Too much work, too little play

This is what summer is made of, being too busy with boring things like work and exciting things like Harry Potter 6 and 115 degree weather in Las Vegas.

I spend a lot of time reading and sorting mail and taking the people in Riverside I will see within two monthes into serious consideration. I like being friends with most everybody. But some people, I am discovering, are just weird. Not the cool, they could be a memorable character in a story weird, the whenever we are alone I feel a bit queasy weird.

I also want to be more articulate. I want to stop defending myself hours later because, although I want to be a writer, sometimes I am really clumsy with words.

But besides all that, this is just a mixture of things necessary and maybe unecessary, but a great part of my thoughts these past weeks.

Un.

I miss Croatia in a desperate way. I miss every day of my trip to Europe last summer. I would gladly put up with the heat that felt like a suffocating weight of steaming wet towels just to see Dubrovnik all over again.

Deux.

Quite the bad ass in the sixth film, I really can't wait to maybe possibly hopefully accidently run into Daniel Radcliffe in England. He is still very attractive and so intelligently cool it makes my teeth hurt.

Trois.

An item for my ongoing wish list, not that another pair of sunglasses is something I really need. Then again these Jean-Charles de Castelbajac shades are necessary in order to look classy. I just need to shell over $80.

Quatre.

Naturally Helena Bonham Carter (who I adore) would land the most wicked roll in her hubby's adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. I am so fascinated by her. She is so good at being dark, it gives evidence to that notion that sometimes it's good to be bad.

Cinq.

Stumbling around the internet, I discovered the Venice Biennale, an art exhibition that takes place every two years or so. I really want to attend someday because it seems like the most bizarre and exhilerating experience. Judging by the photographs it's a place where one literally lives art.

Lastly, I am currently reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I am loving it and recommend it to anyone who is enchanted by Barcelona, storytelling similar to Gabriel Garcia Marquez or simply the intoxicating honesty of romance in the early 1900's.

Bon nuit.

How likely is it that people eat quesodillas in England?

I finally created a summer-y to do list so that I do not spend all my free monthes working and watching Office reruns. Some of these wonderful things include-

1. Saving up for this little place known as England.

I got accepted into the study abroad program in England and now I just have to anxiously await to see which school they are going to actually place me in. My first choice is University of East Anglia. I.really.want.to.go.to.East.Anglia. It's beautiful and the classes sound outrageously fantastic.
This is what the dorms look like!:


2. Je ne veux pas oublier comment parler du français!!

I need to watch more french films so that I won't get into french4 next quarter and be like: "Que???" I watched Volver starring Penelope Cruz the other night and loved it. It was in spanish, which was great, but that didn't really help in the french department.

3. Disneyland, I need to see you!!!

My brothers and I are trying to plan a three day trip to Disneyland. We used to go every summer and apparantly everyone who is someone has a year round pass. Not me ]: But I will somehow get there before going back to school!

4. I think if I can keep a fish alive, a plant would not be all that difficult

I desperatly want to have multiple potted plants and I don't quite know why. My cousin is currently growing vegetables and my grandma plants tomatos...as the only vegetarian in my family, I really think I should be leading this garden nonsense.

5. My next obsession??? We'll see!

I plan to watch all the Star Wars films because I have yet to watch any of them. Which I realize is embarrasing since I am discovering just how many people live for that shit. I guess I have spent toooo much time loving Harry Potter (HP7 will be filming while I am over in England during spring!!!!!!)

First week of Summer

Sorting mail and indexing invoices is not as out of control exciting as it may sound. Nevertheless, it pays, I sometimes feel like I am living The Office and it's located in La Jolla so I can smell the ocean all day.

One thing I have done a lot of so far, notwithstanding obsessivly watching The Office and taking my dog for a walk, is getting around to those movies that I constantly say I want to see. Such as...

Rachel Getting Married

I must commend Anne Hatheway for her performance, she proved that she deserved her Academy Award. Her character took on a life unlike any previous rendevous in her career, especially Princess Diaries.

Also, I just REALLY want my wedding to turn out exactly as the one in the movie did. I mean the blue cake??? The constant ecclectic music selection in the background, the outside tents and why not, I'll take the groom as well!

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Sure I cry easily when watching touching movies, but I seriously was not anticipating the amount of sobbing that took place on my part at the end of this film. Like I surprised myself. The ending is nearly unbearable. The fact that the film is a childs point of view during the holocaust is already a tell tale sign that your heart is just going to ache and ache.

A quick synopsis: A little boy named Bruno is the son of a very involved German soldier who moves his family into a concrete mansion just a forest away from a concentration camp. Bruno, whose favorite past time is adventuring, comes across a little boy named Shmuel, a barbed wired fence between them. They build a friendship and Bruno, at eight or so, struggles with the heroic image of his father that he once had and the brutal reality fed to him by a just as confused Shmuel.

Please, please watch it. You may cry but it's completely necessary.

Next....
Things I find absolutly adorable:

1. This wedding (cup)cake

I guess my mind has really been on the big day, which is quite normal I think seeing as I am single and fear I will end up alone with thirteen million cats (I kid, kind of.) But seriously, if my cake doesn't get made by A. my mother or B. Duff from Charm City cakes, I am totally stealing this idea.

2. Dwayne Wade as you have never seen him before

I know, I know, give it a break, he already has two sons (both names starting with the letter Z, cool!) and he's like completely preoccupied with being all sweaty on the basketball court but I just refuse to stop being so obsessed. I am thinking this would make a great In-the-middle-of-the-summer-just-because type present!!

3. Childhood, I miss you

Do you remember dressing up your thumb prints in elementary school?? Because I most certainly remember LOVING it. Just to begin with it is a childs thumb print, it's nearly impossible not to go awwwwww after a little top hat and moustache or poka dot dress and a smile is added.

4. A new pet possibility, since baby pandas are kind of hard to find for keeps

I know they aren't considered that warm and cuddly, and I used to never be much of a reptile person but lately, I don't know, chameleons are quite appealing. I mean they change colors. And just look bad ass.

5. Up!

Just go see it. You will nearly throw up because it is so darn cute. And I laughed as well as teared up an embarassing amount. Well done Pixar, well done.

Recently...
- I went to the Mira Mesa Farmers Market and learned about the raw almond conspiracy, ate sea urchin and met a man who farms jelly fish(???).
- Chased after my brother because he was screaming FUCK on this path behind our City Council building because a swarm of bees were unrelentlessly showing him how pissed off they were that he fell into their bush.
- Watching my brothers basketball team get whooped because the other team were all over 6 ft, were sponsored and had at least five coaches (one wearing a business suit, over kill for a seventh grade team??).
- Went to the padres game?? I know, baseball hahahaha
- Ate really delicious pizza with soy cheese, avocado, sundried tomatos and mushrooms from my new fave place Z Pizza.

Bon nuit!

"I was intelligent enough to make up my own mind. I not only had freedom of choice, I had freedom of expression." - Amy Tan

Once upon a time...I wanted to be an artist. Before I even knew how amazing writing was, I figured I would somehow live successfully drawing and painting all day. My grandmother was a spectacular artist, my favorite painting of hers was of a single swan in a vast amount of water and everytime I visited her house I would come up with a new story for that world made of paint. So I guess writing stories was not to far fetched??

Anyways, art is literally everywhere, granted, if you know just how to look for it.

1. Art on the streets

One of my favorite parts of experiencing Europe was the constant discovery of aritistic expression on the street. No matter how subtle, it makes the everyday just a tad more interesting, if not more colorful.




(Burning man)

(Says: This is for anyone who misses anything)

(I find masks so enchanting yet really frightening)


2. Aesthically pleasing movie scenes.

The South American landscape of Up! gave me goosebumbs, Memoirs of Geisha is like overdosing on color and the images in Pirates of Carribean are always enjoyable, even though there really is no need for more.


Leonardo DiCaprio in the beginning of Romeo + Juliet.


A Little Princess
"Magic has to be believed. It's the only way it's real."


James and the Giant Peach. I love!! Except for the aunts still really scare me.


Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. Deliciously beautiful, beautifually delicious.


Everything is Illuminated starring Elijah Wood and based off of Jonathan Safron Foer's amazing novel. Read it, watch it and then read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.


Finding Neverland. Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, you have the whole summer, watch it, cry, fall inlove and then watch it again.


The opening of Benjamin Button.

3. Tattoos

Yes mom, I am going to get one.




mmmm. his arms

4. Post Secret

The perfect combination of sincere words and images.



(Sooo true hahaha)



5. Marc Johns

One of my favorite comedic artists.

Soap box moment

A lot of time passed since the last time I was completely insulted. Maybe a lot of time passed since I allowed someone to completely insult me. Nonetheless, sometimes being apart of a school so well known for it's diversity I feel so very ostrasized.

An identity crisis, when I get ridiculed for doing things "so white" but when I reach out, hope to learn more about differences I am a poser, I am trying too hard, I get insulted. Look. I know histoy, I know cruelty, and I know life is not fair but I am trying. And if you continue to persecute those who try to make things better, even if they are "so white", you can expect the repercussions of a past repeating itself.

L-O-V-E

I have really been obsessed with love lately which makes no sense since: 1. I am not in love and 2. I am still not in love. But regardless, a few of the following things produce goosebumps on my arms and maybe if you are in love you will enjoy them as well.

1. Please watch this even if you are not a fan of Def Poetry Jam, even if you think this guy has ridiculous hair. It's worth it. It is so very worth it.
This Type Love by Shihan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5WgmbMW7Ek

2.
I wish I could claim I made this, but I just found it. Romantic, nonetheless.

3.
Adorable? Incredibly convenient? I want one?...although I need a lover first ;]

4.
Tres romantique. I really admire public displays of affection, sometimes. Not always though, sometimes it's just awkward. Especially in elevators.

5. Songs for those who know just how love hurts when it makes no sense:

Your ex Lover is Dead by Stars
There's one thing I want to say, so I'll be brave
You were what I wanted
I gave what I gave
I'm not sorry I met you
I'm not sorry it's over
I'm not sorry there's nothing to save

The Nicest Thing by Kate Nash
I wish you'd hold my hand
When I was upset
I wish you'd never forget
The look on my face when we first met

6. Oh, you mean the first time my seventh grade eyes found Daniel Radcliffe. Instant love. Eight years later I am still in love and have seen him naked.

(because it is cut off, it says: Ah, love at first sight. When you see someone so beautiful that you forget they aren't there just for you)

If you have yet to discover A Softer World, you need to ch-ch-check it out. The link is: http://www.asofterworld.com/

7. A tiny bite from a play/story I am still trying to write successfully:

I knew we were going to get along when I leaned in to examine his emaculate beard and discovered he smelled of curry and cigarettes. Let's face it, we were both obviously lost. Not in the sense that we couldn't figure out where our bodies had ended up. Just that we were freedom praising strangers willing anyone to catch us by the hand or lips.

8. Lastly, because I adore languages:
- I love you (english)
- Je t'aime (french)
- Anee oheivat otkha (hebrew, sounded out)
- Te amo (spanish)
- Ti amo (italian)
(all that I know as of right now)

It's time to take a nap

5 things that made the past week an epic one:

1. Chelsea's Didier Drogba. He's from Cote D'Ivoire. Two elements of excellence: Africa and France. Oh yeah, and soccer ;]


2. Boba tea. Except not because it makes you so unbelievably full. But I believe the best kind is Peach green tea...so delicious. Life Cafe knows what's up...except never buy two in a row or you will wake up the next morning still disgustingly full. Kind of amazing.


3. Glee. Thanks to Noelle I am now obsessed with this new show on Fox. Except the season doesn't offically start until the fall. Oh well, I can just watch the pilot on repeat!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UMl9sC5v0A

4. This video about Lamar Odom's obsession with sweets. Despite the fact that he is going to loose all his teeth I think he is kind of adorable...like a child in this clip.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4210030

5. The French film: Inch'Allah Dimanche. We are watching it for our final but I really liked it. Very dramatic, but funny and extremely heartfelt. There are always subtitles so I recommend this film even for those not learning french.