? Making it to age 16? I know, life is hard, but I'm now nearing 20 and I haven't seen a party even a fraction of that scale thrown on my behalf and I've survived about 4 years more than they have.

I guess I just want to congratulate all you spoiled assholes for well, nothing but being pretty fucking lazy and annoying.

The Adult Life?

I find myself waking up every morning around 7:30 am, getting dressed, having breakfast, and sitting in traffic with my dad on the infamous Los Angeles freeways for an hour--give or take. When I get to my internship, I file papers, clean the sink, make sure the refridgerators are all stocked with diet soda (because it's less sinful than its calorie filled counter part!...yea right) and a number of other slightly monotonous office tasks.

After eight hours of fun filled day complete with paper cuts and steam burns, I'll take the bus which will take me to the subway. Underground, I find a couple hundred people that I've crossed paths with for a few miles at 40, maybe 50 miles per hour on an underground railroad. We've all had a long day, only a quarter of us get a seat, the majority of us (I'm hopefully not included) have probably forgotten to apply some deoderant or even just skipped the whole shower and there we are, all sitting (or standing) in the flourescent lit tube that transports us back to our save haven--home.

Unfortunately, this isn't the end of the day for me. I'm still in the cacoon of adulthood. I'm making the transition from an immature child that asks Mommy and Daddy for everything to a maturing adult that is terrified of the truth that is coming hard--soon, I will have to make my own decisions, completely--100%, take care of my own problems, and the safety net...it won't be taken away, but it will be moved.

After the forty minute subway ride, I'll come back into the light, I'll escape the faint smell of urine on the subway as I escalade into the fresh air of North Hollywood. There are strange people greeting me as I depart from the moving stairs--solicitors usually, who want a signature to stop the war, or a donation to feed the hungry; if I'm lucky, I'll find a vendor where I can exchange a dollar or two for a hot dog and maybe a drink. I notice that the majority of the people there are minorities. The biggest oxymoron--and most common--of this century. As I begin to get interested in a conversation between two African-American teenagers that I've been eavsdropping on about fixed hair and stolen boyfriends, my boyfriend arrives in our burgundy Subaru--not to be called JUST a Subaru, or so we've been told.

He greets me with a kiss, asks about my day and wisks me away from the sea of sweatpants and bad shoes. We drive to school and are introduced to a completely different crowd. These are people that WANT an education. I'm baffled at the fact that people WANT to be in a place they only wanted to get away so badlly from just a summer ago. It's been a longer break from school for me, but I find myself wanted to be there too. I now feel the need for a "higher education." I diligently take notes and look over at everyone elses to see if I'm the only one that bought paper and pens to use them--no one else is taking notes.

A year ago, I would have cared about that. I would have wanted to just "fit in" with the cool crowd. Whoever that was. Now that I'm older and I suppose more mature, I realize that the life I am living is not for everyone else--it's not to impress or degrade anyone else, but to make myself proud and happy with who I am. I am the only one that knows how I feel, what my intentions are, and weather I'm being honest or not.

So I end my day at home, catching a rerun of Will & Grace on channel 5's 11 o'clock round up. I eventually fall asleep and my tv does as scheduled just minutes later only to wake up to the exact same day tomorrow.

Rain, Rain...

It's finally rained here in Sunny So Cal! Last night, I was eating dinner in my car with my boyfriend and we actually saw lightnight strike about 4 times in ten minutes! It was crazy. I couldn't hear any thunder because it was far away and we were talking and listening to the radio. May not be big news to you over well, any where else, but it is here! I read in the paper yesterday that we haven't seen rain in about 150 days. That's almost half a year!

Oh My...

First of all, I don't know if you've heard of this little video right here. I'll be honest, I haven't until now--no time for news lately. I was just searching You Tube right now and I came across this:



Ok, WTF? Right? I need not say more.

Moving along to better news.

I just rewarded myself with the new iPod Nano! (I was going to post a few pictures for you but I got frustrated because it's been a while since I've dones this and I forgot. Plus, I can't spend my ENTIRE day procrastinating. Just most of it. I have wonderful homework to attend to.) I'm IN LOVE with it. I got it in blue and I'm working on making a little case for it so it doesn't get scratched soon. The screen is a little small (well, the whole thing is a little small) but it's just right for one person to view it.

I got 8 GB on mine and so far, I've uploaded about 400 songs (I know, I don't have that much music, but I actually pay for my music now...) and so far 7 episodes of 30 Rock. And I still have more than half of the space left! I was a little worried that I wasn't going to be able to fit everything in there because I love my tv shows...

Anyway, if you want to see a picture of how cute it is since I'm too lazy to take a picture of it (maybe I will later when I've given up trying on my homework) you can visit the Apple website.

Mr. Woodcocks

I have been in a little bit of a movie rut lately. I normally go to the movies about 1-2 times a week and it has been about 2-3 weeks now since I have last visited a cineplex. The last film I saw was actually a documentary about life as a professional gamer called "The King of Kong" and what a fine movie it was. The movie before that was meant to be a blockbuster but turned out to be a flop (as far as I know) and that was the highly anticipated (for me and my boyfriend at least) match up between action greats Jet Li and Jason Statham in "War"--a great disappointment (just like its real life counterpart).

With school and a an internship, I just haven't had the time to really visit my home away from home, so today, I decided to indulge myself in a movie. Unfortunately, there haven't been any great releases yet and if there are, I'm either not interested, or I've seen it already. The only thing remotely interesting that I found was a movie titled "Mr. Woodcock" which for some reason I thought was going to be enough to get me back into the "blockbuster" mood... Not so much. Although I would rather watch it over "War." I have to admit, I didn't expect much from it, but I was hoping to be pleasantly like I was in "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry."

If you haven't seen the commercials, "Mr. Woodcock" is about a condescending gym teacher (Billy Bob Thorton) that ends up dating the mother (Susan Sarandon) of a former student (Sean William Scott) who has grown up to be the author of a best selling self-help book. Billy Bob Thorton has always been the go to guy for sleazy, horny, bastards that need to be set straight in movie casting--what can I say? He's a natural. Susan Sarandon, as always, a lovely woman and is unfortunally naive to his bad behavior... As for Sean William Scott, he plays a guy that goes a little crazy (who wouldn't when Billy Bob brags about banging your mom) but is essentially a good guy--what a stray from his famed role of Stifler in the "American Pie" movies.

The story is there, it could be a real life problem, but for some reason, I just had a hard time to believing it all. I couldn't submerge myself into the movie. Nevertheless, I would say rent it. It's not a total bust but not exactly worth all $11 you might spend on a movie ticket.

IHOP

I think IHOP should officially buy McDonald's current slogan off of them, "I'm Lovin' It" because I sure am. Not only is their food fantastic everytime I eat there, I'm also loving their service. Today, I had the most amazing waiter. I even left him a thank you note to let him know we (that is me and my boyfriend) appreciated his service. (Plus a big fat tip because words only go so far...dollars win in this war.)

It began like any other typical day for me, we got a late breakfast/early lunch and decided to indulge ourselves in pancakes and bacon. I was all set and ready to order and we sat there patiently for a waiter or waitress to come and assist us. We were all fine and dandy until we waited for literally 20 minutes for someone to actually come over and take our damn order. They were all staring, but no help!

Let me just set this up for you a little better, I'm a waitress at a small family restaurant, so I completely understand what it is like to be busy and shorthanded, but 20 minutes for an order to be picked up is first of all a little long and second, especially long when you have about 8 waiters and only 16 tables. Moving on with the story....

We decided to leave, a little bit annoyed, and especially disappointed because I had my heart set on that International Passport with French crepes, two sausage links, two strips of bacon, and two eggs over easy. As we were making our way out, a waiter stopped us and asked if we had been helped yet, we said he hadn't, and he assured us that he would take care of us.

Our knight in shining armor was named Jose and he not only got our orders in right away, he conversed with us when time allowed, AND asked that the cooks made our food first. I had no idea food could come out that fast. It was the equivalent of McDonalds speed. And just when I finished my cocoa, I was thinking to myself, gosh, I would love a glass of water, and poof! There it was, a tall glass of refreshing iced water. Amazing. Jose, where ever you are, you need to become manager or move on to greater and better things because you are one good waiter!

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that there are no nuclear bombs in the Middle East. Oh wait, wrong story....