Half-Cent Muffin?

I was at a cafe today and noticed a bunch of a muffins on a plate near the cash register. In front of the plate was a nicely decorated, color-coordinated sign that said "Muffins: .50 cents" (hmm...imagine there is a cents sign after the 50 as there doesn't seem to be one in the font list here...). I really wanted to grab two, put down a penny, and say thankyou and walk away. I know that they obviously did not mean that a muffin cost half of a cent, but I was very annoyed that they would make such a mistake. Things like that bug me.

100 Things About Me

I saw this on a couple other blogs, and thought it was a good idea. It's now 2 a.m. and in my insomniatic (insomniatic?) state, it's become a wonderful idea.

So here you go, 100 things you may or may not have known about yours truly:

1. My birthday is March 21. (Only six months...I want a puppy...:)

2. My middle name is Ann, after my paternal grandmother.

3. I work at Barnes and Noble Booksellers. Believe it or not, I love it.

4. I have 1 younger sister, and 1 older brother.

5. I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. No, I did not leave my heart in San Francisco.

6. I have three cats: Murray, Cosmo, and Linus.
7. I have two horses: Joey and Amigo

8. I won my horse, Joey, in a 4-H essay contest when I was ten years old.

9. I am a total bibliophile. I read over forty books last year, and am trying to beat my record this year.

10. I have an odd fondness for lima beans.

11. Contrary to my list of favorite literary greats, my all-time favorite book is "The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy," a children's picture book I got in Kindergarten.

12. My favorite TV show is Bones.

13. My favorite movie is The Illusionist.

14. I live to travel.

15. My favorite country visited is Spain.

16. I most want to visit Rwanda.

19. I have an extremely addictive personality.
20. Luckily, I don't drink regularly, or use drugs (I don't even take over-the-counter painkillers)

21. I love going to the theater.

22. I have seen Phantom of the Opera seven times. once in San Francisco, four times in London, and twice in Las Vegas.

23. I made my own theattrical debut as an Oompa Loompa in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in third grade.

24. I graduated high school with an embarrassing 3.0 GPA

25. I scored an everage 1140 on the SATs.

26. After two years at a JC, I am applying for transfer to some of the nation's top universities.

27. I am double majoring in African studies and International Relations.

28. I haven't yet chosen my minor.

29. I want to work for the United States Department of State.

30. I am fluent in French

31. I am almost at "research ability" level in Russian

32. I am easily stressed.

33. I made it to the final round of auditions for College Jeopardy.

34. Discovering my avid interest in Africa was like falling in love: I don't know why or how it happened, but it did.

35. I dispise ham.

36. My room is a mess.

37. The last book I read was "Condi: The Condoleeza Rice Story."

38. I am a proud registered Republican.

39. I live in Brentwood, California and love it.

40. My favorite band is She & Him.

41. I am going to three of the four California She & Him concerts.

42. I wrote my first completed manuscript in sixth grade. It's some of my best work.

43. Nothing inspires me like a good song.

44. I am just starting piano lessons.

45. I went to Spice Girl concerts on the original tour and the reunion tour.

46. I play a mean hand of Texas Hold 'Em

47. The best reminder I've ever been given is "high school is not the finish line."

48. I was editor-in-Chief of my high school newspaper.

49. Of my four family lines, three of them come from Yorkshire in England.

50. My favorite weekend getaway is Vegas.

51. The gas tank of my car is empty right now - as usual

52. I drive a 2008 Toyota Corolla

53. I hate talking on the phone

54. I have a crush on a co-worker

55. I never get dessert at restaurants

56. I have a weakness for Mexican food.

57. No trip to L.A. is complete without eating at Kate Mantilini's

58. I am oddly attracted to Travie, the lead singer of Gym Class Heroes

59. The National Anthem makes me cry every freakin' time

60. I collect decks of playing cards from all over the world. I have about eighty decks

61. I have various lines of my family history traced back to the 500s

62. I am a direct descendent of Edward I of England

63. A have a red notebook that goes with me everywhere. It holds all of my story ideas.

64. My current novel is about a group of people who start thinking for themselves. That's all you get...

65. My sister is my best friend.

66. My sister is my biggest critic

67. I truly believe I will accomplish something great in my lifetime.

68. Bad grammar is my biggest turn-off.

69. I compare every guy I meet to one particular guy I have had a crush on for five years and counting. I used to hate him.

70. I see no need to ever get married

71. I am going to study abroad at the University of Cape Town in South Africa

72. Sometimes I have to fight the urge to leave everything here and buy a one-way ticket to some third-world country.

73. I have seen 16 Vermeer paintings

74. One of my life goals is to see all 35 Vermeers

75. I am told I look like my dad

76. The only useful thing I can cook is paella

77. I drink multiple glasses of chocolate milk a day

78. My favorite soda is Dr. Pepper

79. I am a total insomniac

80. I have good friends from all over the world

81. I am fiercely competitive

82. I feel like I am most relaxed and myself when I am at the barn and with my horses.

83. My room is designed after a picture of a hotel room in Kenya.

84. I want to name my son Rufus

85. I ate In-and-Out Burger three times last week.

86. If all else fails, I will join the military.

87. My hair color is not natural.

88. I am currently reading "Africa: a Biography of the Continent."

89. The last movie I watched was "Cool Runnings."

90. I went to three different high schools

91. I know every word to every She & Him song.

92. My favorite store is Lacoste.

93. This is hard.

94. I have over thirty first cousins.

95. I spent my 21st birthday is Vegas

96. I am spending my 22nd birthday in Spain

97. I send my cat a postcard from every place I go.

98. I love college football

99. I have road rage.

100. I collect children's books for my future kids.

Results of My Social Experiment

Like everyone around me, I'm addicted to everything related to the Presidential election. Like everyone around me, I desperately want change to be had and America to reach it's potential as the great nation that it is. Unlike seemingly everyone around me, I do not think Barack Obama is the one who can do that. Unlike the few Republicans around me, I'm hoping to make that fact known.

See, living in San Francisco (or California for that matter) and saying you are a Republican is like walking up to Hitler wearing Star of David pajamas (Wow, it took a rediculously long time to decide what my Hitler-defying example should be wearing. For those who may be interested, earrings, t-shirt, and flag were also typed and subsequently deleted. Maybe he should be wearing all of them). According to some, the term "Republican" has sunk to the same level as words like 'Nazi', 'terrorist', 'clansman', and any of the other insane groups of people. On a daily basis, I hear sickening examples of liberal righteousness. My U.S. Government teacher, one of many examples I could bring up, likes to assume that all fifty-odd students in his class worship the Left the way he does. My annoyance at this fact is what instigated the idea of my little social experiment.

My dad's girlfriend was in Minnesota on a business trip a few days after the Republican National Convention and brought back a t-shirt that says: "I went to Minnesota to vote for McCain and Palin." I decided to wear this shirt out in public to see the type of reactions I would get.
I chose Tuesday because it's my longest day: I am on campus from 1p until 10p. (For my readers not interested in my college: I am in the process of transferring to UC Berkeley and attend the number on feeder school to Berkeley. On a daily basis, I am surrounded by Berkeley-wannabes. Seriously, I've seen enough dredlocks to last me a lifetime. If you can think of a more liberal school than Berkeley, I will give you a cookie.

I'm not going to lie I was a little nervous and shaky when I first walked onto campus. I was headed into campus for my first class right as morning classes were letting out, so there were tons of people walking towards me. I noticed stares at my shirt right away. Luckily, no horrible names or death looks followed. I couldn't tell if I was disappointed or relieved by this. I was on campus roughly three minutes before I got my first comment, and quite frankly, it surprised me. A girl walked by with two of her friends and, with eyebrows raised in genuine surprise, said, "Wow. Good for you." I had expected comments like these drenched in sarcasm, so it took me a moment to find my words once I realized that she was being genuine. I managed a stuttery "thankyou."

I didn't get any more comments for the rest of the day, but got plenty of looks. My art history teacher spent a long moment staring at it, and even smiled at me. Most people who walked by me read my shirt, and after awhile I started having fun with them by making sure I was looking them in the eye by the time they looked from my shirt to my face. I don't think my math teacher noticed, but he's a bit of a frazzled person, and doesn't notice a lot besides whether his pens are running out of ink.

By the time I got to my government class, I was confident. I'm sure it's not the big, ground-breaking deal I thought it was at the time, but I was proud of myself for going against the grain and (again, more dramatic than is probably necessary) standing up for my own beliefs. Also, as I had quietly hypothecized, my government teacher would have a negative comment. What I hadn't hypothecized was that his would be the *first* negative comment after almost seven hours of wearing the t-shirt. About ten minutes into his snore-inducing lecture, he caught sight of my shirt, stared for a good four or five seconds, and then obviously lost his train of thought because he had to stop mid-sentence and find his stride again. A few minutes later, once the customary Palin-bashing began, he acknowledged my shirt and said "oh no, please tell me that shirt is a joke." Nope. I would call him the horrible name I am thinking, but there are a couple of kids who have this blog address. So use your imagination.

Anyways, quite a success I think. Unfortunately, it was a terrifying and exhausting experience, and I have only worn the shirt to bed since. I'm thinking it's going to make the trip to Sonoma today though (yikes).

The Little Girl Who Wants To Be President

I'm sorry to everyone who has taken the time to check in on my blog - it's been a bit of a hectic week. I've been researching Africa's natural resources as they relate to genocide on the continent for a speech I have to do in my PoliSci class. Needless to say, that hasn't left much time to share my brilliant life experiences (hah!) with you.

But because I want to blog something, this cute little story was forwarded to me by e-mail, and I will post it here to share with you.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Little Girl Who Wants to be President

I was talking to a friend of mine's little girl, and she said she wanted to be President some day.

Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her,'If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?'

She replied, 'I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people.'

'Wow - what a worthy goal.' I told her, 'You don't have to wait until you're President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow, pull weeds, andsweep my yard, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food or a new house.'

She thought that over for a few seconds 'cause she's only 6. And while herMom glared at me, she looked me straight in the eye and asked, 'Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the$50?'

And I said, 'Welcome to the Republican Party .'

Her folks still aren't talking to me.

Lazy Saturday

I had a laid-back, but somewhat productive Saturday today.

Amigo is ready to go back to work, which means I can finally ride again tomorrow. I was at the barn today and polished my tack in preparation. This probably marks the only time I have willingly polished my tack...

Amy and I played about a hundred games of gin. She beat me almost every time. Badly.

We decided that if the cats dressed up for Halloween, this is what they would be:

Murray, my beloved fat cat: a go-go dancer.

Linus, who will hilariously roll and take off running at completely random times: a ninja (haha...this thought had me rolling in laughter)

Cosmo (I don't know how to describe Cosmo. I guess the picture below can say more than I can. I walked into this closet about eight times before seeing him there): a ghost.

Now I am watching Evita and bored out of my mind. She was interesting when we read about her in my English class, but now I'm a little bummed that I moved this ahead of Cool Runnings on Netflix qeue.

Friday Knight Lights

I was back with My Boys last tonight!



The first year my sister was a cheerleader, I skipped the games due to the fact that I despised football. Well, at that point, I despised most sports that didn't include horses. But when she made the Varsity cheerleading team, they got to travel to Paradise (some hick town a few hours away), and I decided to tag along for the novelty. I learned at that game that football isn't so bad, it's fun when they win, and my sister's cheerleading team was actually pretty good.



As the season progressed, I fell more and more in love with the team, getting to know the boys and learning that once I understood the game, football was actually quite entertaining (though I have since concluded that this does not apply to NFL football, where the players are all jerks and different rules apply. College football I seem to love just as much. Go Bears!!) I went to every game, and was even crying when we scored the winning touchdown with 23 seconds left to go to the championships. I learned more from that game, I think, than most of my own high school experiences. We finished the season 12-1, only losing the championship game (had we won, we would have been Northern California champions, and gone on to state).



Most of the guys graduated last year and went on to college. Though they were all an integral part of our winning team, none of them are playing in college, though a couple of them should be: Paclebar, Shapiro (omg, what a kick), and Yago to name a few. The only guys back for their senior year are Sean Delfani and Diante Jackson. Jackson is our star, the one that makes amazing one-handed catches great plays. Apparently, he attended the USC training camp as a mere sophomore. I guess if he plays for them next year, I'll just have to set aside my pride and go to a USC game (blah Go Bears). That's Jackson on the right. Number One!!



I was thrilled to go back for the first game last night. Even though we've moved and Amy isn't a Knight anymore, they're still My Boys!! It was nice sitting back up in those bleachers. Leave it to San Francisco to cool off so dramatically so quickly. A few nights ago, it was 95 degrees and dark, but I'd say fall has definitely come in along with football season. Though I was shivering uncontrollably, I wouldn't have it any other way! Nothing says football season more than sitting in the aluminum bleachers wrapped up in my scarf, gloves, and Knights sweatshirt.

Too bad they suck this year. We played California High from San Ramon (my aunt and uncle both attended Cal High) and they slaughtered us. The final score was 22-9 Cal. What a difference a year makes. I didn't recognize any of the names on the sidelines, which was wierd. Luckily USC already knows Jackson is a hell of a player, because he didn't get much opportunity to shine last night. Yago had some off games as QB last year, but at least he could get the ball to his players.

*Sigh*. Oh well, I'll be back next week. Go Knights!

9/11

Today, I was a little disappointed in America.

As most of you know, today is the seventh anniversary of 9/11. I can still remember waking up to the news of a plane crashing into the buildings, and the desperate days afterward. I know I wasn't the only one who couldn't watch enough television coverage, or read enough articles (or hear enough survivor stories for that matter). I will never forget September 11, 2001.

How many times did we promise ourselves and those around us that we would never forget? Only seven years later, it seems that much of my country has already broken that promise. I have memorial issues of every major newspaper since 2001. This morning, however, I didn't bother buying a newspaper - the anniversary of the worst attack ever on American soil was apparently not a headliner. I listened to the radio without hearing one mention of what day it was. No one at school mentioned it, I conducted my own moment of silence.

By the time I was on my way home, I felt only sadness and a little bit of disgust at the idea that we have so quickly forgotten. What good can possibly come of such a short memory?

And then I saw them: a group of about five or six teenagers - they looked to be about fifteen or sixteen. They stood along Brentwood's busy street, Balfour Road, waving American flags and signs that said: "We will never forget 9/11." These teens were merely children in 2001, and yet they had organized themselves to remind the world that they will never forget the horror of 9/11. Then I saw a big rig. There were American flags all around the truck, so that they waved as he drove. On the back of the truck was painted, "In memory of all of those who were killed on September 11, 2001..." These two sights made me smile, and I felt a little bit better.

So please don't forget what happened on September 11, 2001. I haven't.

What a Week

This has been quite a busy week. I can't seem to stay caught up with everything that needs to be done. Just to give you an idea of my daily schedule:

I am at the barn by 6a to feed the horses (there's one of them there on the right - Amigo), at work by 7:30a. Work, work, work, then at school by 2p. Most nights I am in class until 10p (except for Wednesdays when I am home to watch Bones). ...yeah, I'm busy. Any spare time that I'm not doing homework, I'm riding, or writing, or reading. Sometimes I sleep too:)

I have a lot to keep track of, so it's no wonder that sometimes I forget something. In today's case, I FORGOT I HAD MY POLITICS TEST!!

First off, I almost ditched today (it was just one of those days), but I'm really not much of a ditcher, so I ended up dragging myself to school. My stomach sank as soon as I walked in the door and saw the scantrons on everyone's desk. Luckily, I hadn't dawdled any longer leaving the house, because I had about four minutes - just enough time - to run to the student store and buy a scantron.

I had taken reasonably awesome notes on the lectures, and had done the reading, but did not study for a test, and seriously hadn't looked at the book since finishing the assigned reading a week ago. Not good.

I got the test and waited for a reason to cringe. There were only 12 multiple choice questions which I managed to get through, hesitating only once (I can never remember if it's the independant or dependant variable that is affected during an experiment. If you happen to know, feel free to comment me the answer). And then I saw the essay question. More or less word for word: "Describe Macchiavelli's views on the role of government as compared to James Madison's." Freakin' bingo. In last night's U.S. Government class, we discussed James Madison's part in the writing of the Constitution. He was weary of a powerful central government and wanted to diffuse the power - hence the three branches of our federal system. As for Macchiavelli, I luckily know enought about Macchiavellian control (control of the population through fear - thankyou Michael Crichton ) to bullshit my way through a rather fantastic essay.

Yeah, I got really lucky. I think I need to go study now....

P.S. Bones was way awesome tonight. I need to get myself a Booth....ya know, someone Conservative, works for the government, looks a bit like that guy who used to play Angel on Buffy...:)

Blah

I came on here to post, and then saw that yesterday's post, 'Lazy Sunday" somehow is now not showing up. And in my drafts log, there is only a partial, messed-up version of it. So disappointing. Anyways, now I am too disappointed and frustrated to post now. (There was a really cute picture of Murray on there...) *Sigh* Oh well.

I will post later.

What's the Difference Between a Hockey Mom and a Pitbull?

"Lipstick."

Not that it was going to be a tough decision anyway - I would vote for a sea monkey before Barack Obama - but after watching Sara Palin's speech tonight at the Republican National Convention, my vote for the McCain/Palin team is pretty much set in stone.

While Obama sure can give a speech (when he's got a teleprompter handy), Palin impressed me in another way. She possesses the ability to speak to the country as if she were speaking to longtime friends, rather than down to us. Dotted with quips and jokes, nothing in her speech felt contrived or forced, and she's got the sort of smile that you see, and just can't help smiling back.

Of course, these aren't the only reasons she won me over. On the first day of my political science class, I wrote on my introduction paper that I thought our biggest political challenge is our country's dependence on foreign oil. Both Obama and Palin agree we need to sever our dependence and fend for ourselves. Unlike Obama, Palin actually laid out her plan for doing so.

And it was nice to see her family. Her youngest daughter, Piper, was holding her 5-month old little brother, Trig, throughout much of the speech. At one point when the camera was on her, she was combing over his hair with her hands. Totally oblivious, she licks the entire length of her hand to better glue it down. You can't tell a kid to do that, and it was a completely genuine moment between two totally normal siblings.

And for those people who quickly jab at her lack of international experience ('cuz what? Obama has all kinds of international experience....), I believe Sara Palin proved tonight that she isn't one to mess with.

"Here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion. I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country," she said. As for Obama, she didn't hesitate to call him a tax-raising, terrorist-coddling, self-indulgent liberal. And people cheered. I shake in my boots everytime I enter my liberally-biased government class (and political science class, and history class, and math class, and are you seeing the pattern here?) I would have loved to be in the crowd in that cheering stadium.

Chuck Gast, a delegate from Maryland said, "For too many times, we've brought knives to gun fights. " When asked if Palin brought a gun, he replied, "Yes, I think she brings a big gun, like a moose gun."

Nope, you don't want to mess with Sara Palin. Hope you were listening Barack.

Bones Season Premiere Tomorrow

I just sat through eight straight hours of classes so I am not posting anything other than what is getting me through this week: BONES STARTS TOMORROW NIGHT! Bones, my favorite show in the whole world. Watch it. FOX. 8p.

Seely Booth. I love him.

He is my Edward Cullen. Yep, I said it.

Dr. Temperance Brennan. My firstborn will be named after this character, who I think is the best on TV. It's not often you get a female character who is not only gorgeous, but amazingly brilliant.

OMG, I'm so excited....

August Books Read

I'm trying to keep track of all of the books I read, so where better to keep track of them than right here on this blog! For those of you who don't know, I work at Barnes and Noble and can recommend books all day long. If anyone reads anything that they see on here (or has already read something they see on here) let me know.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

Okay, I tried not to get addicted, I really did. But I was in Europe, and it was on sale, and I desperately needed something to read having read both books I brought during my freakishly long layover in Chicago. So I tried it and I will say this about it: when I finished it, my thought was What the hell was that? The writing is not particularly wonderful, and thinking back, I couldn't think of any major plot points really. And yet, I finished in less than a day and couldn't put it down. Which meant heading back out to Waterstone's and picking up:

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Basically, see above. Read in my hotel room in Dumfries and finished by the end of the day. Looking back, this is probably my favorite book in the Twilight saga.

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

Again, see above. Though I had to make this one last a little more than a day. By now, I am officially addicted to all things Twilight.

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer.

Currently the last book in the saga, as bummed as that makes me. I really hope she continues the series, because after finishing it, I realized that I was a tad disappointed with the way it all ended. A certain plot point makes Bella go from very real and relatable, to not so much. And what kind of name is Renesmee? Okay, that's all I'll say....

Overall for the Twilight sage: 3 stars for quality of writing, five stars for addictiveness

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Having enjoyed the Twilight books so much, I decided to check out her only other novel. The only type of book that I love more than those that are futuristic and apocolyptic are those that comment on society or humanity. Two of my favorite books are Brave New World and The Handmaiden's Tale for goodness sake. The Host fits into that format in that it makes an observation of humanity that I totally just got. Worm-like aliens, called souls, have practically harvested earth's human population. The main character, a soul called Wanderer, can't quite make the voice of her host-body disappear. I hate to give it all away, but I will say that they become friends and it somehow manages to have a happy ending. This book really made me step back and take a look at Stephenie Meyer. She proves with this book that she can write more than just the sappy romance (though The Host doesn't lack in the I-wish-he-was-my-boyfriend department.)

Four stars.

Deadline by Chris Crutcher.

I finished out the month with a quick read of a teen novel called Deadline. I had picked this up almost a year ago as an advanced reader's copy. I am trying to read a teen novel here and there to get the language down for my own book. Anyways, Deadline is about a senior in high school who, upon getting the required sports physical as a cross-country runner, he finds out that he has an aggressive case of leukemia. Instead of undergoing treatment that would make his last days miserable, he instead opts to keep his disease a secret. Going out for the football team, asking out the hottest girl in school, and questioning the politics of his small town are all ways that he tries to make the most of his final year. This book is witty and sensitive, though a bit preachy at times, but had me bawling at the end.

Three stars.