the zephyr effect

Sun, 29 Jan 2006 22:56:12 GMT

a list b/c i'm avoiding studying czech...

-though it sounds creepy, as i pass by, i like to attempt to see the interior of people's apartments to see how they've arranged and decorated it. i should probably get an interior decorating magazine...but won't.

-i have never had cable tv.

-i've never visited another college campus, unless you count my hometown community college where i took summer school.

-i hate turtlenecks and things that confine my throat, though scarves are ok, as long as they're loosely wound.

-i can very rarely conceal my emotions or thoughts. they play across my face, unless i'm making an effort.

-as a young child i had a speech impediment that still crops up every now and then, especially when i'm nervous.

-i have had a phobia about breaking my fingers and toes since at least the second grade.

-i was in Taekwondo for about four years and have a multitude of trophies from tournaments, mostly in sparring (brag brag). I'd like to get back into it, but fear making that large of a commitment again.

-i was absolutely obsessed with star wars in middle school. every now and then i can recall an extremely obscure fact.

-i am quite gifted at guilt tripping (a skilled learned from my mother), and though i resist most of the time, i sometimes do it without thinking.

-i can hold a grudge like crazy, but am working on forgiving people.

-i remember things through smell and certain songs. so i can either remember you by your stench, or that mix cd/tape you gave me *waits for flood of mix cds*

-i miss the art of the mix tape.

-i can read minds...and can't believe how dirty your's is.

'tis all.

you don't have to be rich to be my lovah!

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 08:02:04 GMT

there is no better way to reinforce your sense of fancy-free youthfulness than by walking around a college campus on a beautiful day with a notebook in your hand. this thought occured to me as i traipsed along the sidewalk, squinting to read the name of one of those civil war/racist statues around the Six Pack. I absolutely love the pedestrian friendly environment of UT, and enforce my freedom to walk without danger by throwing twigs in the spokes of reckless cyclists that act as if they don't see you.

Audio Production is shockingly exciting. which is wonderful- i have finally found my place in the vast and overwhelming RTF department.

Goals accomplished-->
-working out- i did twenty minutes on an exercise bike and a mile on the treadmill, as well as pumping some mo' iron with paul. working out again tomorrow, in the hopes of staying with my exercise mo' goal. now i need to narrow it down. cardio? endurance? oh, the possibilites are endless, friend treadmill!

-cooking- been lots of group effort cooking around here, and i'm learning so much from the masters. the trick is to now cook an entire impressive meal all by my lonesome. ;]

goodnight! i need to wake up and do homework. whee!

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 22:19:17 GMT

with sunshine pouring into my room and excellent oppurtunities looming on the horizon, i feel as great as the guy in the nutrigrain commercial. ^_^

anonymous statements game! yeeeeha!

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 05:41:13 GMT

1. you seem to have an endless amount of energy and ambtion and i admire that

2. you're a bitch to me yet you still eat out of my casserole dish. what the fuck?

3. you're drop dead sexy and i don't think you realize that (after writing this, i realized that this applies to a lot o' my sexy sexy friends)

4. you're crazy. in a good way.

5. i think you know the exact answer to your questions, but you don't want to face reality

6. i put something from your house in the toilet, decided that wasn't good enough, and lent it to a hobo named pink-eyed pete (but that's a total misnomer because he has every disease known to man except for pink-eye)for a week...and then i carefully returned it to its original location in your house. sorrrryyyyy. you've been punxed!!! roxzxxors....but really, i am sorry about your screaming case of gonorrhea.

7. i told some people that if they caught you, you would give them a pot of gold. so, um, yeah, sorry for the random gropes you've gotten on campus....

8. you thought i couldn't eat a whole muffaletta. now give me the free coke you promised me!

9. hey, lushy mclush-ter. where have you gooonnnee?

10. you have a really weird sense of humor and i love that.

11. when you wear that hat, you look like a penis. and you know you do. why do you continue to wear it?! ;p

in other news, me and steph now have a hawt wireless internet connection. sweeeet! thanks to ken for installin' it.

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 04:14:10 GMT

an excllent weekend. on friday i worked out with paul, and after sufficient iron pumpage, we headed over to daniel's to hang out with dez, michelle, ken, kate, jon, steph, darrell, and his roommate. then we went over to kelly's birthday party for a crazy time. as soon as i walked in the door, kelly told me of how she had dropped a wine glass, complete with drunken sound effects. she told me she was out of wine glasses, but i was welcome to take the bottle. i compromised and put it into a tea cup with a happy cow chef on it (something i didn't realize until later).

i ran into freddy, who was carrying a tall boy and a bottle of smirnoff vodka. he looked pleasantly disheveled and told paul and i how we could all live like people in the matrix if only we had the right jackets, and other awesome stories. jen and brandon and dan were in the living room enjoying themselves and it is there that i met two crazy germans. all in all, an awesome party. happy early birthday, kellogg!

saturday was interesting as well. i went to play basketball with kenny in the park behind the apartments, but i soon wussed out and went back home b/c it was freezing. ken stayed, and after awhile, i began to wonder what had become of him. sincethe sun was out, i took the frisbee and walked back, only to find my brother playing basketball with a group of guys...and ken was the only scrawny crackah among them. it was pretty awesome, and i stayed to watch for awhile until the wind drove me back home. i sat next to this giant guy and his tiny white puppy which was absolutely adorable. i also ran into alisha and her sister on the way back while they were walking godiva, andrea's pointy-eared dog. aw.

that night, ken, michelle, jon, laura, dez, daniel, darrell, paul and i went to the salt lick for bar-b-q, and i think this is worth an lj-cut for some

ribs...;]

aw, friendship...and kenny's mooching tendencies.

toasting to gluttony. paul pretends to not know us.

dez and daniel evilly offer up more sauce

laura and jon being incredibly cute.

we're cute too...but in a special way...

i'm either about to eat paul, or admiring his sweet rack

me and dez, and daniel, the intense cyclops. ;p

and now, some random pics....

on the trampoline at dan's....

attack!

trying to entice paul to get on the trampoline...at least i got a smile out of it ;]

a very Christ-y Christ-y Christmas at the Dykes' house....

oh my how i love my son!!!!

listening to another of ken's stories.....polite smiles all 'round

dad and jinx grow weary...it's almost 8pm.

guido can quit whenever he wants to.

miyagles under the tree

ken, plum tuckered after the excitement of opening all his presents

daddy and miyagi bond....(as you can see, my father just can't stand my cat)

kitties on the sun porch

c'mon? a cat in a shoebox? you can't resist it.

kenny posing the cat to take pictures of him....clearly, he cannot stand my cat either....

For the love of God, stop taking pictures of me!

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 15:53:17 GMT

school is good thus far. there's going to be more reading this time around, but ah well. i think i'm going to enjoy my classes a lot. my professors are nice and informed, and the subject matter seems interesting. except for math, but the prof. in there is so sweet that i figure she'll make it bearable.

i have been keeping up with my little goals pretty well. worked out with paul on tuesday and cooked huevos rancheros with him and ken last night, and i think paul and i are supposed to work out once more this afternoon, despite my sore muscles.

also watched wild angels with steph and jen. i've learned my lesson; be wary of peter fonda movies. ;p

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 00:17:24 GMT

yesterday we went to dan's (ken's old boss) and ate guacamole and salsa, jumped on the trampoline, pet lovely big-eyed dogs, ate wheat-gluten fajitas and delicious marinated pork with grilled veggies. wonderful. chased his kids around, borrowed their scooters and wore ourselves out.

today involved eating and lazing about, as i have to cram in all the lazing i can into this last day before school. but yay for a much, much better schedule this time around.

will i be able to wear one of my new sweaters tomorrow? we shall see!

como estan, beejez

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 19:00:28 GMT

got back to austin on wednesday and have enjoyed fine dining and friends since then. ken and i, connoisseurs of fine cuisine, have made a mental list of places to hit while he's in town...so far, polvos, austin pizza garden, amy's, and las manitas. so many lunch specials, so little time.

it's extremely nice being home, and it's doubly nice because of the beautiful weather. i open up the windows and the doors, letting cool air blow in and ruffle miyagle's fur.

jogging later today....there's a little path that leads up to the skate park, where it is extremely fun to be a spectator. also, there's a pool and basketball court up there that i didn't even know about. anyone up for laughing at me as i attempt to play basketball? and a playground, too...with swings!

mmmhmmm

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 21:00:55 GMT

dial-up....sucks. waiting on ken to get back from his lunches with the future pope and frolics in NY...sucks.

but...smoke and mirrors is awesome, having nothing more impending than researching fantasy internships is awesome, reading and lounging is glorious, and filling up the moleskine paul gave me is ever so rewarding and fun.

dez got a new bird! yay dez! i suggested twiggy and ella, and she opted for ella. i still think twiggy is a great name, though it's probably for the best that she chose ella as i christened steph's bass twiggy and twiggy the bass could've gotten mighty jealous.

also, i'm fulfilling my exercise and cooking resolutions. my amaretto butter cookies were delicious, and i made a giant pot (too giant?) of vegetable soup last night. mmm veggies.

ok. i'm going to work on research....unless a book or my moleskine calls me away. damn thee, foul temptresses!

steph made me do it

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 06:30:01 GMT

the five simplest pleasures of life...

-hugging someone you love
-eating delicious food
-comfortable silence
-laughing until you cry
-a book or song that moves you

so...there you go, steph. hope your boredom eases up ;]

new years resolutions and other such nonsense

Fri, 06 Jan 2006 04:33:19 GMT

new years was excellent, and now i'm mulling over good resolutions...i think mainly that i want to find some sort of exercise regime that i enjoy in order to stay active...after all, there is that botanical garden/park right behind my apartment- i should jog or frolic or something of that nature. also, i want to start cooking more and stop letting paul do all the work. step 1- find chunk-free recipes. i'm starting tomorrow by making fancy amaretto butter cookies.

and finally, less spending. more money-grubbing.

on another note- Yay Horns!

obligatory end-o'-year post

Sat, 31 Dec 2005 16:53:38 GMT

not really obligatory, per se. i just want to wrap things up. by the by, my checking account is screaming for money, so if anyone cares to give me some, i'd appreciate it.

sooo....i think i'll do the tried and true method of taking a sentence from the first of each month's entry and posting it...though it may be repetitive and boring. i'll try to spice it up and shield your eyes with a saucy lj-cut.

January
new year's was great with drunken taboo and twister, along with glorious infomercials.

February
i am incredibly lucky.

March
today has been damn good thus far.

April
paul just left. le sigh.

May
i'm freaking out as moving and finals draws near.

June
we've aptly named our new apartment Xanadu, as it shall be both a pleasure dome in the sky as well as a roller-skate rock opera starring olivia newton john.

July
clickity clackity splash. and that's how i spilled juice all over my keyboard. and why i had to pop each and every button off of it in order to clean it up, later utilizing my type to learn skillz so i could remember which button went where. and why i think i'm missing an alt key.

August
i think i am witnessing the most gorgeous sunshower in the world.

September
this song always makes me feel oddly peaceful and happy. [neutral milk hotel-king of the carrot flowers pt.1]

October
so paul's party was debaucherous- one of the funnest party's i've been to to tell the truth. beer+close friends+hookah+homoerotic happenin's.....it all adds up to a good time.

November
last night dez and daniel and paul came over and we made a big pot of spagetti, got nicely buzzed, and watched jesus christ, vampire hunter.

December
oh how i love you, last week of school.

oddly enough, more optimistic than i thought it would be. it's been a good year. i don't have any regrets, and i suppose my only resolution would be to pick up some fun exercise routine that i enjoy in order to get the endorphins flowin'.

Mon, 26 Dec 2005 06:34:10 GMT

merry christmas, and hope all is well with you all. this has actually been one of the better christmases i've had...good gifts, excellent food, the return of the prodigal son and brother, and so on.

we went up to Love Field on Wednesday night, not even sure if we had the right time for ken's arriving flight as the airport's information hotlines were craptacular. mom and i paced around while we waited and watched, my mother every now and then pointing to some hapless stranger. "is that him?" "no..." "is that him?" "mom-- that's an african-american woman." maybe she expected him to change a lot in the course of his travels. finally, some skinny white goober waved at me and i realized it was ken. he was thinner than when he had left but just as goofy looking.

it's really nice having him back, and i haven't gotten completely tired of him yet (yet being the operative word). and i have to say, it's nice talking to him. ken is one of the few people that i can talk to and feel like i'm getting an honest response that isn't pandering to me in order to avoid hurt feelings. so i can tell him qualms and dilemmas and he'll be honest, and at that, give good advice. as his sister, it's obviously my duty to give him a hard time, but i have to admit that he's level-headed and tells me how it is instead of what i want to hear. and because i can trust his honest opinion, i feel absolved of certain things. like the time i almost sold stephanie to those white slave traders...

christmas eve was awesome as we went to my grandma's house, which is a tiny little structure in dallas that we pack with my large family once a year. we did a white elephant gift exchange, and i came out pretty well with a set of four beer glasses and a pink elephant piggy bank. looks like steph's dino bank is going to have a little friend.

christmas day was good, and i look forward to relaxing days of mooching off my parents ahead. also, i made four A's this semester. yayyyy. which gives me a very nice looking GPA ;]

merry christmas!

Sun, 18 Dec 2005 20:24:38 GMT

going back home. you probably won't see me online for quite some time, as mesquite is a bit like the bermuda triangle. once you go in, you drop off the face of the earth.

so the other day i went to the vet to get some sedatives for miyagi, as he does not like driving down the highway and is glad to let me know all about it. i waited in the stuffy examination room for the doctor with miyagi snuffling in his cage, indignant that they had called him chubby. the doctor came in and told me that it would be no problem to give him something to ease his anxiety in the car.- in fact, she was giving me a version of xanax. so i've doped up my talkative kitty, and on that note, i'm leaving for mesquite!

Sat, 17 Dec 2005 19:04:34 GMT

so. i'm done with school for the semester, which is the oddest feeling. shouldn't i have something nagging at me to do? i'm just like my mom in that i can't relax- there has to be something for me to do. i guess i'll pack...i'm trying to get further into crime and punishment but i'm at that phase in the book where i haven't taken a rooted interest and so it goes slowly. in the time that i was supposed to be reading it, i finished american gods and mort in a matter of days. steph says things pick up after the murder.

guess i should pay my bills and tally up a total so when i go over to steph's to give her her christmas present, i can make her drugged and decrepit hand sign me a nice little check. po' steph.

alright. now to indulge in doin' nothing. ;]

frankly, i find it rather...pedantic

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 18:14:40 GMT

i knew that language barriers exist, and i've probably even run into them before, but it's just so disconcerting when they happen. how can you explain a word you use everyday and that you take for granted? it's kind of like the color blue. you can never fully describe it, but you can try.

at the listening party, the french exchange student and i were talking about the austin tradition of going to see the zilker tree. "it's just so fun to spin under it until you're dizzy." i was explaining, remembering the times i've been there. "what is this, 'dizzy'?" she asked. this was the first time she had bothered to ask me what a word meant, though i had known before by her knit brows and polite nod that she wasn't quite sure what i was saying. "um, it's the feeling you get when you spin and spin...like, you feel light-headed...disoriented." i was trying, but i wasn't explaining it properly. brandon later said in the car, "you should have told her that it's when the world keeps spinning even when you're standing still." the perfect explanation.

she had told me once, "at the end of the day, i just want to sit down and be able to speak my own language." and i had a glimmer of an idea of what that's like- always having the mentally exhausting job of rearranging and translating the words in your head as someone quickly spouts them out. she knows that to us, she seems linguistically challenged, and we would unconsciouly think of her as somewhat disabled, when in actuality she is an incredibly intelligent woman. out of our element, we're all limited to our words and how well we utilize them to the people we are at the mercy of.

we listened to her feature shortly after our conversatioin, which was her interviews with several foreign exchange students. inbetween sound bytes, she would speak in french, which was so exotic and exciting to the ear, but everyday for her and so many others. i can understand why people are so excited about language- there's so many nuances and things to learn...words that don't exist in one language are in another, and it's absolutely beautiful. i can't imagine the complexities for translators, or even translators of something as delicate as poetry.

it also makes me think of the anthropological argument of whether or not we are limited by our language. b/c certain words don't exist in a language, does that mean that the concept of the word is impossible for us to express, or even to think about? i'm afraid i don't have any good examples, as it's been a long time since i read that article, but it's an interesting theory to think about. unless we're introduced to this new word or concept through the influence of another culture, i think we really are a bit limited to what thoughts can be expressed. and before we adopt this new concept for our language, a barrier will rise up and fluster those who attempt to explain.

there's no coast of nebraska

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 00:23:10 GMT

nice accomplishments yesterday. edited/leveled a short film for a guy from my screenwriting class (i am now credited as a "sound designer") and played my feature for radio, and they seemed to be impressed. mainly due to the beta band, i'm sure. but still, kudos to me for picking good background music ;p. the cars feature and of course, brandon's world of warcraft feature, were the best.

one thing i'll miss about this semester is seeing so many of my friends on campus. i got spoiled being able to hang out with brendan, paul, and dez, and even seeing jen, daniel, steph, jon, laura, and mo' on occasion. i suppose it's from spending so much time on campus, which i won't miss, but i hope i'll be able to catch up with people every now and then.

in heaven everything is fine,... you got your good thing....and you've got mine

Wed, 14 Dec 2005 07:12:51 GMT

revamped the lj. sweeet. (i.e. i changed a color and background image)

steph gave me a beautiful vogue poster for christmas. so beautiful! thanks, stephataph. thoughtfulness ;]

in other news, i'm sleepy. still need to do quite a bit of work tomorrow, though i think i'm done with my feature. goodnight!

soylent green is people!

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 23:32:10 GMT

Detective Thorn: It's people. Soylent Green is made out of people. They're making our food out of people. Next thing they'll be breeding us like cattle for food. You've gotta tell them. You've gotta tell them! You tell everybody. Listen to me, Hatcher. You've gotta tell them! Soylent Green is people!

i'm just saying what needs to be said...

jsi blbce ;p

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 03:38:30 GMT

so i'm back to public, as friends only is fun but, unless you're hiding from someone, there's not that much point. and i think for anyone who knows me pretty well, they know what i was up to ;p. and about a semester of it was enough- though don't be surprised if quite a few of my entries are still friends only. mehhh.

click it.-> http://www.angryalien.com/1204/wonderful_lifebuns.asp

miluju te

Sun, 11 Dec 2005 08:03:36 GMT

And this is the room
One afternoon I knew I could love you
And from above you how I sank into your soul
Into that secret place where no one dares to go

~neutral milk hotel

just something for a laugh....

Fri, 02 Dec 2005 16:18:12 GMT

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 22:55:40 GMT

"Kdyz Pepik nechce jist svoje knedliky, jeho knedliky ji jeho tata."

This was the prompt for an exercise we were doing in class. translated::
"When Pepik doesn't want to eat his dumplings, his father eats his (Pepik's) dumplings."

"Rozumite?" (understand) my teacher asked and looked up to what i assume were furrowed brows.

"yeah," daniel spoke up. "but it's really weird phrasing."

i looked at the sentence again and translated it literally in my head. "When Pepik does not want to eat his dumplings, his dumplings eat his father."

"well why is that?" my teacher asked. he answered his own question. "typically, the most important information is at the end of the sentence."

"oh."

"and how do we know that the dumplings aren't eating his father?" he asked.

we slowly murmured our answer. "because the dumplings are in the accusative case and the father is in the nominative."

"exactly. and those cases keep this simple family drama from turning into a horrific freak accident."

and i laughed about the dumplings that hungered for human flesh all day.

important findings.........

Sat, 12 Nov 2005 01:22:12 GMT

courtesy of teh paul::

Sun, 09 Oct 2005 06:29:14 GMT

coffee-addled, so i'm going to make an entry! hurray!

moved jen into her apt today-- it's a nice little habitat. it's like a punk rock version of mary tyler moore...today she threw her hat in the air and twirled as i sang the "you're gonna make it after all" song.

also bought a few scented candles today, one of which is my "boyfriend candle" as it smells like a paul. i don't know who can really claim the scent as truly their's- paul...or the candle. they'll have to duke it out and figure out who came first.

i also need a czech to english dictionary, but as amazon wants around $36....doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon.

going friends only for a bit. although i always knew that the details of my excitin' life were fair game to anyone --and it's my own fault as i'm an exhibitionist ;p --but it is kind of weird that so many people i don't know could know quite a bit about me. so, if you care to be added, feel free to comment, and i will more than likely add you. ;]