THERE IS NOTHING TO DO IN DALLAS

This Thanksgiving holiday my parents thought that it would be a great idea to take my brother and I to Dallas with them to see a football game and spend some quality family time together. While in theory this sounded like a great idea and we were all happy with the prospect of being able to forget about having a traditional Thanksgiving holiday, I have to say that it was probably the worst family trip I had ever been on, and I will never intentionally be in Dallas, Texas again.

We saw the Cowboys play the Jets, and went to Midevil Times.

Yep. Thats about it.

Giant Bluefin Tuna Cut Performance!

Mike and I went on a date this weekend to Mitsuwa Japanese Marketplace in Edgewater, NJ. Usually we just go there to eat some Japanese food (they have several restaurants including places for tenpura, udon, soba, ramen, etc.) and pick up some okaashi (sweets) and things to drink, but this time we went because of an event our nihongo no senseii told us about.

Pretty much this was really awesome. We got there around 1pm, it was incredibly crowded, we had to park at a different shopping center and walk over. We went to the honya (bookstore) first, and picked up a kodomo no hon (children's book) called Soremame-kun no bedo (Broad Bean's Bed). They had lots of cool Japanese fashion magazines and music magazines and that was pretty rad. I like going there because you can pick up a lot of Japanese conversation around you.

Then we went over to the marketplace, which was SOOOO crowded. We got some tonkatsu and rice and had a hard time finding a place to sit but eventually we did and that was relaxing, but it was really hot in there. We then watched the meguro (tuna) cut performance.

This tuna was bigger than Mike! It was over 400 pounds and the fish-cutter used a sword to cut it open! The man with the microphone said that the tuna was alive two days ago in Spain. He also told us that most sushi restaurants don't get this quality fish because its simply expensive. He went on to talk about the quality of the fish, and Mike decided that we should buy some (or he should buy some for us, rather). We waited in line for an hour but once we finally ate it we realized that it was completely worth every minute of the wait because it was soooo delicious. It melted in your mouth almost! It was the best sushi I had ever had. One of the guys making sushi flirted with these nihonjin onna no hito behind us. They had really tan skin for nihonjin - I bet in the homeland they hang out with ganguro!

We also bought some pocky, chocolate covered mushroom cookies, and of course I got saku-saku panda cookies. Don't ask me what that means, they're just really tasty. I got two bottles of Ramune but accidentally drank Mike's peach one. I also got party pop, which is a "children's party drink". Party pop tastes like sugared beer. I'm not even kidding you.

It took two hours for us to get home but once we did we played video games for five or six hours straight. We told everyone about our delicious adventure and they of course were all jealous. I only hope that these people come around again and when they do I have the 50 dollars to spend on the oishii meguro.

On the injured list..

Halloween night I sliced my thumb up with a kitchen knife while preparing bagels. Having an injured thumb really makes me miss having a not injured thumb.

Here are some of the things that I find difficult to do or cannot do with an injured thumb:

• Hook/Unhook a bra
  
• Pop zits
  
• Cut meat
  
• Operate a belt
  
• Text message my friends
  
• Navigate my iPod
  
• Use a game controller
  
• Put on a band-aid
  
• Channel-surf
  
• Ash my cigarette
  
• Light a lighter (I just thought of this one - but I haven't tried doing it with the injured hand)
  
• Use my hands as a cup when brushing teeth
  
• Screwing/Unscrewing toothpaste caps
  
• Shuffle cards
  
• Rip up things

Thats only the short list, too. There are a lot of things we use our thumbs for as humans, and I certainly am thankful that my thumb is only injured and not severed.

Here is a picture I took of my hamster this morning!

Pocari Sweat, nectar of the gods.

Mike and I went to the Azn food market last night. We got some omoshiroii okaashi (interesting candy) and five bottles of Pocari Sweat. Pocari Sweat tastes mostly like Gatorade, but in a lemon-like flavor that isn't available in the states. Its pretty much my favorite drink ever, and I am very thankful that I have that much of it to drink right now.

We also went to Best Buy, and played the demo of Rock Band. I played the drums through "Suffragette City", and tried to play the guitar through Faith No More's "Epic", but the guitar's buttons were a lot harder to press (I mean pressure wise) than a guitar hero guitar, and Mike and I could not finish any songs playing it. I did enjoy playing the drums very much, though I would have liked to try out the mic (but it had no buttons on it, we couldn't figure it out). I really can't wait to play the full version and rock out the mic and drums at the same time. I also almost bought Sing Star but then remembered, I have no money.

My Dad, Top of the Pops

I just remembered while driving home that I found out last weekend that my dad likes the Beatles. I never really knew that cause he was always listening to classic rock from the 70s. I knew he liked them but I didn't know he liked them. I said, "Hey Pops, do you like the Beatles?" as we drove up to Moon Base Alpha. Pops said, "Of course, they're the Beatles."

Duh.

The party stops here..

My brother is going to move in with me December 1st. Rather torn about it, but as I've been telling everyone I have to have a positive outlook on something since I've been in this rut for the last few weeks, and I might as well have a positive outlook on that.

Last night in Japanese class these two girls, one of whom I am sure is gay, kept talking throughout class and distracting me. I find that incredibly rude, and if one of them wasn't so unattractive than I might have been inclined to say something, but I figured looking like that has to be punishment enough.

Also in Japanese class one of Mike's friends kept talking about something regarding police being outside of her sister's apartment due to some kind of suicide. No one really cared, but she kept telling us about it, while Mike kept trying to get her to practice Japanese with us.

My mother made steaks last night, and these things were huge, I mean at least twice the size of a normal portion, and I cut mine in half yelling, "No wonder none of you lose weight! And don't put butter in the potatoes!"

The rape at MCCC didn't happen, as I predicted, no offense to real rape victims out there, but to you women who think its cool to make claims like this - this is why the real victims sometimes don't win their cases, you assholes. I hope you go to jail. And I hope you get raped there.

I really need a T.V. in my room. I also had a dream where I lost most of my teeth last night, while wrapped up in some kind of Power Rangers Mystic Force plot. This morning I woke up when the alarm went off at 7, but I was still tired, so I did what I thought was setting the alarm to an hour later. What I did however, was set my regular clock an hour later, so when I woke up at "9" and freaked out getting ready for work skipping my shower, it was really 8, and I felt very silly.

Mike and I have a date tonight! We are going to the Asian Market and then to the Halloween Store and then we are going to play Wii together. I enjoy spending time doing things with him. I do not enjoy spending time on the couch watching TV with him. I don't like doing that with anyone, to tell you the truth.

Tomorrow is Halloween!

Here is your picture for the day!


Outhouse by Pops with appropriate rainbow.

Rabanastre Declassified Information

Heres a conversation Dan and I had back in August about ffxii.

me: dude i had the most awesome fight last night too
i fought three marks and like, 4 minibosses last night
Daniel: damn!
me: can i tell you about them
i only want to talk about one mark and one miniboss
Daniel: of course
hahaha
I've narrowed this topic of conversation down into two subtopics.
me: so i started reading about the marks because i wanted to speed up
haha
so i started reading about the marks because i wanted to speed up how long it was taking me since greg was leaving shortly and taking his game with him
Daniel: hahaha
me: and there are two marks that i set out to defeat last night, one in the Necrohol of Nabudis, and one in the Nabreus Deadlands. Two very obnoxious places to be in.
I read about the one in (I'm saving this so i can finally blog about a game)
Daniel: (okay)
me: I read about the one in Nabudis first, and figured it wouldn't be too much of a problem - the one in the Nabreus Deadlands was incredibly foreboding (right word there?) of danger and even began with "So you're at this mark, eh?" so naturally I got scared and decided to revisit that one after a few more levels
Sent at 9:42 AM on Friday
me: However I had to go through the Deadlands to reach the mark in the Necrohol. I thought I was lucky because the one in the Deadlands was "hidden" in a "secret area" and I didn't think I would have to worry about it.
Sent at 9:43 AM on Friday
me: SO I'm running through the Deadlands for a bit because I figured while I am here I might as well get the stupid map, and as I'm running through this little tight piece of land before I get to the map urn I decide to try to find a secret area, which blows my mind, because I KNEW that the mark was IN a secret area..
Sent at 9:44 AM on Friday
Daniel: hahaha
goofball
me: I mean I kind of stumbled across it and kept traveling deeper into it but I knew what I might find - For some reason though I thought since this was the Deadlands (which in itself is a very scary place to be, its filled with thick mist and theres, well, dead shit in it everywhere) there had to be at least more than one secret area and maybe I'll find a chest because even though this was that "area through thick fog and tall grass" I thought maybe there was more than one
Well I'm running around like an asshole
And I start going up the side of this hill.. and all these skeletons are popping up at me, I mean, every three steps, I'm fighting 3/4/5 at a time
Daniel: sweet combo boost though
me: And believe me I am not really plowing through them but I'm doing alright so I keep going up a little bit more until suddenly somehow my fucking brain starts to function properly and I says to myself, I says, "Oh, so this must be the hill of skeletons you have to fight your way up before you get to the mark, oh and HEY LOOK THE HUGE RED DOT right up the hill past this fuckin army of undead right
Ok Molly, fuckin you're here, just deal with it"
Daniel: good good
me: And I'm pretty terrified, I'm using a LOT of magick to keep everyone alive and this mark is a magick user and uses fear on my people to drain their magick and holy shit its fucking HUGE its this GIGANTIC GOLEM LIKE THE SIZE OF RABANASTRE
All the while the fuckin skeletons are still comin at me
Daniel: hahaha
me: So I don't know, I kill off about 30 of those skeletons and finally get up to the golem who isn't really moving but hey thanks for casting fear on Penelo and draining my MP
Oh, thanks, there goes Fran
So here I am, with my arsenal of status spells, Blind, Silence, Slow, ok cool slow sticks, Dispel
I don't know how I did it, it took me a good fuckin 20 minutes to kill this thing just because ... ok well if you focus on the golem the skeletons stop coming at you but since Fran is magick using and bow using and in the back she kind of drums up a few of them here and there
So I'm running back and forth trying to save her while more skeletons pop up since I stopped fighting the golem and the golem is casting Blizzaga on me and shit and I'm just like
THIS SHIT IS BANANAS
Makes me wish I had this one Esper Greg was telling me about who's only ability is, well, to cast DEATH on everyone.
So I get up to chain 50 something at least with those skeletons
I kill that Golem.
I feel so fucking good at this point
I go and I kill the mark in the Necrohol, another Golem.
I go back, and I get mad shit as rewards.
So then I head back and visit Montblanc, he's like, man you are so slammin, Vaan, and I'm just like, yeah yeah I gotta go man see ya
Daniel: the only tim vaan will get a compliment.
me: I head out to The Port at Barlthformheim or whatever silly name they gave that pirate town
I talk to Reddas
Plot, plot, plot
I end up at this fucking huge dungeon
Greg says, you're only on the first ascent, or descent, or whatever the fuck they call it
"Don't even bother me"
There are three minibosses already in the first hour I have been in there
They have all gone down with ease
I mean I am slaughtering these guys
But I've got about five more marks I have to kill
An Esper I want to get, and some side quests I want to look into
However, I might just beat some more marks and end the game, and then go back and revisit once I move.
So thats my ffxii story, I can't stop thinking about it, right now all I want to do is go home and play it.

I saw Bonde do Role!

When I first got back from this show my immediate reaction was to sit down and write a review, but it was so damn late, and I was pretty intoxicated. I figured it wouldn't be a good idea to write it right then. I decided to put it off until the weekend, but that didn't happen either. Now, four days later, I know I don't remember everything awesome about everything I wanted to mention, but there are a few things that I can cover here with confidence.

First off, I went with two of the four ex-roomates, The Vegan and The Pharmacist. Since they are no longer part of a much larger circle of people that I frequently refer to in my life, I can from here on in call them by their real names, Lee and John, respectively.

First thing I should mention about this show was the venue. A small club in the Fishtown area of Philly, two floors, definitely posh, definitely not a place I would be going to if it weren't for the group performing that night. I don't know what other events happen there, but I can say that nothing led me to believe that anything but electronic music was played there in the last ten years. Also, the people there were more or less dressed way nicer than I ever would dress to go out on a Thursday night to see a group perform, and absolutely beautiful. I'm talking like hand picked top of the line Philly 20-30 crowd photo shoot stuff. Even the fat chicks looked good. Not hot, but good.

We got there during the tail end of a little group called GANG playing, consisting of a bass player, a drummer and two female singers who could try a little harder to look better if they're going to be relying on their charm and and looks to sell the crowd on their music. They were a direct rip off of the B-52's, with that kind of mis-matched we make our own outfits but don't look as good as Punky Brewster edge to them. The two girls sang over a taped track written by the two remaining band members, while the drummer plays his riffs while listening to headphones and the bass player stands in place with her back half turned to the crowd looking like some soggy unenergized cross between Kurt Cobain and Janice Tanaka (but less cool).

Regardless of what they looked like, their music was forgettable. The beats/riffs/hooks/bass/whatever wasn't anything remotely funky enough to support the energy of the two singers, who had forgettable voices but kind of nice smiles. They did a pretty gray cover of Rock Lobster (suprise!), and even though we only saw two more songs (three more songs?) after that, the only thing I can still remember from their performance is the choreography of the interactions between the two girls, which was more weird and over-thought-out than entertaining. I'm not sure if they were going for funky or performance art, but if you're going to be doing this kind of thing with this kind of "listening to this in the background at work and not really paying attention" music they really should pick one and run with it.

Seondly a group I can't remember played, and I'm not going to comment on them, because I honestly didn't have any feelings for or against them, but I am going to comment on the group's DJ spinning a 20 minute set of not-quite-main-floor house music before the group went on.
Number 1- What is the deal with that?!
Number 2- Where the fuck is all the vinyl?
Number 3- Just because you can cue some tracks up doesn't mean you deserve to be called a "DJ".

Lastly Bonde do Role came on.

WOO!

They were great. I mean, its pretty hard to screw up a performance when you're in a group like that when 90% of the crowd doesn't even know what you're saying anyway, when your DJ has the shit already cued up on his laptop, and when you look as good as Marina does. However, their energy was over the top, their little stage antics are just incredibly hot and somewhere in my heart it just makes me so happy to see bands from all over the world do well in other countries. It was also a little gold star in my heart to see a group from another country perform, especially one that plays music that I otherwise would not have been exposed to if it weren't for my former roomates. On a final note, they all looked like they were having loads of fun, and everyone in the place was enjoying them on top of that.

When we got back to John's house, somewhere around 3am, Lee ran upstairs and put his stereo on full volume. He then tripped and fell somewhere and put a hole in John's wall.

So that's pretty much what I remember from that night. If you're really interested in reading some technical stuff about Bonde or just a better review of their performance, I'm sure you can google something up. I read a few over the weekend and well, its pretty much the same thing no matter what. Just keep in mind the next time they roll into town, and you're not sure if you should go or not, that Marina is way hotter in person than any picture of her I have ever seen.

The coolest thing on the web that I haven't seen yet.

Three foods I have written off

This morning I was feeling a little hungry, and since I was up rather early thanks to The Boyfriend motivating the two of us to wake up early enough for him to get to class on time, I had a few minutes to spare and decided on using them to stop at the 7-11 that is on the Pennsy side of my drive and directly on the way to my employer.

(Regardless of what time I woke up I still would have stopped there; I feel like I should note that. However, I must declare that waking up early enough to get to work before 9 does help me to justify my actions more, and I do not (did not?) feel guilty stopping somewhere when I have so much time to spare.)

I perused the aisles for some grub, and while originally I had intended to get a blueberry muffin for some reason my stomach told me to get a breakfast sandwich instead. I think that had something to do with how many calories I presumed are in a muffin compared to the sandwich, which when looking back doesn't make much of any sense at all considering how greasy and fatty the breakfast sandwich looks, not to mention tastes. I opted for what I THOUGHT was a bacon egg and chee on a croissant, but upon opening the sammich in the car I realized I had not read the entire label, and I mistakenly bought a sausage egg and chee sammich instead. I continued opening my morning grub up, only to be disgusted by the what seemed to be plastic slab of cheddar, soggy-ass bread substitute they were trying to pass as a croissant, paper thin egg-substance, and sausage that looked like it had been shat out of the last person to eat one of these horrendous concoction's ass formed back together in patty shape and placed right back into where it had originally called it's home.

Of course I ate it anyway, I was hungry. I did remove parts of the cheese that had been hardened for what I could only assume was hours of abuse under the warming lamp in the store, I kind of pushed/brushed/picked off the parts of the bread that had been liquefied, and I nibbled at the parts of the sammich that appeared to contain some kind of flavor or solid chew-able ingredients. Of course it tasted horrible, of course I couldn't finish the whole thing, I think I got about 3/4 of what was left after my redecorating and balled up the rest inside the wrapper.

Never again will I buy one of these sandwiches. Not after that. The risk of ever getting a sandwich that is even half less as bad as that is way too high for me to ever spend money on that item again.

So in lieu of that, here are the three basic foods that I have sworn never to eat again:

1. Cup Ramen
Ramen is good. Everyone loves ramen. Heck, I still love ramen. However, the pre-packaged ramen that comes in those environmentally unfriendly containers with the freeze dried "meat" is something that will never pass my lips again. The last two times I had this food I have thrown up within the hour, and this is without having drank any alcohol beverages. Fans of mine may know that I puke a lot after a night of drinking, and my stomach can be set off by a variety of simple things that have to do with the preferred drug of Christians and Jews everywhere, but when food accomplishes making me hurl all by itself I have no other choice but to raise the white flag and call it quits.

2. Mushrooms, sans Portabella
I do not like mushrooms (except portabella)!!! Mom, Dad, get that through your head. For the last 27 years I have been trying every concoction that the two of you make using mushrooms, and I have not liked a single one. Does that tell you something? This isn't one of my five-ten year old phase fits where I just refuse to eat something. I just DON'T like them. I don't like them in my salads, I don't like them with my steak, I don't like them in my chicken. You have seen me try them. You have seen me say "NO I DONT LIKE IT" every time I try it. Please stop asking me to try things with mushrooms in them. When you invite me over to eat please do not cook things with mushrooms in them. I will not like them. I do not like them. Maybe in ten years my palette will change, but until I directly instruct you to use them, please don't waste yours and my time.

3. Squid
One time in Japan my ex boyfriend and I were attempting to eat at a place and something looked good on the menu. I pointed at it and ordered it, thinking it was chicken. Nope. Some kind of squid. I think that at every meal I had in Japan that I attempted to order myself there was squid in it. I don't think I ever really *LIKED* squid, but I never *DISLIKED* it either until I had it by *MISTAKE* so many times. The experiences I had in Tokyo completely ruined that half-assed fish for me, because every time I sit down and look at a squid-meal I am remembered of how horrified, disappointed, starving, and disgusted I was when I accidentally ordered that food.

This post is a bit hasty, yes?

In Retrospect...

I moved about 90% into my new home, and I am sleeping there now, life has really taken a turn for the better, and I believe I'll fill you in later but for now here is a little thing I had been thinking of all day...

I was reading how my morning went in that post below (or on the next page depending on how many posts have been added since, and I thought I would let you know how my first morning before work went since the move.

I woke up at 6:30 this morning because The Boyfriend had school and wanted to be showered and on time with no rush, so we woke up to some obnoxious rant on NJ 101.5 (forgot to change the station back to the oldies station!) about how the illegal immigrants should be rounded up somewhere in north jersey and then bussed right over to the airport.. it was completely silly and ignorant, but I digress..

We hopped in the shower, and I noticed the little wall hanger convenience for your shower caddy jawn had broken and was hanging on by one suction cup, this thing isn't even 48 hours old yet..

We showered. We got dressed, but made a mess looking through all the clean clothes for one of his t-shirts even though I swear I washed about seven of them over the course of the day. He left for school by quarter after seven, at which time I promptly made myself a bowl of cereal, sat down, watched some Home Movies with commentary for about a half hour, and went to work.

How work went after that is irrelevant - you should already notice how ridiculously laid back and smooth my morning went - regardless of the fact that I was up at 6:30am I had plenty of time to relax in a comfortable surrounding before leaving for the headache that is my workplace.

Sorry for the short, rather uneventful post, but THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT OF IT GET IT!?

Onstead is hella polished

There is an interview with Chris Onstad of Achewood (achewood.com) fame located here. I haven't read the entire interview yet, but there's a pretty spiffy picture of Chris with Beef and Ray on there.

The reason that I am posting this link is not only because of the interview or what just might be the only known picture of Chris ever taken, but also because of the comments made by the fans of the strip. The fans are hella funny, and you can see how each and every one of them has taken some kind of achewood-ish speak or behavior or attitude out of Chris's strips and into the "real world". The one liners are almost all hilarious, and its apparent how seriously (but comically) fans of the strip take the whole scene.

Dan would probably be a lot better at explaining this to you since he is perpetually connected to the central cortex of the Achewood universe by a series of cable wires that plug into several different kinds of electrical outlets and gas station free air tanks, but word on the street is that he is a flake and generally avoids any and all contact with the world due to his recent accident which led him to only able to communicate through David Byrne (and if you've ever heard THAT guy talk you can only imagine what Byrne's translation of Dan's gibberish sounds like..)

My favorite comment:

Mine.
by Andreabobandrea
You assholes better stop reading my comic.
3:28 PM Mon August 6, 2007

bleed out the flood

Thinking about my progress over the past few years. It hasn't been by much, but since i took the one crucial step of moving to my grandmothers house, things have (and are) slowly teetering over the fulcrum of my mood into the gravitational pull of what some may consider success. i still, to my best ability, am able to remain individual to the point where iam not depressed becasue i feel liek a sellout, but also to meet the outside worlds standards of what is bearable, even as far as how i look these days. i've lost a few pounds in the past few weeks, too. this haircut seems to look great every single day thanks to this homo-erotic surf hair wax that i put in it before i go to work. and i mean, sometimes i am kicking myself in the ass for spending the majority of that social security money, but the things i did get with it, namely a new TV, my subs in my car, and my iPod, have increased the way i feel a degree that is beyond value. knowing i can go home and play any game i want and it will look great is excellent incentive to want to get up in the morning. as does my dvd collection, no more dealing with garbage on TV and having my favorite show son when i cant watch them. it is inconvenient in that i dont get to se anything new that i may like, but it is better because i dont get caught up in the gaiety of the newest prime time drama about hospitals or new yorkers or polygamy. nearing my 22nd birthday, things finally seem appropriate.

if i keep up this trend i might jus tbe exercising regularly. ive decided to quit delivering pizzas and i would like to go into detail as to why. when ig ot the job, it was excellent. i got paid 25$ a night to clean up at teh end of the night and i got tips for delivering. last summer, that was like 90$ a night on average, considering i only worked fri and sat. in recent weeks, he has been trying to get me to pull my own weight. meaning, not sitting aroudn playing DS ll night and getting 25 bucks for it. this means, to me as an employee, that he is getting me to at least double my output for no increase in pay, and this sumemr so far im lucky if i make 65 dollars on any given weekend. p[lus, it is just getting to me, and i want out. i dont want my car to be abused anymore, so the week i go on a road trip to FL i am also leaving tha pizza delivery behind. also, with leaving this "job" i feel that, symbolically, i am bleeding otu all the blood of irresponsibility and teh attitude of having a different person at work and at home. starbucks, iropnically, has found a way to bring out the mikepasun inside that can be honest with his bosses about everythign and anything, mayeb becuase nowadays i am not involved in as much chaos as i was in previous years.

so what with my snazzy well cared for car, my sexy haircut, my boosted friendship stats all around, my excellent new job, and my upcoming road trip, i think that life couldnt be much better right now. there isnt even a single thing i can think of to be embarassed about. woo!

Five Things I Like, Followed by Five Things I Dislike!

Here are five things that I like, and why!

1. Cherries! Cherries are red fruits that grow on trees. Although cherries are not very cheap usually, they are very healthy for you. According to wikipedia.com:

"Cherries have been shown to have several health benefits. Cherries contain anthocyanins, which is the red pigment in berries. Cherry anthocyanins have been shown to reduce pain and inflammation[1]. Anthocyanins are also potent antioxidants. Cherries have also been shown to contain high levels of melatonin[2]. Research has shown that people who have heart attacks have low melatonin levels [3]. Besides being an anti-oxidant, melatonin has also been shown to be important for the function of the immune system. Research also indicates that melatonin suppresses COX-2. There is considerable interest at present in the use of fresh cherries or cherry juice to treat gout - a painful inflammatory joint condition. [4]"

That is why I like cherries so much! They are not only extremely healthy for you, but delicious as well!

2. Nintendo DS! The Nintendo DS has two screens, for double the fun! There are not an incredibly large amount of games that I like to play on this system, but because it plays Game Boy Advantage games also I can pack hours of fun into a day with my Nintendo DS. It also has wireless gaming functions which make for an excellent time when one or more of your friends also brings their DS along with them. Most of the time they don't even have to own the same game to allow for a wonderful experience. Also, new games keep coming out for it all the time, so it never loses its flavor! (Plus I decorated my DS with a smart black, white and pink Hello Kitty skin on the inside so it looks sassy and cute!)

3. Comic Books! Comic books are great because not only do they tell you a story, but they also show it to you in pictures! There are many different varieties of comic books also, so even the pickiest of readers should be able to find a comic book that they can enjoy. Two of my favorite comics are Sonic X and The Watchmen. Sometimes they make comic books into movies, but the movies are usually not that good. Other times they make comic books into cartoon shows, and usually those are pretty good. Amazingly enough, sometimes they make cartoon shows into comic books too!

4. iPod! The iPod really isn’t one of the most reliable items on the market these days, but boy howdy is it one of the most convenient to own! I got a 30gig iPod for Christmas from my Mom and Pop, and even though I sometimes misplace it, I haven’t gone more than 24 hours without listening to it. It lets me have one convenient location for my music, and also allows me to play it in my car with the adapter that I bought. I think it is mostly the best because I can take it to a friends house and let them listen to songs I like, and vice versa! Some people have engravings on the back of their iPods, but I don’t.

5. Japanese Candy! The Japanese have the best candy in the whole world! They have kiwi squishy candies that really taste like kiwi and not some random sugar-flavor that most American candy seems to have. Their chocolates are really good too, and there is even a brand called Apollo that is both strawberry and chocolate flavored! They seem to really be into coffee flavored chocolate as well. At the Japanese grocery store all the snacks are in the same aisle, and there is dried fish next to the candy, but I don’t think that the Japanese consider dried fish candy, but rather a tasty between-meal snack, perhaps? Either way, I don’t think I would like to taste dried squid, or herring, or any dried seafood for that matter.

Here are five things I do not like!

1. The Flavor Purple! Purple flavor usually means grape flavored, but I think that grapes are pretty good tasting. There must be some kind of strange grape that is grown in a country far away for very cheap that they use to flavor all things purple, because it does not taste like any kind of grape that I have ever had. It tastes yucky! Well at least to me, because I know a lot of people who DO like the flavor purple. What a weird bunch! Get it? Bunch? Grape? Ha ha!

2. Working past 2pm! I am a web designer at a company working for people that I get along with very well, so I like my job a lot! However, at about 2:00 every day I become extremely lazy and I find it hard to want to continue working on websites when I am constantly thinking about playing video games, or going to the beach, or hanging out with friends! I do not mind coming in at 9:00 in the morning, it is good to get an early start on your day, but no fun at all to waste most of it in doors staring at a computer! If my day was over at 2:00 pm, I believe I would feel better knowing that I contributed to society, made some money, but also got to go play at an arcade from 3:00 – 6:00 before I got too tired in the evening to go out (like I am after work all the time!)

3. Spiders! I hate spiders! I have no problem co-existing with them in a world where all are Mother Nature’s creatures, but I do have a problem when they sneak up on me in my bed at 2:00 am, or when they hang down from their little spider wires and surprise me in the shower when I can’t see them coming because I am not wearing my glasses! They are so creepy looking and feeling! All those eyes! And some of them are hairy! I am not going to talk about them anymore because I am getting a little bugged out! (That was not a joke! Spiders are arachnids, not bugs!!)

4. Nightmares! Sometimes I have good dreams, and I feel good for the rest of the day. However, the exact opposite happens to me when I have a nightmare! It is a sure fire way to ruin my day before it has even began. Sometimes nightmares are scary with demons and hellfire and flying monsters, but sometimes they are also sad. Watching a friend die or having a loved one cheat on you is an example of a sad nightmare that I have had before. Once in awhile I wake up from nightmares crying, and I call my boyfriend to make me feel better. Sometimes he does, sometimes he is sleeping too! I hope he is not having a nightmare!

5. Untied Shoelaces! I do not tie and untie any of my shoes when I take them off and on except for my Converse All-Stars. This keeps my shoelaces from becoming untied on those other shoes. (A few of my shoes don’t even HAVE shoelaces!) However, my Converse All-Stars often come untied, either because the shoelaces are wonky or I am not good at tying shoes. I’d like to think that I am a good shoe-tier, but I have no evidence to use against my shoelaces to support my argument that they are faulty. I wish I didn’t have to tie and untie them all the time, but they are high tops. I can’t get my feet in them without doing it!

Thanks for listening, I hope this inspires you to go find things you like and don’t like too!

Just the facts, ma'am.

I'm sick of talking about my taste in music, because everyone seems to think I am a dumbass with horrible opinions. Maybe this is true, but the FACT is, music is subjective. And thus, I subject myself to the music I like. I'm not going to discuss it with anyone anymore, at least in the subjective sense. I'm going to review a song that I got yesterday, and I'm going to review it factually only. This can NOT be disputed in any regard.

The song is by Tilly and the Wall, and it's called Brave Day, from their album, "Bottoms of Barrels." The band features three women and two men, all of whom sing at some point. There are guitars and drums, and a lot of vocal harmonies. At one point, the percussion is formed by tap dancing. The song is a little over four minutes, and can be placed in the genre of rock and roll.

Well there, there goes all the fucking fun out of that, hmmmm?

I went camping!

Last weekend I went camping up in the Adirondacks Mountains with three guys named John, two guys named Ralph, a guy named Jun, and my parents. We spent four days on Raccoon Point on Little Long Pond, having to portage our canoes and items from St. Regis lake through two other lakes to our destination. It was hard work!

Boy did I have a lot of fun! I spent a lot of time on the eight hour trip up there wondering what I was going to do in the woods for four days straight to keep myself entertained. The ironic part is, the days flew by so fast that I wasn't ready to leave! I could have stayed up on that mountain for at least another week living off ramen noodles and other campers passing through the area. We ate very well, having been treated to a Filipino dish of ran-Dang beef (I believe?), some turkey and noodle concoction that Ralph number two and I swear did not taste until the third night (due to interference of everclear memory blockage, and the absolutely divine taste of peanut butter and toasted marsh mellow sandwiches.

The days went by pretty much like this:

Wake up at 830-930.
Have coffee mixed with Frangelica or whiskey.
Go "looking for firewood".
Sit around and play "the game" (will explain in a minute!)
Have lunch.
Play "the game" some more, and begin drinking river water and everclear.
Have dinner.
Become incredibly intoxicated while feeding the fire, roasting marshmellows, and hanging out with my good pals! Also, play "the game".
Sleep around 11-12.

"The game" is something that I was introduced to last year while camping in northern PA in the winter. It started like this:

Flap: You guys. I got this great game.
You guys: OK..
Flap: You say a famous person's name, and the person to your left has to say another famous person with the first name starting with the first initial of the last name of the person you just said. If the person has the same first and last initial, it gets passed to the person on your right. Ready?
You guys: OK..
Flap: Loretta Lynn.
(You guys look around, completely confused as to whose turn it is.)

While "the game" usually picks up the second night of camping and is limited to one round until all parties have either exhausted every name possible and/or have fallen asleep and/or passed out from being drunk, during this camping trip, "the game" was played about four to five times a day, every day, in separate spurts, and mostly while intoxicated, leading to ten minute interludes of two people arguing as to whether or not someone said "Donald Duck" this round. To this day I am still sitting here, sending my friend text messages with "Fredirico Felini" and "Sam Snead", who by the way, if you can tell me who those people are, WITHOUT looking them up, I will award you superstar "the game" player medal honors. Thats the other frustration of this game, playing with people from different generations also leads to the argument of whether or not each generation is making up certain personalities in order to trap the other players in a two man battle of double lettered names. Incredibly frustrating, to say the least.

It was absolutely beautiful up there though, and I certainly felt like a completely different person when I came back - fresh, healthy, rejuvenated, until we pulled up into my parents driveway and noticed the empty box of beer left in the trash by my supposedly ill brother, along with the notice that his driving privileges have been suspended for a situation completely out of his control. But thats a story for a different day.

I give this camping trip 8 out of 10 stars, losing points for the most painful ride in a car ever (8 hours with my parents drinking martinis while driving, WTG), one of the most irritating people I have ever met in my life being present on the trip, the spider webs that blocked my way to a haven of un-tapped firewood resources, and the absence of my brother.

the freedoom of recovery

the music from the radio that igrew up with was all pretty awful. hearing it now and knowing that i enjoyed it once someTImes maKes me cringe. but having music that you dont fully enjoy Makes you appreciate the good taste you have.

I got this huge ipod sothat when I travel, its like my own porsonal MiKepasun Radio. I haue quite a bit of music on it that i dont necessarilly find enjoyable, but that's what helps me to appreciatewhy and how Much i really LOVE My taste in music.

updated using my DS browser, sucKas

growing up

So why haven't there ben a million Mario games in the past million years? i was playing new super mario bros. and thinking this to myself. there are a lot of games that are sidescrolling action platformers, but what is it about mario that makes him so friggin popular? it certainly isnt because plumbers are hip. Let's see if i can count the genuine mario games, excluding party games, sports games, and edutainment games. i believe that the New Super MArio Bros is in fact the 5th side scrolling Italian plumber adventure (not counting game boy games). And to my own surprise i find myself being able to state all the differences to each one, even being that i tend to distaste the popularity they have accrued. they were pretty much garbage until 3, and the real gold is mario World on SNES. NEW SMB does not have the ability to fly, but instead you get to rock a blue turtle shell and go crazy with it. The DS was a fine platform for this game because, in my opinion every 3D mario game has been trash, and it also eliminates that annoying 2-player take-turns gameplay that nobody really liked anyway. the only multiplayer allowed is for fierce battling and wacky minigames.

another thing i find interestign about mario is that i cannot remember a time when i did not just know where everything was in a mario game.then when i was about 18 or so i decided to try and get 100% in SMW, not realizin gjust how much of a feat it really was.... there were many hidden levels and paths in that game, and if you wanted to change the season to fall you better have been ready for a fight. the first three mario games were wrote to me in all of my memories regarding them. it dawned on me one day that maybe that was the only reason i even like them: they were easy and i knew them like the back of my hand.

So, in comes new SMB for the DS, i am ripe with skepticism and ready to talk about how terrible mario is in general, and to go on about how much this new title will just fall into a useless category that everyonew ill love for no good reason. and to my pleasure and chagrin i noticed that i really, really... REALLY enjoyed playing it. it is about a hundred thousand times easier (im struggling to keep my lives... at 99) but its got just the right amount of sameness and differentness to be a really remarkable title. and now that i am not blessed with teh ignorance of carelessly running through games, it is STILL tons o fun. i am currently resting on th efinal castle having gotten every single giant gold coin in previous levels. some of them were painstaking, but i wanted to have them all. the gap between mario games has been so great, that in the span between mario world and new smb i have grown out of turning on a game and just playing it from the beginning every time until i remember everything abou thte first twelve levels for the rest of my life. i am running these boards through a fine sifting device and takign all the treasure available to me. from warp cannons to hidden mushroom houses to alternate exits, i am tearin this game about a hundred new assholes, and i am seriously enjoying every minute of it.

so i guess what i am saying, is sorry everyone for bitching about mario sucking.. it was just my way of conveying that i needed a fresh new mario fix that wasnt something i had played a million times over to the point of full memorization. (seriously tho this game is gooood)

-mvp

Pancake Wars

First of all, happy fathers day to all you dads out there.

I would also like to mention that our hero of this story Danosaur should currently be where I would like to be today - at the free Jonas' Brothers concert in New York. That lucky dogg. Now on to the good stuff.

So there is this town called Mt. Carmel, which is in Coal Mining country PA (about 3 hours away from where I live now). The reason this town is so cool will have to wait for another blog, but their role in this story revolves around a diner in town that serves "Blastin Blueberry Pancakes" for the whopping price of three dollars and fifty cents for a stack.

Before my first visit to this amazing corner of the country my friend Sara (prior to my first visit to the town) had told me about these pancakes, singing their praises like she was a widowed black mother who had lost her son in a gun fight praying to the good lord on sunday morning church in her starkingly large pink hat and matching petticoat. I have to tell you I was so excited for these pancakes that my hairs stood on end. While we were out drinking the night before I had the honor of trying these pancakes all I could think about was these delicious breakfast materials and how good they would taste to me after a long night of drinking 50 cent beers and chugging energy drinks mixed with vodka for five or six hours straight.

I was not let down.

These pancakes, be it because of novelty, price, or the feeling of overwhelming joy you get when you are hungover and food finds its way into your mouth, were the absolute best pancakes I had ever had in my entire life. They were not only cheap, but they were just enough to rid my stomach of that "holy shit I might throw up stomach bile" feeling, and good freakin lord they tasted so god damned delicious. I am telling you that the ratio of pancake to blueberry was absolutley perfect (keep this in mind), and though the pancakes were no different than any other diner food that I had ever tried, the fact that they were, and still were after the second time I indulged on my second trip up there, the best pancakes I had ever tried had resonated in my mind every morning I woke up with an hour to spare for breakfast food.

HOWEVER!

This weekend my friend Holly took Dan and I to breakfast for my birthday. We went to a cozy little place that I had been to once before, a small diner/grocery store on Spring Garden street in Philadelphia. I was struggling with the menu for about five minutes, half hungry for hash browns, half hungry for eggs, when I heard Holly say, "I'm having the banana pancakes". I looked up at her, eyes *trying* to be wide open, and said, "Yes".

These pancakes came to my table completely opposite of what I expected. I was waiting for these thigns to show up just bana flavored, like they had squirt some kind of crazy syrup into the mix to make them banana flavored. No. Completely wrong. These pancakes, and I cannot express in words how suprised I was, showed up SUPER fluffy, bigger in height than any pancake at a diner that I had eaten at. They were super light, but completely cooked, like the chef had some exquisite super power on knowing exactly when they would be awesome. But the best part was that they had banana slices COOKED INTO the pancakes.

I know that sounds like its nothing special. But you have to understand that after a morning of dancing and house music and beer and Wii and expecting just some shitty diner food breakfast, that these pancakes were like getting the red power ring for the first time in the original Zelda game. The ultimate expression of power in pancakes. The. Best. Breakfast. Ever. Now I gotta make this quick cause I have a father's day thing to do....

I immediately thought about the Blastin Blues. How did these pancakes chalk up to that? Well:

1. They were lighter and fluffier
2. They had more flavor to offer: While the blueberries were good, they were way sweet. These bananas weren't overpowering in sweetness, they were just enough to lighten up the taste.
3. I used mad syrup with the blastin blues. These banana pancakes only needed the slightest touch of that. They were already juicy from the banana mush being inbedded in them.
4. They were a dollar more expensive. In my eyes, that was totally worth it.
5. Blastin blues are 3 hours away. Banana-cakes are only 1.

So, in lieu of that, I hereby declare the banana pancakes the new King of Pancakes.

molly: last night i had this awesome idea for a blog
molly: about turning old
molly: but now i cannot remember anything was going to say
Danny Dreamboat: lol
Danny Dreamboat: cause you're old
molly: :-(
Danny Dreamboat: laughing my ass off
Danny Dreamboat: OH WAIT SHOULD BE POLITE TO THE ELDERLY
Danny Dreamboat: LMBO
molly: man
Danny Dreamboat: owned on ur bday

The band evolves... ALMOST.

Dan (me!) : i think we should start an avant post-tweegazing hip-hop strum-core sextet.

Aaron : we dont know 4 other people.

Dan-o-saur Comics!

Dinosaur fan comic by Dan and Molly!

Please don't sue us we're just trying to be funny!

The Human Condition

The most fun thing in the world is Dungeons and Dragons (or some similar role-playing phenomenon.)

Unfortunately most of us are far too insecure to do such a thing, so we just get jobs and watch television instead.

Invention Corner - Gigglecandy

I wanted my first post to be really good. I was like, "man, I should start this blog with my friends and then we could pretty much just post whatever, that would be so rad!" I was gonna do it around one this afternoon, but I had to go to the front desk and be receptionist, so I didn't start til' half past two. So I got everything all ready, just all geared up, just happy to have such cool friends who'd be interested in just talking about shit for no reason, and then I just sat there. I just sat there, and couldn't think of one fuckin' thing to write about. I still can't either. I made some soup, and watched some television, and played Lumines, and I've been grinding my gears for a good idea to write about, and still, nothing comes up. All day, since like twelve.

One good thing, though? Gian got some Halo Farm juices. Halo Farm is a local microdairy, and you can just get milk and juices and some grain products there, all cheap, all good, just so delicious, it's nuts. Juice makes me happy; my favorite is grape, but at Halo they don't have grape juice, they have grape drink. I always giggle when I see it, cause what if one time, it turned out to be wine? You know, grape drink? I just think of some little kid coming in and reaching past the Sunny D, and grabbing some grape drink, and being a polite kid, he takes a cup out to his friends, everyone gets to quench their thirst. Then, shit kicks in, just kids drinking wine, not even knowing, being belligerent, breaking toys.

My grandpa pulled that trick on me when I was a kid, man. He'd drink a glass of wine some nights, and one time I asked him for one, and he just gave it to me. You never saw such a cocky little bastard. I even did that weird kid thing, too; my grandpa gave it to me, but I knew it was an Adult thing, so I felt the need to go into the other room and savor it away from watching eyes. I drank it, and it tasted like millions of hells coursing through my body. I spit it out into the trash can, and I came out and gave him the dirtiest look I could fathom, and oh, how he laughed. "I'm glad you drink it yourself, it tastes like crap!" I ran out of the house, like that was some kind of punishment to him. Yeah, I'm totally sure it sucked that the little brat ran out.

Anyway, this all actually does equate to something. I made a cocktail. I poured some grape drink into a half glass of wine, and it's so good. I have a good name for it, too: Gigglecandy. That's what it is, I'm not even kidding. It takes the mild bite of wine away, replacing it with the sweet delicious taste of grape drink, yet the alcohol still takes effect. I had two glasses and I'm already being very very silly, and I've again got that childlike naughtiness going on. You should see how proud I am, walking around, stirring my drink for no reason, chuckling at my own genius, just being a total lame-o. Keep this in mind, boys and girls. If you concentrate very hard, and put your mind to something constructive all day, maybe you can completely bypass your goal and come up with a stupid idea and bless it with a somehow even stupider name. I wrote a blog, didn't I? Thanks internet, thanks Gigglecandy, thanks Halo Farms, thanks Aaron and Chinese food, and thanks Jimi Hendrix, for playing right now and basically being a stone cold ice machine.

Molly's Abode for Real-Life Aquaintances

There are a lot of shows on television now that I cannot stand to watch, or even stand to think about watching, or even stand to hear people tell me that I should watch. Its not because I dislike television, or dislike drama, or dislike having to wait an entire week in agony wondering what my favorite character's fate in the next episode is. Well that part I could do without. What my issue with most programming on television is these days is the fact that you barely ever can just turn on an episode of any given program at any given time and know not necessarily what exactly is going on but at least who the damn characters are and what they are talking about or be able to pick up a general plot line in five or so minutes without going, shit I can't watch this without watching last week's episode.

What I am trying to say in too many words here is that there are barely any shows on TV anymore that are remotely FUN to just WATCH. You've got your general comedy show here and there starring humans that can fill the void in your heart left open for hilarious television, but that black hole is suddenly ripped open again as soon as the credits roll and the next episode of LOST is practically shoved down your throat so hard when you scream for help your voice comes out sounding something like Denise Russau's voice on that call for help they picked up on their transmitter in the first season.

That said in too many words, the same issue seems to slowly be creeping into cartoon shows. Take shows like Ben 10, or Naruto, or Shaolin Showdown, or (wtf?) Winx Club, and even Pokemon now a days. These might not be the best of examples but you get my point. These shows all have these drawn out obnoxious pretenses that lead to episode after episode of plot and character development that eventually gets so involved that your average "i just got home from school" kid who might have had detention 3/5 days that week cannot be telling the truth when he goes over to his friends house and says "Yeah man I totally know how messed up it was when Jizzon stole the power watch from Dark Lord Roundworm" because the other kid is saying "yeah well if you saw episode 3384 on Monday you would know that The Argonaut totally was Flying Deluth's brother and they saved him from the evil Miss Flotsombottom so when they took the power ring they were really.." etc. What is happening is that these kids are being trained to pretty much marry themselves to the television show and taught that you cannot just watch a show just to watch a show you need to watch the whole SEASON of shows and that no matter HOW the season ends you are going to be disappointed because it is all LEADING UP TO SOME KIND OF DEFINITIVE END.

Because of this Cartoon Network and every other station on TV was beginning to lose my support until I saw Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. This show is practically everything that I could ever want in a TV show. And its practically the opposite of everything that I just said.

I didn't start liking the show right away. What kind of happened with me and this show is sort of what happens when you kind of start hanging out with a boy, or girl, and you kind of like them cause you know, you've hung out with them a few times and you've had an OK time, but then out of nowhere they invite you on this awesome adventure and well the timing is just right because you've been sitting in your house all day listening to your roommates argue about whether or not the new Killers album is worth even trying to listen to because that first single was just really unattractive, and you've been avoiding them by sitting in your room but its gotten a bit too stuffy in there and you wanted to go outside and do something but its hot and you weren't exactly sure what, but then this boy or girl calls you and they tell you they will come pick you up and they get there JUST in time in this really comfortable car with excellent not too strong on your face air conditioning and when you get in the car that boy or girl is listening to this song you haven't heard for ages and suddenly you don't care about what you two are going to do because you know you will have a great time with that person no matter what and you fall in love.

For a long time I struggled with why I liked the show so much, other than the obvious. Its drawn in a very attractive bright colored Victorian house style, the characters are ALL lovable and are extremely easy to attach yourself to (favorites are not hard to pick with such extremely defined personality types) and well, its funny. But I knew there was something more there than the fact that I enjoyed comparing Bloo's antics and inability to take the blame for any kind of situation to my boyfriend's identical "problem" and how much Wilt reminded me of this site's wonderful creator, Dan. It was upon reading some posts on this Foster's blog that seems to have been since abandoned that made me realize that I like this show because I can just sit down and watch it, and have a wonderful experience, and be done. There is no OH MAN I WONDER IF MAC IS COMING BACK NEXT WEEK, there is no THEY NEVER RESOLVED MR HERRIMANS CARROT ADDICTION, you get the point. When the episode is over, it is over, and I am reassured without fail that next week the same characters are going to be there getting into another crazy situation without having to worry if one of them will be whacked by the end of season 2. I'm not even thinking about season 2. Well I am because the DVD should be coming out sooner than September 11th, but again, you follow me here.

I have to get back to work but real quick - I know a lot of you might have been thinking I am wrong about the first part of this post - that there are plenty of shows out there like that, but give me one that is actually GOOD - BESIDES Lucky Louie and DAMN that show got canceled! Disney shows do not count here because even though I love them WE ALL KNOW THEY SUCK when it comes down to it and it takes some kind of fucked up tween to really appreciate those shows. Lastly, I refuse to count toddler-oriented shows such as The Doodlebops (sucky) and BoohBah (awesome). Cartoons Spongebob (overrated) and Ed, Edd, and Eddy do not count either because they have both been on the air for so long that they are either completely overdone, or everyone has been exposed to the show through some over-saturated marketing campaign. Something, again, which Foster's has avoided.

gotta juice -

The thing with music

The thing with music is that it's really exciting when you find a new band you like. The first time you hear a song by a new band you might decide that you kind of like it. The second you are starting to learn the song and have probably made a final decision. But the third through about ninth time you hear that wonderful new song will be among the best moments of your life, and when it is over you will want to start it over again. (And if no one is around, and you've disabled Last.fm, you just might!)

But beware! After eight or nine listens in the first week, the song may begin to lose its luster, and you may end up getting disappointed in modern music, and after finding out that this wonderful new band has now been declared "Band of the Millenium" by Pitchfork media, you may just end up sulking and listening to Belle and Sebastian for the next two months.