End of All Things

NOTICE: I'm taking a semi-permanent hiatus to blogging. Semi-permanent because I am not deleting it, and perhaps someday a blogging whim will strike me and the craziness will begin anew. In Arnold Schwarzenegger speech: Awl be bawk. (Insert a "maybe" between "Awl" and "be.")

Tagged.

Why not grab a blogging opportunity when it comes your way?

I HAVE BEEN TAGGED! And I am going to tag seven more people...*evil laughter ensues.*

Each person tagged must list seven random facts about themselves, as well as the rules of the game on their blog. Then tag seven other people and write their names on your blog. You have to leave a comment on their blog so they know they've been tagged and have to read your blog.

1. I am taller than Tom Cruise

2.My thumbs are double jointed

3.If the light switch plate has multiple switches, they have to all be pointing in the same direction or I'll go insane. I'll even run around the room to make sure that all the plates have them in the same direction.

4.I broke two nails today.

5.I just got a foot cramp.

6. Oh to groove half as well as George Clooney in O Brother, Where Art Thou. That's my lifelong ambition. :P

7. I am addicted to depressing books that leave me moaning on my bed with the utterly wonderful agony of it all. (Wuthering Heights comes to mind.) However, I have yet to throw myself on my bed and groan. It would have to be pretty bad for me to do that. I'm more likely to do it with a cheesy novel than a sad book.

And, I am tagging:

Melody!!
Big Sis
Zan
Kayla
Stephanie
Hillary J.
CDS

(Here's hoping I beat Aaron in finishing my post first. I was writing fast so I would have more options of people to tag.) :D

Now I'm going to R-U-N-N-O-F-T!

BLEAH

Quiz

Here's a Bible test that I'm posting not to show off Aaron's and my incredible knowledge, but because it gave me a good laugh to take it. Example question:

Joshua said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the _____"
A. Wine
B. Lord
C. Turkey
D. Establishment


Who lived to the age of 969?
A. Methuselah
B. George Burns
C. Strom Thurman
D. Abraham

You know the Bible 100%!

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

Then I took a personality quiz, and it said:

Your score on this personality test was 71%

It went on to describe the answers to the personality test, but it seemed kind of strange to give someone an actualy score on a personality test. Does it mean I have a dysfunctional personality? Hmm.

The Nicest Thing

Twenty days later, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannd she's back!

Remember Bria's post about the old man who held the door for her? Well I was thinking of it the other evening after someone held the door for me. I was leaving Blockbuster, and I had just grabbed my movie when two "modern day greasers" entered the building, filling Blockbuster with their aura of suave cockiness. One of them held the door for me as I was leaving.

ME: Thank you.
MR. GREASER DUDE: (in a butter smooth, cool as anything voice.) Always.
ME: (Smiling and laughing in the car all the way home.)

Ask me sometime and I'll tell you just how he said it.

I was grateful for his holding the door for me, and as I drove home thought how it's such a gentlemanly gesture to do so. When I was telling someone about the "always" guy, she thought he sounded really creepy. But he wasn't.

And here's one other thing. I remember DJ saying something about how although people let others hold the door for them, they almost always put their hand out to hold the door in case the person lets go. I don't like to do that. I feel that if the person is going the extra effort to hold the door for me, why not give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they're not going to let the door smash in my face. I'll let them do their job thoroughly. :)

I'm still trying to decide if this story is a you-had-to-be-there story. :)

A Bria-esque Post

Sonnet One Hundred Sixteen

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken:
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom:
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
~William Shakespeare


A nonbriaesque side note:
If you skipped over this then you missed something beautiful. GO BACK AND READ IT!

A Few British Quotes and INSECT INFESTATION

Here's a couple quotes from one of my favorite actors. I like it when famous people sound normal and like everyday people. And for the record, I didn't go hunting for these quotes, I found them all at one of my favorite sites, IMDB. Enjoy.

Discussing his working out to get in shape for a certain role: "The character is so vain and obsessed with his looks. While the psychology of the character was something that I could perform, you can't fake the physicality. Being English, I tend to enjoy going down to the pub far more than going to the gym, so it was very unnatural for me. I just had to convince myself that I loved it, which was the most difficult thing about playing this part. Working out is incredibly boring. I swear its true that the bigger your muscles get, the fewer brain cells you have. I found I had to stop thinking when I was in the gym because if I thought about it, I'd realize how ridiculous it was that I was pumping iron when I could've been out having a drink and enjoying some lunch."


"The only thing that I'm obsessed with is sleeping and, actually, it is more than an obsession, it is a pleasure. I love sleeping so much that I could do it 12 hours a day if I didn't have to turn on the alarm clock...and still, sometimes..."


"I'm English. Our dentistry is not world famous. But I made sure I got moldings of my old teeth beforehand because I miss them."

"You can't help but find that violence is endlessly fascinating-and I mean true violence, not action-movie violence, just because it is used as the answer to so many problems. We're all taught as kids not to be violent, but you can't help but also see that violence is what works very often. Bullies thrive."

"At the time that Chris Nolan asked me to do it [Batman Begins] I actually couldn't do one push-up. They sent me to a trainer, who was having to hold my T-shirt at the back just to pull me up. I've come a long way from that."

P.S. or whatever you call an afternote on the blog. I have a fear of insects and spiders, and today I found a silverfish in my room (huh, I just cleaned it! Why is there this disgusting damp-lover in my dry clean room?) and then walked in to a spider. (I promptly vacuumed up the spider.) and then watched the new Charlotte's Web. Funny, but incredibly revolting with this furry faced, eight eyed, spider spinning webs. Shelob didn't bother me, but Charlotte did, even if it really was fake and Julia Roberts was her voice. All I can say is, at least they're not roaches!

Exclamation Points and Such Things

Well folks, I was going to post "Inside looking out" and "portrait of a stranger" today, but I forgot my camera when I went to work, and totally forgot about blogging until now. All the enthusiasm I had for photographing cute little kids at my store is now gone, and I'm tired of looking at myself in a spoon for "inside looking out." However, I have been busy the past few days:

*I did lots and lots of school
*I played roof tennis (the game where Aaron and I hit the ball back and forth off the roof of the garage.)
*I opened, unpacked, received, tagged, and shelved 20 boxes of merchandise at the store. 100 more to go! (We just got a Melissa and Doug shipment in, as well as Groovy Girl. We got Haba and Small World Toys and Meccano/Erector last week.)
*I watched a great war movie.
*I thought about cleaning my room.
*I sang Phantom of the Opera with Aaron. My favorite song in the score is the one the Phantom sings by himself. The one with the line "let the darkness possess you". What's the name of it, Aaron?
*I broke a nail
And my favorite thing I did recently:
*I drove our standard transmission Toyota Camry from the Applejuice Factory (haha. Know what that is?) to my house! without stalling! except for once! in the driveway! oh joy! i hate stalling! and exclamation points scattered liberally throughout a blog post are a pet peeve! adios!

Photo Catch Up

Black and White


Corner of my house.


Self portrait





I can't believe it's almost Friday and it's taken me this long to put my pictures up. Oh well, here they are, but I haven't done one for today yet.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my Stephanepha! She's turning sweet sixteen today, so hop over to her blog or leave a few comments here, and wish her many happy returns! (I couldn't decide on what pictures, so there's a bunch! Oh she will kill me when she sees the last one.)

I LOVE YOU, STEPHANIE!

Answers and Such Things

AHA! The long lost returns! Only to be long lost again, I'm sure. I finally have the answers to those vocabulary words I posted eons ago. I don't know if you're even interested anymore (on that note, I don't know if you ever WERE interested) but here they are. I promised I'd post them and post them I will.

(No, I didn't forget to post them, they're at the end of the post. The answers are the ones in bold type.)

I have about four drafts on blogger which I could use to make world shattering (in a good way), absolutely phenomenal posts. But there is one problem. Cara is lazy.

Let me fill you in about my life over the past few weeks:

• My D&G sunglasses were broken by a soccer ball kicked in the house. I will not say which younger brother it was, to spare him embarrassment. :)
• I promptly bought a pair of aviators at Target (Linds and Amy, I thought of you!) and had them labeled as hideous by the great DJ. In return I made a slighting remark about anime, so we're fair and square.
• We just got a shipment of over 70 boxes at the toy store. All of them have to be separately received, tagged, and shelved. Not to mention lugged between the stockroom and the store. It's work, but I like seeing the fun new stuff we get. Plus I have the best possible job anyone could ever have.
• I went to Faredwood
• I got knocked down during a volleyball game and could barely drive home it hurt so much to sit! And that's something, I never get hurt...almost never.
  
• I wore green for St. Patty's day. Speaking of St. Pats, I read my favorite card of all time recently. It was a St. Patrick's day card at none other than TARGET! On the cover was a bartender saying, "On St. Patrick's Day, please drink responsibly." On the inside it said, "Use a coaster."
  

*pause so you can let it sink in*

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

• I missed 24 on Monday--unheard of!
• I started research on fashion designers for my term paper. I don't have a final topic or thesis yet, but it'll probably have something to do with five Italian designers (Armani, Gucci, Dolce and Gabbana, Cavalli, Versace, etc.) and their history, then comparison of their designs and lives and such things. It's either something like that or comparisons of fashion designers from different countries (Chanel, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Armani, Vera Wang, Donna Karen.) Soooo, that'll be an interesting journey, writing the paper and researching.
• I watched a Grade-B movie and loved it.
  
• I bought Crime and Punishment, but am still finishing Vanity Fair. I just haven't had the time to sit down and finish it. I have two hundred pages left, not bad.
• I considered drawing and painting again--I haven't done n in so long--but didn't do it.
• I'm currently busy with ideas for painting our basement and stairs.
• I officially started to love learning languages, especially Spanish which I am studying this year.
• I remind myself each day not to forget Stephanie's birthday on the 27th.
• I wrote a check.
• etc.

Have a smashing weekend, all.




Pariah¹- a person despised or rejected by society
Pariah²- an Indian soothsayer
Pariah³- an ancient tool used for sharpening knives

Boff¹-a loud hearty laugh; belly laugh
Boff²-to hit someone in a slapstick manner
Boff³- someone who has a nice car

Rowel¹- a special tool used for planting bulbs
Rowel²- an infectious disease among animals, mainly contracted by Indian elephants.
Rowel³- a small spike-covered wheel on a spur

Suzerain¹- a feudal overlord
Suzerain²-the vast dry grassland in Northern Africa
Suzerain³- C6H7; sextochloride septogen

Pannier¹- baker or gourmet chef
Pannier²- a hoop used to expand a skirt at the hips
Pannier³- the small metal clip used on yachting lines for the purpose of hoisting sails

Popple¹- to move in a tumbling, irregular manner
Popple²- to walk with a bouncy gait
Popple³- English slang: foolish talk; drivel

Peculate¹- to flex the chest
Peculate²- to wander aimlessly without purpose
Peculate³-embezzle

Manque¹- of or pertaining to mandarin cuisine; containing sweet and sour flavor
Manque²- unsuccessful, unfulfilled
Manque³- ornate; intricate

Happy Birthday!

Feel like you've seen this picture before? Well you have! You saw it posted on Aaron's blog on my sixteenth birthday. Aaron did it because I was fifteen going on sixteen, but today I'm posting it because Rolf (aka Aaron) is seventeen going on eighteen, or rather, IS eighteen.




I guess I could write a mushy post about my awesome older brother, but I don't feel quite up to it. You all know that he's pretty boss anyway.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AARON!

Various Things To Do With Building A Vocabulary, a Word That Can Mean an Insect As Well As a Relative, and Ugly Dolls.

Did my title make you want to read my post? I could picture the link gallery in my head, and was trying to think of a title that would grab me. Part way through the thought process I got bored and just wrote out a long title. End of "The Blog Title Saga."

Soooooo, on to what I was really going to write about. My aunt from Georgia flew up yesterday. (Here's where I was thinking about how down South--at least, I THINK it's in the South--people say "ant" instead of "aunt". I think that it is pitifully incorrect and lazy to pronounce it that way. Now that I have finished my spiel...) Last night, my brother was itching to play some sort of game (surprise, surprise) whether it was a board game, card game, or word game. My AUNT and I relented and played the game of Dictionary. Okay, we didn't actually relent. Aunt Holly came up with the idea, Aaron heartily agreed, and I succumbed to the pressure and joined the (two) masses. For those of you who don't know how to play Dictionary, it's a game where you pick a word from the dictionary (once again, surprise, surprise) that nobody knows, then write out the correct definition and have the people who do not know the meaning of the word make up their own definition. THEN, the person who knows the right definition reads all the other definitions and everyone votes on what they think the right one is, etc. etc. I guess there isn't really a winner to the game, unless you keep track, which we didn't. Well, I guess that's true for all games. If you don't understand what I just explained to you, then tough. Life is hard.

Well, for playing with only three people, it was a pretty awesome time. The wrong answers were regularly guessed, meaning we were pretty good at fake definitions. After we'd finished playing, we were just making small talk, when that strange phenomenon known as Blogus Inspirationimus hit me like a lightning bolt. I reeled from the shock of it, went to bed in attempt to recover from it, but couldn't shake the condition and am currently fully enslaved to the gripping hold of the disease. This was my inspiration: I should make my blog readers try to guess the correct definitions to the words we did last night! *insert wily smile.* "Let's see how smart they are." Without further ado, here are the words: Oh wait, I do have some further ado. NO LOOKING UP THE WORDS BEFORE GUESSING THEM! And don't let your answers be spoiled by other people's answers. Also, there is no prize for the person who gets the most correct answers. I'm not one to give out twenty dollar gift certificates and such things. :) Hopefully with no further ado, I present you with the words: (Enjoy!)

Pariah¹- a person despised or rejected by society
Pariah²- an Indian soothsayer
Pariah³- an ancient tool used for sharpening knives

Boff¹-a loud hearty laugh; belly laugh
Boff²-to hit someone in a slapstick manner
Boff³- someone who has a nice car

Rowel¹- a special tool used for planting bulbs
Rowel²- an infectious disease among animals, mainly contracted by Indian elephants.
Rowel³- a small spike-covered wheel on a spur

Suzerain¹- a feudal overlord
Suzerain²-the vast dry grassland in Northern Africa
Suzerain³- C₆H_7; sextochloride septogen

Pannier¹- baker or gourmet chef
Pannier²- a hoop used to expand a skirt at the hips
Pannier³- the small metal clip used on yachting lines for the purpose of hoisting sails

Popple¹- to move in a tumbling, irregular manner
Popple²- to walk with a bouncy gait
Popple³- English slang: foolish talk; drivel

Peculate¹- to flex the chest
Peculate²- to wander aimlessly without purpose
Peculate³-embezzle

Manque¹- of or pertaining to mandarin cuisine; containing sweet and sour flavor
Manque²- unsuccessful, unfulfilled
Manque³- ornate; intricate

One more thing, I purchased my Ugly Doll! After much deliberation, I decided on *drumroll*

MOXY!!!

Moxy's got a lot of "moxy". She's a real get up and go Ugly, with far more energy than her older brother OX. Moxy's favorite activity seems to be bouncing off the walls and jumping in and out of mischief. Her giant antennas are always on the look out for a good time, and she can hear a party from miles away. She could hear you coming from all the way back over there! Are you a party animal? No? Would you like to take care of one? No? Well that's ok because Moxy is here to take care of you. She can take care of pretty much any problem you may have...it's a gift of hers. For example, see how messy your room is? No problem! See? Moxy is on your side.

I need that support when my room is messy, which is like, uh, every day. She was the last one left in my store after someone bought one today, so I grabbed her while I could. Right now she is sitting on my bed with Wedgehead and Ugly Dog. They're getting to know each other.

"Guess Who?"--A Walk Down Memory Lane

When I was pretty little, my mom would send the majority of her kids to a friend's house. Those were GOOD times. It's funny how something you loved doing years ago can stick in your head. I can smell the scent of their house (you know how every house seems to have its own smell, that's another topic for another day.) just by thinking about being there. I remember crawling in the coolest game closet in the world, singing "And the Caissons go rolling along..." at the top of our lungs, and being reprimanded for playing with the cannon. Here's the dead give-away: we loved to read Tintin when we were there, in fact, that was quite possibly the main attraction of the house at the time. Speaking of the house, we're not sure where this picture is taken, so brownie points for the people who figure it out. Actually, this is a pretty easy guessing game. So, with all this information, who are the people in the picture?


Now, guess who this is!

Superbowl Commercials

A few favorite Superbowl commercials:

A Couple Firsts

My first acrylic painting: You'll have to be satisfied with just part of it while I wait until I get a good picture of the whole thing. The color is much redder, and the features are defined by sharper lines than they appear to be in the picture below

My favorite part of the painting.



My first (ever) oil painting.

My New Favorite Toy

The longer I work at my toy shop the more toys grow on me and the more I want to own them. I pride myself in knowing that we sell "cultured" toys where I work. My current favorite stuffed animal, which we do sell at the toy store, is any kind of UGLY DOLL! I hope you've heard of them, because they're the best thing since sliced bread.

The one I own is Wedgehead, the blue one with, the wedgehead, duh. Here's what it said on his tag that came with him: Wedgehead has his eye on you. and he likes what he sees! Finally, someone who understands him! He is very handsome too...can't you tell? What do you mean he looks pitiful? Look at that charismatic posture! Wedgehead understands you too. He sees things the way you see them... OK, so he has to stand on his head to do so, but still! He understands exactly what you mean. Wedgehead and his best buddy OX are on a mission to prove that humans really do exist, and he would like you to help them on their quest. The proof can be found in the snacks! Have any?

Bria has Ugly Dog. There's a picture of two ugly dogs, one pink and one red. They're the ones that look like one-eyed cats. I'm keeping Ugly Dog company while Bria's away.

Now, there are many many more Ugly Dolls, and here is the question? Since I want more more more of them, which should I get next? That orange one? His name is Chuckanucka.
I really like
Moxy, the aqua-colored one with the yellow teeth and tall straight ears. But Ox, the bright green one with an "x" for one of his eyes, has some appeal too, although he's not as cute as some.
Tray with the three eyes is smart looking, Ice Bat looks cuddly, and Babo looks stupid but sweet. Oh these are not my only options, there are Bop 'n Beep, Wage, Jeero, Cinko, Peaco, and Target. There are these ones in different colors and sizes. Hmm, tough decision, tough decision.

Then there's always the option to make my own ugly doll, which I plan to do anyway...

Make sure you read the blurb about each ugly doll. This is a very important decision I am going to make. Each doll is so unique, so different. Which one would be the best company right now? Which one would give me the best pleasure? Which would give me the best advice?

(I get the 12" size, or smaller. 2' is a bit pricey.)

Hopefully Not A True Prediction

Because Beck' is the hot topic in our house right now, I wrote a limerick in his honor. (By the way, I haven't read the article I linked to, so hopefully it's good.) While we're enthusiastic about Beckham's coming to the U.S, I'm also a bit disgusted at one of the reasons: so his wife can shop at the better stores in the United States. HA! Former Spice Girl, ideas like that will end up like this:

There once was a girl who liked shoes

David Beckham her husband did choose

Till one day they split

Twas the end of all it

And the feelings of both they did bruise.

(A bit negative, but considering it was a school assignment and I wrote it in 30 seconds, I think it's pretty swell.) ;)

Lamentations and 2007

I just wrote a long, beautiful post, just to have the computer turn off suddenly on some computer whim. No, my battery was not low and no, I don't think I touched ANYTHING! I'm so frustrated. The post was a retelling of my worst memory of 2006. It was/is very, very blogworthy, so I'm sure it will be up here sometime soon.

For now I'll be just be contented with wishing you all a Happy NEW YEAR!

2007. Weird.