Might as well get in one last post before the new year. It doesn't fell like New Year's Eve to me. My guess is because there's no leftover snow on the ground. Actually, its been too warm to have snow, been in the high 40's and low 50's for part of the week. The snow should be back soon, this is just one of those unsuspecting changes in the weather that Cincy is know for. My prediction is that there's gonna be some snow lingering around the city until April.

That's enough rambling on the weather, on to other things. I was supposed to go out tonight (at least over a friend's house), but that was all a bust when my friend Simi never returned my calls. I love her dearly, but she has her moments of being unreliable. She's been one of my best friends for 10 years now, so that can be forgiven. Besides, I'm here at home with my Mom, who I was worried about leaving at home alone in the first place. Things worked out for the best for tonight, there's always next year for big celebrations. Besides, my friend Teresa's birthday is on Sunday, so we're going out with a group of people on Saturday night to bring it in the right way, in a loud, noisy silly manner. :) My plan was to get at least one party night in before going back to school on 1/5.

There haven't been any big developents in the shooting that occured two nights ago at my neighbor's house next door. The family that stays came back today. They've been avoiding the house since the homicide occured; who can blame them. When I got home Tuesday evening, there was another news van on the block, reporting live on the 6pm news. I could tell by the spotlight shining on my neighbor's fence a few houses down.

A bittersweet ending to a bittersweet year. Too much drama went on this year locally, nationally and internationally. Lets hope that there are better things in store in 2004. (I meant to make that rhyme, that phrase has been in my head half of the day. I'm a nerd.)

Happy New Year! I'm gonna go and watch the ball drop.

These homicides happened in my neighborhood, the second being right next door to my house. Its bad when you have to avoid speaking to reporters while you're going out the door. It's even more strange to see part of your house lined in police tape.

Other Reports:
WKRC.com | WLWL.com | WCPO.com

I'll post more as things calm down...

Here's the last friday five for 2003:

1. What was your biggest accomplishment this year?
Reconciling with an old friend from high school. We haven't talked in like 6 years except when my Father passed. Being around her now made me realize how much fun we had then, and now too.

2. What was your biggest disappointment?
My family, well some of them. They never seem to amaze me. One day they will, maybe.

3. What do you hope the new year brings?
New opportunities for my Mom. It's been kinda rough lately.
As for me, I hope to find an internship, some volunteer work, something. If at any cost, I want to get involved in music more (songwriting, creating video concepts).

4. Will you be making any New Year's resolutions? If yes, what will they be?
Yes, I got one resolution: to exercise before going on spring break in March. Scratch that, I have another one: to make the Dean's List.

5. What are your plans for New Year's Eve?
Party!

Merry Christmas!
I just checked my inner child, just for kicks:

My inner child is sixteen years old!

Life's not fair! It's never been fair, but while
adults might just accept that, I know
something's gotta change. And it's gonna
change, just as soon as I become an adult and
get some power of my own.


How Old is Your Inner Child?
brought to you by Quizilla

Garfield's Big Fat Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays, everyone. I've been keeping up with this Garfield's version of The Twelve Days of Christmas, and wanted to share the link to it. It's pretty cute!

I got some last minute shopping in today with Mom. It was fun, but hectic. My feet were hurting, like three times during our trip from home to Kenwood Towne Centre. I blame it on my shoes, time to buy a new pair. Maybe there will be a good after-Christmas sale on some shell toe addidas somewhere. Ran into a couple of buddies from hs, Cassandra and Jennifer. Haven't seen Jennifer in ages, either, so that was a real treat. She's at UD, and we talked about how the Bearcats gave em their first loss of the season. And with Cassandra, it was good to see her and her sis as well. I think I talked and worried about her birthday gift so much that my Mom and I would run into her at the mall. Actually, her birthday falls on Christmas. Happy Christmas and Merry Birthday, Cass! :)

Wow, its hard to believe that Christmas is just in a few hours. Its cool though, there's going to be plenty of television watching. Marathons and movies galore. I really want to watch Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!; my favorite part is when they decorate the tree. If anything, I just want to relax all day, make a few phonecalls to friends. do the gift exchange with Mom, and think about Dad for awhile. I miss him so much around this time of year. Its hard to deal with the holidays at particular moments, but I'm learning to cope with the holidays more than I did two years ago. Mom is as well, she even got into decorating a bit more this year. We're taking baby steps......together.

One of these days there will be a new winter layout. Actually, I'm just changing the image at the top to fit the season. I'm lazy. Hey, it's winter break...there's still time.

Once again, Happy Holidays.

Earlier this morning, around 1am I realized that I have a lot more gifts to purchase than I originally thought. Still looking for gifts for my Mom, and gifts for my two friends that have birtdays close to Christmas, or the day of Christmas (Hi Cassandra, Hi Teresa!). Also, there are a few more friends on my list At the risk of them reading this post, I won't mentioned what I got them....

I'm planning to go after leaving campus to do some more shopping this afternoon. I'm hoping to get back to Old Navy before Thursday, I got my eye on this long sleeved tee that I want to get. Looked like they marked it down again, and I just went there on Saturday (the official day I began to look for gifts, while out with 'the almost b-day girl', Teresa)! :) I enjoy a good sale.

Now, if I can only find something to do at work to look like I'm busy. It's a slow day already, the office can get like that around the holidays.

Here's the Friday Five, a day late:

1. List your five favorite beverages.
Dr. Pepper, Cherry 7-up, Lipton tea, Cherry Coke, Smirnoff Ice.

2. List your five favorite websites.
mtv.com, tug messageboards, oldnavy.com, torrid.com, Yahoo (the strange stories section).

3. List your five favorite snack foods.
chocolate, chips, popcorn, cookies (oreos, peanut butter, etc.), and ice cream.

4. List your five favorite board and/or card games.
Uno, Monopoly, Life, Checkers, and Poker.

5. List your five favorite computer and/or game system games.
I don't play that many video/pc games but I like Tetris and Grand Theft Auto. Does internet checkers count? :)

Did I mention that the Bengals won another game. too? The box office is actually going to sell playoff tickets this year. Amazing, huh? Thanks to Marvin Lewis, he made it cool to be a Bengals fan again. Dad would be saying "I told you they would make a comeback" right about now. God, rest his soul...

It's Tuesday already? I'm still wondering what happened to my weekend! Anywho, I decided to take Monday off in order to have a three-day weekend, a small break to celebrate the completion of the quarter. There were a few highlights in the weekend overall. I did find another winter coat on Saturday, which was the same day that we got 3 inches of snow, ironically. Ah, the first snow of the season. (minor correction: Aaaahhhh!) Like I mentioned in the last post, snow is pretty to look at, but only if you're inside looking out the window. I guess I don't have that much room to complain, compared to other cities (NYC, Boston, Cleveland, etc.) Cincinnati gets the barely there/just enough to see snow. I was upset at a friend Saturday night after calling me to go out and then a half our later (after I fully changed clothes) to tell me that there were a change of plans cuz of the snow falling. The snow issuse I can understand, but waiting a half hour to call me back was questionable. Moral of the story: I seriously need to get my liscense, before it expires yet again.

Sunday was an exteme lounging day, didn't go anywhere, I just sat around and watched television and worked on my laptop all day, trying to burn mp3 cd's and copy them to my new gadget. Got the mp3 player about 2 weeks ago, and its much more convient than carrying a cd player and a travel case of cd's around. Plus the player fits inside my coat pockets as well, which makes it even more convenient. Since I have the old usb 1.1 connection on my laptop, it takes a while to transfer a bunch of files.

Can't forget to mention that Sadaam was captured. Is it just me, or did George W. sound quite odd saying that "Mr. Hussein" was captured? I forgot the exact quote that was repeatedly shown on the news the last two days, but it was just an odd, overexposed soundbyte for the media to use. I'll probably come across that quote later on.

Oh yea, must mention about my Aunt that stays in Alabama got married this weekend. Does it help that she didn't send out any official announcements of the ceremony, or that none of the family, (with the exception of a couple of people) has even met the guy?? They're going to come up for Christmas; I'm anxious to see how the family is gonna react to meeting him. This sounds like a fiasco waiting to happen.

Ahh, I'm now back from the abyss of studying (more like procrastination and frequent napping), finally free from final exams. On my way to work this afternoon, I turned in a portfolio for poetry, that I spent part of Thursday evening and this morning revising. I'm sure that the portfolio is B-worthy. If I get two A's and two B's on this quarter's report card, I can make the Dean's list. It's not that necessary that I make it this quarter, just at least once before I graduate.
For now, I'm going to enjoy the well deserved time off from going to class, and just work, write some hot songs, and party. The plan that my friend Teresa (helloooo, LOL*) and I are scheming up is to gather up a lot of our friends and just go out and ring in 2004 the right way!

*goofy inside joke, that's how we greet each other on the phone; we're bonafide goofballs, lol*

On to other news, here's the Friday five. It was on a hiatus last week:

1. Do you enjoy the cold weather and snow for the holidays?
It's alright, I prefer the summer heat really. Snow is pretty to look at, when you're sitting in the house looking at it out the window. :)

2. What is your ideal holiday celebration? How, where, with whom would you celebrate to make things perfect?
My ideal holiday celebration would include a good mix of friends and family, a lot of food (and drinks...), and plenty of party music. Decorations wouldn't hurt either. A good location would be my house, there have been a handful of celebrations thrown here, and they've all worked out well, so there's nothing wrong with sticking to what's good!

3. Do you do have any holiday traditions?
My favorite holiday tradition is listening to Christmas albums. Not CD's albums. My Mom plays The Temptations Christmas Card, "Please Come Home for Christmas", and "Christmas Comes but Once a Year" both by Charles Brown. Can't forget Donny Hataways "This Christmas", which has been remade by sooo many artists, but is the best soulful Christmas song in my opinion. And call me corny, but I love the Barking Dogs version of Jingle Bells! Everytime I hear that tune, I think back to when I was 6 years old when I first heard the song on the radio while in the car with my Dad. Ah, the memories, LOL.

4. Do you do anything to help the needy?
No, but I should be giving back, and voulnteering in the community.

5. What one gift would you like for yourself?
Does piece of mind come in a box? If it does, I would like two please. :)

Rick Minter, Fired!

Ouch! Not too long after UC's move to the Big East Conference, Minter, the head coach of the football program, was fired.

One word for this soda: ewww! Yea, there's that rule of not judging things before you try it, but this Turkey and Gravy drink just sounds gross.

Can Cincinnati get some peace, please?

Early Sunday morning, a 350 pound black male died in police custody after a scuffle that they had at a local White Castle. 'Scuffle' is the lightest of what can be said about the footage. The man that died (Nathaniel Jones) based on the footage, rushed at the officers first. There were also news updates of a preliminary toxicology report stating that he had PCP and cocaine in his system. Like the effects with some other drugs, I'm sure that his mind was altered during the occurance. All throughout the day yesterday I kept hearing these three words during commercials for the news, and during actual newscasts: 400 pound man (changed to 350)...died in police custody...took 6 men to restrain him, and so on. Afraid to say that this puts the city two years behind all over again. I got a feeling that there's going to be more civil unrest in our city soon.

With this being Yahoo's top story at the moment, I'm sure that there are many insensitive comments posted to the message boards, along with racist ones. I actually got distracted from this entry from posting on the message board. There are a lot of people on the outside looking in, that live in other states, seeing the story on the national news.

It's gonna get ugly.

Update 12/2/03: It has became ugly, if you can resist, avoid the Yahoo! message board on this subject. Its pointless to try to post your view to have some fool just attack it.

the friday five:

12/1/03 update: oops, forgot to post the answers-

1. Do you like to shop? Why or why not?
Yes, when I can find something that fits.

2. What was the last thing you purchased?
I bought a snack at Wendy's on my way home today. Does that count? If not, then my last big purchase was a Dell mp3 player.

3. Do you prefer shopping online or at an actual store? Why?
I like shopping at actual stores, because you can try things out before considering to purchasing anything. Online shopping is good for when you're buying something that you don't have to try on, like music or books.

4. Did you get an allowance as a child? How much was it?
Yes, I received allowance when I was a kid, like 15-20 bucks a week, depending on how much my parents could spare.

5. What was the last thing you regret purchasing?
The textbooks for my classes this quarter; barely read any of them.

"The chaos of college costs"
The steady rise in public university tuition puts more Ohio families in an economic bind

the friday five:
it's typical for a procrastinator to do it two days late

1. List five things you'd like to accomplish by the end of the year.
Get my driver's liscense (that one's a long shot)
figure out what to do on Winter break
buy a boom box (my stereo can't play cd-r's)
take a road trip
study for finals (cuz I am the procrastination queen)

2. List five people you've lost contact with that you'd like to hear from again.
Michelle
LaCedric (two buddies from elementary school)
Chris (my friend's cousin, who gave me my first kiss on Thanksgiving of all days...)
Edward and Eric (one of my godfathers, and brother, respectively. even though my brother and I have some communication problems, i wish that they could be worked out. the same goes for my godfather, its like he's MIA or avoiding me, one of the two.)

3. List five things you'd like to learn how to do.
learn to speak Spanish, fluently
to design (better) webpages
to learn how to shoot and edit movies
learn to make beats
and to (finally) master the art of driving!

4. List five things you'd do if you won the lottery (no limit).
Pay off all student loans or other bills
buy a condo for my Mom and I
start my own business
start a foundation in the memory of my Dad
give back to the community where I've been alll my life, Bond Hill

5. List five things you do that help you relax.
Sleep
Watch movies
Read
Listen to Music
Write (including blog entries!)

The Source Digs Up Tape Of Eminem Using Racial Slurs

What the hell is Benzino's problem? He's got that much hatred against Eminem that he gotta go and dig up some stuff from 1993 with Em using racial slurs? Obvioulsy, it's wrong to use racial slurs against people, and I'm not trying to condone it at all. I just think its some type of publicity stunt that he's trying to pull to get more people to buy more copies of The Source magazine, which Benzino owns. They're planning to include a cd of the Eminem recordings in the February issue of the magaine. Plus, with his non-existant rapping career, and the so, so sad Source Awards that were aired on BET last week, I'm sure he's looking for some sort of attention.

And I'm sure that BET regretted showing the awards, as much as they blurt out everthing on the videos (they won't let Monica say "smack ya chick" on her song "So Gone"!), and couldn't do anything about that shot at the closing of the awards with the two girls making out. Enough said.

I took the Happy Bunny quiz on Quizilla, most likely out of boredom, mixed with a little procrastination:


you are the "you're so dumb" happy bunny.
you are brutal in your words and enjoy putting
others down.


which happy bunny are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Here's the friday five:

1. Using one adjective, describe your current living space.
Small.

2. Using two adjectives, describe your current employer.
Friendly, nice.

3. Using three adjectives, describe your favorite hobby/pasttime.
(Music): Loud; rhythmic; influential.

4. Using four adjectives, describe your typical day.
Scattered; mundane; tiresome; varied.

5. Using five adjectives, describe your ideal life.
Magnificent; extraordinary; wonderful; excellent; great.

Here's the friday five:

1. What food do you like that most people hate?
Seafood. I find that I lot of people that I'm cool with don't like shrimp, crab legs, lobster and all that.

2. What food do you hate that most people love?
Raw onions (like on hamburgers or in salads).

3. What famous person, whom many people may find attractive, is most unappealing to you?
Brad Pitt. He's alright I guess, but not the type of guy that I would just swoon over.

4. What famous person, whom many people may find unappealing, do you find attractive?
I guess Pharell Williams of the Neptunes.

5. What popular trend baffles you?
The trend that bothers me (that I hope is only in Cincy) is when these girls wear their headbands on their foreheads. Not on their heads, their FOREHEADS. It just looks dumb to me.

Grants barely survive cuts
It's a bit unnerving to know that the Federal Pell Grants almost got cut this year.

Well, it's official, UC is now a part of the Big East Conference. It will officially begin in the fall of 2005.

Whoever told Britney Spears that this hairdo looked good on her, lied.

The Friday Five for Halloween:

1. What was your first Halloween costume?

I don't remember the first one, but I remember that I was a bunny for Halloween when I was five.
My Mom made me a tail out of yarn, and I wore a pair of my footsie pajamas, the ones with the slippery, built-in feet.

2. What was your best costume and why?

When I was 8 or 9, I was a princess for Halloween, royal scepter and all. I guess its the typical dream of all little girls to be a princess.

3. Did you ever play a trick on someone who didn't give you a treat?

No.

4. Do you have any Halloween traditions? (ie: Family pumpkin carving, special dinner before trick or treating, etc.)

No, I don't have any Halloween traditions.

5. Share your favorite scary story...real or legend!

Um...I can't think of one!!!

Yea, I'm a nerd for putting this entry in orange. Oh well. I had a decent Halloween day, although I had to go to one class, went to work, went home for a hot second (well 20 mins. actually), and then went back to campus to attend a poetry reading (for class credit). Was partially frightened by the 60 year old man, using a particular slang world for a particular female body part. Ick, I'm just cringing at the thought of him saying it.

My favorite part of the day occured while I was at work. Some of the student workers from another department were dressed up as an angel and a goth queen. And their boss was dressed as a troll, with the oversized hands too. It was funny.

Anyway, I found out the word that I placed on freewords.org got listed in
this section. "Jubilation!" :)

And for that, I am now a dork. :P Speaking of dorks, a shoutout to my girl Simi, she's the original. Trust.

Finally, some progress. This site has been down for a minute, at least a month and a 1/2. With 100.9 fm being Cincinnati's only r&b and hip-hop station, they needed a serious revamp of the site. The playlist alone was 6 months old. There were never any listings of local concerts, updated street team info (that I want to join), or their radio promotions. I guess better things are on the way, or at least one can hope.


p.s. no Friday Five this week, possibly next week too. awww!

Professor studies ‘playlist from hell’

Hey, I had this professor for Intro to Marketing last year. Its kinda cool to see a UC professor get some national attention.

Yay, there was some decent entertainment on campus Friday night. Brad and Chip were hillarious. Kind of a prelude to Homecoming this upcoming Saturday and Midnight Madness, which was on Friday as well. They announced the Homecoming court follwing the show, and my friend Mai was one of the candidates. Unfortunately, she wasn't chosen; that's okay, she's still a great person regardless. :)

I took a quiz. Look, I'm Vegas, baby:


Congratulations, you're Las Vegas, Sin City.
What US city are you? Take the quiz by Girlwithagun.

Didn't do the Friday Five yesterday- too sleep deprived:
1. Name five things in your refrigerator.
Skyline cheese, sour cream, orange juice, Sprite Remix, eggs.

2. Name five things in your freezer.
Popsicles, Hot Pockets, Ice Cream Sandwiches, and some ice cubes.

3. Name five things under your kitchen sink.
A bucket, Brillo pads, Palmolive, Cascade, and a sink plunger.

4. Name five things around your computer.
My printer, a usb hub, a zip drive, my cd burner, and a mouse pad.

5. Name five things in your medicine cabinet.
Astringent, Nair, a bottle of Alleve, Dove deodorant, and a razor.

Before my friend Desarae gets on my case again, I want to give her and her hubby, Tom a shoutout. Today is their first wedding anniversary! Congrats to you two! (I was Desarae's Maid of Honor in the ceremony and our friend Cassandra was one of the bridesmaids.) And see, I even put it in a different font so that you could notice it Dez! :) And another shoutout for Cassandra too. Just making sure that I didn't leave anyone out!

I got bored, so I'm posting a pic that was supposed to be posted a long time ago.





I'm just now remembering what I wanted to post (old and new info). For starters, I shut my geocites page down. Just using it to store images from now on. I don't have that much time in the world to keep up with more than one site right now. Secondly, I've petitioned to withdraw from the Co-op program. It's a decision that I've been considering for a couple of months. I just can't squeeze in two more practice quarters on a full time basis. I'm considering a part-time internship (paid or unpaid) as an alternative.

It's now time for the Friday Five!

1. Do you watch sports? If so, which ones?
I don't watch any sport on the regular, but when I do, I watch either basketball, football or baseball.


2. What/who are your favorite sports teams and/or favorite athletes?
I love the Bearcats (hey that's my univ. what do you expect?!), I'm feeling OSU (especially after they won the championship last season), I like the Reds, and I loathe the Bengals (or should I say, Bungles?). They got a new coach and all, but improvement, or any spots in any playoffs or super bowls for that matter, are still way off. Michael Jordan has always been the man, and I'm questioning Kobe Bryant at the moment, with all the scandal going on around him.


3. Are there any sports you hate?
I find golf to be boring, although I like Putt-Putt. I don't have any idea of what sense that makes. That's my off beat logic for ya.


4. Have you ever been to a sports event?
Yes, I've been to a few Reds games. My Mom was able to score some really sweet seats from her old job. The company boss has some really good season seats like in the fourth row on the 1st base line. I remember the couple of times we went my Dad and I were trying to get Ken Griffey Jr.'s attention so that I could get a snapshot of him; our attempts were unsuccessful. Plus dodging/trying to catch all those fly balls was exciting but scary.


5. Do/did you play any sports (in school or other)? How long did you play?
As stated in the movie Grease: "If you can't be an athlete, be an athletic supporter." I always loved that quote from that movie. Although I'm not a jock strap, I did enjoy going to the Friday night football games when I was in high school. That was the hangout- plus when it was homecoming, it was always crazy, although the Eagles lost every homecoming when I was there except in the 99-00 season, when I was a senior.

Well, that recording never went according to plan Sunday night. The guy who owns the studio had a last minute change of plans. So the three of us recorded the song on tape. How bootleg, but it worked. Singing made me miss being in the University Chorus. Hopefully in the Winter, I will be able to join again.

Boo, can't answer the friday five this week. Don't have a driver's license...yet. Here are the questions though:

1. What vehicle do you drive?
2. How long have you had it?
3. What is the coolest feature on your vehicle?
4. What is the most annoying thing about your vehicle?
5. If money were no object, what vehicle would you be driving right now?

Finally got a new image posted at the top of the blog. Spent part of my slow going Saturday to work on it. Used a tutorial on how to enhance the color of an image in order to make it look halfway decent. But one of these days, this site will need an all over makeover. This weekend was alright, I was hoping to go out with some of my friends Saturday night. In the end, it became a night of extreme phone tag between me and two friends. But the hope isn't completely over. My friend Teresa is on her way over now so we can practice a song that we co-wrote, featuring 16 bars by my friend/neighbor, Roscoe. The plan is to get the song recorded and mixed down tonight so that it can be shopped around to different labels real soon. If anyone reading this (for the few of you that do, thanks), that may know someone, please feel free to email me. If not, its still cool either way, we're still on a mission either way. :)

Too bad that this type of real world projects weren't available to me as a freshman business student three years ago, but its good to know that the college is changing its curriculum to reflect the changing times.

Sorry. the friday five is on hiatus this week, but it will be back next friday.

Made it through the first day, can't ask for anything better. Only had Management Integration at 8am, then I went to work. On my way home though, I met a Freshman who just completed her first day. We sat at the bustop for what seemed like forever, due to all the afternoon traffic. It's ususally that hectic the first week bad, but eventually dies down by midway into the second. With the lack of parking spaces, now more than ever with the countless construction around and within the perimeter of campus, there will be a lot of people circling the blocks waiting to catch an open space. But I digress. I hope that the girl that I met does well this quarter. It takes a few weeks to get settled in with the whole college experience, regardless if you're a commuter, or stay on or nearby campus.

Tomorrow I start yet another Fall quarter. I am hoping that this will be the next-to-last one. Not that I'm trying to rush out of school or anything, but I'm not planning on staying forever either. Hoping to find a happy medium one day. I had also hoped to get a new layout done for the blog, okay, a new image for the top of the page. Those design skills are still limited, but I try my best. One of these days, I will learn something new, besides how to use those PSP brushes. Nothing too out of the ordinary went on since the last post. My Mom and I did go grocery shopping yesterday (had to stock up on the snacks), and afterwards. I went with my cousin, who's a senior in HS to a college fair at her school. A rep from Thomas More College (right across the bridge in KY) thought that I was a Senior too. I suprised her by mentioning that I'm almost a senior myself, but in college. I don't mind being mistaken for a high schooler in some situations, but not all. Its good to keep people gussing, I enjoy the mystery. And as for today, didn't do to much of nothing, just cleaned up, got my hair done, and ran into a friend while out shopping--for cereal. I remembered to by some milk on Monday, but forgot the cereal. I need to get two things that match on a shopping trip sometimes! Other than that, just a whole bunch of blah went on.

An edit from the last post (refer to question #2): Its just that one song that I can't stand by Camron. His part on "Santana's Town" was cool, I guess.

Haven't posted in a week, about to be busy again with classes, partied hard last night @ a friend's house, and now I'm doing the Friday Five a day late:

1. Who is your favorite singer/musician? Why?
Janet Jackson. She's just so amazingly talented, but then again, look @ who is her big brother. I've been inspired by her since her Control days. I remember watching "The Pleasure Principle" video as a kid and was in awe by her dancing.

2. What one singer/musician can you not stand? Why?
Neither, its a rapper, actually. Right now, I'm not into Cam'ron at all. He raps like hella slow!!! The best example I can think of is his verse on the "Never Scared" Remix by Bone Crusher. Really, how long does he hold the word dog? Like 20 seconds or more?! Come on!!

3. If your favorite singer wasn't in the music business, do you think you would still like him/her as a person? If Janet wasn't in the business, I would still probably like her as a person. She comes off as being humble and sincere.

4. Have you been to any concerts? If yes, who put on the best show?
Yes, I've been to a few, but not many (as of yet). My favorite was seeing Aaliyah when she came to Cincy as a part of the Coors Jazz Festival, which got moved to Detroit (boo).

5. What are your thoughts on downloading free music online vs. purchasing albums? Do you feel the RIAA is right in its pursuit to stop people from dowloading free music?
I don't understand the RIAA's logic in trying to sue people for downloading music. If it was like that, then they should sue everyone in the world who has downloaded any music for free. To me, its like an update version of when people taped television shows and sports events using VCR cassettes. Honestly, I see no harm in it, because the artists and their respective recording and distribution companies are still making profits. In a way, downloading a few songs online may persuade the person to actually buy the cd in the store. Don't take it personally, but that's just my opinion. I'm going to step down from my soapbox now to go and download more songs. :)

Call me a dork, but I don't care. This morning, I was up early watching Clifford, the Big Red Dog on PBS (don't get it twisted, I love cartoons, and this one is very cute!), and later found out that John Ritter had passed away! That's so sudden, and sad too! The same goes for Johnny Cash too. It's such a shame how all these talented people are taken before their time. All the evil beings should pass on first.

The Friday Five:

1. Is the name you have now the same name that's on your birth certificate? If not, what's changed?
Yes.

2. If you could change your name (first, middle and/or last), what would it be?
I would change my first name to Erica. It's the female equivalent of my Dad's name, Eric. I was told by my parents that I was almost named that.

3. Why were you named what you were? (Is there a story behind it? Who specifically was responsible for naming you?)
Thanks to my lovely Mom, I was named Shamekko. :) She told me that her friend's daughter was named Emiko, and she like that name a lot. My Mom put her own little spin on the name to come up with mines. Another bit of info I learned was that Emiko means "beautiful" in either Japanese or Chinese. One of these days I'm gonna have to check up on that.

4. Are there any names you really hate or love? What are they and why?
I hate and love the name Nicole. I hate it because its such a common name; I went to school with at least 4 people with the first or middle name of Nicole. I love it because it balances well with my name: Shamekko Nicole. An odd first name with a common middle name; it seems to balances out. A name I truly love is Erica, cuz of my Dad. I thought of naming my first born daughter (whenever that will occur) Erica, or Imani (I like that one too, it means 'faith').

5. Is the analysis of your name at kabalarians.com / triggur.org / astroexpert accurate? How or how isn't it?
@ Kabalarians.com , 'Shamekko' isn't even part of their database. Guess they're not up on their 'around the way" names. I just put in a request to add it to the d-base.

@ Triggur.org:
Expression
Shamekko knows more about nothing than anybody.
Personality
Shamekko draws strength from the weakness of others.
Natural
Shamekko regularly practice cannibalism.
Emotional
Shamekko is a quiet loner.
Character
Shamekko starts most of the arguments.
Physical
Shamekko could use major dental surgery.
Mental
Shamekko has a horrible, horrible secret.
Motivation
Shamekko would sell relatives for a buck.

And finally, @ Astroexpert , their results were confusing.
Some of those comments from Triggur were mean, but I find the Motivation one funny.

Doin' the Friday five, on a Sunday. How lazy.

1. What housekeeping chore(s) do you hate doing the most?
Washing dishes, and taking out the garbage.

2. Are there any that you like or don't mind doing?
I don't mind cleaning my room, when there's not that much to pick up. Also, I don't mind washing and drying clothes.

3. Do you have a routine throughout the week or just clean as it's needed?
I just clean as needed, or when I get complaints from my Mom. :P

4. Do you have any odd cleaning/housekeeping quirks or rules?
No, not that I can think of.

5. What was the last thing you cleaned?
My file cabinet.

So far today has been pretty easygoing. The weather is comfortable, and not too humid for once. I may take the long way home just to enjoy it a bit more without having to sit outside on the porch with all the neighbor's kids running and screaming up and down the street. Yesterday was fine too; I actually put up some money for driving lessons. It was 80 bucks for a 90 minute session; if I had spent 10 dollars more, then I would have paid a dollar per minute for instruction. The instructor that I had said that my road driving was good (minus the few unnecessary stops and waiting too long; I was nervous and a bit timid), granted that I haven't been out driving in months. The entire aspect of driving is a 'close to home' topic. Its difficult to get any practice in when there is hardly anyone that is willing to help. For the ones that want to, they have other things to deal with, and I wouldn't feel right just asking them to help me. Another big issue is that I don't want to be seen as a charity case. I'm not the type of person that seeks out pity from others. I'm extremely stubborn about that.

But also, in a way, I'm not going to sweat over it that much. Things will fall into place soon.

The labor day holiday was so, average. My plans to go and see the Riverfest fireworks fell through. Tried calling a few friends, was only able to catch up with one of them before Monday. Can't complain, I did talk to them. My day right now seems so slow and quiet. I'm at work right now, maybe its time to take a break.

Actually, I think I'm realizing, and bummed out that summer is officially over, and there's three weeks left before I start full-time classes. A bittersweet ending to a partially lazy summer.

And now, for this week's catch-up post:

It's almost a week later, and I'm still recovering from last Saturday's family reunion. I was driven to the point during the afternoon to ask my Mom to kindly "Take me out of my misery". In a way, it was that bad. I really didn't have too many people to talk to on a real level, without having to be asked the usual questions about school and such. There is more to my life than school! I wonder what my relatives will ask me after I graduate from college? How's work? With the exception of a handfull of people, most are just being nosey. Trust me, I'm not letting them into too much information. All of my goals and accomplishments will be a big suprise. By the time the day was (finally) overwith, I was emotionally and physically drained. I was happy to leave from the park. As a way to top off the night, my friend Teresa invited me to go out with her and another friend, Ben. We ended up at this bar down in the Main Street district downtown. We were having a good time, until, someone on the third floor (we were on the 2nd) pulled the fire alarm. We didn't care, it was a well needed, and well deserved night out for all three of us. It was just one of those days for the three of us.

As for this week, it was okay. I switched my work days around because Tuesday would have been my Dad's 55th birthday (God, continue to rest my Father's soul). We went out to the cemetary and decorated the plot with flowers, balloons, and a blue pinwheel that I bought last summer for him, but never made it out there to actually stick in the ground. Honestly, I've been extremely hesistant about going out to the cemetary. They make me uneasy. But I am proud to say that this time, I was calm. I had to be for my Mom, she misses Dad a lot. I do too, but with loosing any loved one, everyone has their own way of coping. I'm now discovering my own way of coping. On Wednesday, I wrote a poem to my Dad about our trip out there.

Thursday, my day orbited around watching the VMA's. I wasn't too enthused with the "big kiss" between Madonna and Brittney. Justin Timberlake wasn't either. How bold and somewhat of the camera men to switch so that we could see Justin's reaction. I did enjoy Mary J. Blige's performance though. It wasn't as over the top as Beyonce's, although she's one of my favorites right now.

Also, since yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's speech in Washington, D.C. , his son, MLK III, was in Cincinnati (which could use some serious uplifting these days). Its sad to hear that the dream has not yet been achieved, 40 years after the fact.

Through all of this catching up, I'm at work with a few more tasks to finish before going home. I wish that it would stop raining by the time that I leave.

The Friday Five and stuff:

1. Are you going to school this year?
Yes, I am. I'm looing forward to this being a relatively decent year, and possibly, my last full year of college. My goal is to be completed by June, 2005, but I'm just now learning to pace myself and take classes at my own speed, regardless of when I finish them.

2. If yes, where are you going (high school, college, etc.)? If no, when did you graduate?
I'm in college right now, at the University of Cincinnati (whoo-hoo!), and I graduated from Walnut Hills H.S. in 2000.

3. What are/were your favorite school subjects?
In h.s. I enjoyed Art, Algebra, and Study Hall. :P
So far in college, my favorites are Psychology (when I learned about child development), and Sociology (which wasn't as bad as I expected it to be), and Women's Chorus. After this fall, I'm hoping to add Creative Writing: Poetry to the growing list.

4. What are/were your least favorite school subjects?
I loathed Chemistry (anything Science related, for that matter), Geometry, and Pre-Calculus.

5. Have you ever had a favorite teacher? Why was he/she a favorite?
Dang, I have a few favorites from high school, so I'll just list them at random:
Ms. Williams - Art; she was just an all around good person. She encouraged me to work harder at my creativity.
Mr. Williams (no relation to Ms. Williams) - American History; another positive force during the hectic high school years.
Mrs. Macintosh - had her for Algebra I and Statistics; she was a sweet and down-to-earth teacher. I stil have the birthday card that she sent to me for my 14th birthday! :)
Ms. Kombrinck - Ms. Kombrinck wasn't even a teacher, but she played a major role in my senior year at Walnut. She was the school pshychologist, but she allowed students to visit her during 4th bell study hall. She was definately my escape from being in the aura of chaos and stupidity of some of my fellow classmates of the c/o 2000.
Mr. Cheeseman - Medieval History, Yearbook Journalism; Mr. Cheeseman was the only teacher that I had all four years of high school! :P He was a new teacher to Walnut during my freshman year, and it just went from there. He was another postive
Although the coursework was extremely challenging, these teachers made each day a bit more pleasant.

With college, my favorite professors so far were: Mr. Jacubovic (everyone called him by his first name, 'Bob'), who I had for two quarters of English Comp freshman year. He always encouraged me to improve my essay writing, which, in the long run, I have. Mr. Ghee, who I had for a section of Psychology two summers ago. Too bad it was only a 3 week course, but he made the course worthwhile; who would have thought that "The Simpsons" would relate to in the two types of child rearing: passive (like Marge), or authoratative (like Homer)? Mr. Ghee definately made learning Psychology entertaining and educational, which he called, "edu-tainment".

The Friday Five:

1. When was the last time you laughed?
This morning, when I was watching Jerry Springer before leaving the house for work.

2. Who was the last person you had an argument with?
My Mom; we were in a 'dispute' about some decorations for our family reunion that's tomorrow.

3. Who was the last person you emailed?
Uhh, I email a lot of people. I think the last person I emailed was my friend Teresa. (hey girl!)

4. When was the last time you bathed?
Yesterday.

5. What was the last thing you ate?
Some cinnamon Teddy Grahams and a Dr. Pepper. I'm craving a double cheeseburger right now...mmm cheeseburger! (channeling Homer right now)

Today is decent, so far. Had a nice weekend, although I lost my voice between Thursday and Friday due to my allergies/sinus issues. I spent all day Saturday with my Mom and my Aunt Brenda getting things for our family reunion picnic for this Saturday. The family raised a lot of money, so we were able to purchase meats, extra containters, a couple of deli trays, a fruit tray, and stuff for the kids to keep them busy (jump ropes, balls, noisy things, etc.). And there is still some money left over; we're gonna go out again on Wednesday to finish up shopping for the event. I was placed in charge of making up the entrance sign, some suprise certificates for all my great aunts and uncles, and my grandmother (there are 15 of them), plus some souvenir thingies for the rest of the fam to take home (so they won't feel left out). I'm excited about using my creativity for something useful, I just hope that they appreciate what I did. My family has the tendency to not give credit when it due, sadly. I put a lot of time into it, I used Paint Shop Pro 7 to get the job done. On Sunday, I went with my friend Dalkesha to see Freddy vs. Jason. It was her birthday, and there's not much that one can do on a Sunday, especially if your birtday falls on that day. The movie was great. I used to be so damn scarred of Freddy growing up! I remember waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and my Dad had the tv up hella loud downstairs. I decided to be nosey and went to see what he was watching. Big mistake!! He was watching one of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. and it showed Freddy Krueger with the faces of children he killed in his stomach! It was pretty ill, and it scarred me for a long while! Couldn't even watch his movies during the daytime if I wanted to! Anyways, the movie was good, but it was funny how they use the same elements for every horror movie (the girl stuck in the woods is a major one), but they seem to find new ways of killing people. I won't even lie, some of the killing scenes made me and my friend jump! After watching Freddy vs. Jason, it makes me want to backtrack and watch all the previous movies they were in, just to see what I've been missing.

Forgot to mention that while I was out Saturday, I picked up Beyonce's Dangerously In Love cd, and it's great. There are a lot of slow songs on the cd, but they are amazing; my favorite tracks are: Signs ("...Cancer, oh!" :D ), Daddy (a very loving and heartfelt tribute, it makes me miss my dad a lot more when I listen to it), Gift From Virgo (it has this old school, live band, jazzy sound to it, very authentic, very beautiful), and Baby Boy (the beat is hot, plus Sean Paul is on there). Honestly every song on that cd is hot! For a mintue, I was getting bored with music, hearing the same 20 songs between the two stations that I listen to. I rather make mix cd's of past favorites to curb that boredom with music. But Beyonce's cd made me a more active listener of music, for now at least. After I leave work today, I'm going to go and buy the Neptunes present...Clones cd. Chad Hugo and Pharell Williams are two of the best producers out right now. Their beats are sick!!

Long digression there! My Monday was alright, just chilled at home, cleaned up a bit, and cooked dinner too. I am very proud of that! :) Its very rare when I actually cook dinner; heating up soup from a can doesn't count. I fried some skinless chicken breasts and had some pasta on the side. As long as I don't burn up or burn down anything, I consider my cooking adventures to be a success, that is, when I do try.

Trying something new today, I'm answering the questions, as posted on Friday Five dot org :

1. How much time do you spend online each day?
Usually between 3-6 hours per day. I consider myself to be an internet junkie.

2. What is your browser homepage set to?
The Road Runner hompage. That's my subscriber.

3. Do you use any instant messaging programs? If so, which one(s)?
Occasionally I use Yahoo! Messenger (like once or twice a week), and AIM (once a month).

4. Where was your first webpage located?
If I rember correctly, it was on AOL, when I used to subscribe to them way back.

5. How long have you had your current website?
Amazingly, for a little over two years now. :)

Jubilation! (That's my new word I've been saying. To my dismay, it's actually a word, here's the definition.)
Anywho, I just checked out the grade online for the Medieval History course (that I finished last week), and I got a B; now I don't feel like my three weeks of time-- and refund money--were wasted on a lousy grade. It's definately one less element that I have to stress about. My newest concern: the family reunion that I have to attend next Saturday. That event is going to be one uneventful afternoon. I'm already in the process of planning a 'survival kit': snacks. pop, some good mix cd's, and a notebook, just in case I get inspired to write a song while I'm there.

Yet another gap between posts. Oh well. The summer is pretty steady right now, I'm back to just working again. I just completed my medieval history course last Thursday, which is a relief. A little over a month of vacation resides before I begin classes full time again (September 24th). Since I have more free time on my hands now compared to if I had chosen to co-op, I don't know what to do half the time. I guess I'm in a state of bliss with my boredom. :)

Plus, there will be some time devoted to revamping this page. This is just a temporary layout for now, until I get more creative with my designing.

My guess is that these health reseachers haven't realized that all the good food is fattening. Now ice cream is on their official list. Really, knowing that ice cream is fattening is common knowledge.

This has definately become a few and far between posting year. I've been so caught up with plenty of changes this year, usually revolving around school, that I've haven't had much time to post any entries. With the summer here, I now have a chance-- somewhat.

I've basically left the idea behind of co-oping for this summer, although if I had, would have meant only one more practice quarter to go. In supplement of full time work off campus, I've decided to continue to work at the library part time via the work study program, and also pick up a 3 week history course, which is a really quick way to get another class out the way. Due to money issues, its the only class that I can afford to take; plus there are great concerns that I have about my financial aid as well. It took a good two week's fight in order to have my federal work-study money for the summer to be process. I never had problems with the financial aid office until this quarter, which left me upset and fustrated to say the least.

During that waiting process in mid- June, I decided to take yet another shot at an interview for co-op. At the time, I still had uncertainties on what I wanted to focus on this summer. I interviewed with Messer Construction Company, which was conviently located a few blocks from my home. If needed, I could have walked to work (but not during the heat wave that we had here for a few weeks). The tasks that I would have been assigned at Messer, had an overlap of what I did at Roth Partnership. At Roth, I had to correspond with many construction companies on various projects; so, in a way, it was like seeing the other side of the operation. I really have no interest in Architecture or Construction, I just took the job at Roth Partnership because they were the first to offer me a position.

Actually, I would enjoy working in the music industry after finishing my degree. I've been working on writing songs just to become better lyricaly. A good friend of mine is trying to get into music as well, but as a singer. Its good to have someone around to talk about music issues to, plus I'm hoping to do some writing for her, as soon as something develops. Its not like we're sitting around either; the main goal for this summer is to compile a packet (bio, pics, demo) to shop around to some music labels. Its gonna be a tricky feat to pull off, but we have faith.

So for the moment, I have to get to reading for a Medieval history course that I'm in the midst of taking. It's only a 3 week course, which began a week ago, and the first test is Friday. So there's plenty of reading and note reviewing to be completed before then. I'll save all the partying for the weekend. :)

This is so not fair. Barry White is one of the best singers ever. Its just sad that he's gone.

The quarter is finally over!

And now, I can rest, somewhat.

I'm currently worried about finding a co-op, and with the practice quarter beginning on 6/23, my options are looking slim to none. I have another interview Friday morning on campus with a company that I never heard of, that's located outside the normal bus route. This is definately a "shot in the dark" chance of an interview. Eh, its worth a shot, I suppose. The only things I would really like to do this summer is work on some more stuff for PDP (check out the link on the left there), work somewhat (but not all the time, just part time), and rest (its been a hella long quarter).

Great, just great:

STATE TUITION CAP MAY INCREASE TO 8 PERCENT

Budget cuts affect higher education

The last few weeks have been busy, and its only going to escalate from here. This upcoming week is my last week of classes for the quarter, but I have two finals and four papers due this week (thank goodness two of the papers are short!). Frankly, I'm not looking forward to the stress. I cannot stand being stressed out. There are a few things that I'm stressing over currently.
First, there's the issue with my co-op. The place where I worked during the Winter quarter, I won't be returning to during the Summer. No hard feelings, but it made me a upset when my former boss claimed that I had said turned down the postion for the summer. In reality, I told him that I would contact him asap about coming back. So, basically, he offered the position to the current co-op that took my spot, and I'm left without a co-op position. I did have a meeting with an editor of a local magazine that I met during an entrepreneurship workshop on campus on Wednesday. The problem is that he's offering an unpaid, part-time internship position in advertising/sales at his magazine; co-op positions are paid positions. There may be a chance that I can earn something for my time spent working there part-time: a car. Sounds very eccentric and risky, but I've had time since then to think about it, and discuss this with my mother. My Mom is always available to discuss hard decisions with me such as this one; bless her <3 I truly love her for that! I would just be glad that I can find some type of experience, unpaid or not, I'm not to crazy about the car idea though. I never want people to see me as a charity case, because I am so far from that. I would rather struggle and save to get a car on my own means, than to have someone to purchase a vehicle for me. I actually do have some money saved up, pretty much for a buggy, a hooptie, or whatever your word of choice is for a junker. Hey, I'm not too stuck on the appearance of the first car that I do purchase, but at long as it has the basics, and can get me to where I have to go, that will be suitable. In ther next few weeks, I am hoping to negotiate with the magazine editor about his offer.
Secondly, although this is so far from the other issues in my life, that it seems almost insignificant. As I was leaving campus yesterday from a Bearcast meeting, a friend and I was walking to the nearest bus stop and chatting all the way there pretty much. Lo and behold, I walked past my ex's car, just parked oh so nicely on the street. Now that I'm discussing it here, it seems lame that I even mention it, because a few weeks prior this, I saw it parked in the same spot, oddly. Thinking nothing of it, or almost nothing, I continued my conversation with my buddy, who's a guy (forgot to mention). A minute later, we walked past McDonald's, and I'm 85% sure that the ex was sitting in there looking right back at me. I looked at him, and continued my conversation with my friend. All I could think then is redemption! That's definately my closure on that chapter in my life. Yes, granted its normal to run into an ex, I'm not used to that, since he was my first real relationship (the 'out of sight, out of mind' theory does not work). I'm a late bloomer in that aspect. But I read Huny's latest entry before writing my own; she talked about how you realize after the relationship is over, how you changed yourself, or put on your public face to mask all your personal flaws. It's like you put your heart on the line for someone to just crush it. I'm not giving up hope though; I'm aware that there is someone out here in the world that would acept me for me, along with all my flaws. I'm destined to find my equal someday. But for the time being, I have the summer to focus on.

The fate of the Cincinnati Public School buildings are left up to the voters to decide if the bond issue is worthy enough to be on the ballot again this November, after a defeat last year of just 600 votes.
Here's the technical info about the bond issue.


In more news about the 'melee near campus', I saw on the local news this morning that the police department was "suprised" that the distubance went on for the second year in a row. Their reason: because Cinco de Mayo fell on a Monday this year. My only rationalization is that they seem to dismiss that college students will find a reason to party, even if its a few days shy of a holiday. I don't know whether to shake my head or laugh at the CPD for their idiocy. If you unsure what 'idiocy' means look it up. Honestly, I had to look it up myself, on the accout that 'idiocracy' isn't a real word.
Also, it was announced that letters have been sent all to all UC students, asking them to identify anyone that they know that may have been involved in the disturbance. Basically, they're asking for students to be a nark and rat out their friends. I will be on the lookout for my copy of that letter in the mail today, just to see what it actually says. I can hear speculations and diluted stories about it all day long, but the letter will be an interesting read, nontheless.

I've been pretty busy with classes, sleeping, and a little partying to mix things up a bit. But I haven't done any partying like some of the other students at my university. Too bad the report lacks any pics.
Cinco de Mayo Madness near campus!

Scratch that. Found something even better: video footage.

This statement is no longer valid. I was watching Smallville last night, and I saw a commercial announcing that the Justified & Stripped tour is going to be in Cincy on July 26th! And the tickets go on sale this Saturday! My poor Mother had to see me spaz out for like 5 minutes straight, just jumping for joy and squealing and such. There has to be some really big event that would get me to jump around like a maniac like I did last night. I was just so heartbroken knowing that they weren't coming here on tour, that the commercial just took my by suprise! Also, I found this great tutorial on how to make blue spikes in psp. The result came out pretty cool when I tried it, but I haven't converted the pic to jpeg or gif in order to post it here. I made mines in two shades of purple, it came out pretty cool! I'm quite proud of it! :)

And yet, through all of this, I still had one more exam to study for. I had the motherload of exams this week, I'm just happy that they're over, for now. On Monday, I had an exam in Quantitative Analysis, an exam in Intro to Sociology on Tuesday, and the last exam in Global Business Environment this morning. Like I told my buddy Des, my brains will be mush by today, and that I'm looking forward to going out partying Saturday night. I also told her that my cousin gave me the nickname of "party girl". Des told me that maybe she should see if "Party Boy" from 'Jackass' would want to go and party with me. Omg, I'll have to pass on that one! :) If you saw Jackass: The Movie or the weekly show, you know what I'm talking about!

Too bad that this list wasn't out about 3 years ago when I was coming out of high school. Hey, better late than never to learn some new words.

This tour is going to be one of the best of the summer, too bad its not coming to Cincy, though:

Actually, selling Cincinnati sounds like a good idea, although its used in another context in this editorial cartoon by Jim Borgman.

I've been so caught up in school and living [which is a good thing :) ] that this is the only moment that I could spare to post an entry. I've had it on my "to do" list but haven't got around to it until now. I could go on and complain about my allergies or my "interesting" family, but it's all seems petty at the moment, I'm just estatic that I made it to campus this morning to go to class, which reminds me, I have to go attend two more before my day is through.

[vent]

The media is bugging the hell out of me right now. I'm sick of hearing 124635773 different stories about Sadaam being killed. If he was fine, then report it, if he wasn't killed, be honest and report that too. Better yet, the media should have breaking news coverage when they are 200% sure that he's dead; like when they find his body or something. For all we know, it could have been one of his body doubles in that building. I'm fed up with hearing half assed stories with half truths or assumptions in the reports.

[/vent]

Forgot one important detail from the previous entry:

Happy 21st Birthday Desarae!!!
(so lucky!)

My hectic school life has resumed for now. I've been in school for almost two weeks now. My schedule is actually good this quarter; I only have one class on Thursdays and Fridays, which means more sleep in my book. :) Or more partying, depends on the week. Speaking of partying, I finally got to go out clubbin on Saturday with one of my best friends and her cousin. We had the best time just dancing with people (like 5 people in a line at once) and acting silly. Sometimes just going out is just a great stress reliever. I swear that my life is one big ball of stress, my family's crazy, as usual, survival is a test within itself, plus I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have one hell of a time surviving this Finance II class that I'm taking, since the professor doesn't seem to care, or make much sense. That's just the short list.


And then there is the return of the occasional procrastination. I had since Monday to work on my first Finance II assignment, which is due tomorrow afternoon, but I waited until now to work on it. It's hard to remain motivated when the professor takes 10 seconds to explain the chapter, and spends the rest of the hour trying to translate his own chicken scratch to the class. I rather put my energy into preparing for this career fair on campus tomorrow afternoon, since I got some assistance on revising my resume. Maybe one of these days I'll post the updated version on my other little site. But for now, I have to get back to work.

"Virus Spreads in Hong Kong, Cockroaches Eyed"
This is just plain nasty. I know that its about the whole SARS virus that is spreading around the world, including a couple outbreaks in Ohio, but these are cockroaches!

A feeling of accomplishment. Finally got my layout for spring completed. Having free time really helps. :)

March 21 was my last day of co-op for the winter quarter. Thank god. I decided to take this entire week off just to celebrate, relax, and just get some errands done finally (like my taxes for example).

In between relaxing and such, I had time to sit down and check through a long list of emails that I got from Webzine which is a site devoted to independent media. Back in 2001 they had their yearly conference in NYC, and I happened to see it on Huny's site, which is one of my favorite sites that still have the same address. A few people that I used to read regularly have changed addresses a few times, such as Lisa, formerly of PinkHandcuffz.com
*just found out that she moved from MySteelo too* I guess people are just tired of the net right now. Who knows. Anyway, back to the story at hand. I was reading through a collection of emails from the Webzine email list about Michael Moore's acceptance speech at the Oscars Sunday night. For those who may not know who Michael Moore is, he won an Oscar for his documentary "Bowling for Columbine" which (from what I read about) is about gun control and such (I haven't seen the movie, or didn't see the Oscars on Sunday, but heard a little about the controversy over his speech). Here is transcript of his speech, as seen in one of the Webzine emails I received:


BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE
> Michael Moore and Michael Donovan
>
> ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
> Michael Moore: Whoa. On behalf of our producers Kathleen Glynn and
> Michael Donovan from Canada, I'd like to thank the Academy for this.
> I have invited my fellow documentary nominees on the stage with us,
> and we would like to - they're here in solidarity with me because we
> like nonfiction. We like nonfiction and we live in fictitious times.
> We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that
> elects a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man
> sending us to war for fictitious reasons. Whether it's the fictition
> of duct tape or fictition of orange alerts we are against this war,
> Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you. And any time you got
> the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up. Thank you
> very much.
>
> http://www.oscars.com/oscarnight/winners/win_32297.html


I read through many messages about how some people are pro-war, or how some people think that all the hostility is towards bush when it comes to those who are anti-war, etc. Being the brave soul that I am (at times anyway) I threw in my comment on the whole war issue:



I must say, at the risk of sounding foolish, that I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s comments on Michael Moore’s Oscar speech and all the issues and baggage that comes along with this war at hand. I just want to put in my two cents:

Honestly, I don’t know which side to take on the war, because I can (partially) relate to all sides. I have friends that are anti-war One of my friends is a part of a group on campus that have been organizing anti-war rallies on Friday afternoons on campus , months before the war actually began. I support her cause, as a friend.

I have an aunt and three cousins that are in some branch in the armed forces, whether they are almost about to retire soon, or just joined right before this war began. In the city where I live, Cincinnati, which has enough issues on its own with local politics and schools and such, there have been a few “pro-troops” rallies, one of the most recent was on fountain square downtown where there was a “shouting match’ between anti- war protestors and “pro-troops.

Then there’s the media. At times I just settle to watch an infomercial rather than hear the up-to-the minute updates on the “Attack on Iraq” or the “Showdown with Sadaam”. Every local and national has some sort of “name” for the war. It’s ridiculous! At times the Media can be so persuasive with their extensive news coverage, after watching it for awhile, it gets old and bothersome. These news networks are possibly giving too much information to the public in ways that are far from the truth. But since they dominate the airwaves, its hard not to ignore it, unless you cut the television off.

Last but not least, there’s President Bush (the second). I have no clue what his problem is. To me, he seems like some schoolyard bully trying to pick a fight. Maybe I’m wrong, I don’t know.

Since there are all of these labels about the war already (anti-war, pro-war, pro-troops, etc.), can “neutral” be added to the growing list?

There are my two cents, or twenty. Thanks for reading anyhow.

Shamekko
www.random_thoughts.blogspot.com



I'm usually not the one to comment on such things like war, I usually keep my comments to myself. Good thing I have this blog, I can vent when I want to without criticism, hopefully. This counts as free speech too!

Since this entry is long enough and I could go on for more paragraphs complaining and venting about how I. forgot to confirm my classes for Spring Quarter, or how I heard about the passing of my Great Aunt (my late Grandma's Sister on my father's side) after she was buried, or how the IRS screwed up my tax returns, which caused me to make yet another visit to their offices downtown, which in turn means another bus ride that I shouldn't be taking because I should have my driver's liscense by now...but I'll just be nice and end this entry here. Besides, I need another nap.

This story is so amazing. I'm glad that she was found after all of this time.

I really need to pay attention to my horoscope today:


Cancer
June 21 - July 22
In all your time spent trying to stabilize your emotions and achieve sensitivity, you may be getting too caught up in your feelings, dear Cancer. Because of this you may have not been listening to your rational mind at all lately, even though it is crying out for you to get on with things and move forward into a different situation than the one you are in now. Take some time to listen to your mind and take it a bit more seriously than you have been.

Two more weeks of co-op, and I'll be free. I've been so caught up in working full time, plus being tired five days a week, just took its toll afterwhile. I'm actually looking forward to being back on campus having different schedules each day, instead of having the same routine day in and day out. I'm not used to the entire concept of consistency just yet. That's not a part of my being I suppose. I enjoy variety in my life. One thing that I can think of that's consistent in my life is the fact that life is just rough in general.


On February 26, I took the day off work to attend the funeral of my Aunt Angie, my Dad's sister. Just the fact that I had to go to the funeral in the first place, didn't sit too well with me. Every since my Dad passed in 2001, it's difficult for me to attend them anymore, it just brings up too many sad and depressing feelings. And the fact that I had to see family members that I don't know at all, barely recognize, or supposed to keep in touch with (the immediate family for example), didn't help much either. With the exception of a handful of people there, it felt like I was in a room full of strangers. Through all of this, I was glad that my Uncle Eric and my brother, Eric, was there sitting with me. I even got the nerve to get up and speak. I mentioned how important it is to be with family through all the bad times, as well as the good times. Especially through the good times.. I miss being around my younger cousins, Chris and Dwight. We used to hang together over our Granny's house. Seemed like the family changed after she passed away, more like we all became more distant with each other. Maybe its just the curse of being in such a large family on both sides. That's why I confide a lot in my friends. They understand me a lot more than my own blood in some cases. They mean the world to me. Don't get me wrong I love my family, but I love my friends. I consider them to be my brothers, sisters and cousins.


So, from that event alone, had me spaced out for awhile for sure. I made it back to my normal existance for now, just grateful to be here live another day. Sometimes, you just have to take a step back and appreciate the simple things in life. One thing I really appreciate in life is warm weather. I thrive in warm weather, I'm more aware and alert in warm weather, like my senses and emotions are 100%. I got a bad case of Spring Fever on Saturday, it was at least 60 degrees here in the city, warm enough to wear just a hoodie outside, and not a hoodie and a wool coat together. But it's back to the pitiful cold for the time being, today's high was only in the mid 30's. In the next couple of weeks, spring will officially be here, so that is one thing to definately look forward to, besides the always popular Spring Break! I was hoping to get out of town this year, even if it's for a weekend, there's still a few weeks left to plan for it, so I'll just wait and see what develops.

Final b-ball game score:
University of Cincinnati - 101
University of Louisville - 80
It's about time that the Bearcats win another game!

Maybe I can get on MTV to talk about my break-up. Nah, I rather just sit in on a TRL taping. I don't think that I would be comfertable talking about a (messy and confusing) breakup on tv anyway.

A needle in a haystack? No! Try a $17,000 diamond ring lost in some rock salt!

Quick link:

Whoa, what an apology. Read it, and you'll see what I mean.

Finally, the archives page is back! There's not much going on today, except I feel a little sick right now. I had too much bad news this week, first it was Mama Sanders on Sunday, and then I on Tueday found out that my Aunt passed away on Friday, and I feel like my Mom and I were the last ones to know. That's unfair, because that was my Dad's sister for goodness sake! I'll have to blog more later, I'm starting to feel very queasy.

I'm so absent-minded. I forgot that the WWE was here last night for a wrestling match. After missing out the last time, when I couldn't find anyone to go with me, I didn't want to take that chance again. Besides, it wasn't even televised! If they happen to stop in town again, and its a televised show, I am soooo there!


Also, in the attempt to try and fix this archive to this blog, for the time being I will keep 50 days of post on the main page, until the archives are fixed.

I made it into work today, so here are some quick headlines, of sorts:

Blogger has been taken over by Google.. It's not really brand new news, but Blogger just announced it on their front page, but it's very recent news.
Joe's happy ending, which is a bit much for Fox, with their "limit-pushing" programs. I know that you all remember what happened on Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire! A big mess, to say the least!

The last entry was a boredom/bs post. Today has been a pretty bland day. I took the day off from work, the weather is still lousy here in Cincy, but other cities (New York, Philly) got way worse than we did. On Good Day Live, they called this the "Storm of the Century." If anything, I wish that spring would get here already. I miss the warm sunny weather.
Another thing that I miss are all the people that have passed away over the years, including my Dad most of all. *sorry for the strange transition, but I have to get this out* Another friend of the family has departed this life. Her name was Mama Sanders. She was the mother of one of my Dad's high school friends. Mama Sanders was a short, quiet spoken woman, but she was the sweetest person that I've met in a long time. Everytime that I saw her, she was always smiling, and ready to give away hugs and kisses. She was definately a motherly type. Mama Sanders, you will definately be missed.

For the longest time, I had no clue what 420 day was all about. Call me clueless though, I don't care. And oddly enough, I used to date someone who was a weed smoker, and I have cousins, and cousins of close friends who do it. I just choose not to. A few weeks ago in City Beat Magazine there was a whole cover story about weed

I finally updated my webpage, well, at least the index anyhow...

Enter a City or US Zip:

This weekend sucked! Here is a list of reasons why:

1. The weather. I hate the phrase, "wintery mix," and I'll assure you that we had plenty of that this weekend!

2. Instead of going out with my friends Simi and Teresa as planned on V-day (see reason 1), I ended up hanging out with my cousin Troy and my other cousin Mekaeila ("E" for short). I'll admit, there is nothing wrong with hanging out with the family, but when me and my cousin Mekaeila were charged up to go and see Final Destination 2 and it was sold out, and the three of us went to see Shanghi Knights instead, (and E and I fell asleep to it!), lets just say that my Friday night was a total bust.

3. Saturday was pretty much the same weather in the tri-state. Saturday night plans with Teresa and Simi, fell apart once again. But I did get to go to Meijer to get some groceries in the house though. Thank you Grandma.

4. It's Sunday now, and pretty much the same situation, more ice, temperature in the teens. Stuck in the house all day. But to lighten the situation, the repeat of Smallville is on.

5. I found out that I've paid for three months of MSN internet service that I wasn't even using! Damn those free offers! I got it cancelled today, but I have to go through a process of faxing them the reason why I should get a refund! I just want my money back, that's all, I'm not trying to run any scams!

A snow roller?



Check out the article right here.

I'm in a much better mood today than yesterday, although its still cold outside! But what can you do- it's winter anyhow. Anyways, just to show how much of an Internet junkie I am, I wanna show my support for Bolt.

This will be my "Good News, Bad News" Post.

Let's begin with the good news first:
There is going to be an Eminem Concert in Detroit on July 12th!

Okay,*drumroll please*, and now, the bad news, although it has nothing to do with Eminem (with his sexy self!)
Um, yea, that one guy that I was dating (answers to the name Dave) since last year (May), dumped me on Saturday (yet again). I feel so lame about that!
There is definately some good news that comes along with this story, because I get to spend more time with my friends again! Besides, I was beginning to miss them anyways!

I've been reading a lot today on Yahoo! News, mostly from the Oddly Enough section. This is what I've found:
Students smoking some weed

Cheetas that enjoy Calvin Klein Perfume

An avid Cheetos bag collector

and last but not least...

Forehead advertising

Happy reading folks!