This is where the hungry come to feed. For mine is a generation that circles the globe and searches for something we haven't tried before. So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite and never outstay the welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience. And if it hurts, you know what? It's probably worth it.
i have been extra ordinarily music hungry. it's like i've been hibernating for the most part, feeding on whatever people give me via downloads from their blog, yousendit emails from friends, or general recommendations (portishead - third IS awesome).
anyways it seems i have found a few great other bands while searching for current issaplaylist bands new muzaks. thanks to the april foolz joke with the new death cab album, me along with tons of other leechers were able to discover velveteen. the lead singer does sound very ben gibbard but their music is much more ambient.. and i like it. then i scoured the interwebz for info on the new hot chip album (not so new, it came out in like february) and i came across does it offend you, yeah? and i dig them, a lot. is their name ridiculous? maybe.. and their album title, 'you have no idea what you're getting into' but with that band name would you have expected anything less.. besides my band names on Rockband range from ideal disarray to force kute, and only so simpo because of the limit on characters), the album is quite good despite being nothing new, and they're getting comparisons to the likeness of daft punk. as for the new hot chip album, i've only gone through it once... and so far i prefer their last album.
i've been wanting to color my hair for awhile now.. less than a month ago i attempted to lighten it myself with some semi-permanent color to try it out.. but instead of lightening it, my hair actually got darker. COLOR FAIL.
so this weekend i finally made an appointment at the salon for a color change, the stylist suggested all over highlights to break up the black, to more of a medium brown, caramel-y color. my appointment was at 11am, and i didn't get out until 3:30pm. i guess i do have a lot of hair.. the end result? well with inside lighting you can't tell too much, but it's much more brown in the sun/natural light. it's a subtle difference, but i'm satisfied.
[edit] the hilarious part was when the hairdresser first took out the foils and there were blond streaks, he was like don't worry girl i'm not gonna turn you into one of THOSE AZN girls.
it's earth day, and we all know how important it is to take care of the environment. it's a hot topic these days with everyone going green. many of us see the importance and want to help out, but we're just too lazy. we have all the good intentions to do something about it, but very little drive to actually do so, me included. so today i carpooled to work, working with my main office lights off, turned the a/c up at the office, and inquired about getting recycling service at work since we currently have none, and located recycling drop off locations since our neighborhood stopped the curbside service. today is a day to motivate you, even if it's only for day. i know, just one day isn't going to do anything, but who knows maybe you'll get into a habit, as recycling doesn't take much effort nor does replacing light bulbs to the energy efficient ones. every little helps right?
saturday christmascarol and lil bro trickpixel came to town and rounded up a few famousontheinterwebz pplz. TGFO made an appearance and so did heavnzhope, and even margalatte. of course many of us may just be internetz friends now but we've all met previously back when we were at UT and some of us appear as regulars on our list of friends IRL while the rest are guest stars. anyways we met up at sandong in bellaire where we ran into many other ppl from UT (like yummyyenny). we also saw this little girl with the kutest toys, that were from mcdonalds, back to that later. after sandong proceeded to run across bellaire (scary.. but it seemed 10x easier than to cross in a vehicle.. those drivers are ridiculous!) and ended up at juice box for some delicious shaved ice and drinks. as people began to leave the remaining group once again dashed across the street to go to mcdonalds.. and score the toys for ourselves. unfortunately they only had one kind, but fortunately it was the kute one in the cowboy hat. (later that night i went to a different mcdonalds to get the girl one, i now have a total of 4). christmascarol has a few photos from the meetz.
i wish the photo above was of me, but sadly it is not. i wish my abs looked nearly as good as that while standing, let alone sitting. today me and dru had a discussion about belly overhang when you sit, i see no overhang in that photo, given she is sitting up straight and most likely flexing. but do you think her physique is too excessive for a girl? i feel like i have gained a layer over my stomach over the past weeks*. while i must admit, that my workout habits have gone downhill since completing the half marathon. it's quite sad, and i know i need to really get back into routine, since full time training will begin again mid-summer (sign up is available now for next year's marathon). currently the plan is to redo the half marathon for a better time, unless i get talked into doing the full 26.2 (doubtful).
so we finally bought T a bbq. It may not be the fanciest bbq, but it'll do just fine for us. i mean i've never really bbq'd much, and i haven't really seen T do it much either. but with our backyard setup, it sure seemed like a mandatory acquisition. last night i put it together, while T prepared dinner (he's not really the greatest at building things.. well not as great as me anyways). the instructions said it would take an hour to build... it was daylight when i started, and as you can see in the photo, the sun had set by the time i finished (2 hrs later, during which i should've been calling for a cold beer or something). so maybe since i'm kind of half the size of a normal person, it took me double the time to make it. or perhaps because the instructions suggested having 2 people build it. and this morning i woke up with a sore forearm, i guess i should've used the power drill... anyways now since i built it, i'll be expecting yummy grilled foods on a regular basis.
i've been thinking of upgrading my guitar for several weeks now, and breaking a string on my johnson finally gave me the reason to hit up a few guitar shops... after initially testing out a few, i was amazed at the sound quality of a guitar just barely more expensive than mine. the sound quality on the johnson is slightly laughable, but it has been good enough for me, especially to learn on. and with it's high action, it has definitely strengthened up my fingers for more difficult play. for some reason, i've had my heart set on obtaining a takamine guitar. (it might be because howie day plays with takamine's along with several other musicians) i tried out a few other brands like yamaha and seagull, not that these guitars didn't also sound superb, but i didn't want to decide until i tried a takamine. it ended up that the shop that i dropped my guitar off to get restrung was an authorized takamine dealer. i tried several... the sound was so full, and the action low, playability factor was so many times better than the johnson. it was pretty difficult to decide after trying out several models.. finally it was final round time and i told the sales guy that i wanted to see that one again.. pointing the acoustic/electric one that was on an awesome deal. his reply was oh? the beautiful one?
needless to say, the beautiful one went home with me. takamine eg333c - limited edition
i have horrid sitting posture at work. well i don't actually have great posture in general, for someone who considers herself quite feminine. growing up my dad used to always try to get me to pull my shoulders back, to prevent me from slouching, i guess i'm not as much of a sloucher (except when sitting) anymore but i definitely don't make the conscious effort to walk with my shoulders back, chest out. i mean my friends call me martha, but i think the properness only pertains to party hosting and decor. once i arrive at work i kick my shoes off and my feet never touch the ground. my legs are always tucked on the chair with me. i'm also usually slouched low enough where you can't even see that me behind my monitors.. the lights in my office turn off multiple times a day because well, i'm just too ninja.
when i first got my office, the hr guy told me that i should decorate it, add photos, etc so that it has personality (his office is decked out with hockey motif). as for everyone else's offices.. well they were all pretty basic. so slowly, day by day.. i would bring the japaneesy items that tokyostar sent me throughout her stay as well as other gifts from bffs and things that i had bought. until it was an obvious theme, and now people come in periodically to play with my toys and the hr guy always tells me how awesome my office is. but as i look around with my photos taped on the wall, the presence of a white board, random toys, acoustic and indie muzaks playing outloud, and a general gathering place. i've come to the realization that my office.. is kinda reminiscent of a dorm room..
it's weird that having a new camera phone in my possession has given me the same motivation to do stupid self-portraits as when i had a webcam. and with bluetooth/picture msg-ing (i just realized i had this)... even more so. possibly more preposterous is the fact that with the purchase of a new highly functional phone (i previously owned a normal flip phone) i finally.. yes finally have text msg-ing. so if you ever noticed that when you text msg'd me and i never replied.. the reason was because i didn't wanna pay 15 cents to text you back. although i did attempt it once in awhile it would take me 5 minutes to type 4 words back. but back to the photo thing, at least it's given me some motivation to update more... with 1.0 mega pixel images.
when packing for vacations, i like to make sure i have a few great basics that i can easily mix and match tops with.. so that i can ultimately pack lighter... and buy more. :) so with a vacation coming up, i went ahead and picked up these 2 items this past weekend.
the first, the interlock highwaisted skirt from american apparel (in asphalt). it was my first time in the store, and i just so happened to come across the skirt on their website (which i never look at), but i saw it in one of their ads that shows up facebook, funny i know. anyways i still find aa as being overpriced cotton basics, and the store to be very sterile and cold, but i really like how the skirt can make everything look like a dress.. and i loves me some dresses. plus, i think it'll travel well.
the second, denim shorts from target. i've been looking for some denim shorts for weeks now. and it's either the wrong style, color, but most often the wrong fit. i've really been wanting a longer denim short with pleats. these didn't quite meet the longer side, but at least they're not the super short ones either. the pleats are very subtle and the color is not as dark as i'd like but i think they fit pretty well, and at target prices.. i'm sure i'll get some good use out of them.
this year i've been pretty busy at work, there has been an almost constant flow of projects to keep me busy and to keep the furrowed brow on my face... which leads to the lack of blogging, or so i use that as the excuse. but lately i've felt the need to post more.. no matter how short, no matter how boring. and with my trusty new phone in hand, since i seem to always forget to bring my camera with me. the last 2 posts included photos from teh phone and not teh camera. so get ready. who knows how long this phase will last.
last night we (me, T, dru.. and dham was there too!) went out to the Houston Press Menu of Menu's at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. with over 40 local restaurants passing out samples, and with what seemed like even more wine booths with an additional scattering of beer, rum and vodka booths... it was an interesting night. i did notice plenty of booths had ceviche.. yum. and for $30/ticket, it wasn't bad, and the crowd which seemed to be a pretty good mix leaned more towards the 35 and under singles crowd. and the clothes went from casual to work to dressy to ineedamanpart2. the only downside was that it did get pretty packed, with a sold out crowd of 2000, and the lines for some of the food booths were a little long (most places ran out of food). amongst those 2000 i ran into several people i knew.. which seems to be the trend lately. overall it was a nice night of something different and i think it's something we'd plan on going to again.
it just so happens that 2 omgbffer's have the same birthday (different years), so when their birthday comes around they have an extended celebration. this year we celebrated 2 weekends in a row. the first with dinner at dolce vita and dancing after at deco lounge. the second with a night out in rice village and after drinking eats at la tapitia. on this night, dru had adventures in parallel parking under stress...but we had great parking spots! anyways both nights were exciting times, hopefully the birthday gal and guy had a great time too.
