Paranormal Activity Bore (I mean, 4)

I just finished doing what I swore I wouldn't do: watch Paranormal Activity 4, a.k.a the scariest series I've ever seen aside from the Grudge. I cried at least once during the previous three installments, and with this one being an actual sequel instead of a prequel, I figured this would kill me too. To my surprise (and slight relief) it didn't, nor do I think it will haunt me.
This one centers around a rich (you know they are) family of four with a semi-absent father, a mother, a cute, teenage daughter named Alex, and their adopted 6-year old son, Wyatt. Alex, of course, has a fetish for recording everything, and so we have our Micah. Alex's funny and likeable boyfriend, Ben, is also frequently present. They recently had some odd new neighbors move in across the street; a creepy boy around Wyatt's age named Robbie and his single mother, who has never been seen. One night, his mother goes to the hospital and Robbie has to stay at Alex's house for a few days since he has no one else, and thus the trap is set.
Toby, our resident demon, is much less malicious as he started off as in the first two movies, and has become more "child friendly"; he's typically, um, sensed playing with Robbie and Wyatt as he was with Kristi in PA3. Most of his hijinks are basic pranks, such as stealing a knife while the mom has her back turned, or moving chairs, never really doing anything harmful. Robbie is the odd one, and he becomes an influence on Wyatt. Of course, Alex catches some of the weird behavior on camera and begins to investigate, eventually coming to the conclusion that they're being haunted, and weird-ass Robbie has something to do with it. Of course, she tries to tell her parents, but no one believes her. Katie makes her triumphant return, and in typical PA fashion, the worst of Toby is unleashed at the end.
It's a slow ride to the climax, that's for sure, and aside from the occasional jump-scares, is not really scary. It's not until the last two or three minutes of the film that anything really bad happens. It's the same PA formula we've seen before, but now it's trying the patience of the audience. Toby seemed like a grown demon with bad intention when we first met him, but now he seems like a cackling pre-teen with an obsession with pranks. There doesn't seem to be much of an escalation of his machinations and it makes the ending seem random and uncharacteristic.

Alex and Ben, our main protagonists, are very likeable kids. I enjoyed their parts of the film the most and wish there were more scenes with them and Wyatt, the adorable tyke. This was probably the first movie where I wasn't like "Yeah, wipe that family out." Alex's parents seemed distant and flat. The mother kind of reminded me of Terri Schuester from Glee, oddly enough. Robbie's weird, if I hadn't said it before, and I definitely wouldn't let that child stay in my house for days at a time. I wouldn't even let him inside to use the bathroom. I believe the family occasionally uses a camcorder and the laptop recorders as well, and I think Alex was using her phone at the end to film stuff. They also use the Xbox Kinect for those tracking dots ALL THE TIME. I've never hated little dots of light so much.

If you're dedicated to finishing the series or just want to stay caught up, then yeah, go watch it. If you're one of those people I don't understand that actually like being terrified and losing sleep, then this isn't for you. Trust me, you're adrenaline will not get pumped at ALL.

My Music & Boredom Rant

I need new music. I'm going through all 100 or so of my mix CDs and can't find any new music to upload to iTunes. My iPod is becoming one of the most boring things I have, and that makes me incredibly sad. I'm tired to listening to 'music' from this generation, so I'm searching for songs from 1999-2006 and awesome Disney covers I haven't heard yet. But since I've done this several times in the past year already, my search is yielding very few new results. *sigh* The boombox in me is crying a little every day.
I really don't want to go back to my jr. high years, because those were an obvious cry to be different. Good Charlotte, Simple Plan, My Chemical Romance, and HIM just seem so childish to me now, so I have a hard time listening to them seriously. I feel a little lame, but I'm craving some boyband music. I miss fun, decent pop music about teenage love and friendship, but it seems like I made up half of that music in my childhood and it never really existed.
This is also the day that I have no friends. My roommate is at work for six hours today (cries in jealousy and loneliness), one friend has no minutes on her phone, and I'm having a super-spy text war with another. My roommate has the car at my insistence, and now I'm seeing how much of a mistake that was.
Writing's hard right now, and all I want to do is watch Mads Mikkelsen and cry about how I can't have him. I'd try to work on research for my stories, but our libraries have no books for my kind of research and I don't have money to order them on Amazon. Or anything on Amazon. My life suuuucks.
I need a job so I can buy Christmas and get excited over that. And then buy stuff for me! I need so many books and home decor it's not even funny.
I guess I need to discover new music and movies. Yeah, that's what I need to do. And think of better blogs.

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Disappointment (a little)

 
Okay, I'm not a hardcore gamer or anything, but I am a massive fan of the Kingdom Hearts series. I don't care for the gameplay or anything, I just love the storyline and half of its characters; I even adopted Roxas in one of my fictional works. So anytime they put out a new KH game, I'm watching the cutscenes on YouTube. Guess what I did this weekend: watched the cutscenes for Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. I'll be honest, some of the things they wound up doing pissed me off a bit, and I'm here to rant about it.
Warning: This is going to be a spoiler-heavy post.

So, in this game, Yen Sid decides to make Sora and Riku take the Keyblade Mastery Exam to become Keyblade Masters (Yes, Riku's hair is shorter). I was thinking 'Sora's already a Keyblade Master; he'll ace this.' Their test was to awaken seven sleeping worlds (don't ask, I didn't care enough about this part) and off they went, separately. During their journeys, they both run into a younger version of Xehanort (the baddie of the series) and either Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, or Xemnas, former leader of the previously destroyed Organization XIII, were in his company. As we go on through the game, we realize that Xehanort and his various forms are still out there and there is a plot afoot, aided by time travel (yes, I said time travel). Well, we get to the end of the exam and the end of the game, and by some stupid crap, Sora wasn't made a Keyblade Master and Riku was. I'd totally let Riku have it, but I went through three games of Sora proving he was boss and the main character, only for him to not get a damn title. Screw you, Yen Sid, screw you. Merlin was better.
Also, there are clips of certain former Organization members waking up. My first thought: 'Yessss! My favorite characters are coming back!'Then, things start to get a little weird. Axel is one of the ones revived, and his tattoos are missing. Later, you find that the former Nobodies are complete again; therefore, Axel is now known as Lea. Another thing about Lea? He can use a keyblade. Yes, you read that right. Don't believe me? Get to YouTube. It turns out, when someone loses their heart and they get a Nobody, that Nobody starts to immediately try to make a new heart as quickly as possible. That means Xemnas lied to every poor soul in that black-cloaked organization, including Demyx! That boy goes through enough! So Zexion, Vexen, Lexaeus, and Xaldin were restored to their original selves, along with Axel, because their hearts and nobodies were both destroyed. I'm slightly confused as well, everyone. I don't care; I just want the Organization of Hilarious Hotties to come back.
Oh, Xehanort's plot? Star a keyblade war. How will he do that? Well, it turns out the Organization was actually made to create thirteen vessels for different pieces of Xehanort's heart to be the thirteen darknesses to fight the seven pure lights a.k.a. the Princesses of Heart. Seven keyblade users will rise up to protect the lights, thus, starting a war. There: the plot for KH3.
I flipped out that Saix was also revived and was alright. Sure, he's one of the thirteen darknesses and the last thing I want is for him to become a Xehanort clone, but the fact that he's alive means he stands a chance to escape!! I love that sexy, sexy man, even though his name is Isa now. I hope he gets out of KH3 alive.
I've pretty much decided that this series constantly plays a game of "Let's see if we can make this Xehanort character even hotter", and they usually succeed. I don't know what to make of Tetsuya Nomura's road with this storyline and its details, but at least he keeps his female audience in mind.

Mahbu vs The Night!!

Everything kind of went to hell for me around midnight.
I was sitting on my front porch with one of the stray cats that adopted my house, Francesco (don't let the name fool you, it's a girl), when Zazu, another cat that loves to lay all over our lawn and I'm pretty sure raped Francesco before, decided to drop by. Francesco hates Zazu like a feminist hates any year before 1920, and proceeded to express her ill-feelings for him by bitch-slapping him in the face when he got too close. Usually she just hisses, but this time she felt the need to get violent, and I can't blame her; for some reason, Zazu wanted to violate her personal bubble no matter what kind of fit she was throwing. He proceeded to stalk her around the porch, and when she finally tried to slink away along the house, he pushed her against the wall and chased her to my backyard. Now out of the demons' presence, I ran inside and jumped into bed, a little scarred from witnessing that.
This, however, was not to be my final trial of the night. I heard a rustling, and, after looking at my roommate on the couch, I could eliminate her, since she was napping. I was the only other alive thing in my room that I was aware of, and I wasn't rustling anything. It could only mean one thing.......bug. Slowly, I turned my head to the Walmart plastic sack by my night box (a nightstand for poor people and people who are too lazy to unpack) and there it was, a cricket. My reaction? Quietly grab one of my work shoes and beat the living crap out of the rude bastard. I don't recall extending a friggin' invitation to the creatures of the outside world. After I went Conan on it, I scooped him up and drowned him in the toilet before sending his carcass to Bane or anyone else living in the sewers as a message: try me, sucka.
Yeah, tonight wasn't exactly my night. *sigh*

I swear, I'm still America-Proud

I've been watching the XXX Olympics (I'm snickering as I type this; I'm so immature) and while I'm proud to be an American citizen and all, I find myself rooting for other teams. I'm rooting for other teams, because I want to live in their countries. I want to live in their countries because either I'm a total Graecophile(sp?) or...well, there are hot guys from that country. So my top three countries are Greece, Japan, and Denmark. Yeah, Denmark's that random one most people wouldn't expect from me, but Mads Mikkelsen is too gorgeous for words.
I'm too involved whenever it's on. I started screaming at the rowing teams yesterday before I started running errands, which I usually save for NBA games (by NBA, I mean Lakers) and wrestling (by wrestling, I mean WWE). Yep, I've become that sports fan whose life depends too much on the games I watch. I sure do jump levels like a champ when it comes to fandoms.
I'm excited to see men's basketball. Kobe's playing for the US, and my Gazelle (Pau Gasol, for those who don't know my nicknames personally) is playing for Spain, so I'm looking forward to my little NBA reunion on-screen. I'm a little sad that Lamar isn't playing, but mostly because he was signed to the Clippers this season instead of the Lakers, so I won't see him much unless I watch the Kardashians. Ugh.
Was this a pointless post about my occasional viewings of the Olympics? Yes. Am I apologetic? Not really.

The Dark Knight Rises

To my complete surprise, I managed to see The Dark Knight Rises on opening weekend. And I got to have popcorn. Score!
Let me say this: I believe anyone who didn't think this film was good was expecting too much from it. I didn't expect it to be as good or better than The Dark Knight, but it was still pretty bad-ass and I loved every minute of it- until the end.

This is probably the first time I've ever been attracted enough to Christian Bale to where I'd lock him up in a closet for a week and not share him with the rest of the world. Man was hot in this one. Bruce Wayne wasn't as Bruce Wayne-y as he usually is, but the man went through a lot in the last movie. I actually like this broken version of Bruce. It was weird watching him get beaten up so much, but at the end, he reminds us all why there's only one true Batman. But enough about my ramblings on how hot this man is.
So let's talk about how hot Bane was. And before you ask, yes, the muzzle enhanced Tom Hardy's sexiness. Yes, I'm aware of how creepy I am; my brother keeps me very informed of this fact. He wasn't as charismatic as Heath Ledger's Joker, but he wasn't supposed to be. Bane's sheer size scared the hell out of me and his nonchalant way or killing whoever stops being useful at the time made me determined to always be useful in his presence. He seemed intelligent, and I definitely don't want to play mind games with that....colossus.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt: love you, good sir. He plays a cop-turned-detective named Blake who pretty much takes over Commissioner Gordon's spot as the regular-guy helping-hand of Batman, and was pretty fabulous at it. The entire time I was watching him, I was thinking "Dammit, Nolan, make another Batman movie so he can be Robin! I love him!"  Smart kid, good heart, deserves "sidekick" promotion immediately.
Anne Hathaway got major props from me for her portrayal of Catwoman a.k.a. Selina Kyle. She seemed like a hard girl, and was very badass, yet slinky and sexy at the same time. I loved watching her gradual turn-around in the movie, and how she looked bent over that bike.
With everyone else, it was like a friggin' high school reunion. I kept recognizing people and had no wifi to check imdb to remember who they were. Marion Cotillard was in this, and so was the guy who plays JJ's baby daddy on Criminal Minds. Also, Scarecrow makes a cameo. Yeah, that man can't leave this series alone. Neither can Liam Neeson, though I believe Aslan can come and go whenever he wants. And our other celebrity face for God, Morgan Freeman, is of course back to grace us with his Foxy charms.
Speaking of Lucius Fox, Batman's gadgets and rides are to die for! Of course, we see the Batbike again, but we're also introduced with another new mode of transport. I was there were more Bat toys as well, but I can forgive that.
I was very mad to find out Christopher Nolan doesn't want to do another Batman movie, even though Christian Bale would do it if the director was on board. I'd really, really like to see another one, but this time with more Batman. I'd love to see a Nolan-directed movie with Robin, maybe Batgirl, Mr. Feeeze, Penguin, Poison Ivy, and the Riddler. Yes, I want my corny Batman villains back! I'd just love to see how those characters would come about in Nolan's universe. Plus, I'd like more chicks that aren't trying to sleep with Batman.
This movie was better and sexier than I expected, and with The Avengers and Magic Mike, has officially joined the 2012's Porn for Women list. Everyone should buy a ticket to go see it. Warning though, don't drink anything before the second half of the movie. This bitch is long.

Victory!! Kind Of

At the end of May, I decided to enter a lyric-only contest from We Are Listening, a songwriting site. My parents paid for my entry fee and I sent in a song I wrote in 2010 called "Wake Up". Yesterday I got the results back, and although I didn't win, my scores were very good! In four out of six categories of that song, I was considered at a professional level! This is the first step among many to beginning my music career, and I'm very appreciative of We Are Listening for the opportunity to enter their contest. I can't wait for the next time, and I'll be stepping my game up!

Game of Thrones, My Obvious Trap

I don't know why, for one moment, I thought I wasn't going to find Nirvana watching Game of Thrones. It's practically a Sara Douglass descendant and everything that could possibly wrap me into a show and worry about my sanity at the same time: incest, accents, political snakepits, and attractive people. Oh, and swords, must never forget the swords. It's utterly fantastic, and it made me realize just how sick, heartless, and dramatic I need my tv shows to be. That's the formula of how to trap me into your show, Hollywood; ancient lands and the sickest people crawling on the Earth with crowns on their heads and swords on their hips. This show was so good, I don't even particularly mind that there isn't as much magic and sorcery as I would've liked with my sex and accents. I somehow got sucked into all of this political drama; it makes me really, really wish Anonymous had gotten the HBO treatment.
What made me interested was a picture of Cersei that I saw on a news website. I was like "Okay, she's gorgeous, and I want her to be Selene in my never-gonna-happen Greek mythology movie." Found out where she was from and researched her part of the show and damn, bitch got problems. Honey, I don't care how close you are with your brother, but you cannot sleep with him. And them let him get you with child. More than once. No wonder your son looks wonky. I didn't let the Dollangangers get away with it, so neither with you.  It really freaked me out when I watched the show for the first time yesterday and realized that her sexy twin brother was the guy I had cast as Hercules. Dammit. Their dwarf brother is awesome too, and he's probably one of the most enjoyable characters on the show.
That Stark family is something else, and are not in any relation whatsoever to Iron Man, to my disappointment. Their youngest daughter, Arya, looks just like a young Lucy Hale, who happens to play a girl named Aria in Pretty Little Liars, and is one awesome human being already. She appears to be the only one with morals in this show so far, aside from some of her brothers. Their dad, Eddard Stark, found a dead wolf and her pups in the forest, and let all his kids have one. Epic. Wish that was the story of my life. I'm expecting more drama from them, especially where it concerns poor Jon Snow, their illegitimate black sheep.
Everybody else is still pending for me, since I've only seen three episodes so far. But dammit, they have me hooked. Now all they need is Mads Mikkelson as some hot honor guard captain for a Mediterranean king and I'll be injecting it into my bloodstream. How obvious is it that I'm pissed at Clash of the Titans for killing Draco?

The Newsroom? More of That, Please!

HBO, you didn't get me with True Blood. You got me interested with Game of Thrones and Big Love but I have yet to give those shows attention. You have, however, hooked me with your smart new drama The Newsroom. Oh readers, you haven't seen it yet? If you're ready to be inspired and mentally stimulated, then you ought to check it out. Need more incentive? Let me direct you to the next paragraph.

Aaron Sorkin's newest creation stars Jeff Daniels as successful news anchor and editor of  News Night Will McAvoy, whose success is is largely stemmed from not offending everybody. But his affable on-air image was shattered when he impulsively and bluntly goes on a rant about America's low standing compared to the rest of the world at a university Q&A. Now, three weeks later, the majority of his staff leaves, including his executive producer Don Keefer (Thomas Sadoski) due to his off-air poor treatment of his employees and rough attitude, leaving him only with his accidental assistant Maggie Jordan (Alison Pill), his blog-writer Neal Sampat (Dev Patel), and a few others. Charlie Skinner (Sam Waterson), Aaron's boss and CEO of ACN, hires Mackenzie MacHale (Emily Mortimer) as Aaron's new EP, who shares a difficult and hostile past with the news anchor, and she brings along her senior producer Jim Harper (John Gallagher, Jr.). The show revolves around the new team's efforts to change the pace of the news program while dealing off-air predicaments.
I watched the pilot for the first time last night, and I was absolutely blown away. This show starts with the most epic, and brutally honest, rant I've ever heard, and the show pretty much tells us that the majority of the country is stupid, but we can fix that. It's a smart, and surprisingly funny, written show that inspired me to get informed about the world around me. And if that's the reaction I have, then less-lazy people than I should watch it.
I plan on recommending this show to everyone, even if they may not understand it. The characters are immediately loveable, the dialogue is great, and the behind the scenes look of the newsroom is incredibly interesting. If you want some smart and thought-provoking television, then watch it, and follow it.

Anime Fathers

This is where my Kayla-ness completely kicks in. I spent my last post talking about my awesome dad, and I started thinking "What about anime dads?" (Yes, anime pops up quite frequently in my mind.) I got to thinking, and there are a lot of unsung heroes in the tales of those animated heroes who got the ball rolling in the plot or just supported their kids the best they can in that crazy little country called Japan. So this post is going to be celebrating some anime fathers I feel don't get enough credit. Here's your hurrah, you guys!

Soichiro Yagami
(Death Note) 
Children: Light Yagami, Sayu Yagami 

Police Chief Soichiro Yagami had a steady job and an almost perfect family. Then his son Light had to become an anonymous, supernatural serial killer known across the world as Kira and screw that up for him. Soichiro had a strong sense of justice, becoming so determined to catch Kira that he quit his job as police chief in order to continue pursuing him once the police force was under Kira's influence. Aside from being just an awesome and dedicated man, he was also a devoted father. His job kept him from home a lot, but when ace detective L accused Light of being Kira, Soichiro was quick to defend his son, even though he allowed L to investigate him. During Light's imprisonment, he demanded to be locked up too, and was more than relieved when it appeared the Light was innocent. Although Light eventually sacrificed his own father to further his power as Kira, Soichiro remained supportive of his son and blissfully ignorant of the monster he spawned.

Koumyou Sanzo

(Saiyuki)

Children: (adopted, kind of) Genjo Sanzo

Poor Koumyou Sanzo didn't have a live moment in any of the Saiyuki series, only appearing in flashback, but what we do know is that he, out of the goodness of his heart, took in the orphaned Kouryuu and raised him as his own. Koumyou proves to be the major influence on Kouryuu, taking care of him and teaching him how to survive in adversity and strife. When Koumyou is struck down by a demon, he christens Kouryuu as Genjo Sanzo and makes him a Sanzo priest. Throughout the series, Sanzo will remember his old master's lessons and quote his words of wisdom. Without him, Sanzo would've grown up knowing no love or kindness from another.

Bardock

(Dragonball Z)

Children: Raditz, Goku

Aside from his movie Bardock, The Father of Goku, Bardock doesn't appear alive in the series, and his direct influence is minimal since he died shortly after Goku was sent to Earth, but his last actions made him an admirable character. The Saiyin planet Vegeta is pretty much under the rule of weird-looking alien overlord Frieza, and while on a genocide mission on another planet, Bardock is given the gift/curse/whatever of premonitions by one of the survivors of the planet. After that, he begins seeing his planet's end at the hands of Frieza and decides to fight for the survival of his people, even though he has to fight alone. Because we needed to be exposed to the glory that is Dragonball and Dragonball Z (Dragonball GT can grow a real pair of draognballs, in my opinion), he and planet Vegeta died in vain, leaving less than 10 Saiyins alive elsewhere in the universe. In his final moments, he had a premonition of his infant son, Kakarot (who we affectionately know now as Goku), defeating Frieza as an adult, he died smiling in pride of his son.

Shigeo Hanabishi

(Flame of Recca)

Children: (adopted) Recca Hanabishi

This brave-ass man took in some random ninja-baby and raised him as his son. Blam! So yeah, he fibbed Recca's past to him, and the two argue a lot, but he loves that boy he was his own, and worked endlessly to take care of and support him. I don't know this character very well because this series hurts a little part of my brain, but I always admired this man for what he's done for Recca. Aw!

Raizen

(Yu Yu Hakusho)

Children: Unknown son, (descendent) Yusuke Urameshi

Obviously, I'm not commending Raizen on the parenting of his own son, since, you know, there wasn't any; he had a one-night stand with a human and ran off. But when his descendent Yusuke had died for the second time and was resurrected by the demon blood Raizen passed down to him, he did not hesitate to help him kill the guy who took him out. When Yusuke went to the Demon World to meet him, he made Yusuke realize that most of the demons he fought were practically invalid and he just jumped into a whole new world of nasty. His appearance was short, due to him eventually dying of hunger, but he inspired Yusuke to find another alternative to end the rule of the demon kings in the Demon World. After seeing all of Raizen's friends, former enemies, and training buddies show up to pay their respects for their deceased friend, Yusuke realized how special Raizen was to demon-kind, and wished he had gotten to know him better.

Inutaisho

(Inuyasha)

Children: Sesshomaru, Inuyasha

I don't know how Inutaisho was when it came to raising his eldest son, Sesshomaru, but he died without a second thought to protect his human mistress and their newborn son, Inuyasha. Inutaisho was a wise and powerful dog demon who continued to astound and test people half a century after his death. He left his sons two swords, both to bring out better qualities in themselves and two keep them from killing the other, since the swords couldn't fight in battle against the other. It's a tragedy for Inuyasha that he doesn't get to know his father.

Minato Namikaze

(Naruto)

Children: Naruto Uzumaki

Naruto's parentage was one of the worst-kept secrets of Naruto. Minato, the Fourth Hokage of Konohagakure, died protecting the village from the Nine-Tailed Fox shortly after sealing the beast into his newborn son, but that didn't mean he wasn't a boss father. He sealed the beast in Naruto not only to protect the village he loved, but also to help strengthen his son and hoped that the village would see him as a hero. That last part didn't work, but having the Nine-Tails inside of him gave Naruto a lot of power. When Naruto finally met an imprint of his father, he punched him in the face for sealing a monster instead of him, but they talked and Naruto became proud of who his parents were. Minato was renowned for his power, his wisdom, and his dedication to those he cared for, inspiring people long past his death.

These are the anime fathers I cared to remember. I know, that probably didn't sound nice, but do you know how many orphans are in anime? Or sucky or just forgettable fathers? I'm glad I remembered these guys. Part of that would be because at least two or three were hot, but at least something kept them in mind.
Happy Father's Day, everyone!

My Dad

My first memory of my dad involved us living on the campus of one of our community college's, sitting on our front porch while we ate barbeque potato chips. I don't know why that was the memory that stuck, considering I almost downed a bottle of nail polish remover while living there, and I don't even know if that memory was real, but that's something I hold on to. I guess it's because it's the first memory of my dad, and that's precious in itself.
My family tells me a lot of stories about my dad and I when I was younger: how I only ate whatever he fed me himself, how I followed him everywhere and did what he did, and how I'd cry if he wasn't around. I don't remember a day in my life where I didn't love and admire my dad, and you can see it in everything I do and say. The greatest compliment I've ever gotten was when my grandmother laughed at me and said "You look just like Todd right now!" That made me beam, because being just like my dad has been my dream for the past two decades.
I consider my dad to be the greatest man in the world; he's absolutely hilarious, no matter what the situation, even if we're having a fight, he'll make me want to laugh and blow my whole argument. He's got one of the biggest hearts out there, and he's dedicated to the people he keeps in it. He's so smart, and he inspires me to educate myself, because it's never a regret to be one of the smart people. He's got to have the strongest resolve on earth, especially to keep being my dad, because I know I had a few years where being my family member wasn't an easy job to have. I'm proud of his successes, of his bravery in life and in his career, and I'm especially proud to be Todd's daughter.
In my twenty years of life, I've had my mother walk out on me multiple times, some of my other family members let me down and deliberately try to hurt me, but I've always had my dad. He never gave up on me, never stopped loving me, and taught me so many things about myself and life in general that I know for a fact I have the tools to navigate this insanely world with at least a good sense of humor. Life completely screwed me in the mom department, but if I had to pick this life with my dad in it, or a life with a typical picket-fence family, I'd choose this one every day out of the week.
I see bits and pieces of him in myself more and more every day, and it's an incredible feeling. My dad makes me so happy and I love him so much. The impact he's had on my life is tremendous, and I know that if I didn't have him to look up to and depend on, I'd be in an awful place in my life. Or at least less awesome. I don't want to be a person that wasn't influenced by him.
Todd Bailey, thank you for letting me be your daughter, which is a shining honor, and for being my dad, which is the most divine of blessings. Every achievement I make, I'm thanking you, and every good decision I make instead of falling for the same traps many of my peers fall in, you get credit for. I'm a funny, smart, creative, loving, strong, determined, open-minded, curious, forgiving, decent, helpful, dependable, responsible, honest, and brave young woman because of YOU, and if I make you proud every day of my life, then I'm on the right path. Every life I touch and make happy is because you made me a person that's able to do any of that. I've still got a lot to learn and grow, and I'm looking forward to it, because you'll be there to watch me do it. Wherever this life takes me, I'll always be your baby.
I love you, more than my own life, and that will never, ever stop.

Boybands and Virginity: The Unspoken Trend

With groups like One Direction and the Wanted making themselves known to the charts (and the fantasies of teenage girls), it seems like the boyband phase has come back with a vengeance. Every several years, it seems like American teens need to get excited about a pop act, and we need a lot of variety in that act. Cute boys who can sing and dance seem to be exactly what we want on the menu right now.
But I happened to notice a trend in Hollywood that seems to pop up right around the time a boyband or two begin to collect fans as tribute: virginity. Yep, the v-card decides to make itself known once again, and this time around, athletes like Tim Tebow and Lolo Jones have been waving their white flags with pride.
This is something I've realized recently. Don't see it? Let me remind you.....

New Kids on the Block

NKTOB assembled in 1984 and found popularity with their second album in 1988, Hangin' Tough. But back in 1985.....

Brooke Shields

Actress and model Brooke Shields admitted in her autobiography On Your Own, that at age 20, she was still a virgin. Then later, we had.....................

N*Sync and the Backstreet Boys

 

 The Backstreet Boys and Nsync, arguably two of the most popular boy bands in American music history, were at the height of their success in the lates 90's and early 00's, right around the same time of...

Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears

  Megastar Britney Spears and pop singer Jessica Simpson were popular for their conflicting sex appeal and claims of virginity, Jessica stating that she planned to wait until she was married. More recently for us 90's kids.....

Jonas Brothers

The Jonas Brothers reached fame in the mid-00's with Disney, appearing on the hit shows like Hannah Montana and Disney Channel original movies Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2, even getting their own show Jonas L.A. The fam-band had huge success, even drawing comparisons to the Beatles (not by me, let's just get that fact straight). They also famously wore purity rings, promising their parents and God to remain pure until marriage. Hey, that sounds an awful lot like....

Jordin Sparks and Miley Cyrus

Jordin Sparks slammed MTV VMA 2008 host, Russell Brand, for making of the Jonas Brothers and proudly showed her purity ring as well. Even Disney starlets Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez (exes of Nick Jonas, coincidentally) both wore purity rings for a while. Now, in 2012, we have....

One Direction

....five boys, trying to convince us that we don't know we're beautiful (hate me, Directioners, hate me). We have yet to find another band (aside from the Wanted, but do we really count them?) to contend them for the #1 spot, but while we're waiting......

Tim Tebow

Athletes like football player Tim Tebow and Olympics gymnast Lolo Jones have come out of the white closet. And once again, virginity in Hollywood is drawing interest.

Maybe boybands and virginity being popular at the same time is coincidental; maybe there's no correlation between the two at all. But this looks pretty legit to me. Maybe some scientists have already done a study about it and I just didn't notice, but I thought this was a pretty interesting discovery. Why does abstinence spike when boybands do? Do record sales go up when purity pledges are signed? The world may never know....

Swim Day!!

Today, my roommate, my friend, my brother, his friend, and I decided to go swimming. My friends and I have this tradition for the past few years where we sneak into apartment pools to swim (since our town doesn't have a public pool). We usually go at night because we're all night owls, but today we wanted to do things legit. We usually like to go to a specific apartment complex because their pool is absolutely beautiful and has an amazing hot tub.
So we get there, suits on and towels ready, and there are people there, and the pool's for residents only. No problem, my roomie, our friend, and I sat poolside while the boys swam in the pool. After a while, more people showed up (who obviously didn't live there either), and some lady came out and asked if we lived there. What was our answer? "Yes" we said (we hadn't even hit water yet). But then another lady came out and asked us which apartment we lived in, and then caught us in that lie, so we got kicked out. Fortunately for us, so did everyone else.
At this point, only 20% of us had even hit water, and they day was still young, so we all agreed to go to the lake and swim there. No chance of getting kicked out there! So we drove out to the lake, which was about a 20 minute drive, and hit the beach. We had a blast; the boys skipped rocks and wrestled around while us ladies did some swimming and then chilled out on the beach. We spent a nice chunk of time laying out and having fun before coming home for some dinner. All in all, it was a pretty great day! Lake, I forgive you for your rocks and dead beached fish for the great time you provided us!

Otome Games- The New Obsession

Well, I fell into that trap pretty easily; I just can't believe it took me this long.
At the beginning of last week, I was playing on Facebook and noticed an ad to the side saying "Get an Anime Boyfriend!" That's been my dream since I was 7, so my curious self clicked the link, and it took me to this free, online game called "My Candy Love". Since it said "free", I registered, made a character, and then found myself in a tutorial run by a girl with bat wings. Halfway through, I realized what rabbit hole I tripped into: I was wading into the waters of the Otome game world. Crap.
Otome games are anime-like games for girls, usually romance-based, and recently, a couple of Facebook groups I'm a part of have been buzzing about them. I didn't really care to find out more about them, but alas, here I am playing one. It's amazing how the universe will tip over just to trap you.
I wouldn't recommend MCL for everyone, unless you just like to blow money on online games and can afford enough action points to actually do anything productive every day on it. But I was addicted to the concept and blazed through the internet to find one that was free and has good graphics. My search led me to Star Project, and this was a match made in anime-music-fame heaven.
In Star Project, you play the owner of a struggling star management company who is debt to some thugs. Then a guy shows up, looking for a manager to help him climb to the top of the entertainment industry, and the partnership is born! You take your star to classes, appearances, and part-time jobs, building your rep and money while falling in love on the way. It's extremely fun and addicting, with waay more stuff to do than MCL. This is the one I'd throw into everyone's face to play, if only just for us to have something to talk about.
There you go, my rant for the month. I need to update more, or just find stuff to update on. Ah, the boring life of SUMMER!! Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend!

Toonami is Back!!!

We did it. We. FRIGG'IN. DID IT!!! After two months of endless tweeting, Facebooking, video bumping, some raps, and the eternal support of the ever-golden Steve Blum (a major voice actor in the animated community) the Toonami faithfuls have finally convinced Adult Swim on Cartoon Network to bring back Toonami on May 26, 2012!!
This isn't just a victory for anime or 90's fans, this is a victory for the people. We as fans have proven that if we stayed dedicated to our cause, spread the word, and do everything we can, our voices can and WILL be heard. Changes had to be made, and we had to be patient, but we stuck with it all, even though the cause was called hopeless. What's hopeless now, now that we've won?
A big thank you goes out to Steve Blum!! He was the voice of T.O.M., the host of Toonami, and he rallied us every Saturday for two months to tweet for Toonami on Twitter. Thanks also goes out to Adult Swim, who are bringing us our fabulous anime back!!
Of course, to my fellow Toonami faithfuls, who started Twitter accounts just to help spread the word. Who tweeted EVERY Saturday night. Who made videos, Facebook pages, and raps to keep us motivated and remind us to keep trying. THANK YOU, ALL OF YOU!! Every single one of you lent your voices to the causes, so every one of you helped bring it back!! You all stayed gold and faithful, and I can't thank all of you enough, just on a personal level, because Toonami coming back means so much to me, and so many of my friends!!
Even though we won, you guys, let's all stay gold, and stay forever faithful, because that's what brought Toonami back: us!

Congrats for Laxmi!

Okay, so I think most people know that child-marriages still happen in some parts of the world. You hear about it in Saudi Arabia, which has no age minimum for marriage, India, and even some poor African villages. It's part of a culture, but like most traditions, it's being challenged.
Laxmi Sargara, 18, and her husband, Rakesh, 20, have the distinction of the being the first legally-married childhood couple of annul their marriage in India! Recently, Laxmi was informed of her marriage, which took place when she was 1, and that she would have to move in with her husband within the week. Unhappy about the predicament, Laxmi got a hold of social worker Kriti Bharti, who helped her take the steps of annulling her unwanted marriage. Bharti got in touch with Rakesh, who originally planned to go ahead with the marriage, but changed his mind and agreed to annul it.
Laxmi has taken the steps to choosing her own future, even with this long-standing tradition and culture standing in her way, and succeeded in her fight for her independence. She is among the first to reach out to change her life, and hopefully by her example, she won't be the last. Way to go, Laxmi! May all of your dreams come true!

You can read more here.

Ratchet Girls and All Them Questions

I have been tragically late by not posting these vids and spreading their word of their addictive greatness. My bad, boys ;).

Do you know a ratchet girl? Can't dress herself properly to save her life? Had a free, public education and still refuses to make good decisions? Going to the club pregnant and still thinking she's Halle Berry or Sasha Fierce? Well, here is her theme song, the "Ratchet Girl Anthem". Just like she always told you, she's famous. Man, I need a sarcasm font.

Ever had a girlfriend ask you a bunch of questions? "Where you been?" "Who that hoe?" "Why ain't you answering your phone?" "Who that hoe?" Then they want to answer it by themselves, like they're some kind of Sherlock Holmes? Well hold on guys, SpokenReasons and Emmanuel Hudson know the feeling when those girls are "Askin' All Them Questions"!

If you get addicted to one of both of these songs, I understand. It happened to me too.

Note: I apologize for my lack of proper English in this post. I have a tendency to get carried away. Haha :).

Sparkling Nightmare!!

OH Ra, my nightmare was... just awful! I had a dream that I was Bella Swan, married to Edward (even worse) and before my transformation, we went to visit his human parents. His mother was obviously unhinged and his father was obviously sadistic and kept looking at me like he wanted to try insane experiments on me. Edward makes the mistake of leaving me alone, and I find Kurt from Glee hanging around their house. I make him a deal to help him escape so he could run to New York if he keeps Edward's parents away from me. Well, my stupid self decides to go out to the parking lot, where Mercedes and Edward's mom are fighting over a gun and a dead body. When I approach, they shoot me by mistake, making Edward have to transform me off-schedule.
When I woke up from the process, I was lying in the middle of a street on a rainy night outside of an insane asylum. In the distance, I could see Mercedes and my mother-in-law being wheeled into the asylum and heard them say the insanity defense worked well. I looked down in my hand and saw a note from Edward that said "Come and find me."
Naturally, I was happy to wake up from this ridiculous dream of Glee, vampires, and the worst in-laws on this side of the grave. The worst part of it all? I was Bella freaking Swan!

New Blog, Yo!

Okay, so I was coming up with new Top 5 lists to do for this blog when a realization came to me: half of my posts now are lists. Of course, I still post my usual ridiculousness, but this is getting a bit cluttered with all of the numbers, movies, and my theories on the workings of Hollywood. So an idea came to me, which has been known to happen, and I decided to move. No, I'm not leaving blogger, but I am giving my Top 5 lists a home of their own. It's time to leave the nest!
So any time you want to see my Top 5 lists, you can go here. I've made it to where it can also be accessed in my Blogs I'm Reading gadget on the left over there. Yes, there. Oh, and the name's "Top 5 What??" in case you think you've landed in Oz by accident; nope, still Mahbu-land. Same pic and everything. Of course, I'm authoring that one, and this one will just be my random epiphanies and ramblings. Everything's more organized now, which makes Socrates and the adult me very, very happy :). Hopefully it'll be easier for everyone else too. Well, happy reading!

The Return of Toonami

The night of March 30, 2012- the wee hours of April 1, 2012, Cartoon Network gave the second greatest gift a 90's kid could ask for: they brought back Toonami, complete with TOM, for a night. They showed almost every old anime they used to: Dragonball Z, Tenchi Muyo, Gundam, Big O, Outlaw Star, etc. The night was epic, and I cried and screamed so many times, you'd think Papa Roach was performing at Wrestlemania with Hyde and Synyster Gates at commentary. Every anime they showed, and Toonami itself, stayed in the top TT's on Twitter and reconnected people to the shows they loved.

Second greatest gift, you ask? Then what's the greatest? The greatest would be this: to bring Toonami back as regular programming, if only for one night a week. Boom. Right there. Gauntlet has been THROWN. Many people agree with my statement and someone even started a petition to bring the segment back to television. People are also going here to ask CN directly. Please, for the love of TOM and quality television, please sign the petition and, if you have the time, tell CN that we want our anime back by the bucketload. Believe it or not, every signature counts, and more voices may mean a better chance for CN to take us seriously and give us Toonami back. Hope you sign it!

Wrestlemania XXVIII

So tonight was the night of Wrestlemania 28, the night my household has been waiting for since John Cena announced it the night after last year's. I didn't think we would get to watch it this year, but Brandon was the hero and saved up the money to pay for it!

This year, I made a cake, and I was dedicated. I went to the store, bought the yellow cake, chocolate icing, and red Easy Squeeze piping icing, and went home and piped for the first time. By the way, Easy Squeeze icing? Not so easy to squeeze, believe it or not. I think for my first time piping, I did a pretty good job. Next year, I'm definitely going to put more detail into my Wrestlemania party food :).

So, we tried to buy Wrestlemania at the top of the hour, but due to some difficulties and bs on TWC's part, we missed the first hour and the first three matches. At 7 though, we successfully purchased WM28, right at the beginning of Triple H and Undertaker's match. After a grueling match with Undertaker pretty much dominating the Game, Shawn Michaels, and that bogus ref Charles Robinson, he stood tall and the streak lived on with 20-0. Steel steps, steel chairs, and a sledgehammer flew and blood was spilled, which apparently is the recipe for a fantastic and epic match. I wasn't terribly excited when it was announced that these two would have a rematch, but tonight wiped my doubts away. That was the most emotionally draining match of the night, and we all felt it. It was something that will live on in legend.
The next match was the team matches of Team John Lauranitis, the Executive Vice President of Talen Relations at WWE, and Team Teddy Long, the Smackdown General Manager. The deal was, the two men would assemble team of wrestlers, and whoever won got to be in charge of both Smackdown and Raw. Team Johnny consisted of captain and Jennifer Hudson fiance' David Otunga, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, the Miz, and Drew McIntyre; Team Teddy had captain and United States Champion Santino Marella, Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, Booker T, the Great Khali, and Zack Ryder. Both teams were accompanied by females and Vicki Guerrero, but they aren't worth mentioning. The match was boring at the beginning until the teams, of course, began fighting outside the ring. Santino, the legal man, hit the Miz with the Cobra, then tagged in Zack Ryder, who impressively took on both the Miz and Dolph Ziggler. Just as Zack was about to finish the Miz off, Eve jumped in the ring and distracted him, allowing the Miz to hit him with the Skull-Crushing Finale and win the match for John Lauranitis. Boo. The Eve has the nerve to kick Zack where it hurts and sway out of the ring. Hoeski.
Next match was CM Punk vs Chris Jericho for the WWE Championship, and I missed half of it because I had to get Brandon from church. When we came back, we watched CM beat Chris and retain his championship.
And last, but not least, was the headlining match. The match everyone had been waiting for. The Rock vs. John Cena. This was a match that tore me in two. The Rock was my favorite wrestler of all time (except for Randy Orton) and my first childhood crush, but I have so much respect for John Cena and what he's all about. I've been firmly Team Bring It and Cenation since they began their feud, and this match tore me to pieces. For a while, it seemed like John had the edge. Rocky was holding up, but John was owning this match. Then, out of nowhere, the Rock scored a victory and won. Our entire living room was shocked. It didn't make any sense to me for The Rock to win, but win he did, and I guess we'll have to tune into Raw tomorrow to see how it turns out.
There pointless musical numbers and a pointless Diva's match, but this Wrestlemania was pretty good! Much, much better than last years, but so far, I've yet to see a Wrestlemania top 26 for me. Very excited to see how tomorrow's show plays out!

Greek God Plush!

I just had a cute idea! I would love to make a line of mythological plushies! Of course, I'd start with Greek mythology and its gods and creatures. Can you imagine a Zeus plush with a lightning bolt in its hand? Or Hephaestus?? Or Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena? Not Ares; nobody likes Ares, except for Rome. Dionysus could have grapes! And they could all come with those little labels that has their bios and powers! I'd collect them all and give them to my kids, but I'm completely infatuated with Greek mythology.
The mythical creatures would be a huge hit. Pegasus, a phoenix, griffins, and sphinxes! We could even have a MEDUSA!! This is EPIC! I wish I could start up on them! We could later expand to Egyptian mythology and some other one that's fun.
Totally just an idea, but I'd kill to make it happen. Well, maybe not kill, but definitely push some people down.

Dear Jesse McCartney

Jesse McCartney. I just tried to read the lyrics to your song "Up". One line, and I'm floored with you, sir. Not even "good sir" anymore. "Make that body go boom boom cat." You can't possibly expect me to finish this song, or even listen to it. Jesse. JESSE. Get yourself TOGETHER. You songs have gotten wacker and wacker (I'm not even using real words anymore) and it can't keep doing this. I'm not saying go back to "Beautiful Soul", but at least "Leavin'" will do.
That is all, sir. That is all.

Random Attack!

I'm listening to a Let's Do This podcast from December and Korey, Co-Host, and Billy are talking about Leon getting a box of pork rinds from someone via Amazon. My first thought was "I wish someone would send me a box of sunflower seeds." Dude, that'd be friggin' amazing! If someone sent me a case of sunflower seeds out of nowhere, I'd go back to church.
The season finale for Pretty Little Liars airs tonight, and we finally get to see who A is. I'm getting a little tired of this show, to be perfectly honest. At this point, I'm only watching it because I'm using one of the characters for a story I'm writing. And the TT's on Twitter about this! "Is Melissa A?" "Is Jenna A?" I posted "Is Kira A?" Only my roommate was laughing, because we both watched Death Note.
I rediscovered my love for boybands and DBSK this morning and watched the "Rising Sun" video. I'm really sad that three of the guys left that group. I rarely think boybands need as many as five guys anyway, but they were a lot of fun together. And I think the had the largest fan club of all the time, which is pretty awesome.
In case you couldn't tell, I'm rambling. I started thinking that I need to update my blog with something more than Top 5 lists, so I decided to post about other stuff. Hopefully my next attempts will be better than this one lol.

Top 5 Movies I'm Excited About for 2012

Since Harry Potter's OVER and there's no more new movies coming out, this list is almost pointless, but parts of my life do revolve around other fandoms than Harry Potter (though very few of them are getting movie adaptions, and thank Ra for that!). Ever since 2011, I've been looking forward to the movies of 2012 because some of them look EPIC and I can't wait to see them! Here are my top 5 2012 Movie Releases. (By the way, these pictures, not mine. Disclaimer!)

5. Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2: I'm just ready for this series to be done with. I don't care about Bella, Edward, or Jacob. At this point, I just care about Renesmee and Charlie, and that's that. Yes, I know that's a poster for Breaking Dawn Part 1, but I don't care enough about this series anymore to be correct with it.




4. Expendables 2: Yeah, you read that right. I loved the first one, and was so happy when they announced the sequel. I don't care if the plot was basic or if the dialogue was cheesy, the action ROCKED and that was the whole bloody point! Oh, and it has CHUCK FREAKING NORRIS. Hopefully Sylvester Stallone will stick to his guns and keep at it. Oh wow, no puns intended, those were horrible...




3. Dark Knight Rises: Who isn't excited for this movie? Dark Knight was awesome and this one has Tom Hardy as Bane and Anne Hathaway as Catwoman! I don't know when I'll get to see it because I'm sure the first week will be full of people, but see it I will.





2. The Avengers: I'm Team Marvel all the way, and after last year's May movie, I'm Team Thor. It's not the X team to me, but the Avengers have some awesome man-candy in store for me, so that guarantees my ticket. I've honestly been excited about this movie since the ending credits of Thor informed me he'd be in it.





1. Raven: Yeah, I've been led to believe that my Moby Raven is being released next month. There's a huge possibility that the sites I went to confused it with The Raven, the John Cusack movie coming out on the same day, but there's also the hope inside me that it's true, and I can either finally see my beautiful Rudolf Martin on the big screen or get a DVD release date. It's going to be a horrible movie, I already know, but Rudolf's my boy! Gotta support! This movie's been finished for over 2 years and it's about time I caught my Moby Raven.


Those are my movies. Yes, you may laugh, but when I'm sitting in the theaters with my popcorn and the poor sap I either tricked or dragged along with me, I'll be having the last laugh. Or dreamy sigh. Either way, winning!

Best of 2011!!

Okay, so I've taken my last idea and switched it up, because I know I'll be too lazy to actually think up 5 of my favorite shows, artists, and movies of 2011 and put it up before June. I'm picking out one favorite of all of my categories, and then I may, MAY, do a Worst of 2011 list as well. Here....we...go!

Favorite Movie

Yes, I know, I'm completely biased on this one. I've been in love with Rhys Ifans since I first saw him in Little Nicky and I love Elizabethan dramas, so I was going to see this no matter what. But WOW! This movie blew me away! This movie introduced me to the Oxfordian theory of the authorship of Shakespeare's work, and, somehow, the plot captivated me as much as the hot guys (Rhys Ifans as the Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere, and Xavier Samuel as the Earl of Southampton, Henry). I adored it so much, I saw it twice in two days and bought the DVD on the day of its release. The movie's two hours long, but I wished it was longer. Bravo, Rhys, for not only picking a great project, but for doing so splendidly in this role. Hollywood, take notes!

Favorite Television Show

I know, I know, I'm late, but I really didn't hear that much about this show until my dad showed it to me. I quickly became obsessed with it and watched every available episode in a two-week span. Luke is painfully adorable, Cam and Mitch are the uncles I never knew I wanted, and don't get me started on the beautiful and hilarious Sofia Vergara! Gay people, a hot Latin woman, and genuine comedy; why wouldn't I fall in love with it?

Favorite Artist

I didn't want to fall into her fanbase at first, but through Glee and sneaky radio stations, I was introduced to Adele, and she is never leaving my playlist. Through every bit of drama and rage I had over the past year, her songs would conveniently arrive so I could say "See? This is what I've been saying all along!" and good thing too; my Papa Roach CD's were crying for a break. She deserves every award she gets! Good show!

Well, that's my list. And it's so short.... Well, at least it looks cool.

Ever since I posted my last blog, I've been coming up with ideas for blogs, like "Top 5 Glee Mashups" and "Top 5 Internet Fads", but so far, they haven't panned out. However, I'm currently listening to Spill.com's Best and Worst of 2011, and I'm thinking about doing something like that about my favorite music, movies, and shows of 2011. It'll be a poor list, mind you, because I don't get out much, but it'll at least be something. I don't know, we'll see :).

My Mind Hamsters- Meet the Crew!

I've mentioned my mind hamsters before, but I don't think I've formally introduced them. So far, I have a crew of 3 hamsters that work inside my brain, and I think we'll be together for life, despite our differences.
Socrates: The one who's been with me the longest. He signed on 3 years ago and despite major on-the-job trauma, hasn't signed off. He's serious, stoic, extremely brave, and has a loyalty that would shame a dog. A year ago, he almost exploded during an Alaskan battle and had to go into ICU. Because I put him in that situation, the Hamster Association almost took him away from me and banned me from having anymore hamsters, but when Socrates came out of his coma, he defended me and refused to leave me. Now he runs the big computer above the bullpen in my brain, and since his accident, is better than ever. He's my chief hamster, and the one who keeps me safe from myself. Any smart decisions I make came from him. Thank you, Socrates!
Plato: Socrates' apprentice, a former intern, and the second hamster to join in full-time. He used to fill in while Socrates was on vacation and took over while he was in the hospital, and when the Hamster Association decreed that I can only keep Socrates if he had an assistant, Plato happily volunteered. Plato is fun, easy-going, and doesn't take anything too seriously. He used to run on the wheel before we removed it and put in the bull pen.
Aristotle: Our newest intern who is training to stay with us full time. He's a fun, fluffy ball of energy who dreams of becoming a surfer, an astronaut, a cowboy.....well, anything really, this kid likes to dream. His desk faces Plato's and trust me, those two get into so much trouble it's hilarious. Socrates has learned just to shake his head and let it go. When I'm sitting in front of a movie from my childhood, slack-jawed and drooling, Aristotle's sitting right there with me. His favorite game is Just Dance, and he plays music from his iPod constantly.
Galileo: He's a parrot Plato bought (against Socrates' wishes) who has a telescope and learned to sing only one song while tossing it "I throw my telescope in the air sometimes, screaming Aye-yo! I'm Galileo!" He's so happy and full of life it makes me happy. Sometimes we let him fly around the office.
That is my hamster (and parrot) family in my brain. Every day is an adventure that I wish I could animate and show to everyone. No, I'm not crazy. Why do you ask?

.......Hello?

This is the first time I've been on my blog in.... 6 months? I feel horrible, like I've neglected my child or something. Socrates, my main mind hamster, kind of putting updating my blog on the back burner. Let me try to make things right.
So much has happened. I worked at Target for a couple of months (my advice: don't do it, at least not in Waco), I broke up and made up with some crucial friends, I got a roommate, and we're looking at an apartment in Austin (woot!). A lot more happened in between those things, but we'll save that for later, if ever.
Well, I have several things I want to blog about that deserve their own posts, so I'll let this one go. Cheers for my return!