In the face of near-total misanthropy

Stella!

2010-09-28T17:09:00.000-06:00

I named her Stella

Puppy needs a damn NAME!

2010-09-22T16:04:00.013-06:00

UN NOMBRE! AHORA!

En serio, I'm dying over here. I've had my awesome, adorable, (kind of a ~~bitch~~ brat) baby for nine days and she is still nameless. I'm starting to feel really guilty when people ask what her name is.

Help me. I'd love some thoughts/discussion. Not just a "Name her THIS!" ... maybe if there is some method behind the inclination?
So, the following is a list of ones that I am fond of. (Some more than others.)

...but what do YOU think???

Bella (Bellatrix)
~~Carly~~
~~Evie~~
~~Gabby~~
~~Gemma~~
~~Ginny~~
~~Isa~~
~~Izzie~~
Joanie (Miss Joan Holloway)
Lana (Lana Kane)
~~Lola~~
~~Lucy~~
~~Maya~~
~~Mia~~
~~Mona~~
Ramona (Ramona Flowers)
Sasha
Sophia (Sophia Loren)
~~Winnie~~

More pics:

Variation on theme

2010-04-06T14:39:00.000-06:00

So Milo and I took THIS:

And made THESE:

Because we're AWESOME!

Right?

The Regime

2010-04-05T23:47:00.000-06:00

I'm really trying to get back into shape... I am. The whole working 8 hours a day thing just gets in the way sometimes. As does coaching AFTER the 8 hour workday, twice a week. And going out of town on the weekends for tournaments.
Sometimes my desire for sleep overcomes my working out.

But I really am just SICK of looking at a pair of jeans I bought in Spain and fit into a year ago, but can no longer do so. I think I'm finally starting to appreciate just how skinny I was.

I mean... I've never been skinny. Ever. But, damn, being a size 6 was awesome.

And it shall be so again.

Here was the second half of my run today. (The first half was accidentally separated, but at least it saved.)

This Cardio Trainer program on Artoo is pretty baller. Tracks my GPS signal... tells me where I went and how long and even how the elevation changes.

I'm sort of in love with it.

Another thing I started was this 100 Push-Ups program: http://hundredpushups.com/index.html

Basically it's a six week program that gets you to the point of being able to do 100 push ups consecutively. Probably is going to start kicking my ass, but damn it, I want my Michelle Obama arms, OK? I mean, look at them!

WANT.

We'll see what happens in six weeks, if I can keep up my motivation.
Somebody needs to start bribing me... or threatening me. That last one used to work pretty well in my competitive sporting career.

I imagine the Sergio Curse saxophone riff playing in the background...

2010-03-31T10:42:00.000-06:00

Click for amazing animation...

Dreams are insane.

2010-03-26T10:51:00.000-06:00

sigh

Milo!

I wish I had written it down...

2010-03-24T16:40:00.001-06:00

...because I totally called the whole point behind Jacob vs. The Man in Black (aka: UnLocke) in LOST.

So the way Jacob explains it is that the island is basically a cork on a bottle of nightmare wine, and if the island weren’t there, then all the evil wine would get out.

No idea what I'm talking about? Yeah, you know, JOIN THE CLUB.

But enjoy this Videogum screencap. I love Gabe Delahaye in a very real way.

Do you like having cops???

2010-03-23T11:32:00.013-06:00

Because, that's socialism. Government provided law enforcement.

You know what else are socialist?

Military
Firefighters
Medicare
Medicaid
Social security
Healthcare (via emergency room, for people who can't pay)
Public libraries
Public schools
Government college grants, scholarships, and loans
Roads (except toll roads)
The FDA
The EPA
Sewage treatment
FEMA
Parks
Zoning laws
Airport security

Thanks for that, Joshua.

So, this health care bill. Has anyone actually read it? Like, cover to cover? How about just looked at some bullet points? Yes? No? Well I'm going to do the latter right now:

Brief highlights of the HR Bill:

The bill will require all citizens obtain "minimal essential coverage" for themselves and dependents.

We do this for car insurance. We have, up until now, put the insuring of a vehicle above our own health. Yeah, that makes total sense.

If an individual elects not to do so, they will be required to pay an escalating fine up to $2,085.

OK, one of the things that people have complained about in regards to the health bill is that they don't want to be paying for the low lives who refuse to work and feel entitled to everything as they suck of the teet that is welfare and so forth. This part of the bill sort of proves that won't be happening, yes? As it stands, I don't know how realistic this is. It certainly can't help the economy in the short term, that's for certain.

Besides expanding coverage, such a mandate will, in theory, increase the number of healthy, young and otherwise uninsured individuals into the health care market.

I can't argue with that logic. Eventually it will increase good health.

Because young people are typically less expensive to cover, insurance companies could recover the profits lost from no longer being able to discriminate based on preexisting conditions.

Also sounds like pretty basic logic. I don't know the actual stats and numbers this is based on though. As an aside, why were we EVER OK with with insurance companies being able to discriminate based on preexisting conditions?

The bill also offers subsidies to low-income households to purchase health insurance.

This has everything to do with my personal convictions about helping those less fortunate than myself, but I wouldn't mind seeing what the qualifications are for this. Do you need to make under $20,000 a year? What?

Subsidies would be allocated on a sliding scale – individuals with higher incomes qualifying for less help.

Ohhhhhhh. See? I spoke too soon. Yeah, I support this theory, I really do. I mean, trust me, nothing pissed me off more than when I walked into an apartment complex with my cousin (who makes minimum wage) and they told me that based on MY salary (>30k a year) we didn't qualify to live there because they're apart of affordable housing and we made TOO MUCH money. But, I have no doubt that some single mother without a college education making less money than I has probably benefited from this system in someway and I just do not have a problem with that.

The bill creates "exchanges" that would allow individuals unable to obtain insurance through their employers a competitive marketplace to purchase affordable health coverage.

That... that kinda sounds like capitalism. Marketplace? Competitive? Please, someone correct me if I'm wrong. And shouldn't I have that right, anyway? The ability to tell my employers coverage to "screw off" if I can find a better deal elsewhere?

Taking effect immediately, children will be able to stay on their parents’ insurance plan until age 26, and businesses with less than 100 employees will be eligible for tax credits of up to 50 percent of insurance premiums.

Well, I'm already allowed to stay on my mother's plan until I'm 25, but the fact that they're making this steady across the board is pretty nice. And tax credits to small businesses sounds groovy.

Businesses with fewer than 50 employees will not be required to offer health insurance.

Huh. Interesting. I actually have no concept of whether or not this is good or bad or neither. I assume this will help the small business save money? It might also screw over their employees in a very real way if they can't get insurance through that competitive marketplace.

However, a firm that does not offer health insurance but employs more than 50 people will most likely be required to offer health insurance to all employees or pay a substantial penalty of $2,500 per worker.

Ah ha.

Also, the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that "enacting both pieces of legislation—H.R. 3590 and the reconciliation proposal—would produce a net reduction in federal deficits of $143 billion over the 2010–2019 period as result of changes in direct spending and revenues. That figure comprises $124 billion in net reductions deriving from the health care and revenue provisions and $19 billion in net reductions deriving from the education provisions. CBO has not completed an estimate of the potential impact of the legislation on discretionary spending, which would be subject to future appropriation action."

Curious.

You know what isn't curious though?

Associating universal health care with communism... especially since the following countries (non of which are communists or absolute monarchies) have universal health care. Some for long periods of time (such as our neighbors to the north, which have had a universal health care system since the 1960s.) For a list of countries by their system of government, go HERE.

Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

COMMUNISTS. All of you.

Apparently.
According to people on Facebook who have no real concept of what either socialism or communism is.

Seriously, until Sunday, the United States was the only industrialized country that had no universal health care system.

Why doesn't that embarrass us?

Moderately Moderate

2010-03-22T15:36:00.006-06:00

Politics really frustrate me.

I mean, they have to frustrate everyone, right? The word itself when used in a context outside of its own realm is dealt in the negative. "Oh, my office/work/place of employment is all politics."
Not a good thing.

So, I guess saying that politics frustrate you should probably be something that everyone understands.

I suppose the thing that frustrates me the most is the "Black and White" atmosphere that comes with American politics. I really would relish a More-Than-Two-Major-Political-Parties type of setting. I can admit, with no remorse or embarrassment, that I do tend to lean more on the side of a liberal idealogical view, but I sure as hell don't sell my complete beliefs over to one party or the other. I think they both have some valid points to offer and that Republicans and Democrats make the most sense when they actually work together and learn how to compromise.

I was just thinking today, while running through Twitter and Facebook, how much all of the incessant bitching about anything the Democrats or the President does just really, really gets under my skin.
And I don't even think it's because I tend to lean toward that side of the fence more than I lean towards the other, or because I voted for the guy (though I'm not stupid... I know that's part of it.)
Mostly I think it's my constant need for... everybody to just... get along.
As if that can be possible. Ever. Even people that I've known who have agreed with me on every idealogical level have managed to piss me off. In fact, sometimes they do more than people I have almost nothing in common with.

I suppose it just hit me today that, during President Bush's 8 years, I got pretty pissed when all anybody ever did was criticize the guy... even if he did something good or appropriate. Even if he was just trying to respond reasonably to the shitty hand he got dealt.
I mean, don't get me wrong... I think a lot of things that came from his presidency suck. War against a country that had nothing to do with September 11th? I mean, hey, Saddam was a son of a bitch. A mass murderer and a terrible excuse for a human being. Good riddance, twat.
But, why not finish up in Afghanistan? At the time maybe Iraq seemed like a good move. But in retrospect?

And when we first started pointing the finger Saddam's way, claiming he had weapons of mass destruction and heinous anti-American plans, the United Nations was like, "OK guys. We get it. You're pissed about the whole terrorists-infiltrating-your-own-system-and-using-passenger-airplanes-as-weapons thing. We get it. Before you just jump into the Middle East and show everyone who's boss, let us send some peace keepers in there and if they find anything... well, sucks to be them, right?" So that's what they did. And they didn't find anything.
And we essentially gave them the middle finger and went in anyway.

This entitlement factor that we, as Americans, have... thinking we're better than everyone and, despite valid intelligence against certain actions, going into places and doing whatever the hell we want?
I dunno... it smacks of asshole. That's all I'm saying.

And No Child Left Behind? Don't even get me started. Explain to me how you help anything—ANYTHING—by cutting funding to schools who under-perform? What douche-lord logic is that?! (Thanks for that one, Milo)

"Oh hey, public schools. Your asinine standardized test scores suck. We're going to make you better buy taking away MORE of your funding."
Perfect.
(On a related note... I think standardized testing in general, as a a tool to ascertain a child's learning progress, is perhaps the dumbest thing modern man has ever come up with. It's either that or The Bachelor... I'm undecided.)

But seriously, this entire idea of treating American politics like a Lakers-Celtics game... it's pathetic.

This is not Star Wars, guys. Republicans are not the Empire and Democrats are not the Rebel Alliance, or vise-versa. And besides, Admiral Ackbar is a moderate (clearly) and when has he EVER been wrong?

Hmmm. And the theme of comparing whoever you disagree with as Hitler? Like, "Obama is such a good speaker... just like Hitler." Or WORSE, the Antichrist? The ANTICHRIST.
Seriously?

Bullshit.

Mr. Stewart, you know what I'm talkin' about.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

A Relatively Closer Look - Hitler Reference

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Reform

Oh right. Hi there.

2010-03-08T17:13:00.003-07:00

Hey blog! Long time, no see.

I decided randomly, today, that I need to start blogging again. I was reading some of my posts from a few years back and man... I was just one wide-open book wasn't I?
I think that's part of the reason I haven't enjoyed this anymore. I feel like I need to constantly censor myself or perhaps my feelings on matters have become too dark and twisty? Well...

Screw. That. (Officially.)

So today I went over to the Barnes & Nobel website to see if they're going to list the next ebook in the Star Wars series I'm reading that comes out tomorrow. My wondrous mother bought me a Nook for Christmas and it has been... I don't even know if I can really express how I feel about Maggie.

Maggie, my Nook, has become something that I enjoy more than most human beings. When combined with an elliptical machine it is a freaking thing of beauty. It was like a technological device God specifically made for me.

Anyway, so, I'm looking for an ebook on the B&N website... the last 4 SW books I bought were $10, compared to the list price of $27 for the hardcover. (As an aside, why is anyone making hardcovers anymore? Durable, and nicer, and whatever... that's like, what? Fifteen trees??? Go make something useful for a third-world country or some shit.)
Today I find out that this EBOOK ("...an electronic version of a printed book which can be read on a personal computer or hand-held device designed specifically for this purpose.") was $17.00.
The price listed to buy the Hardcover version of said book via the B&N website? $16.

What... what are you ASSHATS at Barnes & Nobel thinking? Can you justify that discrepancy? Because I would just ADORE to hear it.

Are you honestly going to sit there and expect me to believe that a 3 MB text file of words costs a dollar more than a hardcover novel? No. No it does not.

You created an ebook reader, one good enough to competitively rival the Kindle, and now that people are buying your ebooks you are losing money, aren't you?

I understand the list price for this hardcover is actually $27.00, but you are giving online orders a better discount than the ebook... and I'm willing to bet that if I went into an actual store tomorrow it would cost the same as your online price.

Why do you think I bought your $260 ebook reader? I bought it for A) convenience and B) cheaper cost of books. You are destroying both of these previous perks I had desired for MANY A YEAR... and I want you to die.

If you think this is helping you monetarily in any way, shape, or form—you are mistaken—because what you are actually doing is encouraging people with Nooks or Kindles or a computer or a smartphone, to pirate these books.

So, thank you, Barnes & Nobel, for your encouragement of piracy! You kids over there are just making it so much easier for anyone and everyone to justify breaking the eighth commandment.

I had to re-blog this. (Like re-tweeting... but longer and less people read it.)

2009-11-17T14:29:00.000-07:00

Via http://deadspin.com/

Ten Questions To Ask A Man Before You Agree to Marry Him

It's been my experience in life that, while men are more likely to bitch about the institution of marriage, it's WOMEN who more often end up regretting getting hitched.

It's practically a ritual these days to be skeptical about marriage if you're a guy. You hear comedians and columnists and God knows who else bitching about being tied to one woman, yearning to be free to drink and ogle ass as they please. Almost all of that is an exaggeration. I may goof on being married from time to time, but I'd rather be chopped in half with a machete than NOT be married to my wife. That would be horrible and shitty.

But women. How many women do you know that rushed into getting married because all their friends were all getting married at the same time, only to later find out that their husband is actually kind of a dipshit? Because all guys are conditioned to be skeptical about marriage, because we're trained to be reluctant about the whole enterprise, we're 21% choosier about whom we end up marrying. I just made that stat up. It felt right. All of my wife's friends are married. Only half of mine are. Sure, I only have two friends, but I'm not letting that stand in the way of my gross generalization.

Some women, in their haste, end up getting the short end of the marrying stick. I don't want that happening to you, female Deadspin readers. I don't want you screwing up your life by accidentally marrying Daulerio. I don't want you suffering from Betty Draper Syndrome, wherein your husband gets to go to work and go out to dinner and travel and fuck around and have fun while you sit at home seething for 23 hours a day with the kids, hating and resenting your man in equal measure. I've seen it happen. Here now, are ten questions you should ask ANY man before you agree to marrying his hairy, sweaty ass.

1. "Do you want definitively want children?"

You'd be shocked at how many people get married without agreeing on the kid question. You are a fucking idiot, man or woman, if you get married without resolving this issue. And if you want kids, ladies, make sure your guy answers YES without qualifications. None of this, "I think so," shit. Tie that fucker down and make him give you a proper answer.

2. "Do you want multiple children?'

Same deal. If you have one kid, you don't have children. You have a pet. One child is NOTHING. After two kids, all final child tallies can be negotiated WHILE married. But not the second kid.

3. "Do you want a dog?'

Because if you want one and he doesn't, he will end up wanting to choke that thing to fucking death.

4. "Will you help with the kids?"

Will you change the diapers, and feed them, and mouthrape them with the toothbrush before bed every night?

5. "No, I mean it. WILL YOU FUCKING HELP WITH THESE KIDS?"

That means getting up at night to feed them if you bottle feed, and changing the sheets when the diaper leaks, and putting together the crib, and all that shit. I've got parenting magazines lying around all over the place, and every issue has some article featuring confidential gripes from women about all the ways their husbands are negligent scumbags. "He was so nice when we first got married, but now he won't do ANYTHING!" These deadbeats are ruining it for the rest of us husbandfolk. FUCKERS. Gonna spend your life with a guy? Make sure he will get his ass out of bed at night for the fucking kid. Especially if he works an office job during the day. Office jobs are a cakewalk compared to staying at home with a kid, or worse, working during the day and then taking care of the kid at night all by yourself because you're husband doesn't want to help. Make sure the fucker will help. Make him sign a fucking waiver if you have to. Unless he works in a coal mine during the day, he's got the energy.

6. "Have you had any major dental work done?"

Is your fiance gonna need 10 new bridges for $2,000 a pop in the next decade? Jesus, that blows. That means your kid will have retarded teeth you have to pay to fix, too. That's drinking money! In fact, check his entire medical history and his family's medical history. Have all his male relatives died before the age of 45? THEN HE WON'T BE ABLE TO HELP WITH THOSE FUCKING KIDS.

7. "If you don't bother me about frequency of intercourse, I'll look the other way with regards to your Fuck Yeah Tumblr habit. Fair?"

It's fair, for you men out there. Take the deal.

8. "Will you have sex with other people?"

Because that would be bad.

9. "Are you still doing cocaine?"

No? He's lying! CHECK INSIDE HIS SPEAKERS!

10. "Do you lose more than $500 a year gambling?"
When I first got married, my wife and I were thinking about combining bank accounts. I asked my father-in-law if it was a good idea to keep separate bank accounts. "Sure," he said, "If you want to get divorced." Indeed. Make sure that fucker is financially transparent. You don't want him gambling your shit away, or hiding thousands in an escrow account he can easily access once he's fled to the Caymans with the nanny.

We men are not such bad people, ladies. But you have to vet our asses before you agree to spending the rest of your life with us. It's not our fault if you elected to marry us before you realized we like drinking before 8AM every day. You have no one to blame but yourself. Do your homework. Or else, you'll end up in divorce court, staring daggers at Norm Chad from across the room. DON'T MARRY A JACKASS.

This is my favorite video of all time...

2009-10-03T21:17:00.002-06:00

23

2009-04-08T00:43:00.001-06:00

I have waited about four years to be able to play this song with some significance. :-p Thank you Robert D. Biddy Jr.)

I felt for sure last night
That once we said goodbye
No one else will know these lonely dreams
No one else will know that part of me

I'm still driving away
And I'm sorry every day
I won't always love these selfish things
I won't always live--no, stop it

It was my turn to decide
I knew this was our time
No one else will have me like you do
No one else will have me, only you

You'll sit alone forever if you wait for the right time
What are you hoping for?
I'm here and now I'm ready, holding on tight
Don't give away the end, the one thing that stays mine

Amazing still it seems
I'll be 23
I wont always love what I'll never have
I wont always live in my regrets

You'll sit alone forever if you wait for the right time
What are you hoping for?
I'm here and now I'm ready, holding on tight
Don't give away the end, the one thing that stays mine

You'll sit alone forever if you wait for the right time
What are you hoping for?
I'm here and now I'm ready, holding on tight
Don't give away the end, the one thing that stays mine

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

2009-03-05T14:55:00.003-07:00

Watchmen is a graphic novel from 1985 that Time Magazine named as one of the best 100 novels of ALL TIME.
Also, I based my last college paper EVER after it. It is that complex.

The movie comes out tomorrow.
Go see it.
Oh, here's a reminder of why... the stellar trailer.

I got very bored today

2009-01-23T17:27:00.002-07:00

Seriously... I need a job.

Grad Pics

2009-01-04T19:52:00.004-07:00

All thanks and gratitude to Ryan Gibbs, a friend and fellow student in Spain who took my wicked awesome graduation pictures. Please visit his website at www.rgibbs.com

Home

2008-12-23T13:47:00.002-07:00

I had planned on doing a much more comprehensive post about my final reflections on Spain and being home and all that fun, fun stuff.
Since I got back the first question to come out of anybodies mouth is, "So, how was Spain???"
As much as I both understand and appreciate the question, it really is a terrible one. Like Dillon said to me yesterday, when we were eating glorious Dion's pizza...

"Oh, yes, sure. Let me some up the most complex and impacting four months of my life in a sentence for you."

It just doesn't work that way.

So, I'll keep it short, five points both ways for now... especially because I keep having these dreams where I'm either IN Spain or going back next semester...
...and they are just depressing me to the core. So.

Things I most appreciate about being home:
1. My mama. Even though she frequently ditches me for her "friends". Doesn't she know any better? I'M her only friend!
2. The food. I loved Spain food (which is a rarity, I'm told) but nothing beats some good red chile and beans or my mother's homemade guacamole. Nector of the GODS.
3. Being comfortable at home. IE... I can put my feet on the coffee table or layout across the couch if I feel the need.
4. My babies. Indy, Chewie, and Leia (when I visit her) ... how I forgot the small comforts of personal pets.
5. The guys. The looks, the brains, the wild card, and the useless chick. I missed our cynical discussions of douchebaggery and debauchery.
Runner-up: THE DOLLAR. Nothing says "Welcome Home" quite like the ability to be paying the actual, monetary price for things that you buy.

Things I most miss about being in Spain:
1. Rosario, Ricardo, and Jaunita. The scheduled, home-cooked meals kind of come into play here, but I just also miss my host families daily presence.
2. The roomie. I can't make fun of Adrianna sneezing ever 10 seconds or giggle in the dark with her when she's all the way over in Austin.
3. The other 26 students I was surrounded by this entire semester. I mean, really. Just imagine being in a country where you aren't a native speaker and you are constantly surrounded by the same 27 students for four months, whom you happen to get along with quite well... and then imagine being completely ripped from their combined presence in one day. It's not OK.
4. Sevilla. I loves me some Albuquerque... but I also love urban settings as well. Settings where I could walk out of my apartment building and mousy along the crowded streets, dodging gypsies and blood drivers.
5. ZARA and H&M and MANGO and OMG SHOPPING IN THE STATES SUCKS BALLS.
Runner-up: Daily Spanish victories. I can't really feel progress in the foreign language anymore... when I've only got one family member who speaks it too.

I love being home, finally.
But, I wanna go home.
Not HOME. But, mi casa. If you catch my drift.
It's a strange little sort of emotions all fighting it out in there.

¡Barcelona!

2008-12-05T05:12:00.003-07:00

I have arrived in the city of my final European harrah. (Hurrah? Huraah? No se...)
Yesterday was my last college class ever, and I felt very weird. It did not help that I had not slept all night.
It is not helping today, either, since I have STILL yet to really sleep. (Does a 3 hour nap, an hour-and-a-half plane and half-hour train ride count for two days worth? Um no.)
Uhhhhhhh, my hostel is really neat... very lived-in and hostel-like. Dunno if that makes since, but it just feels homey. I feel comfortable here, sleeping in a room with 5 other bunkbeds filled with strangers.
After I get my US work visa, or whatever, I kinda wanna help run a hostel somewhere. What a bad ass, day to day living.

Alright, well, I went here today...

yes, yes, very neat... but I must seista for many, many hours or I might actually discover that I've become a homicidal maniac or some such.

Also, I walked by a Jimmy Choo store for the first time today.
I almost peed my pants.
OMGtheshoesweresodamnedhot.

Besos,

Brit

PS: I made this video for the group at the Tech Center. Maybe it can give you a little glipse into the awesome people I got to live and learn with in Spain this semester.

Madrid

2008-11-27T08:43:00.002-07:00

Basically... it's the Spanish version of New York.
But, not as cool.
But... in Spain... so cooler.
Does that make sense?

Like, I loves me some New York... but there's something so fun and refreshing to walk around the corner and see a theater showing "La Bella y la Bestia". (Yes Em, I'm extremely tempted to go. I need to walk by and look at ticket prices...)

We started our long, final trip up and around Madrid on Tuesday morning at 6:30 in the morning. NEAT, yeah?
Actually, we had a lot of traveling to do and things to see, and the very first thing we saw was a castle of the Order of Calatrava from the like, 1300s.
I walked around a castle. It felt appropriate.
Next we stopped a town called... um... Alhambra? Almembra? Almargo!
Anyway, it was kind of weird stop, because we had to stay there for 3 hours (something about some law where the bus driver has to rest for a specific period of time???) and it happened to be RIGHT at the beginning of siesta time when all cities just general SHUT DOWN. Like seriously, place was a ghost town. We got to shop a little bit at the handmade lace store, which had some gorgeous stuff that made me want buy some authentic Spanish, handmade lace to use for a wedding garment someday, but you know... I didn't want to jinx it...
Last, stop was Toledo, and it was a beautiful city. We all went out to this chill bar that night and just hung out, having a good time.
I dunno if I've mentioned this enough, but I love my classmates. The entire group is a complete and utter joy for me, in a world where everyone can only understand me like one understands a 1-year-old learning to talk.
They just make me happy.
Next day we checked out this famous painting by El Greco...

I didn't think I liked this sort of Gothic style he uses, but seeing it in person totally changed my mind.
It's awesome.

Then we ran around the old palace, where the kings and queens of Spain lived (again, it felt appropriate for me) and finally made it to Madrid. Today I was supposed to go look at this ancient Roman aqueduct and the newer royal palace, but I needed what I like to call a mental health day. Two-hour baths while watching a James Bond movie gets the job done...

I'm probably gonna explore the city streets for a bit...

4 days of college left..
2 papers and 1 final project...
2 weeks until I'm home.

Weird.

Curious...

2008-11-24T14:33:00.003-07:00

... what the inside of my heart looks like after that game???

I considered drowning my sorrows in a shot of straight CYANIDE, but I settled for laying in the fetal position in my bed for 15 hours...

:-(

Letters

2008-11-19T17:05:00.003-07:00

I've been needing to get these off my chest. I guess I can start with the more pressing matter... Here's one of two...

Dear #2 ranked Texas Tech football team,

Look at you go. I remember charging the field last year when you beat OU (then a highly ranked powerhouse... go figure...) for your last game of the season. It was also the last game I would get to see in person, as a student, so rushing the field seemed more than appropriate. I remember, also, having a vague feeling of 'perhaps greatness' when I accidentally ran into Sir Michael 'Olympian god of being badass' Crabtree and had no other reaction than to give him a hug. There was a hint of that similar feeling while I watched Graham Harrell being hoisted on to shoulders of students in the middle of a wild, cussing, inappropriately awesome throng of Red Raider fans.
Fellow pirates, if you will.
I remember the feeling of 'perhaps greatness.'
And here you are. Ranked #2. ESPN setting up shop on your doorstep. Sports writers calling Coach Leach 'a little weird, but brilliant' not just... 'a little weird.' Those little golden boys, Harrell and Crabtree (who I've mentioned) are at the top of the list for the Heisman Trophy and you guys are literally two games away from making it all away to the BCS National Championship game.
Oh yeah, and this isn't a fantasy either. Or a finely tuned Disney tale.
I don't... I do not. No entiendo. I mean, seriously... OH MY GOD.
If you guys don't beat Oklahoma, if you do not make my love for you actually legitimate for once in my painstakingly sad and pathetic sports adoring life... I will never forgive you.
NEVER FORGIVE YOU.
My hatred for you will be so great, such a turnaround, such an unbelievably unfair and unreasonable unforgiveness... that I will forever root for the Texas A&M University FIGHTIN' Aggies.
You hear me?!? A&M! The cult down south that kept telling us that we weren't really a rival because we weren't really that good! Those kids who wear maroon and don't believe in cheerleaders. The hullabaloo chanting Longhorn haters who call us classless clowns and personally told me to get my 3.7 GPA up....
I will put a curse on you. The like of which where you will never see a 'W' next to the name Tech when you play them. Ever again. EVER.

....

...

..

.

..

...

....

Ok, that's not true. I'm... you know. I'm in Spain.
Studying abroad, having the time of my life... and missing the greatest season that ever existed in Tech history.
Absolutely missing out on dressing up like a sexy pirate and singing the Matador Song with my best friend.
I can't walk around school constantly wearing a smile and the color red. I mean, I CAN, but nobody in Sevilla gets it.

*le sigh*

Do not screw this for me. That's all I'm asking.
Ok great love you all goooodbyyyyyeeee...

- Love, Britney

PS: Michael, this doesn't really apply to you. You could lose, actually drop the winning touchdown catch in the final seconds, and I'd still want to feed you grapes straight into your mouth while lying on a bear-skinned rug.
You know you want me to give you some McCarty-Drumm babies.
Black, ashy, crazy competitive/athletic babies...

I swear...

2008-11-11T16:36:00.003-07:00

...eventually I will write something. Lo siento.
My days have been busy. But, busy in Spain is still, you know, fantabulous.

So, here's another picture of the Morocco trip of Simon, our Chefchoan guide, and me.
Notice the gorgeousness of the mountains, the tininess of that man, and the utter-awesome of my coat.
Vale!

-Brit

PS: Oh, and just because Jenn and I are EPIC...

love

2008-11-07T20:45:00.004-07:00

Cambio para la gente

2008-11-05T04:42:00.002-07:00

I know a lot, if not most, of my readership is of the opinion that the world is about to end because of the results of last night.
Kinda melodramatic.
I would have welcomed McCain as president, fyi... but I sure as hell wouldn't have been happy to have Palin anywhere near the nuclear codes.
Just sayin'.

Having said that, here are a few of my favorite things.
I walked out the door today and realized nothing could ruin this day for me. Here are the reasons why...

Oh and look at this actual conversation between my mother and I...

Briadru4: I'm going to an election party at a local pub to watch results unfold all night. Que paso?
vickymac24: Cool. getting ready to go vote now. -v!cky-
Briadru4: Oh really. Well, then, let me take this time to remind you that Obama wants to lower taxes for working families and increase teacherpay
vickymac24: Thanks for the info. let me remind u that obama rhymes with osama and hussein is the same as saddam. just sayin... luv u! have fun be careful. -v!cky-
Briadru4: Let me remind you that he's named after his father, who didn't raise him. We can't judge people by their father's now can we?

I love you Mom.

Oh look. Another instance of God hating me. Hmmm.

2008-11-02T17:29:00.002-07:00

Crabtree, Tech upset No. 1 Texas with second left

By JIM VERTUNO – 12 hours ago

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Texas Tech can call itself No. 1 in the Lone Star state — and maybe best in all the land. Graham Harrell fired a 28-yard touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree with one second left and No. 6 Texas Tech stunned No. 1 Texas 39-33 Saturday night in a wild game that will shake up the national title race.

Texas (8-1, 4-1 Big 12) had stormed back from a 19-0 deficit to take a 33-32 lead when Vondrell McGee scored on a 4-yard run with 1:29 left in the fourth.

Harrell drove the Red Raiders (9-0, 5-0) to the touchdown in six plays, slinging the long pass to Crabtree, who broke the tackle of Curtis Brown near the sideline, kept his balance and scooted the last five yards for a score.

"Play 60 minutes is obviously important, you may have a second to spare," said Tech coach Mike Leach, the quirky offensive mastermind whose teams have made a name for themselves by piling up huge passing numbers and the occasional big win.

But never a win THIS big.

Thousands of Texas Tech fans poured onto the field and had to be sent off while the play was under review. Once the fans were chased off the field and Tech kicked the extra point, the Red Raiders were penalized and forced to kick off from their own 7.

When Texas couldn't pull of a miracle kickoff return, the fans ran back on the field to celebrate the biggest win in Texas Tech history.

The victory not only gave the Red Raiders command of the Big 12 South, it puts them smack in the chase for the national title, quite a leap for a program usually left behind by conference powers Texas and Oklahoma.

In fact, maybe Texas Tech shoots to the top of the rankings and the BCS standings? More likely, Alabama moves to No. 1. The question is whether the Red Raiders, on the strength of the program's first victory against a No. 1 team, can jump over the likes of Florida, Southern California and unbeaten Penn State on Sunday.

Harrell, who may have jumped ahead of Texas quarterback Colt McCoy in the Heisman Trophy race, finished with 474 yards passing and two touchdowns on 36-of-53 passing.

McCoy has nothing to be ashamed of, throwing for 294 yards and two touchdowns. He did have a interception returned for a touchdown in the third quarter.

Crabtree had 10 catches for 127 yards.

Texas had appeared to pull off a stunning rally behind McCoy, who threw second-half touchdown passes of 37 and 91 yards to Malcolm Williams and led Texas on a grinding drive to its final touchdown after Texas Tech's Donnie Carona kicked a field goal for a six-point lead.

McGee's burst stunned the home crowd until a big kickoff return by Jamar Wall gave the Red Raiders the ball at their own 38 and time to move. Harrell hit on four straight passes, to get the ball in Texas territory when the Red Raiders were just trying to set up for a winning field goal.

He also got a break when Texas freshman safety Blake Gideon dropped what would have been a game-ending interception on a tipped ball.

Facing third down, Harrell fired the risky pass to the All-American Crabtree. The ball reached Crabtree right before the defense could close in on it and the big receiver snagged it just inside the 5 and shrugged off Brown.

Given the chance to make a national statement, Texas Tech looked early like it would dismiss the Longhorns in a rout. The Red Raiders belted Texas on the Longhorns' on first play and kept hammering away for the entire first half.

Backed up on the Texas 2 in front of the raucous student section, McCoy handed off to Chris Ogbonnaya, who never got out of the end zone when he was dropped for a safety by defensive tackle Colby Whitlock.

The play seemed to rattle the Longhorns, who had been unflappable all season.

Harrell was just warming up, deftly dodging the Texas pass rush to find open receivers or lofting perfectly thrown balls for big yards. Texas Tech was on its own 6 and facing third down when Harrell hit Edward Britton on the sideline, tucking the ball just over Gideon for a 46-yard gain. The Red Raiders capped the drive with Baron Batch's 3-yard TD run.

Texas Tech made it 19-0 when Harrell found Eric Morris with another soft throw just beyond a defender's reach for an 18-yard TD and the Red Raiders led 22-6 at halftime.

Matt Williams, the kicker Leach plucked from the stands after watching him win a promotional kicking contest six weeks ago, made field goals of 29 and 31 yards.

Texas was out of sync the entire first half. McCoy came in completing 81 percent of his passes but had receivers drop four of his first seven throws. Even sure-handed Jordan Shipley, McCoy's roommate and best friend, dropped a likely touchdown on Texas' second possession.

Texas appeared all but done when Daniel Charbonnet returned McCoy's only interception for a touchdown and a 29-13 Texas Tech lead.

But McCoy, who has led nine come-from-behind wins in his career, had the Longhorns storming back and in position to win.

I'm so excited and joyful and disgusted and in a constant state of almost vomiting because of this. Goodness.

I forgot about these

2008-10-30T19:19:00.002-06:00

Enjoy the joys of video!

I'm sad Halloween doesn't really exist in Europe...

2008-10-26T18:00:00.002-06:00

Last year I was Daria... and I am proud to point out the two lovely ladies who decided to take it one step further...

Damned good, right? I miss you girls. :-(

Next year, I'll be Quinn or something... :-p

Cherimoya

2008-10-25T15:33:00.002-06:00

Nana... I have a job for you.

The fruit is oval, often slightly oblique, 10-20 cm long and 7-10 cm diameter, with a smooth or slightly tuberculated skin. The fruit flesh is white, and has numerous seeds embedded in it. Mark Twain called the cherimoya "the most delicious fruit known to men." -- Wikipedia

For once in my life, I actually like and agree with something that Mark Twain said.

This....

....wonderfulness of delicious is called a Cherimoya... and it really IS the most delicious fruit know to men.
I kid thee not.
When I return, I must continue to devour these magnificent South American delicacies.

Here's an actual conversation between my roommate and I not 5 minutes ago...

Adrianna: I don't understand how people can't like them.
Me: Seriously. Both Jessica and Maggie have said that they have them at their house and neither of them likes them.
Adrianna: I don't understand.
Me: Yeah, I just don't get it.
Adrianna: It's not like they're bad, like their texture or anything. They're just like a pear.
Me: A more... jello-y pear.
Adrianna: A more DELICIOUS pear.

We have a small obsession with them. They are our one true Spanish love.

JibJab

2008-10-25T11:23:00.001-06:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Nunca Volver... la pelicula

2008-10-21T05:29:00.002-06:00

This is a video made by three friends of mine here in Sevilla (Pete, Jeremy, and Kelly) for one of their classes. It had to be embeded and shared, and I also thought you could get a different look at some of the city.

'Pero.... !me ENCANTA Cruzcampo!'

Colin Powell

2008-10-19T09:47:00.001-06:00

Foto Post

2008-10-15T17:46:00.002-06:00

Writing takes time. Sooooo, pictures? Vale.

Writing takes time. Sooooo, pictures? Vale.

Vale, vale, vale

2008-10-05T17:03:00.003-06:00

(Ok, ok, ok)

I've slacked on the blogging, I know. It's hard for me to sit down and write things, while being here. It's also hard for me to remember all the things I want to tell everybody about.
I'm gonna semi-copy Maggie, whom I *heart*, and kind of make a list and go from there...

1. I eat like a small child.
2. The Holocaust still sucks, a lot, in Spanish.
3. In one year, I get $206.77 back from a city bike system.
4. Yo hablo Castellano... un poco.
5. My immune system is a big FAIL.
6. Friends can be demanding.
7. I <3 You

1. Spaniards have much better table skills than Americans. Emily will find this funny, because her mother-in-law has a thing about table manners, but seriously... I grew up in a family that ate dinner in the living room. I usually sat on the floor in front of the coffee table. I used a fork or spoon if needed, but also my hands for a lot of things too.
What I'm getting at is that I have no skill with using the fork in one and and the knife in the other, and it generally makes me look like a four year old when I'm eating lunch with my family. I think I've figured out (contradict me if I'm wrong, Mama) that knives were not generally used a lot in our household, because of the awful metal on glass sound they make.
Oh, and everyone in the world bites their forks Mother... and I notice every, single one of them do it because I am, like a small bat in a cave, attuned to it.
Thanks. For that.

2. Movies dubbed in Spanish are really fun...

unless they're about the Holocaust...

THEN they scar you for life. If you're curious as to what I'm talking about go HERE.
Jennifer knows. We both had to walk out of the finished movie rubbing smudged mascara off our cheeks.

3. I finally got my bike pass for the city bike system. Basically, what Sevilla has set up is hundreds of stations around the city where bikes are locked in (like, mechanically, not with physical locks, if that makes sense...) and if you pay 10 Euros for a year subscription you can ride them for 30 minutes for free. 10 Euros for free travel to and from school and anywhere else in town is an amazing deal.
It also helps with my impatience, since the city buses couldn't exactly conform to BRITNEY TIME.
There was a deposit involved, that I can't get back until a year from now... but just think... next October, you'll all be reading a sudden and exciting post about how I finally got my 150 Euros back from the Sevici bike program.

4. I'm having very small, minuscule breakthroughs with my Spanish, that to the outside are probably like, "Oh. Neat. You still suck at that a lot, Britney."
But to me they're like beating Brian Urlacher at an arm wrestling match.
Like, today for instance, we were sitting at the table eating lunch, and generally the family will just talk to each other like speed demons unless they have a specific question directed at either me or Adrianna. I try to sit and listen to them, or the news in the background, to just hope to pick up on anything.
Well, today, I finally picked up on a full sentence and it made me giggle pretty bad at the table.
To preface this, you should know that I'm known at the table as being the person who will eat, and like, anything I try... and I will also eat the most.
So, Ricardo (Spain dad) wants more albondegas (meatballs) and Rosario (Spain mom) gets up to get him some.

Rosario: Do you want more meatballs?
Ricardo: Yes.
Rosario: Well, do you want one or two...
Ricardo: No, no... just one. Britney will eat five.
And then I started giggling.

It was a small victory, hearing that entire sentence, especially when I don't think he thought I would.

Also, last night I had to go and ask them a question about where a certain bar in Sevilla was. This bar will play American football games and we had high hopes that the Tech game against Kansas State would be on (it wasn't.)
So, I got through, for the most part, a full conversation of me asking directions, explaining how good Tech football is this year, how excited I was to see it, etc etc.
Small victory.
But, man. Huge pride boost.

5. I've been sick, all weekend. Which is lame. Extremely lame. And apparently all the fault of one of the other students here, Jeremy.
I don't know why it's his fault, but most of us are all sick and we're all blaming him.
I'm going with it.

6. My friend CJ from Tech wrote me this message about a week ago...

Respectfully, that's not an update. This is a once in a lifetime live overseas see europe make friends have a blast bond with people learn a language feel a culture drink too much sleep too little find your chi experience. I believe you're the best equipped to relay that experience in written word so let's have it.

Eagerly awaiting,
CJ

So, naturally after reading this I felt both unbelievably challenged and called out.
Therefore, I wrote this... and then decided to copy it to the blog so I wouldn't have to write it all over again.

Alright, I know you'll be expecting to have some kind of small thesis to read from me, as per my usual way of communicating through writing, but I am going to try to keep it at a minimum, because (and I don't know how much I can reiterate this) seeing all the things I've seen, being in all these places... in such a short time span after never being anywhere foreign in my entire life, is just... daunting.
I doubt I will be able to fully appreciate this entire experience until I am well into my 30s. It's that big.

Last weekend in Lagos was beautiful. It's a small beach town in Portugal and it had the best sand I've ever stood on in my life. It was soft in that way that it didn't bother you while walking in it or having it stick to your body.
It did rain most of the weekend, however, and although this ruined most of our beach time, the waves and the sea in general on this day were amazing.

I was walking with Jessica, just marveling at these massive amounts of water crashing into the sides of these rock walls and I tell her, "You know, the ocean scares me. It's just this massive, powerful thing that you cannot control. It's beautiful and awe inspiring and an unbelievably virile thing... that's scary in that way that it should always be respected." (Or something like that.)

And that's when I made the connection that the ocean reminds me of God.

I also, when we go into these old places, like the Alhambra (an ancient Arab Sultan's palace) have these moments where I feel like I'm floating above my body. For instance, our teacher points at this roped off section of floor and says it is the ORIGINAL floor. That means that floor was there when people from 1350 were walking around... they saw the same floor I was seeing. They were in the exact same spot I stood.
How strange to feel connecting to people that way?
In those moments I feel like I stare at them, lusting in a way, and I blink continuously, as if my eyes could act as a camera.
So that I can never forget the sights, the smells, the textures of the ancient ceramic tiled walls...

I know that was a small update, but like I said, it's so hard for me to write it all out. And time consuming, at that. :-p

7. I love and miss everyone... EVERYONE. It's amazing here and I wouldn't change it for the world, but there are times when I just wish the people I love most were here to share it with me.

Besos y abrazos,

-Brit

PS: Somebody should tell me what I should do after I graduate and for the rest of my life.
That would really help out my state of mind at the moment. :-D

ADM

2008-09-25T16:12:00.002-06:00

(Ay dios mio)

When I first heard a news reporter say, "Well, and Palin has plenty of foreign policy experience, because she's up there, right next to Russia!" ... I choked in abhorrence.
Then, obviously I chuckled, thinking that surely his boss would destroy him for such an absolutely asinine idea to have even been thought, let alone spoken on live national television.
Then it was said again. And again. And then... there's this...

COURIC: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

PALIN: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land-- boundary that we have with-- Canada. It-- it's funny that a comment like that was-- kind of made to-- cari-- I don't know, you know? Reporters--

COURIC: Mock?

PALIN: Yeah, mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah.

COURIC: Explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials.

PALIN: Well, it certainly does because our-- our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They're in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia--

COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We-- we do-- it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where-- where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is-- from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to-- to our state.

Asinine. Completely asinine.

November needs to get here quick.

Granada

2008-09-21T16:40:00.003-06:00

We had our excursion to Granada this weekend and it was definitely the most fun place I've been to yet. We saw an ancient Arab palace/garden where a Sultan and his four wives and hundred concubines lived in luxury (called the Alhambra.) We also saw the cathedral and the tombs of Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand. You know... those two royals who told Chris Columbus to find India... and instead they found, uh you know, the place where we now live...

It also had a wicked cool market hidden in the walls downtown, with lots of Moroccan and Indian stores with Arab styled stuff. I was really close to buying a huge tapestry... but I stopped myself and settled on a purse, wallet, and ring instead.

The night we stayed there was a blast... we had a huge group of the students hanging out together in a park where random people from the city were playing live music. We were just having some drinks and dancing and talking until about 4 in the morning... all in the view of the lit up Alhambra in the distance.
It just rocked... hard.

So, here's some teaser pictures. I haven't had the time to wait for the photos to upload on Shutterfly yet, so check back for the entire album in a few days.

We also went to the bullfight tonight, and I have to say that I enjoyed it... quite a bit. I know the blatant blood and death is a bit hard for people to take, but I really had a great time. The artistry and tradition behind it was pretty cool, and I personally just had a real appreciation for the athleticism and sheer... balls that somebody who does this has to have.
I was somewhat sad, watching literally GALLONS of blood coming out of multiple wounds from this animal... but it's tradition and culture here. Period.

Hopefully I start my Spanish internship tomorrow (working at a daycare... I'm hoping the 2 - 4 year old vocabulary will equal and improve my own, haha) I'm just waiting on a contract to be written up for me to give to the lady.. When that happens I'll be working 3 hours everyday... I would work more to get it over more quickly... but siesta really screws that up.

The package I received from my Mama and Nana this week was a welcome of things I needed from the States: Namely... Cheez-Itz, Sweettarts, and Salsa/Green Chile.
I'm already out of the two boxes of Cheez-Itz. They tasted like heaven.

Hasta luego,

-Brit

And I can see Russia from my house!

2008-09-14T17:33:00.000-06:00

It's too good.

Mosque/Cathedral and a brief note about food

2008-09-12T10:07:00.007-06:00

Thanks goes to Ryan, again, for being generally awesome in the ways of picture taking. See his blog for more and witty commentary from a non-Britney perspective. I'll probably be borrowing awesome pics from his site often, I suspect.

That up there is the Mezquita (Spanish for mosque) in Córdoba, Spain. The Mezquita (to steal generously from Wikipedia) is a Roman Catholic cathedral and former mosque situated in the Andalusian city of Córdoba, Spain. Under the rule of Islam, it was built as the second-largest mosque in the world. After the Spanish Reconquista, it was transformed into a church, and some of the Islamic columns and arches were replaced by a basilica in early Baroque style. Today it houses the main church of the diocese of Córdoba in Spain.
The site started being built in 600 AD by the Visigoths as a Christian church. Then Islamic rule began in Spain and it was made and designed as such into a mosque from 784 AD until the Christian's conquered the site and continued to refashion it into a Catholic cathedral in 1236 AD.
The columns you see up there were built from a Roman temple, that occupied the area previously.
Our History of Spain teacher said that the mosque was so extraordinary and beautiful that the Christians who conquered it didn't have the heart to destroy it, as they should have and were ordered to do so by the Pope, but reconciled the act by building the Baroque style basilica in the middle of the whole thing.
The Christians, as is there general solution to said problems I suspect, just had to come in and throw up gold over every thing. Ha.

Seriously, these are the things that I walk through now.

The Mezquita (and really, all the cathedrals I've seen so far) are really overwhelming. They are like... physically and mentally daunting because of their size and everything that was made in it.
We're talking about gold being everywhere, ancient/historic relics, and the fact that people have been walking in it for almost 1000 years. Then there's the fact that such a thing was built back then, without modern technology.
Leaving that place was almost frustrating, because I knew that my pictures could not capture it. It was futile and nobody would understand what it was like to stand there in it, unless you had actually been there.

I updated the picture site with all the pictures from the trip and at the end there are a few from our first Sevilla tour of the Spanish palace and cathedral. My camera ended up dying at the very beginning of the tour, so I'm hoping to go back there at some point to take more.

This weekend was our first without any planned excursions and I could not be happier about it. A lot of the students went to Cadíz today to lay on the beaches, but I was really excited about not leaving my room at all today (except for a nice jog later) and also my money situation at the moment is one that a day trip to Cadíz wouldn't really be practical.
We're all staying two days and nights in Lagos, Portugal to spend all weekend at the beaches in a couple weeks, so I'm not terribly hurt at taking it easy in Sevilla this weekend. I want to go see a movie that I've already seen in English in Spanish sometime and I'm also trying to find a time to go to Mass at the cathedral on either Saturday or Sunday.

This week Adrianna and I set out on a mission to meet Seviallanos: Locals that might befriend us. Our initial idea that set out in the discotecas and bars was just not working, (too loud, sometimes too forward, as usual) so her brilliant new plan was to take place on the basketball court down the street from our house.
The plan was successful, mostly. I learned that, like math and emergency sirens, basketball is beautiful... because it's the same in every country.
Also, both being 5'8", we're usually taller than everyone we meet... male or female. In heels, at a club, we stand out (or up, rather) pretty bad.

Although, last night we went to a club called Buddha for their international night. We weren't exactly ecstatic about meeting more Americans, although I do often find the event intriguing. She and I were sitting alone at one of the couches outside and I turned to her and said, "If anybody comes and sits next to us, let's only talk in Spanish." So, we sit there for a minute and sure enough a large group of Americans that we spotted from a mile away came over and sat next to us. (I can pick out Americans here like they're lepers amongst royalty, btw.)
They were talking to us in broken Spanish for a bit, actually thought we were from Sevilla until I had to tell them my name and didn't think to lie to them about it. It was pretty funny when they realized we were actually American's too. And apparently people from California (they were all from Cal Poly) like New Mexico.
Strange.

My meals here are spoiling me... and I think my host mom really loves me because I eat everything she hands me and I'm usually the one at the table that will eat the most. Since we really only sit down for two meals a day and snacking isn't very popular here, they're really my only times to gain sustenance. A woman's gotta eat, damn it!
On top of that, what she makes is generally phenomenal. I think I convinced her to show me how to make the cold tomato soup she makes, which is my favorite.
But, for example, today for lunch we had fish, potatoes, tomatoes all baked in olive oil and fresh bread. After every entree, we always have fruit for dessert... either melon, watermelon, grapes, peaches, apples, plums, etc. The melon is my favorite and the watermelon rocks also, but the grapes... are the greatest things I've ever tasted, fruit-wise... ever. In existence. I cannot explain it. I don't understand why US food doesn't taste this good.

A couple people want to go eat sushi tomorrow and I must confess that I'm curious about the undertaking of eating Japanese cuisine in Spain. It MUST be amazing, since the fish here are abundant... and infinitely superior.

Until the next time I have the will to post,

-Brit

Erizos de Mar

2008-09-03T07:54:00.002-06:00

"Erizos de mar are not poisonous, though if you tread on them their spikes can stick into your foot and get infected."

Yes. Thank you Sharks, Weaver Fish, Jellyfish and Other Dangerous Animals in Seas Around Spain Web site. I got the message.

So, this son of a bitch (un erizo de mar)...

...or sea urchin...

...is what I stepped in while climbing some rocks on a pier in the Mediterranean during our excursion to the beaches of Marbella.
The spikes did indeed stick in my foot! And indeed, they also caused infection.

Want to see really sexy pictures of my war torn feet? Yeah, I knew you did.
That's why I took them.

- Brit

Mi Casa y Ronda/Marbella

2008-08-28T13:23:00.006-06:00

A quick tour of my host family's home here in Sevilla is right below...

Also, I updated the picture site with like, a hundred pictures from our excursion to the cities of Ronda and Marbella on Friday. Ronda was this really neat city where there's one of the oldest bull rings in the country. It also sits on a cliff overlooking the country side and those views were just insane. Absolutely breathtaking.
Marbella is a beach town and a rich one at that. Window shopping there included Versache and Alexander McQueen. There were British people everywhere and a lot of women didn't wear tops. I think I got a shot of the lady laying next to us.
Also, in Marbella, I climbed up this pier of rocks and stepped on a cactus underwater. I didn't realize what it was at first, but after two days of not being able to walk on my right foot and an extensive self-surgery involving a safety pin, I have discovered the dreaded splinter of said ocean cactus.
My toe is still throbbing and twice it's normal size, so I'm pretty sure there's another one.
Bueno.

Enjoy the pics and the video!

-Brit

ALMOST FORGOT! My address here is...

Texas Tech University
Recaredo 44
41003 Sevilla, Spain

Yeah, I'm still in Spain.

2008-08-28T12:41:00.006-06:00

Mom told me that I needed to upload more photos of Spain. To be honest, I haven't really taken any just yet, because I've been preoccupied with other things (and also, remember, I'm going to be in Sevilla itself for another 3 months...) so, I asked mi amigo nuevo Ryan (who is a professional photographer in Lubbock! Check out his Web site at rgibbs.com) if I could steal the picture of me he took walking into the Cathedral in the middle of the city...

Soooooo, there. Take that. Chew on it. (Click it to make mas grande!)

I've thought about it... and I've decided that I should begin every post with a statement that will really hook you from the get go, you know? Something that will make sure, that no matter how boring or insane my following words may be, you'll still be ensnared into reading the entire post.

So, today. I ate Cheetos that were Cheese and Ketchup flavored.
Sounds disgusting right?
Yeah. They kinda were. But I paid a whole Euro for them, so you better believe I ate the whole bag.

Oh yeah, and yesterday? I got my first, fully official hit on by a Spaniard, who wasn't that bad looking.
But, it was just not meant to be. Our star-crossed love could never be.
Wondering why?

Alright, in Spain, people in general are just much more forward. They're not going to beat around the bush or anything... they'll just tell you like it is. It's pretty refreshing, actually, but just imagine men running around in cars and on scooters with no will to hold back...
They say "Guapa" all the time, is what happens. To all girls, for the most part. But, just so you know how common it is, I hear it or see it being mouthed at me, at least 10 times a day. Depending how long I'm out walking the streets.
It's not, you know, terrible to here yourself being called "guapa" all day. Not gonna lie, it's a huge morale booster, but it's just a common thing that happens all the time here.
Anyway, yesterday I'm walking to my new favorite store called "Zara". (Seriously, everyone would worship this store if it was anywhere near where we all lived.) I needed to take back a pair of shoes I had bought, because they were two different sizes. So, I'm walking through an ally across a street to the next ally and I walk in front of a car with a guy in it and he mouths "guapa" at me.
On this particular day I had done my hair and was wearing my shorts and pretty red shoes, so I looked pretty good, but still the abruptness of it just made me laugh, so I like smile/laughed at him. Well, he took that as a go-ahead, I guess...
He honks his horn at me a couple times, but when I keep walking he parks his car (illegally, like blocking an entryway) and gets out and yells at me, motioning for me to come to him.
Now, at this point I'm more then flattered, but I'm curious... nobody has gone to these lengths before... might as well, I dunno, exchange names and say 'Hola' to the guy who just got out of his still running car to chase me down, right?

(Remember, this conversation is in Spanish... and because I don't remember it word for word, is somewhat paraphrased)

We say hi and and calls me "muy guapa" and I say thank you. He then asks me a question so fast and so very Spain accented that I don't understand a word, so I tell him that I'm an American. He lets me know that he doesn't speak a lick of English and I tell him I know very little Spanish.
He then asks me (for the first of a thousand times) if he can give me a ride. I tell him no, but thank you. He says "please", in English, which is the only word he knew in English. This goes on for quite a bit, where I'm just repeating "No, gracias" and giggling, probably like an annoying school girl from an Anime show.
He then kind of gives up on the ride thing (for a moment) and asks me if I'm staying at a hotel. I tell him that I live in Nervion (my neighborhood) with a family.
So then, in all his stunning glory, he gives me the most original "line" I have ever received from a man. Ever.

"Would you like to go to a hostel with me on Friday?"

This was his pick-up line. This was him asking me out on a first date.
He wanted to have sex with me in a hostel.
I'm not gonna lie... I thought it was the funniest thing ever. My face was probably hysterical too. That actual part of the convo went exactly like this:

Hombre: (He askes me the question. I understand "hostel" "with me" and "Friday".)
Me: Uhhhhhh.... el hostel?
Hombre: Si.
Me: Aqui?
Hombre: Si.
Me: Contigo???
Hombre: Si.
Me: ...... Nooooooooooooooooooo.....

So then, in my very broken Spanish, I have to explain to him that I never have had sex... nor will I until marriage.
Imagine me telling him this. In retarded Spanglish. Blushing and hot from the sun and almost laughing constantly.
Imagine it.

When he finally understood what I was saying he asked "Nunca?!" and when I said yeah he asked me how old I was and when I told him that I was 22 years old and didn't have sex, I swear he looked like I had just told him that he was adopted... and not only that... but his parents were martians from the great galaxies beyond. Or something.

So, so, so funny. I cannot get over how funny it was.

Alright, so that's my funny story of the week. Some other things I kind of wanted to share:

* There are three trees native to Spain (specifically the Andalucia area.) One of them is the orange tree (you haven't had good orange juice yet, trust me) and one of them is the palm tree (because during the daytime, Sevilla feels like you are literally walking on the sun.)
* My class (only class really, at the moment) is Children's Literature, where we just finished reading "El Patito Feo" or "The Ugly Duckling" and it is kicking my ass like you wouldn't believe. In a good way.
* Fans are pretty much stationary accessories with the women here in Sevilla and just had to buy one. See picture below. It's become like my security blanket.
* My hours, though no longer jet lagged, are extremely different for me. All week I've been going to bed at 10:30 pm and then waking up at 6:30 am to go jogging at 7 am, and then do homework, get ready, and eat breakfast between 8 am and 10 am before getting to class by 10:30 am. Early bird is just not what I am, so this turn of events is extremely concerning.
* Mi mama Rosario, is like, the greatest cook ever. I could do for more spice, in everything, but she is spoiling the crap out of me with all of these awesome home cooked meals. Cold Soup? So good. SO GOOD.
* The scheduling Spain keeps is about 3 hours later than the US. Like, Lunch at our house is at 3 pm and dinner is around 9:30 at night. It's far more to my liking... but still, strange.

That's all I can think of for the moment. I'm taking in so much at once that it's hard for me to organize my thoughts in any form or fashion.
Maybe it will dull with time?
(I hope not.)

-Brit

¡Caray!

2008-08-22T17:48:00.002-06:00

I've been in Spain, what... four days? Yeah and I just have so much to say it's not even possible. Writing so much in English is bad for me anyway, so a quick recap...

I woke up on Monday at noon, packed and got ready all day and night and left Lubbock for Houston on the very first flight of the day at 5 am.
My plane in Houston left at 8:50 am and it arrived in Newark at 1:30 pm local time.
I decided to take the train to New York and walk around for a few hours during my hella long layover and then my plane ended up taking off at around 10 pm, on its way to Madrid. That flight took 6 and a half hours.
At this point... I've had about a five hour nap combined since I woke up on Monday... and now it's Tuesday for me... around 11 am when I arrive in Madrid.
I take a taxi to the train station. My taxi driver was a sweetheart. He really worked with me as far as talking slower and making sure I knew what he was saying and such. He was just very friendly and a great way for me to meet somebody for the first time in Spain. At the train station, I ended up running into three other Tech students, who noticed me because I was wearing my Texas Tech shirt (thank God). So, Micah, Pete, and Latoya waited for our train to Sevilla which was set to leave at 1 pm. If you're trying to keep track, that means it was 5 am in New Mexico as I was taking the train to Sevilla. Also, during this train ride, was when the plane crash occurred at the Madrid airport, where I had just been. I didn't even hear about it until dinner that night, at around 8:30 pm, so between those 7 hours I believe my mom went through a small panic attack.
Orientation has dominated these past few days. All useful information, but to be honest, all I've been wanting to do is sleep. Siestas are the greatest invention ever, fyi. I don't understand why they're not required worldwide.
So far, the food is excellent. I had been told I should worry about what I would be eating, but I really haven't had one thing I didn't like. Spanish food uses lots of seafood, chicken, ham, salad, fruit, hardboiled eggs, and fresh bread.
Give me a little bit of green chile and I'd call that perfecto.
I met my host family today: Rosario and Ricardo. Also, my roommate Adrianna, as well. Everyone is delightful... and extremely patient with my lack of proficiency. Adrianna spent all summer in Mexico and has also spent a few months in Ecuador, so the girl is basically fully fluent. Our host mom and dad love her more than me right now, I think. But, I told Adrianna not to talk to me in English, and the host family can't do that ever anyway, so I'm hoping my brain can catch on fast. Actually, just in this one day of being completely immersed, it has become a lot easier to listen and understand.
I think I'm still just frustrated that I can't express myself very well. And you all should know how much I enjoy expressing myself...

Anyway, tomorrow we're taking our first trip to Italica... which is the ruins of an old Roman city.
Yeah. I'm going to be walking around in Roman ruins. Be jealous. I might chant 'Maximus' as I walk around, I haven't decided yet.

As far as pictures go, I have set up THIS SITE via Shutterfly. It's much easier to operate, and if I may say so, muy bonita.
The address is http://britinspain.shutterfly.com

Finally, I've also set up a phone number through Skype. With this phone number, even if I'm not at my computer, you can still call and leave me a message and I'll get back to you! Please remember the time difference, however. Right now, as I'm writing this it is 3:15 am in Sevilla.... which means it's 7:15 pm in New Mexico and 8:15 pm in Texas.
The number for this phone is: (505) 349-5809

I miss and love everyone, but not really that much... right now... heh....

- Brit

Are you there Mommy? It's me; Precious...

2008-08-11T02:26:00.008-06:00

Sorry to take away from Aunt Britney's blogging... but I, Precious, needed to vent. And what Precious wants... Precious gets.

Seriously, Mom... Dad... I'm glad you got married and all, but please come home soon.

Aunt Britney has put flowers everywhere! They're on tables and hanging from curtain rods or closet racks. It's becoming concerning, all the changes.

See what I'm talking about? The women is crazy. Place looks disheveled. Very un-Mommy like. I, the all cute and powerful Precious, am distraught.

Seriously. Get your butts home. There's no way that Caribbean is cuter than your baby...

No way.

XOXOXOXOXOX, Precious the Perfect Princess

Wedding de Mussett

2008-08-09T23:33:00.002-06:00

Today was one of my closet friends' weddings. I met Emily on my VERY first tour at Tech when we were both Juniors in high school. Miraculously, she and I ended up living four doors down from each other in the same hallway in our Freshman dorms. Her father, Wayne, pointed out that there is no coincidence... that God places us where we're meant to be placed.
PS... I love her parents.

Jordan was my roommate last year and I really do cherish him as a friend. I know that's somewhat cliche and dumb... but Lord is it true. He and I, personality wise, just really click and understand each other. I don't know how else to explain how much I like that kid.

Anyway, they got married today... and it was my first real experience being in a wedding party for one of my close friends... and it was amazing. The ceremony was beautiful and went really smooth. Emily looked breathtaking. It was just... an extremely awesome experience. It was such a joy to be apart of it.

On that note, Emily asked me like two years ago if I would write something at her wedding when she ended up getting married. I agreed, though frighteningly so.
Here is the work I put together for them and I hope it just held up to her expectations...

Mr. and Mrs.

“The hasty multitude Admiring entered; the work some praise and some the Architect, His hand was known in Heaven by many a towered structure high.”
-- Paradise Lost

God set the date, the hour—but he had to smooth the concrete slab first.

Clarity does not exist in the beginning, as you tiptoe
around on the balls of your feet, blindly plotting
a fragmented blueprint being methodically sketched.
Soil must be surveyed, staked, prepared—where foundation
can craft the course of an aligning aesthetic.

If she was Baroque, and he a spirit of Romanesque—then
what our Architect has fashioned here
today is an amalgamation.

Merging walls of paint and plaster, God has slowly
structured a soul built of two. I saw how He would
assemble in the middle of wind and rainstorms,
watching skylights break beneath His feet—and yet devoid
of missteps or dissuasion, continue on with His design.

Chiaroscuro lighting and opulent ornaments
can collide together with an alteration of piers and columns,
consequently complimenting a new thing to splendor—

the complete and total conception of this new union, together.

There are times when I find myself, easily and often, believing that love cannot exist on this Earth—that God cannot have his hands in such a thing of architecture.

But every time the part of Romanesque mutters a dry quip, making his Baroque side giggle in chimes—like an organic lattice lacing together—I remember.

I remember over and over again.

Love conquers all...

-Brit

Hilarious.

2008-08-04T12:10:00.003-06:00

Jon Stewart broadcasts the new "Dick Move of the Week" segment...
Attack adds comparing a Columbia and Harvard graduate to a narcissistic, worthless human being and the most famous delinquent mother in the free world? Really? Really.

There, I said it.

2008-07-25T13:36:00.003-06:00

I don't like to talk about politics. I know that may sound odd coming from me, but it's true. I never wrote an opinion column about it, I never decorate my car with crap, and to be honest I never broach the subject of politics, or my personal political beliefs, with anyone... except my mother.
Who then told everyone.

So... in the spirit of me being me... I begin my shameless propaganda.

Banner for Barack Obama Come help get him elected.

I'm just a bit of a hypochondriac

2008-07-01T00:07:00.002-06:00

Whenever I have some kind of random symptom-type thing going on I always google it to see if some type of life ending disease or syndrome pops up.

One time (a few years back) I was laying in bed and my legs suddenly felt like they had been invaded, inside and out, by millions of little ants crawling all over me. It was a terrible, annoying feeling... and it was google that let me know that Restless Leg Syndrome does actually exist. (It hasn't happened since, though.)

A few months back, around the mid-semester point, I was noticing that despite getting plenty of sleep and nutrition I was constantly yawning, about every 10 seconds, from the moment I got up, until the second I fell asleep.
Google said something about it being related to stress/depression disorders.
Go figure.

So, that leads me to the recent spell of hypochondria. One that is recent, though recently frequent as well, not to mention having some (perhaps) genetic background.

The last week and a half, I have had four dreams that I can remember which somehow involve me getting into a physical altercation or fight of some sort.

The first was probably last weekend, or maybe even just last Monday, and the dream involved my dear, sweet cousin Eddy Jon. In this particular dream Eddy was irritating me in some fashion (really not a huge stretch of the imagination, actually) and I woke up as in the dream, and in real time, I punched him.
In real time, I just hit my poor pillow with all my might.

The second dream involved a kidnapper of some kind... one that I sort of jabbed at and ended up hitting the end table towards my side of the bed.

The third dream I can't really remember... but it involved me hitting somebody and my victim turned out to be my Mother this time.

She said the next morning, "Another way that you're just like your father? You beat me up in your sleep."

Years ago (I'd say 10 or 12) my Dad had a dream that he was beating up some old man in a parking lot. Mama woke up to a crushing punch to the stomach... two, I think... before saying "What the hell?!" and Dad woke up, apologizing up and down.
It happened during a week when a number of strange things were going on in the house.
Strange things that we Christians like to refer to as... supernatural. I suppose.

So, this morning, I had my fourth violent also real-time dream. It involved me kneeing some guy in the groin and my knee slashed upwards in the bed in a menacing display.

Well... I had to google it. Four occurrences in a weeks worth of time? Surely somebody had done some kind of research on it!

In a person with REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD), the paralysis that normally occurs during REM sleep is incomplete or absent, allowing the person to "act out" his or her dreams. RBD is characterized by the acting out of dreams that are vivid, intense, and violent. Dream-enacting behaviors include talking, yelling, punching, kicking, sitting, jumping from bed, arm flailing, and grabbing. An acute form may occur during withdrawal from alcohol or sedative-hypnotic drugs.
RBD is usually seen in middle-aged to elderly people (more often in men).

Go figure I'd be an exception.

This weekend I was in Lubbock with Sypria helping Emmy out with her bridal portraits. She looked stunning and it really got me more excited for her actual wedding. When they first started taking pictures I mentioned that I was getting a little "verklempt" and it was not a lie, really. Being the first of my closest friends to get married, and me being so heavily involved in it, is somewhat daunting. Even emotionally in some ways.
I swear I won't cry at the wedding, Em. You know me. I'll make fun of you if you do!

I have a funny story to tell you all about how I woke up this morning... but it will have to wait for a moment when I don't have a headache at 1am, because I'm just ready to pass out.

Hopefully I'll sleep hard enough to bypass the whole violent, apocalyptic scenario dreams I've been having lately.
(Surely having dreams about kicking the shit out of people and/or the world ending in violent chaos are good signs, yes?)

Much love,

Brit

Wal-Mart pick up lines... the hilarity ensues.

2008-06-26T01:57:00.004-06:00

Ashley Christine and I bond in mundanely awesome ways. Sometimes we venture to the top of Sandia Peak to sit on rocks, smoke cigars, and marvel at the city lights. Other times we sit on the couch and watch CSI or Law and Order for a couple hours. Once she needed to go shopping so we went to Trader Joe's and had a field day in organic goodness.

Tonight... we made a 10:45pm Wal-Mart run.

I wanted to buy some straightening serum for my wildly unruly hair. I leave a more humid climate and the crap still gives me grief... and anyway, I'll be in such a humid state being so close to the Mediterranean in Spain that I might as well get well equipped ahead of time.

For the record, Ashley needed deodorant. She'll be thrilled that I shared that with you.

That being said, we were staring at the Nexxus hair products for awhile, trying to figure out exactly what I needed for aforementioned ridiculous hair.
As we're standing there (and try to imagine us standing right in front of one of those annoying poles that sticks right in the middle of the isle) somebody comes around the corner in one of those motorized Wally World motor chair things.
Now, since we're standing so near this pole in the middle of the lane, we both kind of glance back to make sure he doesn't need us to move, since we are kind of standing on the larger of the two sides of the isle.

I don't really get a look at the guy, probably from some innate fear that this crippled/old/somehow-decrepit person will take my glance and ensuing look-down as some kind of judgment, but Ashley being Ashley looks that fool up and down.
He tries to maneuver around the small side of the isle, his motorized little car barely squeezing between shelves of hairspray and a really random, useless metal pole... and I start to feel guilty about making this poor, helpless fellow have to move around us.
Then I notice, mere seconds before Ashley begins to laugh... this young African-American guy driving the motor cart is just that:

Young.
Not crippled.
Kinda cute.
Sporting some bling-bling. Ice around his neck, if you will...

He starts giggling too and then once free of his tight spot drives to the end of the lane and then proceeds to hit on Ashley and I.

(We were perplexed by this, both being grunged out in wife beaters and work out shorts and no make-up.)

He asks if we go to UNM... we explain that Ashley does, but I go to Texas Tech...
He explains that he played basketball at NMSU, but is now transferring to go to school at UNM...
He asks if he can call us to find out where good places are to hang out on the weekends in Albuquerque...
He asks us, VERY CONCERNED, how old we are. Ashley laughs and says, "Oh, making sure we're legal, are you?" and he replied with a very honest, "Yup." or something like that. We tell him we're 22... he says he's the same...
He then promptly asks if that's OK and if we can hang out with black people, to which I respond (NO JOKE), "Oh, I love me the black folk." ...
He gets my number, labels it B&A, and then sets off once again in his motor cart on a deep, difficult search for cologne. Apparently.

Ashley and I last about eight seconds before we both fall to a crouching position, both very, very quietly, giggling massively at the sheer hilariousness.

You cannot make this shit up. It's like a Charlie Murphy True Hollywood Story.
I feel like I just played Prince in Basketball... and lost... and then he made me some pancakes.

GOD I love New Mexico!

Britney

Truth fact.

2008-06-25T00:37:00.002-06:00

I long to have a career like Conan O'Brien's...

I have decided to start blogging regularly again. I had forgotten, until tonight when I gave the ole profile a makeover, how much it really helps my mind not go a little crazy... from time to time.

Just... throwing up on paper again. It releases some sort of deep tension in my stomach.

Also, since I'll be going to Spain in about a month and a half (frighting, I know) I thought it would be a good idea to start up before the trip, so I can gather a following before I get over there. So to speak.

I'm trying to find a home for my cat, much to my dismay. When I explained to my mom that I was doing this tears welled up in my eyes.
Yes. I'm THAT girl.
Don't get me wrong, I love this cat more than any dog I've ever owned. She's like my first child, no doubt... just insanely less difficult.
That being said, she is a BIT difficult. Combine her difficulty with my mother and Nana's hatred for her difficultness... well... all I'm saying is that there have been death/opening-a-door-to-let-her-wander-off threats and I wouldn't exactly doubt Nana doing one day, if pushed.
Especially since I get the feeling that she really doesn't like ME much more than Leia. True story.

If anybody I know reads this and is even MINIMALLY interested in rescuing my baby... please give me a call/text/facebook/aim shout out.

In other news, I have a job this week. Tues-Fri working the Brian Urlacher football camp at University Stadium. I actually met him today. He just sort of walked by my mom and I and said, "Hi. I'm Brian."
I think the simultaneous thought that shifted through both of our heads were, "Uhhhh... yes. Yes, you are."
Then he shook our hands and mom introduced us and the giant defense-laden man hand of Brian Urlacher tried to give me a Vulcan death grip via hand shake greeting.
I squeezed him right back, don't worry. My hands are long and skinny... but like tiny little ninjas. (Thumb War Champion, Ms. Pena's class, circa 2002)

Basically at the camp I'm the hotter, more scantily clad, non-retarded Bobby Boucher. Except, instead of coolers of REAL water, I have thousands of dumb little bottles of Vitamin Water to be kept fully stocked withing giant containers of ice at all times.
Apparently, according to the 8-year-old group... the orange flavor kicks ass.

Alas, I'm tired... and I still want to force my self to do this Tae Bo video because I still have 9 pounds to get rid of to be 130 (my target weight... which was changed from 125, because I'm starting to believe it's not possible. 5'8" and 114 lb Paris Hilton is a moronic freak of slut-driven nature.)

Cheers,

Brit

I should have gone yogging...

2008-06-12T01:14:00.003-06:00

...but instead I watched 'Daily Show' videos online for about three hours straight.

Because Jon Stewart makes me happy.

What I do find interesting about this clip is how American civil religiosity still dominates the common media pundit's general vocabulary.
Now, this comes from a girl who when asked in an interview what three people (alive or dead) she would like to sit and have a conversation with, answered:

1) President Abraham Lincoln
2) Queen Elizabeth I
3) Ghandi

However, when the guy is played up as the savior of the African-American race, I always like to keep in perspective what a terrible, terrible job a good and decent man like Lincoln had walked himself into...

"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that."

There is no judgment in this corner. Even I have to respect the awesomeness of our mythic civil religion.
It's... kinda the only mythology we can believe in.
Other than Star Wars.

Back in Burque

2008-05-12T11:50:00.003-06:00

So, I ventured away from Lubbock last Friday, never to be back again. (Except in two weeks when I have to go back to turn in my paperwork for my Spanish Visa... or on June 29th when I'm going back to help Emily with her bridal portraits... or on August 6th through August 18th when I'll be there for the wedding event of the year/working at Gateway...)

I digress.

Moving was a terrible, terrible experience. When Jordan and I signed our lease (pre-me-working-for-the-place) I vehemently demanded we get a room on the first floor. It's not that I mind actually walking up stairs... quite to the contrary, I enjoy stair walking. I always walk two-steps at a time so I can get a minuscule, nice gluts workout. The problem I had with stairs, and what ended up being my third floor apartment, was all of the STUFF I owned that would need to be (FIRST) carried up three flights of stairs, then (SECOND) carried down.

A 50 pound Sony big screen, a similarly weighty Love Sac, a solid oak desk that my other great-grandfather built with his bare hands, my wood furniture that was bought for me when I was a week old, the skinny bookcase my Mom bought for me in Mississippi... not to mention the 300 gallons of MASS that IS my clothing collection.

I just have way to much crap, is what it comes down to.

Regardless, my father, Pop, and I all survived the treacherous move. I mostly made the 89 year-old great-grandfather sit off to the side so I wasn't worried about his well-being. Then I worked the 48 year-old father like... well... like a mule.
I'm actually really impressed he could walk up and down those stairs constantly for six hours while hauling box after crap-filled-box and still live to tell the tale.
Apparently he is ready to be a paramedic again. Lord knows he has the tenacity for it.
Though, he did admit he was quite sore the next day.

The drive back was kinda awful... only because I had gotten about 2.5 hours of sleep the night before, as I was still trying to pack and such.

A five hour drive on no sleep, alone, with only your cat to keep you company? Not fun. Eddie Izzard, as always, did keep me awake for a good three hours though.
The man is a god.

On the way back I went faster than the truck/trailer... mostly because I'm impatient, but also because I needed to run to Wal-Mart before I went home. As I was driving into the parking lot, my phone rings:

Me: What?
Dad: Do you want the good news... or the bad news?
Me: Ohhhhh geez. The bad news.
Dad: Your bag of shoes fell out of the trailer.
Me: Ohhhhh GOD..... *enter groans and moans*

Now, granted. I'm not a complete freak about shoes like most girls (or my mother... or Danielle... or Emily, for that matter...) but, I can't lie, they are an important part of my existence.
The two pairs of shoes I was REALLY concerned about were the brand new red tennis shoes Mom bought me for Valentine's Day and the $80 silver high-heels she bought from Dillards.

Dad said a few pairs were salvaged (THREE... actually) so I ran over to see what shoes I had left.

Thankfully, the silver heels were saved, which at the end of the day, were the most important. A few days later Dad was bragging about how he saved the best pair and I countered with, "You didn't save them. GOD did."
He laughed.

The Valentine's sneakers were gone though... but my older pair of pink sneakers were salvaged. The last pair were some flip flops... and then there were 3 singles: A left slip-resistant work shoe (DAMN IT), a left house slipper, and a left bowling shoe.

NEAT... right?

Anyway, the happy ending is (of course) the good news that Dad delivered after telling me the dreaded bad news:

Me: *continuing to groan and moan and bitch... basically...*
Dad: So you want the good news?
Me: Yeah, what is it?
Dad: You get to buy some new shoes....

Touche Daddy. TOUCHE.

Other than that exciting story, I haven't been up to much.
I took Mom out to dinner for Mother's Day. It was a really nice dinner/time until we started arguing politics.
We should, you know, probably stop bringing it up...

Today I'm going on the dreaded job search about town... looking for another waiting job to steal the last pieces of my soul away.
I'm going to hit up Olive Garden first, since it would be the easiest, but then I want to look around at some of the finer establishments that Albuquerque has to offer: PF Changs, Ticanos... um... Outback?
Ect.

Then Dad and I are supposed to work out and I also have to look into finally getting Leia fixed... so when I secretly bring home another cat my Mama can't do anything about.

*enter maniacal laughing*

It's nice to finally know where East is again.

- Brit

Cute kiddies

2007-11-28T00:22:00.000-07:00

My family has always been blessed with the production of pretty babies.

My cousin Deminica -- after growing out of that whole "I'm-a-premi-that-only-weighs-one-pound-and-can-fit-in-the-palm-of-your-hand" stage -- was a real cute kid.
Jeffery, too, was always one of the cutest kids you could pick out.
(And now... I think he's a little too hot... especially for a Drumm-Hugaboom or Hugaboom-Drumm... however he might hyphenate that name, if he hyphenated it. Which, coincidently, he does not...

... I digress....)

On the other side of the family, the twins, outside of the pure fact that they are TWINS and are therefore destined to be cute by simple fact of proxy, actually won a Halloween contest when they were a mere 4 months old based on their cuteness! That has to say something.

And, as for me, I was the first grandchild on both sides. I was also the ONLY grandchild on Dad's side for a full year-and-a-half and on Mom's side until I was 6.
Needless to say... I got told I was cute for a long, long time. And, although I might be biased: I've seen high school/college pictures of both Mom and Dad.
They were hot shit.
Probably why I'm a tad on the cocky side when it comes to my cuteness. I've never claimed I was beautiful... I know where my rank stands (a solid 8... perhaps a high 7) so, I'm not THAT cocky, I suppose.
But, I'm willing to proclaim for all to hear... I was a damn fine baby.
Don't believe me... or can't recall the memories of my absolute cuteness as a toddler? Fear not, I have one picture on file.

I know, right? It's Mom's favorite picture of me, actually.

Anyway, I was just thinking earlier (and by earlier, I mean for as long as I can remember...) about how my children are going to be the cutest children you've ever seen in your entire life.
I know I'm destined and required to think this about my children, regardless, but I mean this seriously: My babies will be so cute they'll be little baby models.
I'm calling it -- right now.
As a mother, you can't actually admit (to yourself or anyone else) that you made an ugly baby. Nine months and a full day of agony CANNOT equal an ugly kid.
You are OBLIGATED by your position of Mother Prime to claim (and BELIEVE) that your child is pretty.

Unless you are MY parents... then you have (and later document in a baby book) this conversation:

"She's pretty ugly, isn't she?" <-- (Vicky. Way to be a team player, Mother...)
"She's different." <-- (Woodrow. Nice, Dad. Thanks for the support!)

All I'm saying... is even though this baby, in my opinion, takes the cake as hottest child ever born (up to this point...)

(... and I only say up until this point because we haven't been able to see what THIS couple will produce yet...)

.... my babies will be cuter.

And play sports.

And have high GPAs, never misbehave, or argue with me.

...or I kill them...

...with my BARE HANDS....

Emmy's Getting Married!

2007-11-14T15:15:00.001-07:00

Miss Emily Fletcher (whom I call Emmy) and my roommate Jordan are getting married next year on August 9th! (<-- Jess's B-Day)

Check out her website here... http://emilyandjordan.wedquarters.com

AND look at the bridesmaids dresses... of which I will get to wear for the first time ever! Woo!

Back of Dress

Truer words...

2007-11-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

.... glare

2007-09-07T18:10:00.000-06:00

Check out this BS...

ENGL 4301:

August Wilson, Gem of the Ocean
August Wilson, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
August Wilson, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
August Wilson, The Piano Lesson
August Wilson, Seven Guitars
August Wilson, Fences
August Wilson, Two Trains Running (in coursepack)
August Wilson, Jitney
August Wilson, King Hedley II
August Wilson, Radio Golf

ENGL 4313:

James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans (1826)
Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony (1977)
Zane Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage (1912)
Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian (1985)
Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior (1979)
Jimmy Santiago Baca, Black Mesa Poems (1989)
Jane Tompkins, West of Everything: The Inner Life of Westerns (1991)

POLS 2302:

John Locke, Two Treatises of Government
Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, The Federalist
Robert Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Bank War
Mark E. Neely, The Fate of Liberty
Robert Shogan, Hard Bargain
Louis Fisher, Presidential War Power
Georgio Agamben, State of Exception

Elephant Butte at the Shaw'ski

2007-07-16T11:05:00.000-06:00

The photo album can be found by clicking...

HERE

and then, of course, there's this little clip...

Aries: The Amorous Nature

2007-06-28T01:51:00.001-06:00

YOU AND THE ARIES WOMAN

If you fall in love with an Aries woman, you'll never lack for excitement. But are you the kind of man who can handle a full-blooded independent, forceful female? Because that's what Aries woman is.

This passionate, intense creature can't give a tepid response. She's a fully stocked fireplace, with logs, kindling, and paper, waiting for the touch of a match to set her on fire.

In her relations with men she is domineering. You can either accept it or leave. If you stay, you've made the first concession on a long road. At the end, you're likely to find you've been molded and shaped to fit her image of what her love should be.

What Aries woman wants, she gets. When a man meets an irresistible force like her, he tends to become a highly movable object.

She needs love and gets more than her share, but no man becomes her lord and master. She meets a man on equal terms. If he offers loyalty, she repays him in kind. If he is untrustworthy, she also repays him in kind.

In love she will be faithful, but she expects total fidelity in return. Her jealousy is rooted in possessiveness. She doesn't want a lover who has too many other interests. She wants all of him—or nothing at all.

There is an important distinction to make about her jealousy that may be useful in helping to understand her fundamental character. She isn't jealous because of a feeling of insecurity (the root cause of most jealousy, but because she has to be number one.

The Aries woman finds happiness in a long term relationship. She enjoys sharing everything with a lover and she is highly affectionate, even sentimental. She will be your staunchest ally, fight side by side with you, believe in you, encourage you. She's a marvelous companion for a man on the way up or fighting to stay at the top because she'll give him all the strength and determination she has. She's definitely ambitious.

When she does not feel she is loved she can become shrill and demanding. Above all, she won't tolerate being ignored or neglected. The straight road to perdition is a relationship with an unhappy Aries woman.

She wants to be understood and appreciated for her unique qualities. If you handle her with tact and give her the admiration she needs, this vivacious, active, mischievous, sensual, fascinating woman will do anything you ask.

(I AM the creepy cat lady)

2007-06-15T02:28:00.000-06:00

Oh crap.

How did this happen?

I hated cats. Hated.
We were bitter, mortal enemies... and then one day Gata followed the boys home.
Then the whore got knocked up.
Then her kittens turned out to be beautiful.
And of course, two days before they were born, I dreamt about one of her kittens, that I ended up falling in love with (in the dream.) It had orange patches all over it, which at the time I thought to be really strange and unlikely from actually happening.
And THEN Gata's first born child turned out to be Leia.

Crap.

Anyway, I keep taking pictures of her or us. It's getting ridiculous, but she's so freakin' cute... and I'm not too bad either, if I do say so.
I also have a video I'm trying to upload so you can see her in action.
I feel like she and I are so much prettier in motion...

You're allowed to make fun of me. I expect that.
Shoot... if roles were reversed I'd have a FIELD DAY!

Astrology: An Ironic Playbook of Joy

2007-06-04T18:23:00.001-06:00

There's this thing on MSN.com where you can check your compatibility with another person, romantically, based on your astrological signs. Me being a stereotypical Aries (even though I still think it's all a bunch of lies) did make me want to play around with it for a bit.
I found this one funny.

Mama... you should too...

Capricorn & Taurus

Courageous, ambitious Earth signs, Taurus and Capricorn seem to be made for each other. Both value financial success and share a love of beauty, of lasting, classical foundations. Capricorn's irony charms the Bull, while the latter's expert sensuality rescues the Capricorn from his or her natural modesty. They enjoy talking together, and communication is excellent. They confide in each other, promising never to offend or betray the other. This could be a perfect couple.

Whatever happens... stays. Apparently.

2007-05-29T15:42:00.000-06:00

I'm planning a Vegas trip.

Well, I've been TRYING to plan a Vegas trip for a while. Getting my girlfriends to commit to a certain time has been troublesome.
My two job schedule doesn't really help the matter.
Neither does my depleted bank account.

Heh.

I've hashed it around and everyone has felt good about a trip during Christmas Break... perhaps New Years. So, I'm planning now. Like a normal, responsible human being.
Please, somebody praise me for such a mature action.

So far, it's been just a girls thing. I don't really want to bring boys. Technically, I don't have a boy to bring anyway... besides The Boys.
I don't know if borderline brothers count.
Regardless, I'm good with an all girls thing. It's looking like this might be the group, pending any dropouts...

Ashley Fate
Jessica
Courtney May
Briana

and then maybe (???)

Ashley Henderson
Logen
Danielle

The change of time really has made it all up in the air.

But, regardless... I'm looking into flights. Tia, I need to speak with your brother about lodging I guess.

I know prostitution is legal there... but does that include MALE prostitution?
Just wondering.
Inquiring, rather.

Oh, I'm kidding.

Fair Trade

2007-05-19T01:11:00.000-06:00

I've had a couple of friends make a comment about criteria they look for in a relationship, regarding that of the past family history...

Basically, they've said that they refuse to get involved with anyone who comes from a broken family.

One person said they simply couldn't relate to the issues that come along with such an occurance happening within a family.
The other (and I'm paraphrasing here) said something along the lines of children from broken families not being able to last in successful relationships... ever.
Broken family kids, as a result, create their own broken families.
No hope. No redemption. Just... an endless cycle of broken families and emotionally retarded people.

A few things I'd like to take a second to comment on...

1) Blow me. And I don't mean that literally. Unfortunatley an incurring relationship that might follow would, by proxy, end in comeplete and utter failure.

2) Statistically 50% of all marriages in the US end in divorce... That number rose within the last century or so, which means that a lot of kids who DID NOT come from broken families, "so-called", had to have ended their little pretend happy lives all by themeselves, without any past divorcee parents to fall back on as reasoning.

3) Everybody's screwed up. The more I grow and meet new people the more I realize how true this is. For some people, a lot of people, those issues began with family. It might be a "broken family." It might be an abusive uncle. Maybe it's a drug addicted sibling, or an insecurrity about your physical appearance that leads to the objectivity of self, or a friend dying, or... what have you. We all have issues of crazy. Some of us deal with it, some of us fight it head on, and some of us ball up in a corner like a two year old and draw pictures of houses on the bedroom walls with crayons...

Basically, if you're going to single me out as a doomed failure based on the actions and decisions of two people I had absolutely no control over... then you are a weak person. A weak man. Weak, for sticking your tail between your legs and running away from a challange, a test, a trial and tribulation.
Pathetic.

So, you know what? I don't want to get into a relationship with anyone who doesn't come from a broken family. I, clearly, cannot understand what it's like to be involved in a happy, successful, pleasant little family life... and God-forbid I doom a generation of bright and shiny people looking for their happily ever after to believe in.

I happen to be just fine sitting in my dark and twisty corner, with my dark and twisty little friends, looking for my dull and lifeless (but understandingly loving) tiny doomed failure of a relationship and family.

Man, I am an elitist jerk, aren't I Ashley?

Princess Leia

2007-05-18T02:47:00.000-06:00

I can't help myself. I take too many cute pictures of her.

My Pretty Baby Girl

2007-05-06T14:32:00.000-06:00

The little princess Leia... she's pretty much the cutest thing I own.
She's also the literal interpretation of my own personal happiness.
Admire her, please.

Oh, you Liz Phair, you.

2007-04-24T12:37:00.000-06:00

I'm a sad little girl, and it's funny because I just had one of my old best friend's moms tell my mother that every time she sees/talks to me I just seem (and I quote) "So happy!!!"

*squint*

Even my mom found that ironically humorous; in that way that's both morbidly funny and depressingly pathetic.

I just don't care anymore.

But, in better news, I got a new job. Now when I say new job, it's not replacing Olive Garden... it's merely being added to it.
Yeah, I'm stupid, but it's easy free rent. Blow me.

Also, I've named the kitty Leia. It just makes sense.
The boys still call her Callie (short for Calico or Calliope, however you wanna look at it.)
We actually have affectionate names for all of them...
Mine is called Callie (or Leia... now...)
The grey one Cody and Danielle named Cricket one day.
The black and white one, after noticing the similarity in color with his underwear, was named Jockey by Cody.
And William calls the white one Puma.
PS: The name Leia "...is used in Hebrew, English and Spanish. Its source is a Hebrew expression meaning 'Delicate.'"
Thank you www.babynamer.com

They're so damn cute. They are the only things I love at the moment.
Ashley H told me I should carry them around with me everywhere I go in a box labled "Happiness".
I told her it might be a health code violation at work.
But... it's not, untrue.
Hmmmm. I sigh a lot nowadays. And squint. I squint at people more than I used to.

*squint*

*sigh*

I can't remember what contentment felt like..

-Brit

Extraordinary, Liz Phair

You think that I go home at night
Take off my clothes, turn out the lights
But I burn letters that I write
To you, to make you love me

Yeah, I drive naked through the park
And run the stop sign in the dark
Stand in the street, yell out my heart
To make, to make you love me

I am extraordinary
If you'd ever get to know me
I am extraordinary
I am just your ordinary
Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho

You may not believe in me
But I believe in you
So I still take the trash out
Does that make me too normal for you

So dig a little deeper cause
You still don't get it yet
See me lickin' my lips, need a primitive fix
And I'll make, I'll make you love me

I am extraordinary
If you'd ever get to know me
I am extraordinary
I am just your ordinary
Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess

See me jump through hoops for you
You stand there watching me performing
What exactly do you do
Have you ever thought it's you that's boring
Who the hell are you

I am extraordinary
If you'd ever get to know me
I am extraordinary
I am just your ordinary
Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho

Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho

Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho

Average every day sane psycho

Help Me

2007-04-16T23:32:00.000-06:00

I have to name this adorable little thing.
She's my new baby.

I can't think of a name worthy of her!

Here's my short list. Please, throw out ideas and give insight!

Raleigh
Leia
Ginny
Callie
Nike
Lorelei
Diana

Please Appreciate This

2007-04-16T10:10:00.000-06:00

I kind of love her. Like, a lot.

2007-04-12T12:31:00.000-06:00

Meet UNM's future Student Body President.
(The Honorable Miss Ashley Christine Fate)
I KNOW her!

Pussy Galore

2007-03-31T13:31:00.000-06:00

Huh, maybe I should name one Bond? Nah.

So, the cat that adopted us had kittens. Four of them... (which means I officially won the bet!) and they are currently nursing and sleeping and, you know, being worthless (yet adorable) newborns.
I can't wait until they get really cute and have personalities and I can play with them. I'm gonna be disgusting. I'm like, the weird creepy cat lady in training...
I'm keeping one. I wanted a pet for my apartment next year. I wanted to bring A dog... but Mom wants to keep the doxies together, and I support that. I also feel like they give Nana and Mama a reason to enjoy home and far be it from me to steal that away.
But, regardless, I wanted to share with you my little joys... I saw the second one actually being born. It was... disgusting... but so damn cool, in retrospect.
Gosh, I feel like a grandma. Just call me Nana Jr.

Roses are red, violets are blue

2007-03-21T01:22:00.000-06:00

I revised a poem I wrote last semester. It was my favorite at the time, but I think it may be just right now. I'm not entirely sure though... it could maybe use one more revision. I know I have the ending right, it's just the lead up to it I'm uncertain about. And the language. And the tone.
Oh my bane that is poetry.
So, lemme know what you think... honestly. I mean, be honest. I might want to see if I can get it published so any criticism is good criticism.

Intermission

I saw you again yesterday, walking

around the courtyard.

Even from the other side of the street

I couldn’t help but notice

your bare cheeks.

They seemed cold – with no coverlet

to cuddle against when the wind picks up

and the winter air roars its ovation.

What a civilized thing to do.

I had wondered many times how it might feel

brushing up against my cheek,

and maybe – if I’d enjoy that feel,

just as much as its ragamuffin look.

Though it was only this mess, this ragged

chocolate colored hair

following that jagged jaw line,

and framing your chiseled grin of teeth.

I muse a sudden sentiment and wonder:

Would you feel this loss inside, like I do,

if I just hacked all six-hundred and nine millimeters

of my reddish drape of a mane

right the hell off?

Then perhaps – you might lament those moments

when you would watch me

untie my ponytail and let those tresses fall

across my back, like a brilliant red curtain

dropping at the last encore

at an opera house.

I know, right?

2007-03-19T02:36:00.000-06:00

I never blog anymore. I never WRITE anymore. Not really sure why. I guess, because I so often do it as a requirement of my very ubiquitous major that it no longer brings me joy... that is unless I'm being paid $40 to do it... and even then my conscience doesn't allow me to really enjoy the act.

Also, I can't help but, you know, throw up on paper. It's what I do. I bare my soul.
And as of late... my soul is all dark and twisty. I guess I AM the president of people with crappy lives.

This isn't really new though, is it?

Whatever. I changed my loop, via Garduno's request, and also put up a new banner that I'm kind of in love with. Or is that just Ashley Fate I'm in love with???
Little from Column A, little from Column B.

I'm turning 21 soon. That's crazy.
I'm supposed to graduate next year after I go to Spain... that's stupid crazy.
I'm still single and miserable about it... That is, well, not crazy. Just stupid.

I need a man.
I heart my girlfriends.
I can't wait till Jesus comes back to take me away.
Oh. And the cat that we found in an ally that basically lives with us? She's pregnant.
We're excited. (Ahem, sarcasm)

I wonder if I can work at Olive Garden for the rest of my life? Is that not OK? No?
Oh. Yeah...

The Son of God, I am...

2007-02-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

Josh bought me a shirt. He said he had to because it was my "two greatest loves combine."
I had been anticipating it greatly, seeing if the shirt could top its hype.

You tell me how the boy did.

I Hate Games...

2007-01-29T00:49:00.000-07:00

I hate writing about this kind of thing, because it makes me look both desperate and elitist. I also have a very strong feeling that this could turn around and bite me in the ass, but hell, why not?

I love sports. I started playing T-Ball when I was four years old. I was one of two girls on the team and I was the second fastest of the entire group. Next came soccer, which I played for about eight years, and probably could have played in college some where had I not chose volleyball in high school. I played basketball, softball, and ran track. I won two state championships in volleyball and was a first team all-state outside hitter my senior year. Now I play rugby and intramurals when I can.
I love competition, in general. When I was a toddler my mom would play Candyland with me, and being the awesome parent that she is she would not go easy on me and thus would kick my ass. I hated it, even at that age. I'd throw a fit if I lost. We would often have game nights with my mom's friends and kids growing up, and Pictionary was a source of much anxiety for me, because I would get very livid if my teammates couldn't guess what I was writing. Games in general I'll go nuts over. I hate playing things that I know I'm not good at, because I don't like to showcase how bad I am at them to other people... like bowling, or tennis... racquetball. Whatever.
But, games... in relationships... with people? I am not about that.
My mom was the first one to suggest that I needed to play games to garner a man's attentions. "Don't call him" or "When he calls you make sure your busy, out doing something."
"Hide your true feelings."
"Ignore him in public."
"Talk less than him and don't ask questions."
"Appear.... aloof."

These aren't direct examples from my mother, but they're just general suggestions, from books, friends, and the like.

I hate it. Hate it. I like being genuine. True. Not without some sense, but not playing all these games. And I don't know what games men are supposed to play... but, when they do... I mean, how gay is that? Seriously. It's painful. Nobody wins, nobody gets a prize worth winning, and certainly no one has a freaking clue what they think, feel, or want out of the person they're messing with.
Is this love? Is this the ideal? For God's sake is this what I've been hoping for all my life? Silly, stupid games?!?
Or... perhaps this is just one of them that I'm no good at and thus... hate watching myself fail, miserably, in public over and over again?

Regardless, a general message and request to all men-folk... in earnest...
Don't play games. You hurt us. Hurt us. You make us second guess our actions, feelings, and looks. We already worry insanely about these things anyway and when a man that we admire, or dare I say like, makes us doubt ourselves further it really can't be productive to a healthy and loving relationship? Shall thus the ruin of marriage be found, I mean, really...

And as to those of you not playing games, but instead wandering around miserably single, here's some small tips.
Firstly, waiting is a woman's calling. We are called to wait and be pursued. We are not supposed to make the first move, you people are, so... here's some advice.
If you are single, and miserable, complaining incessantly about it no doubt, remember that it is your job to put yourself out there and try. Now, this doesn't mean you should, you know, go to a bar, get hammered and ask 20 girls to go out with you in one night. Quite the opposite, if you don't have a person in mind, someone that you see the possibility of a future with... then suck it up, shut up about being miserable, and keep looking.
If you DO have a special person in mind... here's an even more pertinent suggestion: Be a man, step up to the plate, and ASK HER. Be up front, be confident, and then if nothing else we'll at least have your respect. Don't drop us subtle hints we're supposed to decipher somehow and don't ask us out via text messages, AIM, Facebook, or any other impersonal type of means.

My best friend Ashley Fate and I are both having similar issues with men at the moment... and they both involve a certain level of confusion. What do they want? How should we act so they are not repulsed by us? And how can we appear to not like them as much as we really do, so as to appear "aloof"?
Ridiculous. All of it.
Suddenly, becoming a nun does not seem to be such a difficult endeavour.

I don't want to apologize anymore for being blunt about such things. If people weren't so freaking sensitive all the time, perhaps it wouldn't be an issue.
And furthermore, where's my Mr. Darcy already?

Yule Tide

2006-12-08T01:22:00.001-07:00

Thanks from all the love from the 505... it was truly enjoyed, I assure you most ardently!
I miss it dearly, but will be there within the month. If this fact does not excite your very senses and heart... I do not know what shall.

So, I promised you pictures, and since The Facebook is the mecca of all things near and dear in my life, I have two photo albums to enjoy. Please view and comment as you wish. (They are after my name and colored RED... so you kinda have to look for them a little bit... uhh sorry Mom... and others who must use glasses regularily.)

See ya'll soon!!!

--Brit

The 1st Annual Christmas Gala and Cocktail Party on 26th St.
Hosted by Mr. Brown, Mr. Hulsey, and Miss Drumm

Photo Album One

Photo Album Two

Deciembre? Ahora? Oi vay...

2006-12-05T00:27:00.000-07:00

This is the dichotomy of my job. The utter... paradox of Olive Garden.

One night a man almost made me shed tears of pure appreciation and joy.
This sweet, kind, and humorous older man told me that I was so good at my job that when I got into the "real world", finished with my degree, and started on my career... I would be a master of my profession.
He then told me that when I finally decided to settle down and start a family... that man needed to be SO amazing, so wonderful, so absolutley-over-the-top intelligent, successful, and generous a human being that he would swim twice around the world to protect, save, and lavish me with happiness. He said anything less would be unworthy.
He then tipped me $20.
This was a good night.

Two nights later... I ended up crying in the back ally, with every male coworker in the resturant trying to cheer me up with extravagent compliments and back rubs, because not one... not two... no, no, no... I'm talking six tables in a row either stiffed me for no reason, treated me like trash, ran my ass off for sport, or all of the above.
I walked out, on a Saturday night (where I should have made close to $120) with about 30 bucks.
This... was not a good night.

Currently, I am working 5 days this week, though I was supposed to work 6 (for some un-Godly reason) but thankfully got someone to cover my Saturday night shift, since I have two finals that day.

Anyway... had a party Saturday. A Christmas Gala. It was so damn fun. We're going to make it a semester ordeal. At least. I shall show you pictures.

Uhhh... Later...

Much love,

-- Brit

I wish Sawyer called me freckles...

2006-11-10T02:02:00.000-07:00

Seriously.

So, Lost is gone until February... which is frustrating, seeing as the Fall Finale ended with Jack screaming, "Damn it, Kate, RUN!"
There was a lot more going on, but with that show, you can't really go into it all because none of it really makes a lot of sense. Right now. (Though, sometimes forever.)

I was telling William that it really wouldn't shock me if the writers decided to have Jesus Christ taking a stroll through the jungle, wandering about with the polar bears and the huge, smoke monster that KILLS PEOPLE.

The show is a mind rape.

But, Grey's is still here, thank the Lord. How I do loooooooooooove me some Grey's.
It was hilarious tonight, what with the "Preston's get their ass kicked by a squirrel" and basically anything else out of dear Christina's mouth.
Then there was the George vs. Alex... Slap Fight. Holy crap. Could that get any more McFunny?

And MerDer is back on board! Can I get a heck yeah from the box seats!

Quickly, so I can get SOME sleep tonight, but Phantom rocked my world. The sets were fantastic, the acting was superb (especially the guy playing The Phantom), and the costumes were gorgeous. The chandelier rising at the beginning got the goosebumps going and you can't help but adore the music.
Down once more to the dungeons of my black despair...

But, that's it. Had a big discussion based argument in my Landscapes class today. We usually always do, just defining terms and over analyzing every thing we witness, but today was especially special. Mostly because I called half the class "elitist and mean."
It was entertaining.

And I'm trying to read a new book on top of my school reading (Alice in Wonderland and For Cause and Comrades)... called The Ragamuffin Gospel. Dillon's read it and I've heard good things. I'll get back to ya on it.

Anyway, just trying to survive and get by. I really wish I had more time to just... breathe.
Much love,

Brit

Hookers and Whores

2006-10-15T22:15:00.000-06:00

Ahem. Taken up a new hobby. Really fun... I get to try any position I want!

Hahahaha... no no. A hooker is a position in football and a whore is what they call girls that play for other teams who don't have enough people to fill an entire team. I whored this weekend... it was exhilarating. Etc.

Yeah, so I played Rugby this weekend, and yes I have played once before, but this was a tournament and really the first time I played under a position I had been practicing at and working with an actual team and coach for a while.
I made another girl cry and she had to get taken out of the game because I think I aided in spraining her ankle...
But, don't worry, b/c it's not like A) I did it on purpose and B) I didn't get mauled all day either.

I have a good little goose egg on the back of my head that happened to run into a young woman's knee, my arms are so bruised it looks like a man of some unknown relation beats me, and my back, neck, and shoulders are so sore and battered that I can barely move them.
But, damn was it fun! And the girls are great.. and it's just all around a good thing for me right now.

Another good thing is that our next tournament, THIS WEEKEND, will be in Albuquerque, NM. You know... that little place I sometimes call the homeland?
Well, we will be playing on Saturday at the UNM fields outside of Johnson Gym. I expect people to be there. The team is staying in a hotel, as opposed to a players parents house this weekend, mostly b/c it would be physically impossible for me to fit the girls at my house. Like, seriously, somebody would have to bean bag it next to the dogs and that wouldn't be a good situation.
But, regardless, I will keep everyone informed.

Other than that, I'm still majorly obsessed with Grey's Anatomy... I think the Callie/McSteamy thing is gonna be great (as in cause drama great not ACTUALLY a good thing.) I think Meredith dumping Finn was for his own good, b/c in my opinion the boy deserves better than her (even though he thought otherwise, the girl is just to screwed up. Dark and twisty people don't work with good and kind people... we don't like the same kind of movies.) I think the Denny being a huge millionaire thing is interesting, the Burke and Christina thing is kinda sad and troubling, the Meredith being high and embarrassing herself all day was AMAZING, and finally that Addison is going to hook up with Alex soon or at least eventually. I called it now... REMEMBER IT!

Uhhhh, other update like things: School is still kicking my butt and I generally have no direction for my future. SWELL! Work is exhausting and my managers may be SLIGHTLY mentally challenged, but I might be able to train as a bartender soon, which would be uber cool and helpful. My roommates are great! Currently William is studying biology stuff and Cody got an 18 on his DAT! (Dental school test dealy) And Daniela turned 21 last week and is now so busy with an Interior Design project that I never see her anymore!

Oh yeah, and as a final comment... these were the text messages that Robert and I sent to each other this weekend, after learning that our currently pathetic football team lost to COLORADO:

Britney: I am EMBARRASSED for our football team. Having said that... if you're feeling like a pimp n***a go on brush your sholders off.

Robert: How can you say that? You are one of those fair-weather fans that I can't stand... That being said I am transferring to a school with a good football team.

Peace!

-Brit

Hullabaloo, Caneck, Caneck. Hullabaloo, Caneck, Caneck

2006-10-02T22:09:00.000-06:00

That agonizingly painful drowning of maroon you see splattered all over that giant stadium?
Yeah, that's not an accident.

Texas A&M has often, especially among Tech circles, been compared to the Mormon Religion.
People who are overly nice and conservative to an annoying type of politeness, unorthodox means of conducting their business, many sometimes blind followers...
Actually, this may be more insulting to the Mormons. I'm getting mixed up. Let me start over.

The Texas A&M Aggies of College Station, TX are often referred to as a cult.
This is not an exaggeration. On the contrary... I think most cults don't even get close to reaching this type of crazy. There are lists of things they do that, from an average college persons perspective can be construed as... well, insanely spirited.

Texas A&M was the first college I officially visited when I started looking at colleges.
After my three day stay there, about five years ago as a wee high school sophomore, I knew were I wanted to go.
I wanted to bleed maroon. Aggieland was it for me.

I was highly spirited in high school... or at least I really tried to be, but my student body wasn't always so cooperative. The biggest thing I wanted out of a college was spirit and tradition.

Texas A&M is Tradition. Texas A&M is Spirit.

There were other factors in me wanting to go there... like, the hot Corp guys? Yeah, A&M is a military school with a bunch of guys running around in uniform every day. Sexy.
Also, that stadium up there? It held almost 87,000 people last weekend. The student section is run by 5 guys called Yell Leaders, who will toss up hand signals the entire length of all three decks, until every single student knows what they are cheering and when... all in unison, loud as crap.
It's the craziest, loudest, most intense student section ever.
The Yell Leaders also imply that there are no Cheerleaders at Texas A&M... and that assumption is correct. There ARE no cheerleaders at Texas A&M.
Bad. Ass.

So, the question is why didn't I go to my first choice? A first choice that is far more spirited than my current institution and also considered, in a lot of academic programs, to be a more selective and challenging college. Why do I say "Wreck Em" instead of "Gig Em?"

First reason is money, plain and simple. A&M would have definitely charged in state tuition, a lovely $8,000 dollars a year, not including room, board, gas, misc expenses... etc.
Second was the campus. It was not what I was looking for. I needed a campus where I could walk around, daily, and be in awe of where I went to school. Only Kyle Field had that sort of affect, while the rest of A&M's campus was really kind of haphazard and boring.
Third reason was that the program I was interested in, at the time, was very discouraging. I used to be a very decisive person, and for the prior six years up until that point I was determined to be a journalist. A sports journalist, actually. The advisor in the department that I spoke with at Texas A&M wasn't only not enthusiastic about the program, he was basically discouraging.
And finally there was a distance factor. I did want to get out of New Mexico, but not so far that I wouldn't be able to come home easily. College Station is 12 hours away from Albuquerque... I don't even like driving the five hours from Lubbock, so I really couldn't even imagine.

When I walked on the Tech campus, I wasn't expected much. It was Lubbock and I knew that. Lubbock is white trash, middle America. I knew that too.
But Tech... after my first campus tour I knew. This was my home.
It's beautiful, it's close but not TOO close, and it has tradition. It has spirit. It has spirit even, with an attitude behind it. A chip on it's Red Raider shoulder.
I've always loved being an underdog, you know.

Texas A&M is all about tradition.

What's Texas Tech all about??? Well....
I go to a school that doesn't allow other people, besides Tech students, to sit in the student section. This isn't for the TTU student's benefit... this is for the safety of the opposing teams thinking they can sit with us. They can't. I sat in A&M's section, and yes I had to deal with particularly rude people who basically called Tech students stupid whores (but hey, who am I to judge right?) and who, upon our glorious victory, proceeded to flip Danielle and I off, joined with colorful language and some good old fashioned sore losing vigor...
But, at Tech? An A&M student sitting in our section, wearing maroon, cheering against us?

Nah, they'd die. Somebody would probably murder them.

I go to a school where it's two most highly regarded coaches, Mike Leach and Bobby Knight, who are applauded for their drunken and "outspoken" antics, respectfully, as if they were heroes straight out of stories from the Bible.
ESPN hates us. HATES us. We are the most censored college fans in the nation. We regularly, EVERY GAME, will destroy our own bleachers and crowd surf them across the stadium.
In 2001, after beating A&M at home 12-0, we ripped down the goal post, carried it across the turf, slammed it into the Aggies fan section, and then proceeded to start a brawl of epic proportions, that one Aggie was fan was quoted as saying...
"It was like the Alamo. They were coming over the walls."

I go to a school that transformed lines of its own fight song into profanity.

God, I love being a Raider. We're pirates. We pillage... therefore we are.

My school is so sexy it boggles the mind....

2006-09-30T20:47:00.000-06:00

I'm going to go more into the trip and actual game part of my weekend here in College Station, TX home of the Texas A&M Aggies (a place I very nearly went) and I'll possibly talk football later too, but I'm here and scrunched for time so I just want to write here a very brief message of:

I love Texas Tech with all my heart and soul.

That is all.

Brit

Soundtrack to the Blockbuster that Will Be (One Day...)

2006-09-28T17:28:00.001-06:00

Found this on MySpace... kinda crazy, I'm not gonna lie.

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

So, here's how it works:

1. Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)

2. Put it on shuffle

3. Press play

4. For every question, type the song that's playing

5. When you go to a new question, press the next button

Opening Credits:
Far Away by Nickleback
(Interesting... That could really work actually...)

Waking Up:
In God's Country by U2
(Oh wow... now I'm just flattered by the randomness)

First Day At School:
Seasons of Love by the Cast of Rent
(I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING! I have to make a movie about my life now!)

Falling In Love:
Wonderwall by Oasis
(Holy crap... speechless...)

Fight Song:
Evey Reborn from the V for Vendetta Soundtrack
(This is becoming slightly creepy)

Breaking Up:
How Long by Hinder
(Had to look up the lyrics on this one to analyze it properly... and within 4 lines I'm beginning to wonder if iTunes can read my heart..)

Prom:
I Hear the Bells by Mike Doughty
(Hmmmmm, I can see this... very retrospective on prom for me though)

Life's okay:
Memory by Andrew Lloyd Webber (From the musical Cats)
(Ohhh, yeah... for sure. When I think "okay" I certainly think about reminsing on the past)

Mental Breakdown:
All I Need by Mat Kearney
(Seriously...)

Driving:
I'm A Slave 4 U by Britney Spears
(Hahaha, oh yeah... hardcore closet Britney fan dude..)

Flashback:
Friday I'm in Love by The Cure
(ohhhhhh heck yeah!)

Getting Back Together:
Photograph by Nickleback
(Hmmmm... good stuff, I'll support that)

Wedding:
Standing Still by Foreign Oren
(That. Is. Awesome.)

Birth of Child:
Try Again by Aaliyah
(Oh. Well that one's kinda scary... ehhh)

Final Battle:
My Sharona by The Knack
(Last Battle of... what... 80s sexual tension?)

Funeral Song:
You Lie by Reba McEntire
(Oh... kinda deep)

End Credits:
Broken Road by Rascal Flatts
(Jesus. That's all I have to say...)

(((Comments? Oh, and I tag Tia and Jerry. Ready, set, GO!)

Much love,
Brit

I'm all dark and twisty in side...

2006-09-22T23:42:00.000-06:00

Let us discuss... shall we?

Grey's Anatomy, basically gives me a reason to keep on living each day. I have to know what happens in these peoples lives!
Will Burke be able to perform surgeries again? Can Izzie survive without Denny and will she never come back to the program? Will McSteamy make a return visit to re-woo Addison? Can George love Callie back? How stubborn and difficult (and yet hilarious) can Christina be? And of course, the kill all question...

Who will Meredith choose?

Or, perhaps the more important query: Who should Meredith choose?

Well, I can only go off on my own personal opinion and then of course what I, hypothetically, would possibly do.
Chris O'Donnell is a doll, ok? I mean, seriously, so cute and adorable. He's Robin, for crying out loud! Who doesn't want to get lost in those dreamy blues and pinch his scruffy lil cheeks?
And Finn (aka McVet) not to mention, is a good and decent guy. And he's not a smothering, over-sensitive "nice guy", he's just... a good guy! He has every right and reason to be in this "race" and want to win over Meredith, and by God, Meredith should give him the time of day and at least consider him as a serious possibility. Finn, to me, seems like that guy you're supposed to go for, who'll make you happy for the rest of your life, and love you selflessly. In all honesty, Meredith probably should pick Finn, only for the simple fact that he is perfect for her and (agreeing with Finn her on a level) Derek can be bad for her.

But, Patrick Dempsey IS dreamy. God, he is McDreamy. Derek Shepard is... ohhhhh soooo...

McDreamy.

The one thing he lacked was commitment... utter devotion to Meredith. Choosing her, picking her... LOVING her.
And now he said it. He physically said it, out loud, to her face!
Derek loves Meredith!

Should Meredith go for him? I don't know if she should... based on the fact that he didn't choose her first. He pretty much blew her off and made her suffer. He broke her. He caused her to be even more scary and damaged than she already was. Then, on top of it, he called her a whore... which if you know my track record you know I wouldn't respond to that very well.
But, he rectified it all in one statement. I'm sorry, Meredith's been in love with him for... well forever. Finn hasn't changed that. He gave her an option, he gave her an out. She could have possible loved him... eventually.

But if I'm Meredith, and seeing as how I can associate with her on so very many levels it's becoming depressing, I think I can sympathize with the girl in situations such as these... and if I'm Meredith standing there, having hoped and wished and dreamed for SO LONG that he would stand in front of me and say those things, actually break it down and declare Love???
If my McDreamy's standing in the kitchen, telling me he's been in love with me forever, admitting that he was late and chose wrong... NOW asking me to choose him?

It's really no contest.

Finn wouldn't have a chance in hell.

Much love,

Brit

Ohhhhhh, and just to supremely and totally shove my point across, here's the actual video.
Explain to me how you say no to that.

Jessica Ann

2006-09-04T15:36:00.000-06:00

Alright, this next Penny Arcade comic (I know, I haven't had one on here in a while!) is the complete representation of my relationship with my best friend since I was 4, namely Jessica Reza.
She's a funny little gal... brown, clearly... and get's to take trips to Hawaii and have hot boyfriends.
But, the most notable thing about Jess, especially in relation to her friendship with me, is that there is one characteristic that defines her:

She HATES feet. Always has.
So enjoy this... and realize that seriously, it's not too far off from the truth.
(It's actually not false... AT ALL...)

Much love,

-Brit

((((PS: Click on it to make it bigger. I know you can't read that small lettering **cough**mother**cough**)))

The Comprehensive List

2006-08-30T13:46:00.000-06:00

Currently Reading
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave: Written by Himself
By Frederick Douglass, Gerald Fulkerson
see related

I'm an English major, you know. The reason I (finally) decided on this was because, well... I love to read and I love to write. (Clearly)
It's just easy for me. I can whip out a 5 page research paper, without any prior research, drafts, or even knowledge of the assignment and get it done within a few hours.
Probably not my best work of all time when I do that, but it's doable... and I usually can pull an A or high B with something rushed.
Not the point really, but now I'm in the thick of my hardcore English classes, on top of taking an Honors History course, AND a Hons. Landscapes elective that will have me writing and painting, apparently.

So, just to give you an idea, this is the list of books I have to read this semester. This DOES NOT include the almost 75 works of poetry I will also be reading and critiquing.
Kings to you... College of English...

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas
"One of the most important documents in American history.

In this wrenching, classic autobiography, Douglass describes himself as a man who became a slave-and, later, a slave who became a man."

For Cause and Comrades
"This powerful commentary by today's premier Civil War historian is truly compelling in its depth and intensity. McPherson has extrapolated and quoted from over 25,000 letters and 249 diaries of more than 1000 Union and Confederate soldiers. The documentation is impressive and is successful in substantiating the thesis that many motivations were at work in the hearts of the Civil War fighting men; but on the whole, they were driven by noble ideals of honor; duty; and devotion to God, country, home, and family."

Undaunted Courage
"A biography of Meriwether Lewis that relies heavily on the journals of both Lewis and Clark, this book is also backed up by the author's personal travels along Lewis and Clark's route to the Pacific."

Hound of the Baskervilles
"The most atmospheric and suspenseful of the Sherlock Holmes novels concerns a ghastly fire-breathing canine that roams the Baskerville moors and threatens the Canadian-born Baskerville heir."

Lady Audley's Secret
"This Victorian bestseller, along with Braddon's other famous novel, Aurora Floyd, established her as the main rival of the master of the sensational novel, Wilkie Collins. A protest against the passive, insipid 19th-century heroine, Lady Audley was described by one critic of the time as 'high-strung, full of passion, purpose, and movement.'"

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
"The Mad Hatter, the Ugly Duchess, the Mock Turtle, the Queen of Hearts, the Cheshire Cat-characters each more eccentric than the last, and that could only have come from Lewis Carroll, the master of sublime nonsense. In these two brilliant burlesques he created two of the most famous and fantastic novels of all time that not only stirred our imagination but revolutionized literature."

AGAIN... this isn't including the Anthology of Victorian Poetry, the Vintage Book of Cont. American Poetry, OR Pocketful of Poems: Vintage Verse, Vol. 1.
There's also a history text book, Unfinished Nation, I'll end up getting for good measure...

Woo for reading!

The Greatest Scheme Ever Pulled...

2006-08-23T13:27:00.000-06:00

Karen flew me to Albuquerque this week to surprise my mother.

Mama house-sat Karen and Co.'s house, while babysitting their admittedly kinda crazy dogs, when they went on a little weekish long vacay. When they got back Karen tried to pay my mom, but she wouldn't let her. They all do this a lot, especially when we go out to eat. It's like a gladiatorial battle to see who will pay who every single time. I understand the politeness and what have you, but from a kids perspective it just takes up time.

Anyway, so Karen and Carl (her husband) were brainstorming ways to pay mom back in a way that she couldn't refuse... kinda like the mob, but more suburbia like. They had briefly considered giving her frequent flier miles to use how she would.
A few days later my mom called, or vise versa I'm not quite sure, and happened to mention that I had been planning on coming out here this week, but had missed all the flights and DID NOT, under any circumstance, want to drive...

Ah ha! Karen thought. I got her now... (Then she cackled like an evil villain in a Disney movie.)

She called me and we made plans to fly me here (Albuquerque.) I called my mom the next day, quite sad and pathetic-like, explaining that work needed me too much and I couldn't get away.
Mwwahahaha...

When Karen picked me up I was semi-freaking out I was so excited. I was all nervous and jittery, like a drug-addict I suspect might be on withdrawals. But, we drove all the way out to my old high school, where my mother is now the Vice-Principal of the SciMatics Academy and working far too much...
I called my old volleyball coach to get him in on the plot to reveal my arrival and surprise my mom so bad so as to make Karen's ploy worth while.
What I came up with was to dress me up in some workout clothes and have me play with the Varsity team for a while... have Manz (said coach) to bring my mom down for some business and then just have her come check out the team...

It worked so well, I was shocked myself.

The actual "reveal" happened when Manz hid Karen in the weight room connected to the gym and got the team, including myself, into three hitting lines to showcase to mi mama.
I hid behind Jori, who is my old best friend from high school's little sister. I use "little sister" quite figuratively, seeing as how Jori's about six feet tall... She's just younger than Lindsay.
Anyway, I hid behind her while the first two girls hit, then I went in front of her to hit the third ball. As I was turning to go back, I wasn't sure if my mom had figured it out yet... and surely enough... she had not. But, as soon as I looked at her... and two beats past... her face went into a contorted version of shock and awe. Karen came out from the back and mom turned as red as an apple...

Later on she told me that she doesn't think she has ever been so surprised in all her life... she had absolutely no idea I was even thinking about surprising her, much less getting Her Royal Highness the Genius involved to pull off "The Greatest Scheme Ever Pulled..."

Now if I could just get her away from school and those rotten kids...

Much love,
Brit

Another fun type theory...

2006-08-14T01:12:00.000-06:00

I've always thought that a person's birth tells you a little bit about who they are as a person. It's like the beginning of your story... the foreshadowing to your personality.
Sorta kinda.

My favorite correlation to this theory is the birth of my closest cousins, The Twins: Eddy and Sypria.

I was six years old when they were born, by cesarean section. It's funny, b/c I remember this day and standing at the hospital. I remember sort of seeing them actually being pulled from my Aunt Cathy's womb. I remember seeing them at my Nana's house, coincidentally my house now, their first day out of the hospital.
They are my closest cousins b/c we grew up together... I feel like a partially helped raise them. Sypria and I are sort of, uhhhh, pseudo twins. She completes me. Whatever.
Eddy's awesome too... way more intelligent than he should be. Kind of a smartass though... in a manner that purposefully irritates me, I believe, when we're together for long periods of time.

The two main things to remember with these two is this...
Sypria is mean. I'm talking borderline evil at times.
Eddy is emotional. Like a 13-year-old girl, PMSing, while watching Titanic.

Of course I mean all this with love.

Eddy was born first... weighing in at 5 pounds, duh da duh ounces. Sypria came a minute later... being about ohhhhhhhhhh 7 pounds our something.
I remember somebody making a comment that Sypria had suppressed Eddy within the womb, stealing food and space and everything else. Basically... being mean.
When they were two Sypria pushed Eddy head first into the kitchen floor at my Nana's house and made him bleed. Eddy would pucker his lips like a duck to get attention. (Seperate comment...)
Later in life Sypria would beat the snot out of Eddy and Eddy would cry, constantly, over stupid feelings and crap.
Now they're 14... Freshmen in high school. They make me feel ANCIENT.

But, they're still I like this. Sypria is sass. She's just edgy and blunt and moody and unforgiving.
((I FREAKING love it!) She doesn't beat Eddy up anymore though. Won't even hit him... b/c he's finally stronger than her and will hit back, I guess.
Eddy's still all about his feelings. He hides it better now, but even a few weeks ago when I saw him he cried... literally... to get his way.
It was predestined at birth.

My story is that, throughout my mother's entire pregnancy, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, thought I was a boy. My mother, father, both my grandmothers... EVERYONE.
Thus why I turned out somewhat boylike.
I was also late... not terribly so, but consistently. Thus, why I can't be on time for everything... my job, class, movies, blah blah blah.
Then of course there's the fact that my mother gave birth to me naturally. No drugs. No epidural, morphine, aspirin... anything. Apparently she wanted to prove she was tough or something.
Yes... yes she is insane.
Anyway, it explains our interesting and complicated relationship. Pull the band-aide off quick, no warning, no anesthesia... Just us. "Baptized in a storm." Etc.

Anyway, just curious to see other peoples veiws on this theory. I think, if nothing else, it's a fun conversational topic. Birth. You know?
Birth. Life. Good stuff.

Much love,
Brit

The Spirituality of a Washer and Dryer

2006-08-03T00:58:00.000-06:00

Currently Listening
Eyes Open
By Snow Patrol
You Could Be Happy
see related

It's almost 2 am... and I'm doing laundry.

For the record, I hate laundry. I hate it with the passion of a thousand suns. I hate it more than Muslims hate Jews and vise versa. I even hate it more than my mother hates people biting their forks at dinner. She squirms when people do it, like nails being pulled down a chalkboard.

That is how laundry is to me.

See, I've never had much experience with laundry. Growing up, I rarely did it. I think most kids had to start doing their own laundry come high school, sometimes even middle school, but generally not I.
For this I am eternally grateful... because I hate this crap.
I hate it so much.

For the past two years of my college career... experience... what have you, I've gotten a certain art down to a science. I've tried to come home every couple of months, you know, once every two to three months as the norm. In between these trips home I make sure to use EVERY SINGLE garment of clothing I possess until I have no more clothes. Then... when I'm out... that's when I make the trip home, so it can be done by somebody else and not in the dorms at some odd hour, sticking quarters into a machine that barely works.
Or, even better, going to a Laundromat at 3 am to do (literally) 12 separate loads of laundry.
No. Not fabulous.

So, usually I do this. But, now we have a house, clearly, and we've brought the washer and dryer from my old house up here for our personal use.
It's really nice to use, and convenient obviously... but that's not the reason I love them so much.
There's a piece of my house, the house I grew up in and had mostly every first good/bad experience in, here with me.

We've lived in my Nana's house for 2 years now, ever since I started college. I was semi-excited about moving out and to be honest, at the time, I could care less about that house in Rio Rancho. It was absolutley disgusting WHY we had to leave, but in the end it was not the important thing. It's just a house. A home is a concept, and idea, which is much more formidable than a house.
But, lately, the past year or so... I've missed my home, my original home, terribly.

The first time I came back home from Lubbock I flew. It was about a 45 minute flight and my mom picked me up at the airport. I had come to watch the New Mexico State Volleyball Championships, where my alma mater would be defending our State Championship. She picked me up at the airport and waiting for me inside was a present, because that's what she does. It was matching Adidas bennie and scarf (pink and black even... I wore it immediatley.)
I remember hugging her and truly missing her then, because it had been the longest time we'd ever been apart... since my escape from her womb. Literally.

I've never freaked out about living away from home, away from my mother who is, essentially, my best friend. Many people thought we both would be incapacitated. I think there were some bets going that I wouldn't last 2 weeks before I came crying home.
But, that never happened, mostly because I was ready to move on. I WANTED to leave home. I NEEDED to get away from the general Albuquerque area and all the drama that it entailed at that time. It was, I believe, a physical need for me... and I've never (really, actually) regretted it.

Anyway, the first time I came home... I didn't come home. I went to my Nana's house.
To my mother's credit, she feared that this might be a slightly sad transition for me, so she had decorated my new room at our "new" house to the nines. It was Venetian plastered everywhere and my bed was beautifully made. My doll collections were in a row. Stuffed animals and pillows lined my head board. My bookcase was neatly organized.
The big screen TV, which I covertly opted to take away from my dad upon its abandonment, was in direct view of the bed.
It was really, very lovely.

However... it wasn't home.

I miss my house and it's been a weird sort of missing. I just want to walk in it again. Lay on the couch. Snuggle on the Lazy Boy chair.
I miss sitting at my desk in the den, while Indy napped in my lap. I miss walking down the hall in the middle of the night and not having to feel around to understand where I was going.
I miss my parents shower... because it always had the best pressure and heat. I miss the new, brown carpet we had installed and how Indy was banned from it.
I miss trying to jump and see how high I could touch the ceiling in the living room. I miss the huge burn mark underneath the kitchen cabinets, signifying the spot where (because of a Pop Tart in the toaster) I almost burnt the house down.
I miss my parents bed... and the way the sheets felt. I miss the sound of the air conditioner at night. Sleeping next to the fire place, with a warm fire going, at Christmas. Sitting at the coffee table, ever so masterfully, to eat dinner.
I really miss sleeping on the couch and watching Conan O'Brien on certain nights, if I knew I could survive the next day by staying up that late.

I miss that place. Like crazy. For no reason...
Or, maybe, I just remember the idea of the place. The idea of the family.
Hmmm.

Visually Impaired Social Gathering

2006-07-30T01:40:00.000-06:00

Hahaha... aka, Blind Date.

So, on to something more fun and entertaining yes? More fun... less... illegal? Fantastic.

Right, well, Emmy (My wonderful friend you may see pop in here from time to time to comment, ever so appropriately about issues I ponder on, in a delightfully witty manner that apparently my mother rather enjoys...) she left me a message one day while I was working a double at work. In between getting a table their salad and running hot food I hid in the back of the server's station and listen to it.
She initially speaks of her ill-will toward never seeing me anymore, which I would wholeheartedly blame on her complicated relationship partner (hahaha) and not on me and my staying-out-all-night, constantly-playing-sand, working-far-too-much self. No, no, no... never.
Anyway, she then goes on asking me what my feelings towards being set up on a blind date would be. Now, I was wary at first, b/c the last guy she and her boy tried convincing me I might like, they revealed he might... in fact... have gone to prison once? Perhaps be called, if I may, a felon?
Though considering.... hmmmm... no no no. Kidding. Haha... oh, depressing.
Nevermind. Forget all that.

Anyway, it's explained that Jordan knows him somehow (can't recall exact details at the moment) and she just thought it might be fun to do a group thing. A double date thing... right? Ok.

Well. Later I call her for a more direct scoop. I ask all the important questions:

"Church?" I ask.
"He is a Christian and does attend Church." (Check.)

"Career ambitions?"
"He wants to be a high school coach, which I thought you'd appreciate." (Considering it's my ONLY ambition, besides being a mother, in life... I'd say yeah, I freakin' appreciate.)

"Is he cute?"
"I thought so." (I generally trust the women's opinion. If you've seen Jordan, or Hot Zach for that matter... you'd see why.)

(And clearly the most important question so far...) "Ok. How tall is he?"
"Jordan... how tall is he??? **Pause** Jordan says he's 6'3"."
".... I immediately am ok with this."

So, I have a date? I guess Jordan told him about me and then gave him my myspace? B/c it was after Jordan said something that the guy was like, "Yeah, I'm definently interested."
Always a nice thing to know. And I've seen his myspace and we've chatted back and forth, briefly, a couple times. He seems nice... he's older than me, which is just better for my temperament, lemme tell ya... and he's a Christian. And tall??? And interested... in yours truly?

You don't say no to that kind of thing without getting at least a closer look at the situation, you know? Wish me luck! Pray (literally... pray this) ... PRAY that I don't screw this up.
Seriously.

Much love,
Brit

Ummm.. Don't call me names??? I guess.

2006-07-28T23:03:00.000-06:00

Last night crazy man, Guy #2, had a little too much to drink.

He pissed me off, all night long. I ignored him trying to make a pass at me at the club then hung up on him when he called me later that night.
Finally, as he was dropping off my friends so they could stay at my place, he gets out of the car and starts talkin at me. I tell him to shut up and get back in his car.
He continues to talk at me.
I ignore him and convince my friends to get out of the car and come inside. As we reach half-way across my lawn... Guy #2 (name... Donovan) apparently decideds to really get my attention:

"Whore."

I whip around. What did he just call me? "What did you just call me???"

He then stares straight at me and says it again. "Whore!"

I uh... ended up punching him in the chest once... and then when he said it again, I hit him in the face.
I cut his cheek right below his eye and made him bleed.
I then got carried off by another guy who then, on my request, got Donovan back in the car and drove him away from me.

Never done something like that before, and I know.. not my smartest move, but it was a heat of the moment kind of thing. I wanted to cause him as much pain as possible.
I don't know why I took being called a whore so bad... I guess it's just that code, you know? If your a guy, you don't say that. Ever. Drunk or no.

Sooooo, yeah. I make girls cry... and men bleed. Apparently.
Geez.

Much love,
Brit

Moron Dating Game (Vol. 2)

2006-07-26T04:55:00.000-06:00

Currently Listening
A Public Affair
see related

I'll be quick and sweet... or short. Maybe not sweet. Sweet may not have any precedence in these situations.

Alrighty, the almighty update.

Guy #1 continues to perplex me to no avail. We're still friends and he doesn't ignore me anymore, but there was a point a few nights ago where our friendship bordered on something else... again.
To put my mothers dear heart at ease, no... we have not kissed. The man may be more modest than I am. Seeing as my make-out list is at 5, since only beginning last August... I'd say that's almost a certainty.
I don't know what to do about him, but I had stopped trying to incinuate anything even before this incident. I never call him. Ever. If the man wants to talk to me, hang out, mooch off of me some how, or plan an event... he has to do the calling. Who knows if he's actually picked up on this or not. The only time I called him was Saturday night, right after he had just left the sand courts, to ask if he could pick me up for church in the morning.
Frustrating man.
Guy #2 and I don't speak anymore, but he did call me while I was in Albuquerque, leaving a painfully long message where he somewhat chastised me for never answering his calls and then invited me to his "birthday party."
I found out, upon my return to Lubbock, that it was not his birthday. He was just inviting a bunch of girls that he liked, and thought liked him, to one place so as to... I dunno, create jealousy? Boost his ego? Maybe he thought he would create a big cat fight over his affections, I'm not intirely sure. What I AM sure of is that the man might be clinically insane.
Who does that? Who lies, saying it's a birthday, to not just one, but MULTIPLE girls? How much of a low self-esteem and self worth, plus general patheticness do you need to have to pull off such a stunt and still look in the mirror in the morning and not want to shoot yourself in the face out of pure embarrassment. HOW MUCH?!?
Stupid, sad man.
Guy #3 indeed broke up with his girlfriend a little while back. Actually, to be fair, she broke up with him. Upon hearing the many complications of their 3 year relationship, I've come to the conclusion that she's a little high maintenance and insecure; something that most women can identify with, so I'm not going to sit here on a high horse and preach that she was a crazy wench. Especially since I've never met the girl.
But, of the guy and I we've just been good friends, hanging out almost every night all summer with what I like to call "The Gang." He's fun, and cute, and so I still have the door open, but I don't think he's ready for another relationship so soon after a break-up... and I definitley don't want to play the post-break-up game, being what it is and it's success rate and all.
But, the door is still open. Soooo, that's it.

But on the subject of said "now single" man... that book I was reading, "Marriable", (you know, where the author commented on this very situation?) it talks about how women need to be mysterious to lure in the guy. The best way to do this is to SHUT UP and be mysterious. The book actually says that women need to stop talking so much when first with a guy, to maintain more mysteriousness than actually baring your entire soul within a week.
So, I've been trying this... especially with Guy #3. I really have. But, I really don't need to with him, Ithink, because he loves to talk, regardless of whether or not I try to keep up, shut up, or not.
Sooooooo... yeah. And, to be completely honest, I don't know if it's keeping me mysterious or stand-offish and bitchy. I can see where I might be seen as such, though not in this direct situation... just in general. I'm not a huge talker anyway... so... me not talking makes me... boring. I think.

Just throwing it out there.

But, anyway, I'm just deciding to not worry about it anymore. If I'm supposed to end up with any of these guys (Sans CRAZY #2) then it will happen. If I'm supposed to end up with someone else, whether I've met them or not, it will happen. It will all happen when it happens and is supposed to happen. (For the record, I would like that time to be... now. But, whatever...)
If I'm supposed to die a virgin, then damn it all, I will die a virgin. I will have a very brief, psuedo-angry conversation with God... but I'm of the general opinion that I'll get over it pretty quickly, Heaven being the place without sorrow and all.
Again. Just throwing it out there.

-Brit

PS: As a side note... look how unbelievably cute my friend Robert is. Seriously, put this man in a magazine!!!

Inquiry 2.0

2006-07-23T22:33:00.000-06:00

Currently Watching
Eddie Izzard - Definite Article
see related

I used to be more interesting, didn't I?
I remember a time, and I go back from time to time when I'm bored and gander across my past blog posts, where I was interesting, funny, or engaging in pretty much every update I put out to the world.
I'm not that way anymore, am I?

My humorousness has certainly gone down, with the Legend of the Wretched Hair-Do from two Christmases ago taking the All-Time cake for hilarity. I don't know what it is, but my first year in college had far more funny and interesting things happen to me daily, or at least at enough points for me to comment regularly on Xanga about them. I remember this.
I also would bring up deeper thoughts and ideas than I do now. I don't so much anymore, except for the occasionally theory here or there.
But, for the most part all I do is complain, isn't it?
About boys, situations in life, my family, my past, my job, PEOPLE at my job, school, more stupid boys, some stupid girls, and how I just deal with A LOT of dumb, idiot, boys.
Right?

Am I being to critical... or might we call this accurate? I sat down and had about an hour long conversation with a man I served today, which ended up getting me out of work far later than I would have liked, but he was actually fairly interesting.
I explained that I was an English major and that just set the man off. He continued for what seemed like a decade drilling me on all of these established, very philosophical and somewhat political classics that I should have read, but were unable to because of my Marxist-influenced education. (Or so says he...)
He asked me what kinds of book I liked and I told him that I've read just about everything, but my most favorite are the types of books that create with in me some type of new passion, idea of thinking, or philosophies on life.

1984 is BY FAR my favorite book of all time. God BLESS Busse, my Adv. Humanities teacher my senior year for introducing me to such a book, and others like it.
Never before had a book, assigned by a teacher, interested me so much.

Orwell wrote it in the 40s, depicting a grim future based on if, per chance, Hitler had succeed in winning the war. I believe he was also challenging the leadership of America at the time, who had briefly taken over some Socialistic ideas for how they wanted to approach American policy in the future.
Some of these ideas have been implemented today, but obviously not to the extent depicted in the book... though possibility of such a thing occurring can not be ruled out.
Clearly, as a Christian (and Israel's current state being what it is,) I believe in a far more brutal future chain of events than even what is depicted in 1984, leading to the end of this world as we know it. However, it's still in my being to want to think of how our world and the actions we take could possibly influence the future in both positive and negative ways.
Now if only I could organize those ponderings into a sufficiently creative way and find a good way to market said ideas, I might be on to something.

I've kind of got a premise for my first "real" book idea, but it's a non-fiction idea. It's in a self-help, learn from experience, gandy ideas sort of realm. I've got a tentative title and an early outline draft. It's just an idea though, so who knows if it would actually go through.
I just don't know if I'm cut out for fiction. Full-length, long, and creative stories are just difficult for me, unless already in an area I'm fully knowledgeable of. (Like Star Wars, as an example...)
I dunno.
This guy just sort of questioned my ability and desire to someday write and now I'm wondering if I can do it at all. This blogging, it's not a job. I used to write for the local newspaper, but they were always in a type of editorial format, much like my dear blog.
Then of course in my creative writing class I really took to poetry, which again is a very small type of writing, and had TERRIBLE fits with my short story work.
So, that's where I'm at. I love to write, I WANT to write... but can I? Do I even have the ability to do what I want to do?

Pondering, pondering.
Much love,

Brit

Um... Suprise?

2006-07-19T11:18:00.000-06:00

Currently Reading
Angels & Demons, Special Illustrated Edition
By Dan Brown
see related

Ok, so this is the big secret suprise thingy dealy.

I'm in Albuquerque.

I left yesterday after work, made a quick stop at Hastings to rent a book on tape (see above) and grab a Dr. Pepper, and then headed out.
Suprisingly, did not hate the drive alone as much as I usually do. It was relaxing, especially after such hard day at work, and I had the book, some Eddie stand-up, some excellent mixes I burned before leaving, etc.
But the BEST part about the entire trip home was the end of the the trek, from Santa Rosa to Tijeras Canon.
It rained HARD almost the entire time I was on the highway, going about 85 mind you, (I know... I'm amazing) and the lightning storm was vicious! All around me, from one periphial vision to the other, just BAM BAM BAM. Every few seconds, it was incredible. By the time I hit Moriarity there was some still going on in front of me, but now I had him hitting above me, or right around me. It... was... CRAZY!
I threw on some hardcore worship music and just marvoled in God's power. I love when He gives me little shows of brilliance, just to show me that He can. Mmmm hmmm.

But, anyway, SUPRISE! Um, Tia, don't tell your son. I'm going to go pretend to need maintanance on a computer at some point. Also, we'll have to go eat out... as per usual.
Ok, gotta get ready for the day. I'm meeting my future presidential running mate (Miss Ashley Fate) for lunch at Einstein.
Much love, etc.

Brit

YOU! Cake or Death???!!!?!?!

2006-07-18T01:03:00.000-06:00

Currently Watching
Dress to Kill
see related

I had to chat up girls and I'd only tagged them before and I didn't have the verbal power to be able to say, "Susan, I saw you in the classroom today. As the sun came from behind the clouds, a burst of brilliant light caught your hair, it was haloed in front of me. You turned, your eyes flashed fire into my soul, I immediately read the words of Dostoevsky and Karl Marx, and in the words of Albert Schweitzer, 'I fancy you.' "

But no. At 13, you're just going, " 'Ello, Sue. I've got legs. Do you like bread? I've got a French loaf. ( smacking sound ) Bye! I love you!"

Indeed! I love Eddie Izzard. He is, without a doubt in my mind, my favorite stand-up comedian. I like Dane Cook and I love Pablo, not to mention a couple other guys a like to listen to... but Eddie will always take the cake (no pun intended...), b/c it's subtle sort of British humor that's witty and actually requires you to think.
Amazing!
He IS a transvestite, which tends to freak a few people out, but I don't see why you can't get past it. And he's not gay, though people don't seem to understand that either.
Probably the same crowd I suspect.
But, Eddie explains thoroughly in my favorite show of his, called "Dressed to Kill", that most transvestites "fancy" women. They're like Male Tomboy's. Or... Male Lesbians, as he says.
He's hilarious and I recommend completely.
He also has that thing where, because of his slightly sexy British accent, he makes the F word sound like a usage of poetry.

Anyway, random sort of thing to discuss, but bugger it. I'm tired, I'm going to bed... I have to work in the morning, AND I'm doing a super secret thing tomorrow. Can't tell ya. Have to kill ya.
Savvy?

Much love,
Brit

Savvy?

2006-07-13T01:30:00.000-06:00

Seriously... who wouldn't want to do very bad things to him?

WHO????

(((Of course, as Mrs. Stotts used to say, in an obviously Christian way...)))

Rio Frio

2006-07-10T22:52:00.000-06:00

Currently Reading
Bad Childhood---Good Life : How to Blossom and Thrive in Spite of an Unhappy Childhood
By Laura Schlessinger
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Went floating down a river... in a tube... for far too long.

The only thing that I really burned out of control-like on my body are my arms and forearms. It's the weirdest place I've ever been sunburned, b/c, well... it's just unusual to just be sunburned there.
I had a fun time, very relaxing you know and sleep aplenty, so that was nice. My friends are, of course, amazing. And coincidentally, Daniela's family is great.

Also, the week my mom spent here was *fabulous* and very good for us. It's been a while, a long, long while since we've had time to just spend time together and have no other obligations. I did have work and other social functions, but in the end I was really happy she was there. I miss mi mama. :-(

But, regardless, I'm back in the LBK, going to work at the OG tomorrow, and I am A OK. We're going to the drive-in tomorrow to see Pirates and Cars (again for me, on both accounts)
I saw Pirates, with Mom, at the midnight showing of course, with me dressed like a pirate of course, and the film for me...was terrific. You've got Johnny Depp acting like an insane Jack Sparrow... and I can't help but want to imagine doing very, very bad things to him... in a modestly thinking sort of way. (Right.)

Go see it. It's, if nothing else, worth the price of admission just to see the almighty Cpt. Sparrow walk around like a drunken idiot in eyeliner.

Right... well I'm tired and rambling about nothing witty nor humorous, or even slightly intriguing... so I'm off. I'll try to update with some pictures soon. So... cheerio.

Much love,
Brit

PS: Danielle said I should ask Michael if I could intern at their publishing company someday (like next summer) since I'm an English major and I want to write and perhaps publish a book. I told her, um... yeah ok. That'd be cool... if it perchance could, would, or did happen.

But, I'll try to pull the shutting up and being mysterious card and just say I'll be out of town... for all of Summer 2007.
Ahem.

I'll settle for just dateable at the moment...

2006-07-05T01:41:00.000-06:00

Currently Reading
Marriable: Taking the Desperate Out of Dating
By Hayley Dimarco, Michael Dimarco
see related

Reading this new book right? (See above) Gone back to my relationshipy types of reading and this one might be my favorite. It's witty and hilarious, plus creative and straight forward with no hidden meanings.
Bam, bam, bam... this is what you gotta do. This is what works, what doesn't, why you're an idiot and desperate and how that makes you look like a fool.

Just gonna post a few quotes to start some discussion. Please feel free to pipe in and say something, and also, check the book out. Pretty entertaining read.

"Male Roles: Opens pickle jars, doesn't ask for directions, least likely to cry, less expressive, less vulnerable, the one who asks out, the one who pays, looking for respect and appreciation, considers beauty in a mate important.

Female Roles: Eats pickles, loves to talk and connect verbally, enjoys being thought of as beautiful, gravitates to fuzzy creatures and that new-baby smell, craves romance and gives points to the male for it, is looking for companionship, considers safety to be paramount, more expressive, more emotional, the one who is pursued."

"Men are intrigued with women in general because there is something about women that they just don't get. You are mysterious--
that is, until you open your mouth and attempt to wash away that mystery with the scouring pad of your tongue."

"A foolish man tells a woman to stop talking, but a wise man tells her that her mouth is extremely beautiful when her lips are closed."

"With a man, sex is your best bargaining tool, so don't waste it on anything less than a ring, a dress, and a cake. Sex is the #1 motivator for men in making a commitment and taking a mature approach to relationships. Don't give up your biggest bargaining chip without a signed contract."

"If marriage is the goal of dating, then it must be the goal for both parties. This is what is known as a win-win situation... For the purposes of this book (and populating the planet,) dating will be considered to occur between a male and a female."

"THE MORAL OF THIS STORY IS: Whenever a man lies, it is for a good and honorable reason and for the benefit of others.
Okay, the moral of the story is a lie as well, at least partially. Men lie to get what they want, and men only want two things:
1. To be admired
2. To be sexed"

"The underlying lie she tells herself is "There is no way for me to get a guy other than going and getting one myself. If I never call, no good guy will ever call me." That's just not true. Sure, lazy men might never call, but who wants a lazy man?"

"The trouble is that the nice guy will disappoint you just as much as the bad boy did, because the nice guy will seem like a pansy, a smothering fool who won't leave you alone and loves you too much."

"Remember, when guys say, 'I love you,' they pretty much mean the same thing as when they say, 'I love doughnuts' and 'I love Brett Favre.' The fact that he can have sex with you is just a bonus."

"Many women will say that letting the man lead is an antiquated idea, and to that we say hooey! (An antiquated response.) When women chase men, they leave an imbalance in the relationship. The male's natural instinct to chase, to hunt, to pursue is suddenly useless. Why go out and hunt a rabbit when the rabbit has come up and laid itself at your feet?"

They can be a great people, Kal-El, they wish to be.

2006-06-28T02:26:00.000-06:00

Currently Listening
Superman Returns
see related

I saw Superman Returns last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. Excellent connection with the first two original Superman movies, Brandon Routh is adorable and looks a great deal like Reeves, and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor? Gorgeous. It was very long though... and you have to be patient with it. The beginning credits were goosebump inducing though.
It's also got many a great Christ allegory attached with it, which was great stuff.

And the Spider-Man 3 trailer??? Ohhhhh... worth the price of admission ALONE. I could watch Venom take over fragile Peter Parker any day of the WEEK!
Man, I can't wait unitl May 4th, 2007.

Anyway, on with the tagness...

1. Grab the book nearest you, turn to page 18 and find line 4.
'Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen: Miss Bingley immediately fixed her eyes on his face, and desired he would tell her what lady had the credit of inspiring such reflections. Mr. Darcy replied with great intrepidity, 'Miss Elizabeth Bennet.'

2. Stretch out your left arm as far as you can. What can you touch?
An old Yoplait Peach Yogurt container... amongst other trash like objects.

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
Gosh... I'm not sure. Not having cable causes me to neglect the TV world, much to my dismay. I believe the last thing I watched was Game 6 of the NBA finals, where the Heat beat the poor Dallas Mavericks.

4. Without looking, guess what time it is.
3:55am

5. Now look at the clock. What is the actual time?
3:51am

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
The big fan sitting on top of my printer and facing my bed... my bedroom is the hottest one in the house. Half the time I just end up sleeping on my Love Sac in the living room. Also, I've got the original Superman soundtrack going. John Williams... what a genius!

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
When I got out of Chelsey's car after returning from the movie theater. Midnight showings are excellent...

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?
Facebook and MySpace (of course) then I watched the Spider-Man 3 trailer in High Definition, then I decided to update the bloggness.

9. What are you wearing?
My grey Texas Tech Housing and Residence Life T-Shirt and some red plaid boxer shorts I most certainly stole from my mother. On accident of course.

10. Did you dream last night?
Well, it was more of... did I sleep today, since I was an insomniac last night and didn't sleep until this morning. And I'm sure I dreamt, but it escapes me.

11. When did you last laugh?
During the movie... it had it's moments.

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
Tons of my Asian themed artwork. I have two geisha pics, a fancy umbrella hanging from the corner, a picture frame with friends and fam, 4 flower pics, one HUGE painting of oleanders in front of me with my name written in Japanese on one side and in Chinese in the other. Also, there's a frame with McDreamy's picture from a Cosmopolitan cover he was on. It's wonderful.

13. Seen anything weird lately?
I work in a restaurant... I deal with 'weird' stuff daily.

14. What do you think of this quiz?
It's allowing me to continue my insomniac sickness... which is lovely.

15. What is the last film you saw?
Superman Returns. Before that it was Nacho Libre. Naaaccchoooooooooooooooooooo...

XXOOXXoOXx

16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy?
Houses for my mom, Nana, and Aunt Cathy.
Then, IMMEDIATELY, a Mini Cooper for myself.

17. Tell me something about you that I don't know.
I have 3 kidneys. Depending on who you are... you might ACTUALLY know that.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt and politics, what would you do?
I'd make everyone have super powers... *evil cackle*

19. Do you like to dance?
Duh...

20. George Bush??
Love, love, love the guy... even if he can't speak English that great, it's not the important quality I care about in a president. Plus, he's a Texan. Gotta represent.

21. Imagine your first child is a girl.
I've got a list of names in a Word document... her name would either be Isabel Rose, Corinth Dawn, Lily Victoria, or Briseis Rayne. ((Tia, you'll like this one... I've also got Michaela Stevie in the wings. ;) ))

22. Imagine your first child is a boy.
Gotta list there too... Cameron Carl, Luke Siler, Tristan Isaiah, or Gabriel Parker.

23. Would you ever consider living abroad?
Abso-freakin-lutley. I would ADORE to travel the world for the rest of my life.

24. What would you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gate?
"Here's a lightsaber Britney. I made it specially for you... b/c I love you."

25. 3 people who must also do this quiz in their blog:
Tia already tagged my other blog buddies... but I'll tag Emmy, and Sypria since she's gotta Xanga to work with.

Alright, that does it...

2006-06-23T07:30:00.000-06:00

I tried to lay off of the men bashing for a while, just b/c it seems like I'm becoming more and more cynical and depressed about them when I really shouldn't. I'm 20. And it's drama filled, and that is just not my thing. Not Brit's "Cup O' Tea." I'm beyond drama, if you will.
But, I've got to get this small, tiny little quip off my shoulders.

So, what's with the irony? Why does my life have to closely resemble a dark, satirical comedy whereas things never work the way I'd like and end up having some sick twist, that only the nearly committed can find the humor in the pathetic situation?

I mean, seriously. It's not just the romance part of my life either... Haha, "romance." If we can even call it THAT.
But, honestly, I just learned yesterday (not that I didn't already semi-quasi-pseudo know this) that my family is kind of like one of those families you hear about on Cops and just sort of snicker about how ridiculous they are. It's idiotic how I sometimes feel smarter than my older relatives...

Although, I can be quite the idiot myself, so maybe I should just shut the heck up.

Anyway, so here's the situation that, if I don't laugh about, surely I'll cry... then go insane over.
There are three guys. All play volleyball and/or basketball, are tall (my preference), nice guys, and good looking.
Guy #1 and I we're "talking" a couple weeks back. I was excited, b/c of the three guys he was the one I was first attracted to. He genuinely makes me laugh, has these pretty blue eyes, used to have this strangely sexy beard, and he took the steps to initiate what tiny, itty bitty part of a relationship that we had.
I was sooo excited. Like exstatic b/c I finally thought, finally, a legitimately good, funny, and Christian male was going to finally take me out and date me.
Ahhhh, but alas. That would make me far too happy, so that had to fall through the cracks like everything else that brings me a slightest bit of hope, and of course in a fashionably painful way... By trying to drop off the face of the Earth and, with no explanation and no reason at all, completely ignore me.
It's like I'm back in middle school. Immature morons....
Guy #2 was almost my third roommate in mi casa. He's dramatic, eccentric, and basically a woman. Not literally, but you know what I mean? He'd be the woman in the relationship... he's kind of a metrosexual and he apologizes about EVERYTHING and always, always, always wants to sit you down and give you advice or have a deep conversation about things that aren't deep and with people that he doesn't know that well.
You know? He's cute, and he's more interested in dating me than I am in him, but he's so complicated it's painful. He's more complicated than I am, and that's just ridiculous. It's pathetic.
But, I kinda led him on last night at the club, so I'm sure I'm going to pay for that... wait, wait... didn't he call me at 8 o'clock in the morning???
Oh, yeah, I'm a moron.
Guy #3 has a girlfriend that he's been dating for 3 years but apparently can't stand. According to everyone he wants out and she's a witch. Whatever. But, to make things somewhat interesting, he mentioned to my friend Chelsey that he'd be interested in dating me... wtf???
This was after I made a comment at IHop about having to fall asleep to Sports Center every night, which... when I have cable... is very true. I'm on withdrawals right now without ESPN, PTI, Stuart Scott, and general sports goodness.
So, apparently that interested him, and he's being friendly... but I aint even trying to play that card. He has a GIRLFRIEND.
Morons, morons, morons...

And now I'm going to go wait tables on about three hours of sleep b/c overly sensitive boy had to call me at such an ungodly hour. 8 am... who calls people at EIGHT AM??? Goodness.
I gotta stop attracting these kinds of guys...

Please, leave me some sort of encouragement, messages of hope... I'll even except pity at this point,

-Brit

Fanatical Phases

2006-06-22T04:46:00.000-06:00

Currently Watching
Pablo Francisco - Bits And Pieces: Live From Orange County
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I'm a geek. A freak. I get it, I know, and I've accepted it. I'm finally, after many years of insecurity, proud of it.
It impresses the crap out of guys, but then of course they just become really great friends to discuss other geekdom news and sports issues with.

As Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, once so eloquently put it... "This is my gift. My curse. With great power comes great responsibility."
And so on.

The fandoms change by the pop culture times... or whats most readily available to me.
Last summer I went a little Star Wars crazy, mostly b/c Star Wars IS my first love and the final movie of the entire saga was making its debut. I could never again see a NEW Star Wars film in the theater, for as long as I live. (Or so Lucas claims... we shall see...) So, you know... I had to make my own Princess Leia costume to wear to the premiere, you know?

Anyway, I have these crazy fandoms. Such as Star Wars. Or Harry Potter, that I so fabulously dressed up as Ginny last year to receive that amazing piece of literary genius. Also, there's Spider-Man, Batman (big love there), and X-Men.

Of the three superhero/comic book genres, and we can add Superman too based on the new movie coming this coming week, I'd have to say my loyalties lie most with X-Men.
I ADORE Spider-Man b/c of Peter Parker. That's the kid I'd fall in love with at school... smart, funny, quirky, and kind of a dork. Totally my type, which is pathetic, but I'm over it. I've also had a continuing debate with my friend Josh Rivera since early high school about who would win in the ultimate fight and battle of the wills: Batman or Spider-Man. (I say Spidey, based on many a point that I won't dare bore you with.)
However, on that point, I do loves me some Batman. I mean, the first two Batman movies... do you recall that casting genius?
First, we've got Michael Keaton, whom was doubted once, delivering a Bruce Wayne that feels right. Next, villains; Michelle Pfiffer for Catwoman and Danny Devito as Penguin?
And, wait wait wait... Jack freakin' Nicholson as the Joker? How do you beat THAT? How?!?

Point of interest, the deal that got Nicholson to play Joker has him receiving 3% of every Batman profit (merchandise, movies, TV shows... EVERYTHING)... Forever. FOR-EVER. It's crazy ridiculous, yet he's good for it.

Anyway, the reason I'm on about this crap is b/c I'm already planning my Halloween costume.
Yes, in June. It's not even flippin' July yet, ya'll...
But, seeing as X3 came out (and was pretty good... not BLOW ME AWAY AWESOME... but pretty good, maybe great) and the fact that Gordon, Steve's friend, gave me access to the entire X-Men animated series I grew up with in the 90s, aka my childhood, I couldn't resist... I had to theme it up.

So, I'm working on a Rogue costume. Like... classic Rogue. Not Anna Paquine angsty/"pity me" Rogue.
I'm talkin' the original Southern Belle, "hiya Sugah," I-love-Gambit-the-Cajun-but-can't-touch-him-dang-it-all, flying, super strong Rogue.

Check THIS PICTURE out for what I'm working on.
Accuracy is never my complete aim (although the perfectionist burried deep within goes crazy by the slightest wrong detail,) but I'm doing my best. If you're wondering why I picked Rogue, she's always been my favorite. She's spunky, if you will. I like spunk. I'd like to think I'm kinda spunky.
She's also got red hair, green eyes, and she's from Meridian, Mississippi. Seriously.
(And I'm definently dying the streak in... it just sounds like fun.)

I dress up a lot, if ya'll failed to notice. I think I'd like to blame the fact that I wasn't allowed to celebrate Halloween for a couple years in my adolescence. It's probably my second favorite holiday, next to Christmas, based purely on the fact that I get to dress up... something I'd do once a week if I wouldn't REALLY sign myself up for the loony bin.
I also have this wild imagination where I'd like to disappear into the worlds of the movies I watch or books I read. Maybe it's a defense mechanism; of trying to escape the reality of the world around me.
Forget the pain of the present, become a mutant, and kick some ass?

It's a psychological theory, but it works. I can't tell you how many times I'd love to be sorted into Gryffindor, have a life or death lightsaber duel with a Sith Lord, be caught by a webslinging kid in a tight suite swinging by spider webs, dress up all in black and meow like a cat b/c I'm hot and crazy, and have the ability to control the weather or shapeshift into anybody... all at the same time.

I'm a geek... I apologize for nothing... I dress up like superheros to make me feel better about myself.

Jealous, mon ami?

-Brit

Damn it, CARTMAN!!!

2006-06-15T01:08:00.000-06:00

Currently Watching
Team America - World Police (Uncensored and Unrated Special Collector's Edition)
By Elle Russ, Matt Stone
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I love Family Guy with all my being... most of you know this. I generally believe that the following clip is the greatest scene a satirical cartoon can offer:

Sadistic and crazy? Heck freaking yes. The first time I saw this I laughed so hard there were tears. I have witnesses.
But, lately I haven't had Family Guy to latch onto, b/c I've seen it all. All the new stuff and season 4 on DVD, the Stewie movie about 457 times... There's just nothing new for me to see.
Which is why, after acquiring every episode to date from Steve's friend Gordon, South Park has become a new obsession.

It's basically the most crude, demoralizing, and borderline sadistic thing I've ever seen... with The Woodland Critter Christmas effectively scaring me for life.
But, essentially that's what makes it great and humorous to my convolted mind. I've always had this sick, dark sense of humor... I laughed watching Sin City and most of Kill Bill. Violence is hilarious. Evil and immoral events for the sake of humor?
Twisted, sick, and wrong crap is funny to me.

I had a messed up childhood with parents that raised me in a sarcastic and argumentative setting. They also raised me like a boy half the time...
I blame that.

Whatever the case, I've never laughed so hard at anything as I have with South Park, and sadly that includes Family Guy.
First, there's Cartman, whom is said to be based off of Archie Bunker, and is an aggressive, racist, sadistic, bigoted, spoiled, overweight, rude, and manipulative 9-year-old brat. He will regularly make fun of Kyle for being Jewish, Kenny for being poor, Token for being black... etc.
Once he tricked Scott Tenorman, after Scott had tricked him into paying $10 for his pubic hair, into eating his dead parents that Cartman had made into a bowl of Chile. He also tried to exterminate the Jews... and hippies... and Ginger headed kids... a couple times.
Basically, he's hilarious. Pretty much the best thing on the show... except for perhaps Butters, whom is almost Cartman's complete opposite. Naive, optimistic.... he's cried on occasion and it's the most adorable AND hilarious thing ever. He's so sweet and cute, and yet he's got this side to him that's kind of screwed up... Gosh it's great; A dysfunctional kid with overprotective and paranoid parents, that have to beat him on occasion.
God love him.

I really can't explain the likes of South Park to you all, and I know most of you that read this (like my mother and my adopted aunties) likely wouldn't appreciate the straight up twisted and dark satirical humor.
But... geeeeeeez is it hilarious. All day yesterday, on my first day off this week, I watched South Park for about 7 hours straight. And it doesn't get old...

Check Butters out in this: After being broken up with a girl from a Hooter's like establishment that he thought was his girlfriend, he's confronted by the Goth's, whom Stan has joined after HE got broken up with by longtime girlfriend Wendy for another kid in school named Token.
(SOME PROFANITY FOLLOWING... just warning since apparently, after 20 years of being alive, I can still get a lecture about such things.):

Actually, what Butters says really is good advice. Although I dunno if I'd rather be a crying p**** than a faggy Goth kid. Could become an inner debate...
I just love listening to him cry though... ohhhh the tears... let me taste the TEARS of pain and suffering!!!!

.......

Yeah, I'm pretty messed up.

-Brit

Back to our regularly scheduled programming...

2006-06-13T00:22:00.000-06:00

Currently Reading
Betrayal ((Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 1))
By Aaron Allston
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I dunno what to freakin' write about at the moment. I mean, I could fall back on my general topic of choice; the ability of men to freakin' drive me crazy and make me wanna shoot myself in the face, but how far can I go?
Why is God giving me this endless list of odd occurrences, ridiculous moves, and utter failures at a successful relationship? Is there a reason? Does it all have a meaning?

My Aunt Carm emailed me tonight saying this:

Remember, you are God's best. You have destiny, purpose, and invisible super power support (kind of like in the movies-but better).

I found it terribly sweet and right up the ally of what I needed to hear. I went to a new church on Sunday (the first time in... well... months. I mean months. It's been a hard year, just go with it.) Anyway, so I went and I love God's irony and ability to make me know He's pointing at me from heaven and going, "Yeah. I see you... are you listening to this? It applies."
The message was about believing and having faith in Him and nothing else. The pastor said, "God does not require us to UNDERSTAND Him... but, He does require that we TRUST Him."
Then later he talked about how trusting and believing in Him doesn't make life easier... in fact it probably makes it harder b/c then Satan knows when/where/how to attack and now on top of that he know's you're one of God's chosen so you've become an even bigger target. It's like drawing a demon-like bulls eye on the back of your soul. And so he attacks... Fervently.
Evil, conniving, souless jerk.

We went through Mark chapter 9 and he was talking about the story where Jesus casts a demon out of a young boy and I loved his interaction with the boys father:

"How long has this been happening?" Jesus asked the boy's father.
He replied, "Since he was very small. The evil spirit often makes him fall into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us. Do something if you can.
"What do you mean, `If I can'?" Jesus asked. "Anything is possible if a person believes."
The father instantly replied, "I do believe, but help me not to doubt!"

"Help me not to doubt" indeed! ANYTHING is possible if a person believes.
Can't knock the man for knowing what He's talkin' about either.
Good advice.

Much Love,
Brit

PS: My job is making me become weary of old people, small children, ALL women, and some minorities.
Oh yeah, and cooks. They hit on me a lot...

Also, I want to make a video like this before I die.

Summer Nights

2006-06-07T17:15:00.000-06:00

Currently Listening
Everytime We Touch
By Cascada
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Summer lovin' had me a blast? Nah...

Last night I rode Nick's bike over to campus to play volleyball again. (He had left it there from KGB night and Cody was parked behind me... plus, I'm a cheapskate and hate using gas. I might buy the thing from him actually, if it's not too expensive.)
Anyway, I played sand with the entire "Volleyball Crew" for a good 3 hours. It's so much fun, I'd forgot how much I love the sport. And I'm getting better at the sand business. I can't hit, b/c the net is at guys height and I'm generally ankle deep in sand, but I usually set and rule the backrow.
And playing with and against guys is really the way to go... especially in college.

And not JUST for the eye candy, which is significant I'm not gonna lie.

You got Nick who I think is just adorable, Daniel the 6'7" masterpiece of sexyness, the new guy who's name escapes me but kinda reminded me of Johnny Depp, and any other guys we play against.
It's a good life.

And it never ends... I didn't work today so I slept in, goofed off for a bit, went for a jog around the park/neighborhood and now I'm going to meet up with everyone to see The Omen and then go bowling.
Tomorrow night we're supposed to go dancing again (maybe), Friday is KGB night again, and Saturday? Well, who knows. But, I have a legitimate social life for the first time in my life and it's good times.

Goodness I love the summer!

Much love,
Brit

UPDATE: Nevermind on The Omen, it was sold out. I didn't wanna see it anyway, so I'm just gonna go get a Keva and chill at Hastings until bowling. Mmm Mmmmm...

KGB

2006-06-03T00:12:00.000-06:00

Currently Listening
Whoa Nelly
By Nelly Furtado
Turn Out The Lights
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The game of ALL games cometh...

In high school my best friend, Dilly, was pretty much THE MAN.
It was odd too, b/c when I first met him freshman year and then got to know him MUCH better sophomore year, he was this nerdy, hilarious, ridiculously intelligent kid. Nobody really knew him... he was a pretty good wrestler and he had friends, but he wasn't out about popularity or anything. He was modest and humble and blah, blah, blah.
But, by senior year I knew that he was the most popular person in school. Thus why he became Homecoming King, to everyone elses suprise.
I knew though. I knew he'd get it... b/c Dillon has one special ability that I have yet to find in another human being:

Nobody dislkes him.

No one hates him, thinks he's a jerk, can't stand him, doesn't want to be around him, etc, etc.
Everyone, EVERYONE loves Dillon. And Dillon loves EVERYONE.
It's a very healthy relationship really...

Anyway, in high school Dillon really hit the brink of god-like satus towards the end of senior year and into the summer before we left for college. He did this by implementing a game... a very physical, stealthy, and exciting game that generally would involve 40-50 of his closest friends.

It was called KGB and it's really just a bigger, glorified version of tag. But BETTER.

You split the group of people you have into two groups: The KGB and the CIA. (Dillon's a political and military genius. He could beat the entire PENTAGON at a game of Risk, I swear it.)
The KGB is generally a smaller group of people with a big advantage... Cars.
The CIA are all on foot and get a 5 minute head start. We would generally start from a park in Rio and have to run, without being captured, to some other landmark across town. (One time, it was the library, just to give you an idea.)
Usually it's at least 3 miles away. And getting there on foot, through residential and some major roads is not easy. Not with crazy teenagers in cars driving around and jumping out to tackle you thus converting you to their cause.
I recall in one game I was walking down a dark street, alone of course... much to my mothers chagrin, and having to literally run and dive over a fence in somebodies back yard to get away from an oncoming car and a dog from a previous back yard.
Dillon once body slammed a teenager into a cop's mailbox, leaving the poor kid in the dust when he heard the front door open.
He really has the better stories, but he's unavailable... currently interning at Intel, the dirty dirty rat.

Anyway, I'm writing to tell you about this wonderful game b/c I have finally headlined it hear in Lubbock. Tomorrow night, once STEVEN gets here (YAY!), Danielle gets back from her retreat, I get off of work, and Nick quits his job... a bunch of us are playing.

Don't you wish you were in college?

-Brit