Oh Really?: Target + Neiman Marcus

Let the savings begin and the spending to come.

Oh Really?: Chanel

Since this paris trip looks like it'll prolly happen, instead of attempting my usual overly ambitious and arduous itinerary, i have been, instead, researching which freaking BAD ASS FANCY PURSE i'm gonna finally buy. Carbon copy azn girl here i come! My initial plan was to get a louis. But after watching the movie coco before chanel, i've been fascinated with the fashion house of chanel. I loved the way she dressed in the movie. She was so unique and did her own thing. I didn't really consider getting a chanel purse until i saw the way it looked on some girls in several fashion blogs. I loved it! The gold hardware. The way it sat right below the hip with the chain-straps across the chest. Oh i want! I only wish i had jumped on it sooner. The prices for chanel bags have literally doubled from just a couple of years ago. And it's been predicted to continue to increase making this purse an actual investment! The things girls will say to rationalize spending the bucks for material things. Maybe it'll be something i can pass on to my future daughter some day. NAH! I'm keeping this sucker for myself! Haha. I'm mos def leaning towards the classic chanel flap bag. Either mini or small in black quilted caviar. The price difference between the two is about $1500! So expensive! My second choice would be the chanel classic wallet on a chain. It's prolly more practical and can function as a wallet or a purse. And it's slightly cheaper than the mini. Ugh. Dare i go vintage?

*photo courtesy of thefashioner.com*

Oh Really?: Monkey Testing

OMGawd this is just so HORRIBLE! I stumbled upon this article about a Seattle area lab (Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories) with big roots in Japan that has been exposed with cruelty to the animals they use for testing purposes. It's a animal testing facility so how else are these animals being treated. It just saddens me so much that I have contributed to this practice. An hour ago, i was near tears while reading the article. I don't want to get into a long diatribe about this but i do want to encourage you to read the article, maybe sign a few petitions and also take a look at the two links at the bottom. These links are lists that comprise of products/companies that do and don't perform animal testing. Big companies pay big money to labs like the SNBL to conduct toxicity animal testing for agrochemicals, petrochemicals, household products, pharmaceuticals and toxins. The article goes into more detail about how these animal, MONKEYS are caged and forced fed chemicals. I'm so disappointed in myself. There are quite a few products that i use that are on the red list so i'm gonna need to go through it and find suitable substitutes from the good list. Baby steps right? The good list also has a list of dog food that doesn't involve CAGING dogs and testing them and cutting up pieces of them for testing. Ugh. We just need to all take a step in the right direction. And ladies, MAC and urban decay are on the good list. Yay! L'oreal is on the red list. Ugh. I need to go get a new tube of mascara.

Good List
Bad List

Oh Really?: Free Willy

I really can't seem to tear myself away from documentaries. I think it's safe to say that it's currently my go to genre. If I can find a good doc on my netflix, it's on my queue. The one that I'm hoping to soon watch is the story about Keiko, the real life story of the orca who was in the movie Free Willy. The movie, Keiko The Untold Story, tells the story of his life after Free Willy. Keiko belonged to an amusement park in MEXICO CITY. His home was made for bottle-nosed dolphins (not even!) and was not equipped to cool the waters to a suitable temp for orcas. I remember this wave of sadness that washed over me when I did this dolphin swim excursion in Cozumel. There were all these beautiful dolphins living in these tiny enclosures. I think that was the turning point for me and why I am more aware of wild animals in captivity. When I got back home, I looked up all these articles about performing dolphins and from then on, I've been set on not supporting these types of practices. Some people see things like this and they're either effected, or they're not. I am. It wasn't until after the movie was such a big hit that his living condition was made into a huge controversy. The Free Willy-Keiko Foundation was created and millions of dollars was raised to have him relocated to Oregon where he was rehabilitated and trained to live like an orca in the wild. He was eventually released back into the wild with caretakers following and looking after him. Keiko only lived freely in the ocean for three or four years before he died of acute pneumonia. Keiko is the only captive orca to be released back into the wild. The documentary won Best Feature Documentary at the Indie Fest Film Competition 2011. The doc let's the audience decide whether his release was a success. Even though I haven't seen the movie yet, I believe it was a success. To be able to swim in an open ocean for a few short years far outweighs swimming around in a circle for the rest of your life.

The following is from Care2:

The Timeline of Keiko's Life

* Keiko was born in 1977 or 1978 in the Atlantic Ocean near Iceland. He was torn from his family at the age of 2, when he was captured by a fishing boat. Marineland in Ontario, Canada bought him in 1982 where he became a performing animal.

* In 1985 Marineland sold Keiko to Reino Aventura, an amusement park in Mexico City, for $350,000. He performed for audiences for the next 14 years, while living in a pool that was made for a bottlenose dolphin. The pool was not equipped to cool it to temperatures suitable for orcas, so Keiko developed a skin disease and no other aquarium would accept him.

* In 1993 Keiko, starred in the hit movie, "Free Willy" and became the center of a controversy after his fans, who were mostly children found out he was living in poor conditions in the amusement park.

* The Free Willy-Keiko Foundation was founded and raised millions of dollars to relocate the orca. Meanwhile Keiko's health began to deteriorate.

* The Earth Island Institute, an advocacy group for marine wildlife started to research how to nurse Keiko back to health and return him to the wild.

* In 1996 United Parcel Services (UPS) donated a plane to airlift the 7,720 pound whale to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Keiko swam in natural sea water for the first time in 14 years.

* From 1996-1997 the staff worked on getting Keiko healthy and began to teach him how to hunt for live fish. Keiko gained nearly 2,000 pounds and his skin condition disappeared.

* Keiko was ready by 1998 to move to a pen in the North Atlantic. On September 9, he was airlifted by the U.S. Air Force to an island near Iceland.

* In early 1999 Keiko was released back into his native waters and was under the watchful eye of the Ocean Futures Society who continued his training on how to be a killer whale.

* A tracking device was placed on the whale in 2000 so his caretakers could watch out for him in the open sea. Keiko was making good progress and began to interact with wild orcas.

* In 2001 Keiko began spending several days in a row out in the ocean with other whales. The staff was pleased with how he physically looked when returned. It proved to them that he could compete for food with wild orcas.

* By 2002 Keiko was spending weeks at a time away from his caretakers. He spent 50 days without returning to the staff for food and covered 1,000 miles.

* Keiko followed a fishing boat into Norway and became a local celebrity.

* December 12, 2003 The Free Willy-Keiko Foundation reported that Keiko was under the care of a veterinarian because he showed signs of lethargy. In the early evening Keiko swam to a beach where he died of acute pneumonia. Keiko was the second oldest male orca ever to have been in captivity.

Oh Really?: Food Trucks

Man, Houston's about to get inundated with food trucks. I like! There are some that are already going strong a whole wave of them that are getting ready to open up. Here's a list of the food trucks. Click on the links for menu.


Oh My! Pocket Pies


What's Up Cupcake


No Borders Food Truck


MMM Cupcake


Melange Creperie


Mam's House of Ice


Hubcap Grill Food Truck


H-Town strEATs


Fusion Taco Truck


3 Cajun Pigs


Eatsie Boys


Bernie's Burger Bus


Zilla Street Eats


Frosted Betty


Cupcake Coach


Coming Soon:

Good Dog Hot Dogs


Hit n' Run


Oh My Gogi!


Phamily Bites


Slyder Truck

Oh Really?: Dog Sledding

*photo courtesy of vancouversun.com*
Last week, my Monday morning began with this article from the vancouver sun. During the winter olympics, a tourism/activities company purchased a bunch of dogs in anticipation of the amount of people that would be coming into the area that would be interested in dog sledding. Now that the winter olympics have come and gone, business has gone down dramatically, and Outdoors Adventures was left with more dogs than they could support. So their solution to this problem was a mass execution of a hundred dogs, sometimes shot right in front of the other dogs. The dogs were buried in a mass grave and it was hard to tell if any had been buried alive. Reading this article made me so ANGRY! I had tears in my eyes! This helped affirm my belief in not partaking in anything that involves any type of working animals. There's a line in the article that explains it best:

"There is a problem with the sled dog industry in general. People see these 20 sled dogs, an idyllic setting with snow in the background and think how great. But what they don’t see is the 200 dogs tethered and sleeping out back, chained to a barrel."

I hope that one day, dog sledding for the sake of tourism or adventure seeking should be banned. Or anything involving working animals should be BANNED. These poor animals are only seen as a source of income and nothing more. If they don't make money, then what becomes of them?

Oh Really?: The Cove

Sunday night, big poppa and I finally watched The Cove together. It was the most horrifying thing I have ever watched. For most of the documentary, I watched with my hand over my mouth as Japanese fishermen from the city of Taiji trapped pods after pods of dolphins into a small cove. Those that were deemed ideal for show were sold to dolphinariums/aquariums while the rest were inhumanely killed. The fishermen repeatedly stabs the dolphins with spears until the water is completely crimson red. I had tears in my eyes. I have tears in my eyes now. I was left feeling so angry that these barbarians could be so detached from any sense of emotion that they could slaughter these magnificent and intelligent creatures. To them, dolphins are merely pests. Mosquito's are pest. Not dolphins. It took me two days to calm down from the initial fury I had before I trusted myself to write a fair post. I won't get into any details about the doc or how it truly was deserving of the Oscar. You need to waatch it. What the film-makers and activists want viewers to take from this is to boycott against animals in captivity as well as to promote awareness of these dolphin drive hunts so that there will one day be a world-wide law against these types of practices. What it comes down to is that the Japanese feel that they should be able to eat whatever they want just like Americans eat what they want. And that's a fair argument. As a meat eater, I would be a hypocrite if I were to criticize them for eating whales and dolphins. But for some reason that I can't logically explain, it is just not the same. Dolphins are almost human! The thing I felt most guilty about was that I have contributed to this problem. Because of people like me who are willing to shell out the bucks to kiss a dolphin on the nose and have them take me for a ride, I'm helping to keep these animals in captivity. I know it's easy for me to lecture people about not going to Seaworld and swimming with dolphins beacuse I've already done so. As hypocritical as it may be, I'm still going to do my part and at least make people aware that these animals do not belong in these small pools. They belong in the ocean. I didn't know before. But now that I do, I will forever be against working animals. The day after watching the movie, I tried to find out how I can do my part to help. I made a small donation and you can too at the Oceanic Preservation Society's homepage. I also bought like $200 worth of The Cove t-shirts that I plan on giving out as birthday gifts. Proceeds will go towards ending the dolphin slaughter in Taiji. Text DOLPHIN to 44144 to receive updates on the cause. You can also add your name to a petition here. More importantly, watch the movie. And then tell everyone you know to watch it also. It's important that attention is kept focused on the dolphin massacre here, and in other parts of the world where this takes place. As Louie Psihoyos (director of The Cove and creator of OPS) stated, you're either an activist, or inactive. I wish I could do more. I hate the fact that I don't have the guts to drop everything and go out there and fight for what I believe in. I hate that I'm not strong enough to give up eating meat. I hate the fact that I was selfish enough to swim with dolphins not once but twice. I'm embarrassed and ashamed. I took down my post on Discovery Cove. Those kinda places just seem so evil to me now.

"The dolphin's smile is nature's greatest deception. It creates the illusion that they're always happy." - Ric O'Barry, Dolphin Activist

Oh Really?: Umbrella - Marie Digby

I thought this chain list thing was appropriate to fill out since it is Musik Mundi. I hope you guys do it too!

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Put your ipod on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn't make sense. NO CHEATING!
4. Add 10 people to this note for them to do the same. (Yeah, I'm not gonna do this part.)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Stars and Boulevards - Augustana

WHAT'S YOUR OUTLOOK ON LIFE?
Life Your Life - T.I. Feat. Rihanna

WHAT DOES YOUR FAMILY THINK OF YOU?
Corner of Your Heart - Ingrid Michaelson (Aww!)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Never Gonna Happen - Lily Allen

WHAT DO STRANGERS THINK OF YOU
Back To The Start - Lily Allen

WHAT DO YOUR EXES THINK OF YOU?
If I Were Boy - B.C. Jean (Kinda funny. Haha.)

HOW IS YOUR LOVE LIFE?
Dangerous and Sweet - Lenka (That's about right.)

HOW WILL YOUR LOVE LIFE BE IN THE FUTURE?
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

WILL YOU GET MARRIED IN THE FUTURE?
Unbeautiful - Lesley Roy

WILL YOU HAVE KIDS?
This Is Not The End - The Bravery (Funny!)

ARE YOU GOOD AT SCHOOL?
Not Fair - Lily Allen

WILL YOU BE SUCCESSFUL IN LIFE?
Inside of You - Karmina

WHAT SONG SHOULD THEY PLAY ON YOUR BIRTHDAY?
Boys With Girlfriends - Meiko

WHAT SONG SHOULD THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
How Deep Is Your Love - The Bird & The Bee

THE SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR LIFE?
Forever - Chris Brown

YOU AND YOUR BEST FRIEND ARE:
White - Lights (I might as well be!)

HAPPY TIMES:
Life Is Beautiful - Sixx AM (How appropriate!)

SAD TIMES:
Sober - Kelly Clarkson (Again! The irony!)

EVERY DAY:
Trouble Is A Friend - Lenka

FOR TOMORROW:
Fool - Marie Digby

FOR YOU:
Closer - Travis

WHAT DOES NEXT YEAR HAVE IN STORE FOR ME?
The Funeral - Band of Horses (Uh-oh. That's no good.)

WHAT DO I SAY WHEN LIFE GETS TOO HARD?
New Soul - Yael Naim

WHAT SONG WILL I DANCE TO AT MY WEDDING?
Fire - Augustana

WHAT DO YOU WANT AS A CAREER?
Sweetest Girl - Wyclef Jean Feat. Akon, Lil Wayne, Niia

YOUR FAVOURITE SAYING?
All I Can Do - Chantal Kreviazuk

HOW WILL I DIE?
Not As We - Alanis Morissette

THE SONG THAT YOU'LL PUT AS YOUR SUBJECT?
Umbrella - Marie Digby

Oh Really?: VGT Omnivore's Hundred

There's this neato thing that Zoobmania posted on his blog that I figured I would also do on mine! It's from the Very Good Taste blog and it basically goes through a list of a hundred things that a good omnivore should try in his/her lifetime. This is going to be VERY sad on my part because I don't eat beef (since 10th grade), I don't eat seafood (except for shrimp on some occassions) and I'm not a big fan of vegetables. I'm a mom's worst nightmare. I've got the most boring taste buds. Ever. People say it's all in my head but it's not! It's the buds man! They don't want to try anything! Why isn't bread and butter on this list?!? And I also happen to notice the grilled chicken sandwich isn't on here either! Not fair! I won't cross anything off the list though because I want to believe that one day I will try everything on this list, even if it makes me vomit.

Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

22/100. I'm a foodie failure.

Oh Really?: Purple Eyelashes

*photo courtesy of tokyostargirl.wordpress.com*
I'm not much of a beauty person but yet I still manage to find myself buying loads of make-up just to realize I have no idears what I'm doing. I clicked on one of Miss Antsylily's links one day and lo-and-behold it's a beauty blog! The blogger, aka Tokyostargirl, gives super helpful tips on make-up application and reviews on beauty products. Coolness! On her blog right now is the chance to win a pair of fake purple lashes. Refer to pic. Just go to her site and leave her a comment and a random commenter will be chosen as the winner on Friday. Japonais time of course. Leave me a comment too! But you won't win anything. I've got Chinese lashes which basically means my eyelashes are sparse and thin and SHORT. I never really thought about wearing fake lashes just because they look so hard to put on. But if they're free, that is if I win them, then why not! And funny enough, it turns out tokyostargirl went to high school with the bf. Small earth! Hmm. I have the sudden urge to go curl my eyelashes.

Oh Really?: Fuwa

The Fuwa ("good luck dolls") are the official mascots of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. I'm about to literally write verbatim from wikipedia. There are five fuwa, each one representing many different elements such as the colors of the Olympic rings. The theme of the day is me wanting something that I have deemed wickedly adorable. Seriously. I crave and I covet these cute cuddlies. The mascots were created by a famous Chinese artist, Han Meilin. The names of the five fuwa are BeiBei, JingJing, HuanHuan, YingYing and NiNi. Taking the first parts of each name and combining them yields: "BeiJing HuanYing Ni" which translates to "Beijing welcomes you". Although they were supposed to represent luck, recent events in China have led the Chinese to believe that each of the Fuwa have cursed their country. Read each Fuwa description for more detail.


Name: BeiBei
Gender: Female
Cultural Inspiration: Fish; Traditional Chinese New Year lotus and fish design.
Olympic Ring: Blue
Element: Sea
Fengshui Element: Water
Sport: Aquatic Sports
Curse: In June 2008, one of the worst floods in 50 years hit much of Southern China and forced 1.6 million people to evacuate their homes.








Name: JingJing
Gender: Male
Cultural Inspiration: Giant Panda; Song Dynasty lotus.
Olympic Ring: Black
Element: Forest
Fengshui Element: Wood
Sport: Weightlifting, Judo, etc.
Curse: Who could forget the massive earthquake that devasted the Sichuan Province in May 2008. The Giant Panda is the animal native to Sichuan.








Name: HuanHuan
Gender: Male
Cultural Inspiration: Olympic Torch; Fire design from Mogao Grottoes.
Olympic Ring: Red
Element: Fire
Fengshui Element: Fire
Sport: Ball Sports
Curse: The Olympic torch relay was dogged with protests. Some cities even opted not to participate because of escalating danger and riots.








Name: YingYing
Gender: Male
Cultural Inspiration: Antelope; Tibetan and Xinjiang ethnic costumes.
Olympic Ring: Yellow/Orange
Element: Earth
Fengshui Element: Earth
Sport: Track and Field
Curse: Two words, Free Tibet!









Name: NiNi
Gender: Female
Cultural Inspiration: Swallow; Sand Martin Kite
Olympic Ring: Green
Element: Sky
Fengshui Element: Metal
Sport: Gymnastics
Curse: Nini is a swallow that resembles a kite. In April, there was a deadly train crash in the city of Weifang, also known as the 'kite city'.

Oh Really?: Chick Fil A

*photo courtesy of cfasurprise.com*
Have you been to Chick Fil A recently? If you haven't, I'm about to deliver some bad news regarding their chicken strips. They frick frackin' changed the friggin' recipe on the chicken strips!!! Why mess with something that's already perfect?!? I've gone to TWO different locations to verify this problem and it's affirmative. But there's more. Before, CFA offered two options. 4 piece or 6 piece. They no longer have a six piece. Your only option now is between a 3 or 4 piece. Or, you can get a 2 piece from the kids meal. Their reason? They have increased the size of the chicken strip itself. How will we ever know if that's really true? I don't like how it tastes now. It was so good before that I could just keep eating and eating and eating and would have no will power to stop. And today with the new recipe, I could barely finish four strips. And that's usually cake for a heffer such as myself. It's truly disappointing. The first time around, the bf and I really wanted six pieces each so we ordered three four pieces. The total for that was $12.63. Do the math. That's a dollar a strip! I've always known that Chick Fil A was pricier than other fast food joints. But I have never ever been SHOCKED before. And I was a bit taken aback by how much we were paying. At the first location, I asked why they no longer offer the six piece and he mentioned something about them being 50% bankrupt. What?!? I'm confused. CFA always looks super busy whenever I go there. And how does one go about calculating 50% bankruptcy? Does that mean they're half way to having no money? That means they still gots money. I really don't get it. And it doesn't make any sense for them to frackin' change the darn recipe of chicken strips that people already love. Need an example of how bad the new strips are? The bf could not stop complaining about how the chicken strips were gross and making him sick. And then he claimed that he was suffering from a tummy ache because of the strips. I know. He can be a bit dramatic at times.

Oh Really?: Zorb

*photo courtesy of oddtopic.com*

If I ever find myself in New Zealand, I will make it my top priority to ZORB! I watch the Amazing Race pretty religiously and a few seasons ago, the teams were in New Zealand and had to complete this Zorbing task. A zorb is this huge transparent inflatable plastic/vinyl ball with an inflated inner core that fits up to three people. Position the ball at the top of a hill, throw in a bucket of water, hop in and proceed to go rolling down the hill while you slip, slide, roll and flip around. Does that not just sound like a ridiculous amount of frackin' fun?!? This shouldn't even be considered a task, it's an experience! It's also known as sphereing to some. That just doesn't sound as cool as zorbing. Other countries such as Ireland, Slovenia and Japan have already caught on to this fun and exciting trend. If you wanna go zorbing in the states, you'll have to make your way to the Smoky Mountains in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. I don't understand the choice in location either. The next closest would be Los Cabos. I can see myself going to Mexico before I would step anywhere in the proximity of Pigeon Forge. My reason for loving the Amazing Race so much is because of things like this! The show takes you on a trip around the world and teaches you so much about other cultures and its' history as well as activities that are popular to that place. Awesomeness!

Oh Really?: City Pass

*photo courtesy of funmaps.com*

Houston has now joined the ranks of other cities such as Chicago and Seattle in creating a City Pass which grants admission to several touristy locations for one questionable low price. For just $34.00, you get to enjoy 'free' general admission to six different area attractions. For children the City Pass will only cost $24.00. Special exhibits is not included and will cost extra. The pass is valid for nine days so there's no real rush to see it all.

Space Center Houston
Downtown Aquarium
Houston Museum of Natural Science
Houston Zoo
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston OR The Children's Museum of Houston
George Ranch Historical Park OR The Health Museum

You can obviously see the pros and cons to this gimmick. I know my mom always takes out-of-towners to check out NASA but that's about it from the list. If you know visitors who are into museums, then this is perfect. If not, pass on the city pass. I don't think I even knew there was a George Ranch Historical Park OR The Health Museum. Looks like they were scraping the bottom of the murky bayous. If anything, check out the link to see what other cities are offering.

Oh Really?: Latter Day Saints

*Disclaimer: Do not read the following blog if you are religiously sensitive. Do so at your own discretion. I don't mean to insult anyone and write what I honestly feel and if you can't handle it then OH WELL!*

I normally like to keep my blog airy, light-hearted and cheery and prefer to refrain from using it as an emotional dumpster, but I'm going to make an exception this one time because I am irked beyond belief. I have this really weird and freaky thing that I do sometimes where I like to make eye contact and smile at any person that I may be walking past. Sometimes I'll even throw in an animated hello with a British accent. After today however, I may have to retire this practice and simply stare straight ahead with a look of contempt. Why? Because today, I made the mistake of making eye contact with this:

*photo courtesy of uncorrelated.com*

I wish I brought my camera with me so that I could show you guys the real deal! But in any case, those that know me know that I'm far from being a holy person. The Mormon guy stops and says something to me in Chinese, obviously hoping to impress me. But I wasn't. From there, I'm not sure what happend. He basically launches into this HUGE speech that had something to do with the Man above. I interrupt him to tell him that I'm not a religious person and that I don't really care about this kinda stuff but he keeps going. I hate how freakin' persistent these people are! I was literally throwing save me (and not in the Godly way) glances at the people passing by. All I got in return were sympathetic looks. I was the unlucky and unfortunate victim of a conversion attempt. Finally, I stopped squirming and became fixated on the dude's retainers as his mouth was yakking away. As I was wiping away some eye boogies that were forming, I contemplated picking my nose. Would that make him stop and ride away in disgust?

Mormon: So like, God is perfect and he has this plan for you.
Me: I don't think he does. I make my own plans.
Mormon: Well, not like that. He knows what to do so that you'll be happy.
Me: (questionable look goes here) ... I'm thinking me and God have very different definitons of the word 'happy'.

Ok so maybe it didn't go down exactly like that but trust me, it's pretty close. Here is how I feel about the whole God thing: When something great happens to me, I don't thank Him. If something terrible happens to me, I don't blame Him. When I really want something to happen, I don't pray to him.

I don't criticize or tell others what they should or should not believe in so of course I get pretty peeved when others feel it's ok to do that to ME. (*Shakes fist!*) In my opinion, religion is the root of all evil. Too many times has religion been the reason of conflict. War. Marriage. Life.

Before the Mormon and I parted, he gave me this card that features some questions and if you want them answered then go to the link it offers. I won't be including the link. It just amazes me how different we all are because some people will read those questions and wonder what the answers are. I read them and think WHO CARES. Seriously, the next time this happens, I'm going to completely rip him/her up. Take no prisoners.

Out of respect for the card, I didn't toss it into the trash can. I recycled it instead. See? Who said I wasn't capable of doing good things?!?

Oh Really?: White Day

Happy White Day!

In many Asian countries, people are at this very moment celebrating a purely made-up and absolutely necessary holiday. It's mostly recognized in Korea and Japan but other countries are familiar with the idea. Girls give gifts to guys on Valentine's Day, and guys give gals gifts on White Day. Which is TODAY! What wonderful novelties will the bf give me? A high five? A necklace of cheerios? The possibilities are endless. Don't waste your time feeling sorry (or jealous?) for me. Go save yourselves! Make sure you gently 'remind' that special dude(dy-head) in your life what an important day it is today. Gots to follow tradition right?!? Is it weird that when I re-read what I just wrote, I did it with Veronica Mars voice? I almost signed off with 'Gossip Girl'. I'm a cheese ball. I know it. Bring back Veronica Mars!

Oh Really?: High Five

*photo courtesy of afp.google.com*
The new five dollar bill just made its debut today. It now features color! There's this giganto purple five in the bottom right hand corner and light purple shading in the center where Abe's head is. Mr Lincoln is pink! The Federal Reserve folks have been bored lately so they wanted to spice things up. The real reason, they say, is to stay ahead of counterfeiters. They added a few new security features that I won't get into because it's so vapidly ho-hum. Let's just focus on the fun things. It's purple! You won't believe how many a-holays try to give us fake money at the parents biz. My dad unknowingly has taken a fake $20 on two different occassions. Someone tried to pull that on my ma but she was too slick for their scam. She did what every other crazy angry asian lady would do. She started screaming and yelling at them and told them to stay there until the police came. Of course they didn't stick around but hopefully they'll never come back. My ma is champion at intimidating the bejeezus out of those who choose to live a crooked life. Layin' down the law!

Oh Really?: SMART fortwo

Make: Smart
Model: Fortwo
*photo courtesy of allthingsweb20.files.wordpress.com*

This ubiquitous little vehicle of Europe, Canada and Hong Kong has finally made its way to the States! Finally! Remember the Smart car that Sophie drove from The DaVinci Code? So cute!!! The Smart car starts at about $12,000 and just became available for sale in the United States January 2008 and is only offered at two dealerships in the greater Houston area (I'm a run on queen. Get over it). It gets about 40mpg and has an eight gallon tank. There are a lot of pros and cons to the car, mainly the size factor. Texans like their cars GINORMOUS! European men I can see driving this car around. American men? Not so much. But me? Oh VERY MUCH!!!

Oh Really?: Iomega

See this sucker right there on the left? Well, I was finally forced to invest in an external hard drive after all these years. I work on a laptop at home and this really annoying bubble kept popping up at the bottom right corner of my screen saying that my memory was almost full and that I needed at least 200MB of free space for my computer to work efficiently. I kept closing the bubble hoping that it was just being dramatic but I was fighting a losing battle. I keep having this nervous feeling about storing all my important photos onto this thing. Am I supposed to trust that this contraption will keep my memories forever?!? And not crash and burn and lose everything?!? So of course I went ahead and burned all my pictures onto DVD's just in case. I had some serious trust issues with the external that the bf suggested that maybe I just get another hard drive. Back up the back up. I didn't go that far but maybe I should have. I moronically decided not to spend top dollar for my external and now I'm sorta regretting it. As I was transferring a huge load of photos the other night, it started making this loud clicking sound, as if it were struggling to get everything into it's system. So I just turned my music louder so that it muffled the clicking sound. My bf taught me that move. His car has been making this clanking noise and instead of getting it checked out, he just tells me to turn the volume up on the radio. Crazy guy. Hah! So that's the excitement that's beeng going on for me. Jealous? Here's an example of the amount of memory I'm using. Just this past December, I took 2,857 photos which totaled to about 6.56G worth of memory. It took two dvd's to burn all the pics I took in December. As for my recent trip to Seattle, I ended up taking AT LEAST 1,600 photos. Crazy girl. I don't know much about external's so please feel free to leave me a comment on what you know about them, particularly on the one I bought. Or leave me a comment on suggestions for other externals that you think are of better quality because I may decide to back up the back up.

Iomega
Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive
500G
$119.99

Oh Really?: Elyse Sewell

I'm a big fan of ANTM (not b/c of Tyra (she's a crazy BIOTCH!)) and my most fave model since the inception of this show is mos def Elyse Sewell. She was just to darn cool and too darn smart. Anyhow, she has this blog that I read from time to time and when I decided to read it today, I was in for a shock! At first, something had gone terribly wrong in her life yet I wasn't sure what it was because the details were in an entry that she decided to block from strangers (I don't like the term "stalker"). Anyhow, you can read the details here. Oh the DRAMZ! And to think I used to like The Shins. Her blog is awesome because she includes so many great photos to go along with her posts and she's super witty. Definitely an inspiration for my own blog!

*photo courtesy of Miss Sewell's LJ*