Packing Part 3; The Last Part

This is my last day in Michigan, and I spent it quite relaxed. My Grandfather had a heart scare and spent 2 nights and the most of today at the hospital. Luckily, this heart scare was just indigestion. So I spent the first half of the day cruising on the internet. I cleaned my entire room, turning it back into the beautiful guest room it once was before I arrived.

Compare this to the mess my room was before I got here.

When my grandparents came home, we went out to a nice, goodbye dinner at Wlitses where the waiter made me fried pickles that weren't on the menu.

And now I write this blog at Don's house where I will be spending the night since we have to leave at 6am. It's about a 9 hour trip from here to Buffalo in a van with little seating space left due to our severe packing.

It all seems so simple and easy right? It's all so easy to put things in a box and shove them in the back of a van. It's all so easy to drive nine hours, and then unload all of your stuff right? But underneath all the simplicity comes the compliactions of packing your life into a box and throwing things out enough can be shoved into the back of a van. It's the complications of driving nine hours filled with anxiety and worry, and then trying to fit our lives back into a small apartment.

Moving is hard, I'm here to tell you that. Fortunently, I've made many moves in my life. However, none of them could prepare me for this one. Before, it wasn't that bad because I still had the security blanket of my parents. I knew I had money, I knew I could go to school and it wouldn't matter if I had bad grades, I knew I had a good roof over my head and food on my table every night. Unfortunently, all of these are now my responsibility.

And nothing could prepare me for that.

I'm ready though, no matter how scared I am. After all, the fear of flying always comes before the spirit of soaring. I just have to spread my wings and fly finally.

Miley Cyrus at Teen Choice Awards

I guess everyone is buzzing about this, so why not me right?



I'm not even going to comment on how absolutely trashy that 16 year old is. Instead, I will comment on what an awful song that is. From what I understand from the lyrics, she goes to Hollywood and sees that everyone is glamorous and different and all she sees is stilletos [She claims she "didn't get the memo" yet... what is she wearing??]. She hears a song come on in the taxi, and all of a sudden "It's a party in the USA".

That has got to be the most contradictory thing I've heard from a pop star who claims to be all about the country. I would think that she would sing something about going to Montana and hearing a country song come on and THEN it would be a party in the USA right?

The song she decides to start this American party with cannot be anymore ironic. A Britany song comes on, then a Michael song. Two of the worst pop stars to idolize. One is a mentally ill wash up, and the other is a pedophile who just died of an overdose. Real nice Miley, that's exactly what America is.

And lets not even go to the part where her voice is so annoying, that it can't even redeem the fact that this song is flat, overproduced, and WAY to bubble-pop. Party in the USA with horrible music. Thanks.

Packing Part 2; The Hardest Part!

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging much. I've been going through many personal things, and that seems to be about all I have on my mind. I promised that this wouldn't be a personal blog, so I stayed far away from it so I wouldn't slip into bitching and complaining.

I continued packing yesterday. I started with my clothes, which is the hardest part. I love my clothes. I love all sorts of clothes. I have never been able to have enough clothes either. But you know what, it's true. There were just so many clothes sitting at the bottom of my drawer and closet that I just don't wear anymore. And because there's only a little bit of storage space, I have to cut my wardrobe down.




Doesn't look that bad stacked up like that does it?


How about now, when its in two trash bags?

Granted, a lot of that stuff I didn't wear, but you know what, a lot of it I did. I'm a fan of t-shirts. Easy to wear, and match with converses. My shirt drawer was so stuffed, I couldn't fit another t-shirt in there if I wanted to. Now? I'm down to 15 t-shirts. I know I'm sounding like a whiny brat right now, but by George I loved my t-shirts.

Just a Few Thoughts

Here's what's running through my mind right now.

1.) I was never a fan of Robert DeNiro. Yes, I thought he was a wonderful actor, but he just wasn't my bag. Until I saw Taxi Driver. Oooh, the angst, the muscles, the guns, the italian scowl, the hair! The emotion he held in that movie, the anger towards all the disgusting thing happening in the movies, the inability to do anything about it, the way he held his feelings inside and locked it with those tightly pursed lips... he was just too beautiful. He just became sexier than Edward Norton in "Fight Club"


2.) Tomato juice is really good. Especially with a little bit of lime and salt. As soon as I finish this blog, I'm going to have a glass.

3.) My editor Cheryl is simply amazing. Everytime I screw up [like forget to get a picture on an already late article], she tells me not to beat myself up about it. She just recently told me a story how she once had to do a "People On The Street" section and she had to take pictures of the people she asked questions for in the snow. she got back to write the article and found that she forgot to add the film. It's not OK to make mistakes, but I'm learning that when I do, I shouldn't pout and put myself in a funk over it.

4.) Dee Gray is a wonderful woman who makes me feel great about myself and my writing. You can find my brief of her business here and her own blog here. She's a real sweet woman who supports buying locally and American which is such a powerful thing to do these days.I stopped in to say hello to her since I was doing an interview in the same business and she told me that she loved my writing. So I want to thank her for her lovely words. It's people like these that are my fuel to my writing.

5.) I have very messed up eyebrows. I guess it's time to do something about them? I'm tired of looking like a neanderthal.

5 Weird Things I Used To Do.

I was recently talking to my boyfriend and a friend of mine about how I used to be weird... like really weird. Let's face it, I'm weird, but not as weird as I used to be. Having a boyfriend and a life mellowed me out a lot. Sometimes I wish I was still weird, but then I think about the really strange things I used to do, and I'm glad I'm a functional human being now. I tag anyone with a personal blog to do a list of weird things they did themselves.

1.) Carry a stuffed animal to school.
It was a little stuffed pig named Charlotte. I used to carry all my stuff in a stack; school book, binder, and pig and pencil case right next to each other. Oh, I thought I was the cutest and funniest thing, carrying that pig around. It went through hell because kids thought it would be funny to take it from me, hide it, throw it around, etc. In truth, I was begging to get teased for it. And now, if I saw a kid in the grades 6-8 carrying around a stuffed animal, I would give her and it hell too.

2.) Wear small ponytails in my hair
For a little bit during the 8th grade, I would create tons of tiny little ponytails in my hair, using rubber bands for braces. How is that attractive?

3.) Be afraid of anything unchristian.
I used to have a TV in my room when I lived in Japan that only picked up a few channels; one American channel, and 3 Japanese channels. I once stumbled upon a Japanese kids shows with fluffy monster mascots, kids, and songs. And I seriously thought that they were worshipping some Japanese demon with their bubbly, catchy songs and refused to watch it. I thought it was like "Veggie Tales" or "The Donut Man" only in Japanese and for their god. I also refused to watch Harry Potter because I thought it was sacriligous. I soon got over this and watched those "demon-worshiping" shows to help me learn Japanese, and fell in love with Daniel Radcliff.

4.) Try to embellish my clothes with things you shouldn't embellish clothes with.
When I wanted to make my outfit a little bit more colorful than it was, I would do stupid things with it. I used to pin buttons to my pants, and use SO much ribbon, it was a crime. I would tie ribbon in my hair, around my neck, on my shoes, in my earrings, around my pant legs... everywhere. I would often go to school thinking that I looked funky fun, but actually looking like I was attacked by a tinsel monster.

5.) Write fan fictions
I guess this is one weird thing that I am not all together ashamed of. I am ashamed of the horrible writing I did, but not ashamed of the act. Fan Fictioning actually helped me a lot in my life and writing. I escaped through it, I found that I could be ANYTHING if I made myself a character in one of my favorite stories or TV shows. Yes, it was a sick escape from reality, but really fun. And it helped my writing progress.

Sweet Salsa

Should salsa be sweet? I don't know, ask your taste buds. Do they like that sugarey tastes or savory tastes? Or are they one of those buds that like a mix of both. If this is the case, they would beg for cherry salsa.

My grandmother and aunt found Cherry Republic in Traverse City when my grandfather was getting his surgery. It is a cherry haven. They have everything you can ever want in cherry flavors-- cherry balsamic vinegar, cherry sangria, cherry soap... and cherry salsa. It sort of reminds me of that Pepto Bismol commerical; "My friend is having a cherry overload!" Really, this store is only for hardcore cherry lovers.

My grandmother brought home this cherry salsa. I was a little bit weiry, but I try everything. It's sweet, it tastes like a cherry, but it also has a moderate amount of tomatoes and quite a kick to it. I don't know how much I love it as a snack with chips, it's a bit too sweet for my taste, but I'm not really a sweets kinda gal. But it is delicious as a marinade and garnish for chicken. Leave the chicken in the salsa, let it soak up the flavor, then bake it with the salsa on it. With what you have left from the jar, top it off.

You can order cherry salsa here and you can find all things cherry at http://www.cherryrepublic.com/

Don't forget the cherry Pepto!

Coming Soon!

I will be tweaking my blog once I make my official move to Buffalo. Here's what you can expect.

Tasty Tuesday

A recipe that I have tried, with tips and how it tastes.

Review Wednesday

Where I will review something, anything. It can range from a book, band, movie, or snack.

Tip Top Thursday

This day will bring you either a tip, tutorial, or advice. Reader input is encouraged.

F%$*ed up Fiction Press Friday

I will give a list of 5-7 ridicululosly effed up fictionpress summaries.

Super Story Saturday

Either I will profile a good fictionpress story, or post some of my own writing.

Sundays and Mondays are for me to either not blog at all, or write whatever I want. I figured this would keep my blog more focused, keep me dedicated, and make it interesting. However, I can't start until I'm living on my own and have all my own time and space. This new arrangement will arrive in about a month.

Packing Part 1

Packing is not new to me. I have moved more times than I can count on 1 hand. It's never the packing and leaving that's the hardest part for me, it's limiting all my stuff. I am a bonafide pack rat. I don't know what a trash can is. Now I am going to be moving into a very small apartment and I won't have room for half my things.

The things I collect the most are papers actually. I never throw papers away. For the longest time I was cutting papers up into little squares to make homemade paper [never did get around to doing it...] and now I'm into a new habit of stapling together papers with blank sides to make new notebooks. I even keep my magazines and such to use for origami paper.

But paper is easy to get rid of, so today I tackled my papers. I found papers from 11th grade english class. It's my secret that I actually did turn all of those papers into notebooks. But I threw out all the magazines and such I was going to use for origami paper. So... good for me.

I tore apart my beloved Season 2 LOST poster in the process, which I am just as torn up about as the poster is.

I'm going to have to take a loss on my collection of LOST and HEROES action figures which I love to have around. They will stay here, in a box, all alone, in my grandparent's dangerous attic. I also had to put in all the LOST and HEROES books I have. What am I without my TV show memorabillia?

Today I threw out; lots of papers, a few books because I'm attached to my literature, some knick knacks.

Today I packed for storage: TV show memorabillia, my extensive collection of rubber bracelets, collage posters from two different periods of my life, a couple jewlery boxes, my kokeshi doll, and all my little pigs that I've collected whilst in Michigan [trust me, it's extremely small considering the amount of pigs I have in storage from Hawaii somewhere...] and the rest of my books.

Someday soon I am going to have to go through my clothes. I have to cut my wardrobe in half since my apartment barely has space for 2 people's clothes, and I have enough clothes for 3 people.

Before
After
My poor bookless shelf!

Recognition.

I went to a play in Alpena yesterday because that's just a thing my grandmother and I do. I saw a good friend there, and I guess he told some of his family that I write for the Alcona paper because during intermission, some woman passed her flyer back to me;

"Hi- Your paper is exceptional its it's a variety of news and good columns-a good mix of liberal and conservatism. It's better than the Cincinnati paper and I look forward to reading it during my summer here"

Isn't this just amazing?

Jenny Goes to Court

I went to district court today for a little learning experience. I learned a bit about how the court system worked and whos who in the county office. I am sort of disappointed in myself for not being more interested but... I got the grasp enough to write an article on county/city politics in the future.

Learning Experience for today; Don't drink and drive, don't get stuck in the system, and don't try to learn the entire system on 7 hours of sleep.

I Have Learned...

That you really can't force anything. Sometimes, there's a rock that just refuses to move and you need to leave it alone and stop pushing it.

I am the one who will stay at the rock from morning until night and push and push, persistent in trying to get it to move. I will push until someone comes up to me and tells me that it's not going to move and to stop. And I will most likely lean on that rock and cry through my frustration and heartbreak.

I cannot leave things well enough alone and I refuse to give up. Sometimes this is nice. Other times, it really gets you nowhere but exactly where you were before, but crying on a rock this time.

Sometimes I think that I'm "go-with-the-flow" and I am up for anything, anytime, anywhere. But truthfully, I'm not. And I have learned that I need to know things ahead of time and have it in my mind otherwise I will get extremely confused. I cannot make plans an hour before they need to happen and I cannot have plans changed on me without getting very frustrated. This can be a hassle to those around me who try to do things differently and are met with my hard, frustrated head. I can end up throwing fits and getting my way, but end up hurting those involved or making them sacrifice what they want.

The truth is, I am not a very relaxed person no matter how badly I want to be. I am actually pretty uptight and anxious.

While my 4th of July was horrible, it was a learning experience and it was a definite slap in my selfish face. I want to apologize to those I stepped on through the night, and turn my cheek to those who stepped on me.

Rainy Days and Mondays

When I was younger and living in Japan we used to have typhoon days-the island version of snow days. You can't go outside, you can't drive anywhere, and you'd be lucky if you had cable. Typhoon days always meant one thing: craft day. Every typhoon day I would sit in my bed and do some sort of craft. Some days I would fold cranes, some days I would write and some days I would draw. There were a few times where I beaded things, or braided this rope I had from a basket together and make keychains. But I remember sitting in bed, listening to the radio, and doing some sort of craft.

It was a rainy day today and I was reminded of what I really loved about rainy days. It forced you to stay inside and get inside things done. Now I am older and I do things differently now. Today I went for an interview and hung out with my boyfriend. But I wonder... without those things and a computer to distract me, what would I do on a rainy day?


1.)Fold cranes. For about 4 years now I have been trying to fold 1000 cranes. I have about 500 now, and for a long time there I had a lot too. But then my brother needed them for his class and he promised to give them back... and he never did. I did a lot of them for Paper Cranes for Writers [a movement to show support to Heroes writers during the writer's strike] but had to send them all into the writers. I have probably folded over 1000 since I learned, but I don't have them all with me. I used to carry a little box with me with the paper in it and fold cranes during class. I know, this is dorky, but it was very therapeutic. I have neglected my crane folding habit, but I would pick it up on a rainy day.
How To Make a Paper Crane


2.) Sew. Create something. If you have a sewing machine, try something easy and useful. When I was younger, on my rainy days, I used to sew together scraps from my Mom's sewing projects into tiny little crazy quilts.ThreadBanger always has great stuff that young people can make and wear. I also frequent CraftStylish and CraftGossip for great and easy tutorials.



3.) Write. creativewritingprompts.com has a massive archive of writing prompts to get you started. Even if you're not a writer, try your hand at some of these!


4.) Read. If you're like me, 80% of your bookshelf has books that were only touched when you stole them from school or got them for 50 cents at a used book sale. Pick one up, start reading! Once you start, you may not be able to put it down, and you'll have a 79% of your bookshelf unread! Or you can head on over to fictionpress.com and find some amateur writing, which I personally love.


5.) Organize your drawers. I'm sure everyone reading this has a messy drawer right now unless you're perfect. If you haven't gone through it in a while, take out the stuff that doesn't fit you and that you never wear. Or refold the shirts that got shoved away while you were looking for the Kelly shirt at the bottom of the shirt drawer.... One thing I did recently was put all my bras and panties into a box and then put perfum ads in there to make it smell pretty!


6.) Go play in the rain. You might get sick and you might look stupid, but playing in the rain can be an exhilirating and wild experience. Here's a better suggestion-- get some rain boots and splash in some puddles with someone special!

These are the things I would do. If you have a blog and you're one of my followers, I just tagged you to write about a rainy day next time you have one. :) Enjoy God's shower!

SET

I am currently really into this game Set. It's like my Solitaire. Whenever someone is on the phone, Set is the first thing I go to to cure my visual boredom. I was first introduced to it last year by some Knowledge Bowl friends. Knowledge Bowl is a game like Jeopardy played by high school kids all over Northern Michigan. A girl showed me the game, and it took me a while to learn, and I only played it for about a week, but I couldn't wait until I could get out there on the lunch table and try my hand.

SET Game

Here's all there is to it:

You have to find sets. All the cards are unique and it comes in these categories

1.) Shape [Circle, Diamond, Squiggle]

2.) Color [Red, Purple, Green]

3.) Number [One, Two, Three]

4.) Shading [Hollow, Striped, Bold]

You have to try to make sets of three out of the cards given to you. They either have to all be the same, or they have to all be different. For example, you can have a set of purple striped diamonds, but they all have to be purple, striped, and diamonds. And you have to have 1 diamond, 2 diamonds, and 3 diamonds on different cards.

Or, you can have something different. You can have three cards with three circles on them. But they either have to be all bold/hollow/striped and of different colors, or you can have one of each kind of shading and color.

There are a bunch of different combinations, and all the cards are unique, so you have to keep your eye out. There are much better rules on the site I've provided above, AND it has this cool little hint button! I looked everywhere for that because it's kind of hard to play the game without it, you'll give up really easily, and that's no fun either!

Kittens and Bears

I got some t-shirts from Threadless about 2 weeks ago and they finally came in! Threadless was having a sale; $5 for a t-shirt. 5 is a pretty popular number isn't it? Surprisingly, my grandparents really liked the kitten one, which is in a way sort of disappointing. I got it because it was offensive. Baby and Kitty eating are my choice offenses. Oh well, here they are.

"I feel all warm and fuzzy inside like I swallowed a kitten"

"You know, sometimes I feel pretty average"

The Swimming Hole; Harrisville's Hidden Treasure.

Down a dirt road, teetering on the edge of the town of Harrisville lies a gem. A crystal clear body of water, covered by trees and barbed wired fences. It may be slightly illegal to go to, but the police don't care as long as you're not trashing the area. But why would anyone want to? The clear, small, deep body of water is so beautiful, you almost don't want to jump in.

I went there the first time last summer. The Swimming Hole is actually an old quarry that got filled with water over the years after the all the minerals were taken out. There's a few little fish [although now that I think about it, I don't know how those got there] and some rumored snapping turtles. When I first got there, I was amazed by its beauty, but a little creeped out by the fact that it was a query and thought the water was unsafe. But Don had been swimming there for years and he wasn't glowing green yet, so I jumped in. Let me tell you, you have never felt anything as clear as this water. If you don't think that water can feel clear, you are absolutely mistaken. It feels like a breath of spring air, but on your chest instead of inside it.

Besides its clear water, the Swimming Hole has other magical attributes. There's no outside water corrupting it and it's pretty small [about half a mile long, and 500 yards wide] so therefore it gets warmer faster. That's a big deal when you only have about a month to swim if you swim at the lake here in Northern Michigan. It's June and I can already swim at the swimming hole,so I start my summer early. And The Swimming Hole is relativley private. You have to go through the woods and find a hole in the fence to get there. Only twice, between this summer and last summer, have I seen other people there besides who I bring. It's like having your own personal beach.

Today, Don and I had one of these such encounters. We had just arrived when we heard a car pull up. It took a while, but finally a man came down the path and greeted us. We thought that he was going to tell us that we weren't supposed to be there, but instead he said "So... this is the famous swimming hole?" and sat down and talked to us for an hour. He said that he had lived in this area for a while and never heard of this place until he saw us swimming there last week. He saw us swimming there again and decided to see what was going on. It was pretty nice to have him there because it took my mind off the sun burning my skin. But he didn't overstay his "welcome". He left when Don got in the water.

It's been a pretty rainy June, and it's kicked up a lot of murk from the bottom and created a lot of algae on the top, so I don't think it's the best season to go swimming there, but who cares? It's 80 degrees and that water is nice and cold. Perhaps I'll go again tomorrow.


PLUS! Don doing Asian Poses!

THE couple picture

There was this tremendous overtaking of fog yesterday at the end of Harrisville by the harbor, so Don and I went to inspect it. I brought my camera and took this beautiful candid shot. Maybe I really like it because my eyes are especially blue, and Don is kissing me, but I think it's just a perfect picture of us.

Italian Rice Salad

For Father's Day, I made this rice salad. I love light italian foods! Capers, red onions, artichoke, white wine, feta, tomatoes, all that good light stuff that's in italian food. This recipe has the first three of that list, so I immediately loved it!

Here's What You'll Need:
3 cups cooked, slightly warm basmati rice [the warmth brings out the flavor of the other ingredients]
1 cup chopped red, green and/or orange sweet pepper [I used all 3]
1 6oz jar quartered marinated artichoke hearts, drained
1/3 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup raisins [trust me, you'll want those in there. I was skeptical, but it gives it a good citrus taste in the occasional bite]
2 tablespoons drained capers
Organic mixed salad greens, mesclun, or torn romaine [I used salad greens]
Fresh basil leaves [this is an option that I didn't take]

Here's How You Do It!
In a large bowl, combine rice, sweet pepper, artichokes, red onion, raisins and capers. Stir vinaigrette and drizzle over rice mixture; toss gently to coat. Cover and chill. The recipe says to put the rice mixture on the salad greens, but you're going to mix it in anyways, so throw the grass in!

Now, I bought a bottle of garlic vinaigrette. If you can't find one in your local food store, or just want to make your own, the recipe gave instructions on how to make your own.

GARLIC VINAIGRETTE
Here's What You'll Need:
1/2 cup canola or sunflower oil
1/3 cup snipped fresh Italian parsley
1/4 white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons dried dillweed.
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
2 cloves of garlic; minced

Here's What You Do!
Whisk it all together.

Now, to me, that sounds pretty hard, and not as delicious as the store bought stuff, but if you wanna try it, by all means, be my guest!
Here's the end product!

Chi Chi no Hi WHOOOO~!!

Happy Father's Day to my father, my father's father, and my father's father's fathers. And all you other fathers. Happy fathers day to me, because my girlfriend Helena is now pregnant. Thank you.

Join Me In The Asian Fun With Asian Poses!

I found this challenge on my friend Jordan's blog Sans Raison. It's called Asian Pose, and it's as it sounds. You've seen those pictures of the asian girls doing ridiculously cute poses? Well this site challenges you, as the Not-Asian person, to make a feeble attempt to be as cute as the asian girls who do these poses. Trust me, you'll never be as cute, which is why they're fun. Take a look around on the site, my favorite ones are when black/fat/white guys try to do them! The site also gives you a whole low down of all the poses done, and they give you many examples.

Asian Poses

I have just official challenged you to do this. I challenge you to take as many poses [at least 6 or more] as you feel, and I challenge the braver ones to do an asian pose in at least 3 candid moments. Candid moments include a time when you're not taking a picture of yourself. Try it in a family photo! Do it! Do it!

So I urge you, go forth and [attempt to] be asian! Tell your friends and everything!
Here's my collaboration of asian poses:

Name That Tune! Dell Commercial

Have you seen this commercial? If you have, I'm sure you'd remember it. The first time I saw it, I was laying in my boyfriend's bed ignoring him. And despite the negative circumstances of hearing this for the first time, the song rang into my ears and clung there. It's the whistling man! The whistling just really gets to you!

It's been in my head for a week now and after some youtube investigation, I figured out who sings this ridiculously catchy tune.

Stereo Total
Stereo Total Myspace
"I Love You Ono"on Youtube

Stereo Total is a French-German band from Berlin, consisting of a french girl and a German guy who met in a bakery and started their band in the mid 90's. Their song "I Love You Ono" is the song that appears in this commercial and is made of random objects and letters and whistles. The beginning of their song starts off "I love you ONO/Diamond Ring CHA CHA/Holiday Sun OPQ/Planet earth presents you" It then continues on to sing about big brothers, big sisters, an big fame.

But this song isn't theirs. It's actually a cover of "I Love You Oh No" by The Plastics, a short lived Japanese band from the early 80's. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the original version anywhere, so I can't compare it, but they have to be good for having made this song, being Japanese, and being from the 80's!

I listened to what Stereo Total has on their myspace, and none of it is too memorable. This song is wonderful, but from everything else they have, it just seems that they were just really good singing another band's catchy song and making it big.