Uh-uh

Nope. No no no.... no. Just no.

http://www.itchmo.com/scientists-clone-red-fluorescent-cats-4210

You start messing with genes, you start using clones for experiments with diseases and stuff, you wind up with The Clone Wars. You don't want The Clone Wars. Trust me.

Fans of Karen Traviss... you see the issue of using clones for any type of research? I know I wouldn't let them experiment on Schrodinger. Why should they experiment on a cloned cat?

At least they aren't referring to them as "units".

Yet.

Oh wow XD

I almost died. Like, literally. I totally choked on my tea.

Happy Kung Pao Buckaroo Holiday to you, too.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,311797,00.html

Oh, and speaking of idiot of the day...

Well, this guy isn't as much of an idiot as Mr Death Sentence, but.... he definitely should win a Darwin Award.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,311198,00.html

Uh-oh.

NOW you done it.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,311025,00.html

See, now you're gonna make the liberals mad, and they're gonna want to slap you. Boy oh boy, this is gonna be SO much fun to see the liberals reaction to this bit of news.

I mean... I'll be the first to tell you that I don't agree with homosexuality. But for me, that means that I'm not gay. It doesn't mean that I go preaching left and right trying to change what everyone else thinks, since I know that doesn't work. But... hanging? Stoning? People shouldn't be given the death sentence for being gay. That's just.... that's not right. Now, murderers and rapists should totally be shot repeatedly. Not gays, no matter how anti-gay you are. Oh, and ESPECIALLY not torture. You don't-- Grr. *steams* You just don't.

Hail, Marvel

I applaud you, Marvel. I really really applaud. I give you a standing O, as well.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,310356,00.html

A list:

Things You'll Never Be Able To Look At The Same Way Again After Watching Doctor Who:

1. Store mannequins
2. Plastic Surgery
3. Gas Lamps
4. Big Ben
5. Pigs
6. Museums
7. The Internet
8. Promotions
9. Vases
10. Little Children
11. Gas Masks
12. Nuclear Power Plants
13. Game Shows
14. Christmas
15. Cats
16. Mistletoe
17. School Staff
18. Fireplaces
19. Those cell phone Bluetooth ear piece things
20. TV
21. Black Holes
22. Elton John
23. That kookaburra song
24. 3D glasses
25. Blimps
26. Brides
27. The Moon
28. Hospitals
29. Shakespeare
30. Traffic jams
31. The Empire State Building
32. Anti-aging serums
33. The word "burn"
34. Boarding schools
35. World War II
36. Statues
37. Titles (like "The Professer", "The Doctor", and "The Master")
38. The British Prime Minister
39. The Face of Boe

I hereby hate iPods.

Alright. So, I have a five or six year old CD player. Not ancient, but not brand new. It works just fine, but it's getting picky about one or two newer CDs. It doesn't like Gretchen Wilson's All Jacked Up, and it doesn't like Brad Paisley's 5th Gear. It's not picky about anything else, though, just those two. Well... and the occasional burned CD. But I got a bit sick of it taking a lot of poking to make it play Brad, so I decided that it's time for a new one.

THEY DON'T EXIST ANYMORE. You can't get boomboxes. From anywhere. Ever since the iPod showed up, people assume that no one listens to CDs anymore. That's ridiculous! I mean, I'm not dropping 300 bucks or more for some stupid little gadget that will be obsolete next year, anyway! GAH. I hate gadgets like that that assume they're the most important thing in the world, and that EVERY person in the world is going to own one.

So, here's what my day was like. Mom decided she wanted to go grocery shopping for some more snacks and stuff, so I decided to look at new CD players while we were there. I found a really good one for 35 bucks. Bought it, took it home... and guess what? Stupid thing was defective. It doesn't play CDs! The radio worked fine, but it had some problem where it thought the lid was up all the time, so it wouldn't play anything! So that went back to the store right after that.

So I went to Radio Shack then to see if they have one. Of course not! They haven't seen one of those in YEARS! Apparently EVERYTHING is digital music now. So stupid.

Then it's off to Best Buy to see if they have anything. No boomboxes, of course! Found one that was kinda.... meh. It was 20 bucks though, and the only one left in existence. So I picked that up, but went to look at the more expensive things, just because. And you'll never guess what I saw. Frigging Dead Man's Chest CD player. I mean that quite literally. It was the Dead Man's Chest. And it was a CD player. It was the COOLEST thing I've seen since my Elvis Purse. So I put down the $20 one, and I bought the Pirate player.

Got it home... it doesn't take headphones. That is my ONE requirement. If it doesn't take headphones, it's stupid, and it goes.

So I've gotta take it back tomorrow. GAH! So frusterated. And iPods are totally to blame.

Wow...

I don't even know what to say about this one.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_7243545

Here is the text of the article, in case it ever gets deleted.

Injured Bliss soldier's kids killed on way to hospital

Times staff, wire report

Article Launched: 10/22/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT

Two children of a Fort Bliss soldier flown back from Iraq with combat injuries are dead and a third is on life support after a car accident on the way to visit their father in the hospital, Army officials said.

Army Spc. John Austin Johnson was waiting for his wife and three kids to visit him at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio on Oct. 13 when another soldier told him his family's car had rolled over four times on Interstate 10 about 12 miles east of Ozona on the gusty West Texas plains.

"He said, 'Two of my children are dead?' " Army Sgt. 1st Class Eugene Schmidt told the Dallas Morning News. "And we started crying."

Johnson is a member of Fort Bliss' 4-1 Cavalry, post spokeswoman Jean Offutt said. She said Johnson's unit has sent a noncommissioned officer to be with the family.

"They are being well taken care of by the unit," Offutt said.

Schmidt said Johnson has survived five brushes with improvised explosive device blasts during two years in Iraq.

The latest left him with a traumatic brain injury, and he speaks with a severe stutter.

Schmidt said Johnson's wife, Lisa, overcorrected the steering in her sport utility vehicle after encountering a blast of wind on the drive from El Paso.

The couple's youngest children, 2-year-old Logan and 5-year-old Ashley, died at the scene.

Tyler Johnson, 9, suffered massive head injuries and remains on life support at Children's Medical Center in Dallas.

He was listed in critical but stable condition Sunday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

"He's a fighter. Even the doctors are amazed he's still alive," said Schmidt, who says the family is too grief-stricken to speak publicly. "We're praying."

Lisa Johnson suffered bruises in the crash, but was released from the hospital.

Tyler remained at the hospital while their parents left for their children's visitation in Benton, Ark., the family's hometown. An anonymous donor provided five burial plots in the veterans section of Pinecrest Memorial Park in Alexander, Ark., where Spc. Johnson's grandfather is buried.

Another donor purchased markers for Logan and Ashley, whose funeral is set for Tuesday in Alexander. American Airlines provided the family seven roundtrip tickets, and other groups are helping the family take care of expenses.

"It's been a pleasure and an honor to help them," said Rehnda White-Brunner, director of United Services Organizations of Dallas/Fort Worth.

FirstLight Federal Credit Union has opened an account to help the Johnson family. FirstLight officials are encouraging the community to make donations to the account by visiting any of FirstLight's seven branches in El Paso and Las Cruces or by calling 1-800-351-1670 and directing your contribution to the Johnson Family Memorial Fund.

Branch locations:

-Kenworthy Branch, 9993 Kenworthy, El Paso.

-Lee Trevino Branch, 1555 N. Lee Trevino, El Paso.

-Marshall Branch, 1741 Marshall, El Paso.

-William Beaumont Army Medical Center Branch, 5005 N. Piedras, El Paso.

-Del Rey Branch, 3105 Del Rey, Las Cruces.

-Lohman Branch, 3791 E. Lohman, Las Cruces.

-Foster Branch, 300 E. Foster, Las Cruces.

One Believer

Because this is my FAVORITE song in the world, and it isn't on any CD, so this is an absolute MIRACLE that I found it!

Fan Films

I'm... floored. To say the least. I really really am.

http://www.atomfilms.com/film/forced_alliance.jsp

Todays news...

Alright people, never let this one be your obituary headline: "Dead Man Found in Avocado Tree".

And here's the sign that there really is some justice left in the world: "Florida Man Sentenced to Death for Leaving Child to Be Eaten by Alligators". That's brilliant. Anyone that does something like that should not be given life in prison. Good to know the death sentence is still good for something.

But then again, here's another reason why humanity is down the toilet. A Spanish horror novelist turns out to be a cannibal. They found bits of his girlfriends body in the fridge, and some of her muscle in a frying pan, with a bit of fruit seasoning. It's assumed that the novelist had killed two people before, in the same manner. The maximum sentence? 50 years in prison. Now, sure, by the time 50 years is up, he'll already be dead. But I mean... someone who cannibalizes his girlfriend and writes a book about it should not be allowed to live another second. He should be shot. No no... not shot.... crushed. Slowly.

The Karen Traviss in me wants to write a story about this. You know, she's right. You really can't make this stuff up...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,301736,00.html

I must say this is fascinating. Is that horrible of me?

MIAMI — Unlike most boats returning from the high seas, the sport fisher Joe Cool had no tales to tell. Three days earlier, the 47-foot boat had departed for the island of Bimini, four crew members and two passengers aboard. A day earlier, it had been found, doing circles and dragging anchor, on a lonely stretch of the Florida Straits about 30 miles north of Cuba.

With no crew.

And no passengers.

As a Coast Guard cutter towed it slowly back into Biscayne Bay, a hush fell over its home, the Miami Beach Marina.

In the slips, men ceased buffing the pearly hulls of multimillion-dollar yachts. Dock boys stopped zipping about in EZGO carts. Even the Shih Tzu-walkers in their Gucci sunglasses and clogs paused as the white vessel glided without a murmur up the channel.

Along the docks and the palm-lined pier, "Everyone stood there and followed the boat with their eyes," Valerie Kevorkian, a dive shop operator and scuba instructor, recalled, "and then there was only emptiness ... a ghostly feeling."

Indeed, the Joe Cool had returned with no souls or story — only clues, tantalizing to be sure, to a high-seas mystery full of twists, discrepancies, revelations and contradictions.

As on an episode of "CSI," investigators would pluck from the vessel some valuable evidence: four 9 mm shell casings; a tiny key that might or might not unlock handcuffs; splotches of human blood, inside and outside the cabin.

They would also find, drifting in an orange life raft 12 miles north of the ghost ship, two seemingly incongruous men who had chartered the Joe Cool — a 35-year-old suspected thief on the run from police in Arkansas, and a clean-cut, 19-year-old Cuban-American training to become a private security guard.

They would interrogate these survivors, take down a story that three pirates had hijacked the boat and coldly shot each crew member, and then, for some reason, let these two go in a life raft with their luggage and about $2,200 in cash.

Investigators didn't buy the story. On Wednesday, prosecutors charged the suspects with first-degree murder in the high-seas killing of the Joe Cool's young, four-member crew: the captain, Jake Branam, 27; his wife, Kelley, 30; Jake's half-brother, Scott Gamble, 35, and their friend and first mate, Samuel Kairy, 27.

What law enforcement would not immediately provide — may never fully provide, perhaps — are what the relatives and friends of the four most desire: Answers and, by extension, closure.

For a week after its return, the Joe Cool sat in dock at a Coast Guard station directly across the channel from the marina. No one was allowed near the vessel — except the forensics experts who combed it for clues — but the boat's graceful hull and vaulting flybridge were visible, and haunting, to all.

"This could have happened to any one of us, and whenever you looked at that boat over there, it reminded of you of that," said Greg Love, 51, who runs Club Nautico South Beach, one of the marina's five charter businesses.

Kevorkian, whose dive shop is next door, caught herself many times that week, gazing beyond the boat lifts at the tied-up Joe Cool.

"It just looked empty. Like a shell," she said. "There was no feeling, no soul in it anymore."

30 years for 52 cents

There's classic. So, there's this guy that's facing 30 years in prison because he stole a 52 cent donut. I mean, he walks into the donut shop, puts a donut under his sweatshirt, and ran out the door. Now that's just funny.

Seriously people, this is why you never commit a crime, no matter how small it is. Consequences can explode. So, find some legal fun, or look through the couch cushions to find that extra 52 cents. You can't possibly be *that* hungry.

Well, we can forget that modeling class CD now. I'm not going back to that class. I went there to learn how to stand up straight and without tripping over myself. I learned how to hold up my head and strut through Chicago making me look like I knew what I was doing there.

I did NOT, however, go to have someone tell me how to act in the rest of my life, what type of people to hang out with, what to wear.... no. Here are the rules of life: You don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't send Sam Raimi to do Peter Jackson's job, and you don't tell Rio what to do. I mean, she started off by saying that we won't start being an individual until we're around 25. Apparently we won't have any life experience until then. I'm not even going to bother with that speech anymore. I've got life experience to spare, thank you, don't tell me that I'm not an individual yet. She said that we have to act a certain way to attract certain people to be our friends. We have to have an inner circle of friends, and an outer circle. Outer circle friends should never be allowed into the inner circle. Keep your friends separate. And only hang out with people who will 'better' you.

Thank you, but I pick my friends by who is fun to hang around with, someone who doesn't annoy me to death, and people that don't make me mad. If you fit those three simple criteria, then you can be one of my friends. It's really not hard to do at all. I will NOT have some lady who claims to know me telling me how to pick my friends.

That's the other thing. She says she's good at reading people, and that she can see as soon as we come in what we're thinking about and how we're feeling that day. I don't like people assuming that they know me by first impressions. When I walk into that classroom, I suddenly try to look like I know what I'm doing in that class. I put on high heels and pretend to know how to walk in them. I hold my head up and pretend like I'm supposed to be on that runway. You can't tell from that that I am a Sci-Fi geek who hates the Sci-Fi channel for canceling Stargate. You don't see that I love learning about other cultures. You can't see that I'm a computer geek. You don't see what sort of friends I hang out with, and you don't know why I like them. So don't presume you know anything about me just by the way I'm standing.

Classic. Just classic.

Okay, so I'm checking my blog feeds, reading the news. And one of the headlines was "OJ Simpson's Watch Isn't a Rolex".

Wow. Call the news crew. This is the biggest piece of news since "OJ didn't do it". (BTW, I want a t-shirt that says "oj did it")

Also, another soldier was killed today, but the news article didn't say what his name was. Really, I want to know who he was, where he came from, not just that he's another statistic. I want names, not numbers. Does that make sense?

Also seems that the biggest news of the day is that Obama isn't wearing a flag pin. Woo hoo. I mean, really, who cares whether he's wearing a pin or not? He can show his patriotism some other way. I think that's really cool. (Although, his coolness ends there. He's almost as much of an idiot as Hilary, and that's saying something.)

Oiy. This is funky. I can totally vote in the next election.... being legal age is odd. If I register to vote, though, don't I eventually get called in for jury duty? I hate courts...

Go ahead, try this....

So here's my challenge. I have a modeling class once a week, which means we need some good runway music. Apparently we don't have any good CDs around the school though, because the teacher is always begging people to bring in their own music. So, for the past couple weeks, people have been bringing in their music. All the songs have really good beats, but curse words every two seconds, and we've got eight year old kids in the class. So, last week I decided that I'll make us a modeling CD with songs that have good beats and no curse words.

Here's the challenging part. All I own is country music. So... I'm having to dig through Kenny Rogers and Willie Nelson and Alan Jackson, trying to find something that doesn't sound too country. So far, I've got the Pirates Remix from the Dead Man's Chest soundtrack, a few Big and Rich songs, some Rascal Flatts, some Martina McBride, and a little Tim McGraw (it's the rap duet with Nelly), some Bon Jovi, Bo Bice, Montgomery Gentry, and some funky little song I have on the Shrek 2 soundtrack. I'm giving it a run through right now to decide if it's any good.

I've got about 45 minutes of music now, and the class is an hour and a half. Not too bad, actually. Twice through and it's time to go.

Track List:
1. He's a Pirate [Tiesto remix]
2. Radio (Big & Rich)
3. Who Says You Can't Go Home (Bon Jovi)
4. Me and My Gang (Rascal Flatts)
5. Over & Over Again (Tim McGraw & Nelly)
6. Fast Cars and Freedom (Rascal Flatts)
7. You're Everything (Bo Bice)
8. Holding Out For a Hero (who knows?)
9. High Five (Big & Rich)
10. Gone (Montgomery Gentry)

Is that too obnoxiously country or strange? Hm. I guess we'll see at class this week, won't we? It's probably too strange, considering that everyone in that room listens to rock or rap. But hey, the first week of class we listened to the Backstreet Boys, so anything I come up with can't be any weirder than that. (I almost put some Backstreet Boys on this CD, actually!)

Star Wars Weekends 2006 - Tem Sings!

OMG TEM SINGS. And he sings pretty!

Six Years Tomorrow

It was Tuesday, my least favorite day of the week. I had a harp lesson every week, and I hated it. My friend had wanted to play the harp, so, since I was only 11 and hadn't yet developed a mind of my own, I decided that I wanted to play the harp, too. Of course, once people started finding that out, they thought I was just the cutest thing. I had already entered my tomboy stage then, and wanted nothing to do with cute. People assumed I was this pink dress wearing, ribbons in her hair, cute little angel. Nuh-uh. That's not what I wanted people to see me as. So, in rebellion, I decided to wear the most un-cute thing I had. White t-shirt and black sports clothes. You know, those pants that are sorta plastic-like? They make a really annoying swish sound when you walk. Yeah, those. So I had a black pair of those and a matching vest. Consider, I was only 12 at the time, so that was as far as rebellion could go for a twelve year old.

I woke up at 8:30 in the morning. For breakfast, I had peanut butter toast and tea. I sat in front of the TV and watched Arthur (yep. The little aardvark with glasses). After breakfast, I went upstairs and got dressed in the aforementioned sports clothes, then came down to practice the harp before my teacher got there at 10:30. Mom had her chair next to mine so she could point out the music while I played. Couple minutes went by, then the phone rang. Mom got up to answer it and told me to keep playing. I kinda half-arsed it while she was gone, 'cause - as I said before - I wanted nothing to do with the harp.

Mom wasn't on the phone for too long. When she hung up though, she didn't come back to help me practice. Instead, she went in to the family room and turned on TV. Just a couple seconds later, she called me in to see something on the news. I came in about a half hour after the first plane had hit, so the North Tower was already burning. Mom got out the big road map and showed me where Manhattan was, and where the World Trade Center had stood. I know I saw the second plane hit the South Tower, but I don't actually recall seeing it. I remember watching the North Tower fall though. It looked like a mushroom. It started from the top and just caved over on itself in this big cloud of smoke. And I remember watching the people flinging themselves out of the windows. I was curled up into a ball, snuggling against my mom (which was odd... I'm not a snuggler), and I said "What do they want?" as if she knew or something.

I wrote about it in one of my diaries, though I'm not sure which one anymore. I probably have it in a box around here somewhere. I was writing in that the first time they stuck the name Osama Bin Laden on the TV. Didn't know who he was, but I remember writing down the name as soon as I saw it.

Thinking back on it, that was the first day of growing up. I didn't know anyone that died that day, so I don't claim to be sadder than anyone else, but I do know those images stuck with me. I know there was some change that day, but I don't know what it was. It's sad, really. The first time a kid witnesses such... evil. To be just twelve years old, watching your country torn apart. Almost as sad as being older and watching it tear itself apart from the inside. But that's an entirely different story.

Someday it's going to be like Pearl Harbor Day. Just another day on the calendar. As there are less and less people that were alive to see it, less and less people care. It'll just fade in to the history books and become just another boring fact on Friday's test. I thought of something just now. My nine year old neighbor was only one year old when it happened. She's got absolutely no memory of it. It's just been a stated fact since she could remember. What must that be like?

People will be forgotten too easily. Soon, no one will remember Christine, or Dana, or Juliana. Juliana was four, you know. She desperately wanted to go to Disneyland, and her mom was finally going to take her. They were on their way there, actually. And she'll never get to go now.

YES! Wait... NO! Wait....

Okay, so this is officially the definition of mixed emotions.

So, my two favorite baseball teams are the Mud Hens and the Tigers, yeah? My favorite player is Jack Hannahan, who, until just recently, was playing for the Hens. He got traded to Oakland (a major league team). So... Oakland just played the Tigers. Oakland won... on an RBI single by Jack Hannahan. I mean... on the one hand.... damn, Oakland just won. But... they won because of Hannahan.... so... like.... is that good or bad? Oh, I think I have a headache now...

These Boots Are Made For Walking

Because it's funny, and I wanna keep the video, that's why.

A pox! A pox on you, I say!

I'm gonna kill it! I'm gonna take it and hang it in a tree by its feet and pour honey on it and sic a bear on it! It's evil, and it's on my list alongside Hilary Duff, Natalie Maines, and Mark Stern! SecuROM is the EVIL of all EVILS I tell you! *grumbles*

So, my laptop is like WAY nicer than my PC, right? It plays games flawlessly, just beautifully. So I decide 'Hey, I haven't played Knights of the Old Republic in a while. I want to play!'. Simple enough, yeah? Well, first thing I did was run a search on it to see if it would run on Vista. Turns out that no one has gotten it to work yet (or so people claim), but I did come across one message board post that said someone had gotten it to work. So I figure, why not try? If it doesn't work, I just uninstall it. Simple.

Well, happy Rio, it works! I install the program, and it lets me play! Everything works fine, it doesn't jump around, I can play on high graphics and enable the movies and have no issues with it!

Up until I turn off the computer for the night and then try again in the morning. Hey, let's play some more KotOR! Nope. Not gonna happen. This stupid dialogue box pops up and yells at me to stop using an illegal disc! It's like "please insert the original disc". I mean... HELLO? That IS the original disc! I didn't copy it, I haven't copied it, I'm using the original disc that *I* bought with *my* money, spent *50 bucks* on, and you tell me to stop using an illegal disc? What's wrong with you!! You're evil! That is the original disc! GAH. I'm only a pirate on September 19th, man, this disc is FULLY LEGAL.

I spit on you, SecuROM! I spit on you! Patooie!

*sigh* As happy as I can get, all things considered

Yeah, I'm quite happy, or as 'quite happy' as I can get with a horrible cold. I was feeling awful, so I decided to have a bath instead of a shower, and I stayed there for an hour and a half, reading my Karen Traviss book, breathing the steam... with a box of tissues handy, of course XD But yeah! Cleared out my nose very nicely. I gotta remember that for next time I get a cold, even though I totally vow never to get another one again.... I mean seriously, want to know how much sleep I've had in the past 36 hours? 2. Yeah. Two hours of sleep total, if even that. I can't lay down 'cause then my nose plugs up and I can't breathe, but I can't sleep sitting up, 'cause... I just can't. Sitting only helps for a little while, then I gotta stand up, and I can breathe for about two minutes, but then I'm stuffed up again. *sigh*

What I wouldn't give for some chicken soup right now...

Except maybe chickenless.... 'cause typing out "Chicken soup" made me think about the actual living chicken.... okay that's odd. *shiver* I blame the monologue. Drama Teacher gave me a monologue to memorize, and it's about dead birds (from the play The Woolgatherer by William something or other... Type it in at Ask.com, it's smart, it knows his name.). So, like, now I'm thinking about these birds all squawking and dying and.... okay, that's not pleasant! Lets think of something happier. Like baths with steam and tissues and a KT book. That's happy.

I still gotta edit that monologue down to a minute, AND memorize it by next Wednesday. Gee! I don't even have the last one memorized!! *sigh* Plus I'm going to have to play an insane candy counter girl that saw a species become extinct when she was young. Huh... so, a little Maddie Fitzpatrick, a little Gollum... but then she's kinda... Southern-ish, so add a touch of Clarice Starling, and there it is!

On another note, I positively ADORE the auto-save function of this blog. I was browsing IMDB (to make sure Clarice's last name really is Starling XD) and Firefox crashed, and my blog was gone.... but when I came back, hit CTRL+D, it opens up my drafts, and there it is!! Right where I left it :D Blogger rules the world. Now, maybe it can come up with a cure for the common cold...

Whoa

Multi-tasking. Get this: I'm moving all my music files to iTunes instead of Windows Media Player, but WMP rips files MUCH faster than iTunes, so I'm trying to sync both programs, plus I'm shopping for Stargate merch, reading my new Star Wars book, blogging, drinking a soda, and checking to see if my buddies are on instant messenger yet.

And the scary thing is that all tasks are being done at 100% efficiency. I mean, I haven't royally screwed iTunes or WMP yet, I know exactly what's going on in my book, and I haven't sprayed soda out my nose yet...

You know, I think it's a girl thing. My dad absolutely can't understand how we can do so many things at the same time, and still do them well. He can't sit in front of the TV without wanting to get on the computer or his palm pilot, but once he gets on one of those, he stops paying attention to the TV. If I were in the TV room though, I'd be watching that, too.... and comprehending.

So, here's my question. Is it just a girl thing, or is it just a me thing? How many tasks can you do before you start to get swamped?

I just don't get it.

Honestly, I don't get High School Musical. I really don't.

Hail Britannia

I heart British TV to no end.

Back story. I've got a concert to go to tomorrow, but didn't realise that it's at the SAME TIME as the series... pardon... SEASON finale of SG-1 (it isn't the end of the series, there's still stories to tell, but not with Mark Stern's money). So, I was bummed that I won't be able to watch it live.

However, thanks to the video search at Dogpile.com, I found the full episode divided into four clips. See, it's already aired on British TV. So, someone recorded it off Sky One, and it's now available online for me to watch a day early. So I'm gonna go watch it now.

I think I'm gonna cry.

Class number one

Well it was fun and a nightmare all at the same time. We all went in and introduced ourselves, except none of us did it right I guess. The teacher, Jeff, talked for about five minutes about himself, but then the rest of us just talked for about thirty seconds or less. So, we talked to the person next to us for about two or three minutes without stopping, then switched. Then the other person talked about themselves for another two or three minutes. After that, we all got to introduce ourselves as the other person. That was a bit fun.

 

Then came the nightmare bit. Jeff told us to shut our eyes and think of our favorite song. Just... go through the lyrics for about two minutes. After a while, he told us to open our eyes.

 

And then we had to get up and sing.

 

Yeah. Lemme just tell you.... Simon Cowell would run screaming if he ever saw me coming. No no.... Paula Abdul would run screaming if she saw me coming! Yeah. So that was like my worst nightmare ever. But hey... I did it. Well.... heh. If you can call it that. I made the mistake of favoriting a Diamond Rio song. Yeah. So, me trying to sing something that Marty Roe has sang? I would have been better off singing Celine Dion.

 

Well, needless to say, I butchered it. Butchered isn't even a strong enough word. I nuked it. It was just.... there isn't even a strong enough word in the English language to describe my singing. I just did the chorus, though... so thankfully I didn't break any glass or anything, since it was only about ten seconds long or something.

 

But then we all played tag just so we could learn to be goofy and what not.

 

We have to do a monologue next week. I'm going to the library tomorrow to try to find a good one. I've been all over the internet, but haven't found anything even remotely good. So. Yeah. Apart from the singing, it was alright.

Of course.

Yeah. Such is life. Of course no one believes that I can do this acting deal. My dad won't say, but he wishes I'd get a real job. My mom is mad because I won't listen to her advice (when all she's doing is repeating what she's heard in movies). My friends still don't care one bit. I mean, a little support would be nice, wouldn't you think? Is that too much to ask? Well apparently it is.

I mean, it's just a bummer. This is my dream, yeah? I mean, people have been badgering me, saying "Get a job", "Go to school", and when I finally do, it's like "No, I didn't mean THAT job. That's not a real job!"

Sucks to be a dream.

Urgh.

I hate liberals.

And trust me, if I keep going on that, I'll waste hours of my time, and loads of internet space. So we'll just leave it there.

Whee!

Having quite a fun time reading quotes from this comedian, Demetri Martin. Look him up sometimes.

And for future reference, in case I ever feel the need to create another website and am fishing for a title.... Indifferent Graffiti is the best title ever. Might even make a good username. "Hey, I just got a PM from IndifferentGraffiti." Nice.

BTW, the quote that made me think of that is this:

"Graffiti… I don’t like graffiti, unless it teaches me something, you know? Like “Oh, that’s how Alex feels about Maria. I wouldn’t have known if I had not walked by there, thank you.” Graffiti’s the most passionate literature there is, you know? It’s always like “Bush sucks!”, “U2 Rocks!”. I want to make indifferent graffiti. “Toy Story 2 was okay!” “I like Sheryl as a friend, but I’m not sure about taking things further”, “This is a bridge!”, “That guy’s right!”

Whew!

I just spent ALL DAY building my website. Stuck a quote search engine on the page (which took me an hour to get it working properly), kept changing the font until I finally found one that I can read, figured out how to make my search engines open results in a new window (yay!), and whipped up a html page for myself, just so I don't have to work for an hour to figure this stuff out again next time.

An since we're nowhere near the subject....

Dad's taking me out driving tomorrow. Yikes. I mean... it's Fathers Day. I really don't want to kill my dad on Father's Day. But we practice driving at the cemetery, so at least we won't have to go far, eh? I am now taking bets on how many things I'll hit before I total the car.

So, anyway. I know I had something totally important to blog about, but now I can't for the life of me remember what it was. And it's nagging at me, too, 'cause it was really big... Maybe it was the driving thing? Was that it? I thought it was something more important than that.

And on a completely unrelated note.... Victor Garber has been in like every movie.... ever.

Sad.

Well, I went down to the basement a few days ago (I think I was looking for.... a book? What book? I don't remember. But I never found it.). I stumbled across the old Get Real series I read by Linda Ellerbee. I was planning on going to the bookstore to get the books that I had missed since I stopped reading the series. I couldn't for the life of me remember why I stopped reading those books. They were awesome. Still are, in fact, even if they're written for ages 8-12. Still love 'em.

Turns out the reason I stopped reading the series is because that's how long it lasted. Eight books, and suddenly there's no more series! You know, maybe Jedi Apprentice wasn't the right series for me to start reading, because there's eighteen books in that one, so now my brain automatically assumes that a series should have at least twenty books before it's complete. I guess it's a good thing I don't read Nancy Drew... or the Baby Sitters Club. Even Jedi Apprentice would have seemed like a pathetically short series, then.

I'm curious... has anyone ever read ALL the Nancy Drew books? Every... single... stinkin'... one? Seriously. I don't doubt that there's someone, but it probably is only a select few. How old is that series anyway? Sounds like a question for RefDesk.

Well there's a picture of the front cover of the first Nancy Drew book.... she's wearing a 1930s hat. [looks for year it was written] Oh... 1930. Very perceptive, miss Rio [congratulates self].

Yeah. So, anyone who has read the series is going to have to have started all the way back at 1930, and read all the way up until now. And keep going..... 'cause Nancy Drew is like Star Trek. No way it's going to go away any time soon.

Huh... turns out there were racist comments and stuff in the original 1930s books, which got rewritten by the second author. That's interesting to know... sad too. Dude, I was watching Stargate... and there's that episode where they travel back to 1969, and Michael says to Teal'c, "You can ride up front with me, brother, it's cool." Took me the longest time to figure out that he meant that it was alright for him to ride up front even though he's black. I mean... come on! We were still on that in 1969? Just seems like the issue should have disappeared a LOT faster after the civil war... but no, we were still fretting about that in 69... weird. I mean.... 30s? Understandable, but not forgivable. 70s? Well, come now. You should know better.

BUT ANYWAY! Way off topic there for a second.

It seems that Nancy Drew is another Robin Hood. Always changing to fit the times. She started off as a headstrong flapper girl in the 30s, but toned down in the 50s, when girls were expected to be proper.

And the scary thing is... I sound like I know what I'm talking about. I have never read a Nancy Drew book, and I knew nothing about her, apart from the fact that her name was Nancy, and she solved mysteries.

HOLY!........

Well. That's....... heh. I just found a Nancy Drew book from the 1930s, original, still has the dust cover. 100 bucks!! Thought that was a steep price.

Yes, I gone done it again. Missed a zero.

$1000

One. Thousand. Dollars. For a book that's falling apart.\

I'm DEFINITELY glad I didn't start reading the Nancy Drew books now. Nancy fans are worse than Trek fans, man!! Obsessive....

'ello!

Me again. Like whoa, guess what... I'm in! I'm actually in that acting school now! *dies* I mean, I'm accepted, but there's still the matter of trying to figure out if I actually want this or not. I mean... huge commitment here. To the point that... by next Wednesday, I'm either acting, or I'm not.

'cause I would get a scholarship, but only if I'm totally committed to this acting thing. I can't just be doing this to see if I can. Now, I know I really want to act, but then there's the ultimate question... how lazy am I? For me, dreams last until I can actually do them. After that, it's like... I already feel like I can do them, so...

I dunno. I'm not making much sense here. So, am I ready to have my life totally flipped around by Wednesday? Or do I still want to just be normal and sit around and watch TV all day without having to worry about anything at all.

I'll give you a major downside as well. Remember my rant about being the jester? That I don't have friends, I have audiences? That's probably the worst thing I can think of about show biz. Friends will be really hard to come by, especially loyal ones. Everyone will want to bail at the first sign of trouble. Hollywood isn't exactly known for its loyalty. Can I handle just being the jester to have a dream job?

Oh, blimey, the answer is totally yes, isn't it? *sigh*

Yeah. So.... I guess I'm gonna do it. I'm going to IMTA.

Never Neverland

This is stupid. Seriously. I can't even make my own lunch without burning it, now I'm expected to know what to do with my life? I am way too easily distracted to decide on one thing to do forever. My interests change more often than John Kerry's opinions. I can't just do one job for the rest of my life! No way!

But even those with the Peter Pan soul get yanked into adulthood. I swear... every person I've talked to for the past couple months has asked me where I'm going to college. You know, I really outta start answering "I'm not." As of now, I'm giving them a political answer. "I don't know yet." Really, that means "Not in a million years. I ain't going back to school."

But now my dad is pushing me, saying that he wants to know what I want to do by next week. Like whoa.

Okay. Anyway. I'm out. Nasty storm here, and I probably shouldn't have this computer plugged in.
-----
So! Looking at colleges now. Actually, looking and solidifying my decision NOT to go to college. In order to do the acting classes, I have to take the stupid math and grammar classes too. Come on! I've done those for the past thirteen years! If I haven't got it by now, it's not likely I'll get it in another four years. Plus, it's acting. I won't need advanced math, just adding and subtracting, which I already know. Grammar... well, I correct my friends on theirs all the time, and I don't need good grammar... the script writers do.

So here's me stuck with the impossible task of locating a school that would teach just acting, and not fuss about with all that other "required" stuff.

Well, okay. I've already found one. And I'm interested. And some very famous people have come out of there. And it's like... ten minutes away. Even I would know how to get there, and I'm navigationally challenged. Ew. I hate politically correct terms. I suck at directions.

But still. Even if I said "I want to be an actress", nobody cares. Need I remind you about the play incident when absolutely nobody came? Because it isn't important. They don't care, they don't think I can do it. Yeah, that would send most people out on an "I'll show you", but not with me. I mean... if I can't even make my own friends care, how is anyone else going to care?

It must suck to be a dream. The ones that get let out always get muddied. The rest are locked up and never get to see daylight. Bit sad, yeah?

Oiy

Okay. First off, who told my numlock to be on by default? I mean, seriously. I go to type "Okay", and it comes out 62ay. Isn't that annoying? Looks stupid as well. Definitely doesn't help when I'm trying to type in passwords, and it's got the stupid numlock on. Hate that.

So anyway. Graduation shindig yesterday.

Random interruption. Shindig is in my Firefox dictionary. That's almost as funny as "whatchamacallit" being in there. It's got a spell check, and seriously, it says there's nothing wrong with "whatchamacallit". Odd.

TONS of gifts. I mean TONS. I got a loverly (<-- also in my dictionary) laptop case, so now I can actually take it around with me. Yay! My mom made a giant scrapbook with pictures of me from the past seventeen years. Like whoa. Definitely surprising, since she doesn't do scrapbooking.... guess she does now! Apparently she's been working on it for a long time out of the basement. Pretty darned safe, since I never go down there. Just hide anywhere around the spiders, and you can be sure I won't go anywhere near you!

What else.... cards with money. That was awesome. The graduation dinner alone funded my Robin Hood DVDs (<-- not in my dictionary) on Tuesday. I got a $40 gift card for Best Buy! WHOO! So, I'm snagging Robin Hood and possibly a little keypad attachment for my laptop (even though I'm fine using dad's at the moment, since all I use it for is that stupid Pirate game).

My sister got me a shiny silver horse necklace (very pretty!), and a keychain (<-- not in my dictionary) for GAC (much better than CMT. Got enough backbone to play controversial songs), and a kriffing digital picture frame! The thing plays music! So, I have it cycling through my zoo pictures, and it plays Pirate music along with it. So cool ^_^

What else.... one of those graduation autograph dogs, a snuggly littly graduating bear... OH! Diploma. Got that too. And the silly little tassel thing that goes on that stupid square hat they make you wear.

Okay, there's the thought of the day. Who the heck invented that ridiculous square hat? I mean... who says "Hey! Let's put a cardboard square on these kids heads and make it a sign of intelligence!" Probably the same person that looked at a cow and said "Hey! If I squeeze those little danglie things, I wonder if we could drink it..."

Here's your sign.

Oh hi!

Yeah, you aren't rid of me yet. Well.... I mean, you are... sorta... since you really aren't anyone since my official reader count is zero... but that's okay! I'm gonna talk to you anyway, 'cause you think I'm interesting, which is nice.

Even though... right now, you're nobody, so... nobody thinks I'm interesting? Meh. That's okay, because nobody's perfect.

And the scary thing is that I entirely followed that logic.

What's the latest issue... AH! Pirates! I've already written what I thought about the movie a hundred times over, and a hundred times again, so I'll just leave you with this short phrase.

It rocked.

(And also, "Nobody move! I've dropped me brain..." is the best line EVER!)

Uh... yeah! That was pretty much all I had to say. Nice to see you! Later days!

..... I think I just signed off Weekenders style. That's strange, 'cause I haven't watched that show in years. Good one, though. Lor rocked.

Waiting waiting...

You know, it's always the first and the last days that are the hardest to sit through. I mean... July 8th was awful. Having just seen Pirates 2, it's like "OMG I can't wait to see the next one! When is it coming out! Make it come out soon!" And you're nervously dancing around the room anticipating the next one. After that it gets easier. But then it comes up again hours before the movie comes out. I'm sitting here staring at the clock going " 'kay, four and a half more hours to go... not too long now.... not long..." and the clock is just CRAWLING along. If it were any other day, I wouldn't have enough time in the day to do everything I want to, but on the day that I'm waiting to see a movie... there's absolutely nothing to do until show time.

See, that's why I like stage acting! On the day of the show, we're running around, rehearsing lines, trying to remember the moves to the sword fight, getting Reeves practiced for his fall off the tower, piecing together last minute costumes for people who lost theirs... there is NEVER a dull moment. But then, we don't look forward to the show, we dread it.

BUT ANYWAY. Pirates 3 has the most freaking awesometastic soundtrack in the history of soundtracks. It's gorgeous. I mean, I already feel like I've seen it just from hearing the score. I can already see the ending by Jack's Theme playing and then the credits music. So perfect. It's like... I feel like I'll want to stand up and clap after this movie. OH! And Davy Jones' theme in At Wit's End... that's so perfect. It's about halfway throgh the track, I'd say. But I could be wrong.

I'm absolutely in love with Davy Jones' theme. It's just gorgeous. I wish the organ version of the song had been on the Pirates 2 soundtrack though. The Kraken Theme more than makes up for it though. The bass was just perfect for a mythological creature song. Awesome.

Up Is Down makes me want to get up and dance a jig... and then a tango... and then like... Riverdance or something.

But yeah. In a nutshell... Pirates 3 is the best kriffing soundtrack EVER. Davy Jones has the second coolest theme ever (surpassed only by The Imperial Theme from Empire Strikes Back). And I seriously can't wait to see the movie.

Are we there yet?

Greatest Hits

On account that there was absolutely nothing to blog about today, I leave you with one of my Greatest Hits from a previous journal.

http://story.news.ask.com//article/20060817/D8JIG3P80.html

Lookit this. You can't even have a MySpace without getting hounded by politics.

This is getting insane. You can take college classes online. You can get hounded by politics online. You can shop online. You can shop for car insurance online. You can do your banking online. Hell, people even have sex online!! Who needs to get out of the house when you can live entirely through the internet? I mean, in the future, are we all going to just sit on our fat bums all day typing away at the keyboard, never interacting face to face with a human being? Heck. I can see it now. Future generations... everything they do is online. EVERYTHING. Can you imagine future wars? Let's say leaders from the USA and maybe England get into this large disagreement, and what do they do? Duel it out on Halo.

DowningStreet was fragged by HomeOfTheBrave
HomeOfTheBrave: i pwn j00!!
DowningStreet: n0 f41r y0ur u$1ng ch34t c0d3$!!!11!!!11

Bloody liberals...

So, Dominic Deegan is one web comic that I keep up with daily. Used to be my favorite, but there are others now (And DD just hasn't been as good lately). So, the current story arc is... okay, I don't know what the current story arc is. It's all a bit confusing. But for the past three days or so, the main event has been Dominic and Luna finally ripping their clothes off for sex.

My reaction was an eyeroll, and a mutter of "Well lovely. Here we go again." One of the things I loved about this comic was that Dom and Luna could be in love without it having to be a sexual relationship. It was a good mix. Neither one of them was very "OMG wait until you're married!" which kept the liberals happy, but they also weren't "OMG get your clothes off!" which kept the conservatives happy. But now they're all "Oh yay, we had sex", telling everyone all about their night, and it's getting ridiculous. But I can back off. It isn't my comic.

My problem was that I checked what other people were saying about the comic, which always gets me miffed. It's a liberal comic, with liberal readers. As said before, any different political views make me fighting mad. BUT... the only thing that gets me more mad than a group of liberals, are a group of liberals that feel everyone has to listen to their opinion, but they don't have to listen to anyone else's.

One person posted a message saying that she (he?) was sad that Dom and Luna hadn't waited until their wedding, and that she had always liked that they hadn't slept with each other. Basically what I just said. I think there were one or two messages saying "right on." The rest were that group of liberals that can't listen to anyone else's opinions.

They pounced on the poster and went totally liberal on her (him?). "Dude, update your world view. Nobody waits until they're married anymore." (I do.) "That's not a healthy world view. So you think it's okay to marry someone, then screw them and divorce them?" (She [he?] didn't say that. Chances are, if she's in favor of waiting for marriage, she's not in favor of divorce.) "Oh come on. Marraige is just a stupid ceremony. Sex is a commitment. Which is more important? A ceremony or commitment?" (Right. Because no one has ever left someone after sleeping with them. As soon as they have sex, it's a lifetime commitment, eh? Both are equally important. If you're not committed, then there won't be a wedding. If there's no wedding, then you can't know your partner is committed to you at all.)

No thanks. When I meet the right person, I want to know that he is committed enough to WAIT. But that isn't what got me miffed. It's-- Gah. It's that people are so egotistical (well that was hypocritic) that they feel they don't have to listen to what anyone else says (do what I say, not what I do). It's always the same thing. One person posts an opinion. AN OPINION. "Well, this comic made me sad, because I wish they had waited." And everyone pounces on the opportunity to lash out and say "You're an idiot for thinking that way." Those are the ones I hate. If they would take the side of "Well, I disagree, but okay." then that would be fine. They can state their opinion, and they can also listen.

It's time for Rio's Quote Theater.
If you don't feel you have to hear my opinion, I don't feel I have to hear yours.
-Tari

Nowhere does it say free speech is carte blanche to be a jerk. And don't cheapen real free speech by hijacking an honourable concept bought dearly with people's lives just to get a little spotlight. Spotlights run hot, and they can burn.
-Karen Traviss

Oiy.

People are stupid. They always expect me to be there for them. I'm always expected to come running if they ever need help, and to support everything they do without question, and they get mad at me if I act even slightly different than they planned on me acting. But they don't listen to me. If I got all my friends together in one big room and asked them to write down what they thought I wanted to do with my life, what job I wanted to do... NONE of them would know. If I asked them what I was thinking about for college, they wouldn't know that either. NONE of my so called friends know me, because they just don't listen. I'm a hanky, not a friend. And when it comes to my dreams, they don't support them either.

My play? The one that I was so excited about? I was talking about it for months. I told everyone I met what character I was playing, telling them about coordinating the sword fight, the woes of learning my lines... I told them that stuff every week, to the point where they could almost recite it. I got told so many times "Yes, you've told me that before." With all that hype, you'd figure they would know that I was excited, eh? NONE OF THEM CAME. There's you saying "Well, you're exaggerating. SOMEONE must have come." NO. NONE. Quite literally zero. They were too busy, or too tired. My best friend just plain didn't want to come. My best friend's family couldn't find the church, gave up after five minutes, then turned around and went home.

I guess I'm not exactly the type of person that inspires loyalty, am I? My so called friends abandon me and take advantage of me whenever they get the bloody chance. *sigh* I'm just the Jester.

Remind me to post that Jester short story after I get it rewritten. It's not great, but I think it gets my message across.

TV TV TV

So, 24 finale tonight. It ended kinda... strange. But, it is 24, so I should be used to that by now. Honestly? I thought for sure he was going to jump off that balcony, or shoot himself and then fall off. I mean, the writers of 24 are totally evil, and they wouldn't tell us if the show were being cancelled, so they wouldn't tell us if they were going to kill Jack...

And really, he still may have jumped! 'cause it cut away at the last second. He was seriously contemplating it, I can tell you that much.

Insane Jack is scary. No no... Sane Jack is scary. Insane Jack is terrifying. Don't know how President Hayes stood up to him.

No wait.... he's not the president.... why do I want to call him President Hayes? .... OH HELLER! Secretary Heller. He's only President Hayes on Stargate. I totally knew that. But yeah. I completely love Josh. When he smacked Mr Bauer over the head with the wrench and then grabbed his gun? I'm like "OMG GOOD KID!" And he was even holding the gun properly... and then he actually shot him! That was so brilliant. You can definitely tell that kid is a Bauer. He's got some serious Bauer Power going on there.

Idol finale is tomorrow. I'm still rooting for Melinda. She was totally the best singer in the whole thing! I absolutely can't believe she got voted off. That's so stupid. Should have been Blake. Or Jordin. I don't care. Anyone but Malinda. There was a problem with the voting or something, 'cause that is NOT natural. Just ain't right. She had more fans than the others, and we all knew she was going to win. So what the heck happened?

Oh, intro!

Oh yeah. By the way... I'm Rio! Nice to meet you. I don't like people, animals are much better. I am slightly more for animal rights than most people, but I still think PETA should stand for People Eating Tasty Animals. I love country music, and hate anyone that doesn't like it. I have zero tolerance for any moral no-no, whether it's bank robbery, murder, or being rude to the cashier at Walmart. I drop my friends like a hot potato if they do something I disprove of (mainly because I refuse to hang with the "wrong crowd". I don't mix with them, I don't tolerate them, I don't forgive them. If my decent friends become the wrong crowd, I drop them. Simple as that.). I am an artist, though none of my stuff sells, and I am a procrastinating author (meaning I've started a million novels, and only finished one short story, none of which are published). I like Science Fiction, but absolutely hate the Sci-Fi channel. If I were the type to hire a professional hitman, the three people I would off are Natalie Maines, Hilary Duff, and Mark Stern (the Sci-Fi channel exec. that killed Stargate SG-1). I love Star Wars, and I fully support the Dark Side, because it has a better dental plan, and cooler minions. I have long memories and short fuses.

My personality in a nutshell? Mostly Karen Traviss with a hint of JRR Tolkien. Meaning... If people are stupid, I will not hesitate to say so. I stand up for what I believe in, and will not be pushed around. I fully support the military, even if the government is stupid (but I don't like any politicians at all.) (Well, okay, I do fully support President Bush. You got a problem with that, believe me, you can either shut up, ignore my political opinions and just pay attention to the rest of the blog, or you can leave right now. I'm okay with either one. But my blog is not your political soapbox. It's mine.) But, even with all that "Don't mess with me, vod'ika" attitude, I've still got the Tolkien streak that loves trees and good company and nature.

I have absolutely no patience whatsoever, unless it comes to HTML, then there's an endless supply. I will poke and prod a website until it does exactly what I want it to do, no matter how long that takes. Websites should be very grateful, because I am not patient with anyone or anything else.

I absolutely hate: Hippies, Dixie Chicks fans, people that hate country music, people that don't support the military, people that sleep around with people they ain't married to, people that plan on sleeping around with people they ain't married to, people that look over my shoulder while I'm on the computer, people that turn down the radio to talk to me, and people that incorrectly use "your" instead of "you're". So check your grammar.

I absolutely love: My cat.

So that's me in a nutshell. Now. I was planning on typing a blog about speaking sign language to a deaf man, but that'll have to wait until another time. I've filled up this one with stuff all about me. Funny... 'cause that's totally not what I intended.

Oh yeah, I'm also very arrogant, and have the second largest ego in the world, next to Simon Cowell. No wait... I take that back. Simon has admitted to being wrong before. I have not.

Random interruption... You know, if you're typing too fast, you can type "speaking sign language to a dead man" instead of "deaf man".... which is actually a bit funny.

Ack! Graduation woes

The good thing about this graduating business (besides the fact that I'm done with school) is that pretty much every day for the past week, people have been sending me cash. Is it strange that I totally didn't know I was supposed to get gifts for graduating? Yeah. But people just started sending me stuff, and I was like "Oh... I get gifts? That roxors!"

Random interruption... I can't spell buisness.... business... It's like.... busy-ness.... busi-ness... business... okay. Got it now.

The downside of this? I gotta write thank you notes. I am so incredibly bad at writing thank you notes! I sound completely fake. Used car salesman fake. I'm a very stuck up unappreciative person, so I'm always delighted to get stuff, but very rarely feel the need to be thankful. Character flaw, I know.

Random other note... that's gotta be the first time I've spelled "character" correctly the first time. I always put an extra H in it. Charachter.... nah. It does look better the other way, I guess.

Now, I can write a note for stuff. I mean actual stuff. I got a ginormous bag, and I can write up a whole note for that. Thanks so much, it's really beautiful, I'll be able to hold a ton of stuff in it... but mostly I've been getting money. Not that I'm complaining, but money is awfully hard to say thanks for. "Hey, thanks for the cash, I'm gonna use it to buy video games so I can sit on my bum all day and never have to worry about going to college. Have a nice day!" No no, that just doesn't work. So what do I say? "I'm saving it up for.... study breaks."

Well, at least I get a break with this next one. It's from an old friend of the family. I can add thanks for the money, but also mention that it was really nice to hear from them again. That'll give the note some more substance. You know, I sound like a politician... or a lawyer. Trying to come up with nice things to say to people and all? Whew. This is hard work. No wonder lawyers and politicians are so slimy.

OH BUTTONS! [Rio discovers the pretty buttons up on the blog editor, and decides to try them out, pressing each one in turn, hoping they don't completely wipe out the blog. Luckily, none of them do, so she resumes complaining.]

Now here's something interesting. My best friend in the entire world (back when I was about five)... well, I just now realised that I never knew how to spell his name. That's odd... I was spelling it completely wrong. That's kinda funny. Is it proper to say "Thank you for the money" or "Thank you for the check"? Thanks for the check sounds better.... makes my job easier, too. A check is more of a gift, money is just.... money. Makes me sound greedy.

Third random interruption... my S key makes a boing sound when I press it. SSS boing boing boing...

Is it bad when I get writers block on thank you notes, but my muse kicks me in the butt and tells me to write more of my story? Meh... at least the muse isn't letting me abandon the poor novel. Maybe I should come back and write these notes later? They're supposed to go out within ten days, which gives me plenty of time to brood over them. I got that gift on Monday right? So that's seven days before a thank you note? That seems alright to me. Prompt, without being rushed. I want to play my zoo game. I think I was building a park or something. Trees... with a nice fence and some benches. I wanted to put up lampposts, but I need a higher fame rating before I can get those THANK YOU NOTES. Stop typing about Zoo Tycoon and write the bloody notes, Rio. [Rio smacks herself in the head, forcing herself to get back to work. Of course, her mind stays on the game the entire time. Will she ever get those notes done in time? Tune in next time on We Say That Here, Don't We?]