azurite: (roses are red)
H'okay. Sho.

With the help of [livejournal.com profile] everything_lj (because with a name like that, do you expect any less?) I managed to get my lovely corkboard LJ layout (designed by [livejournal.com profile] stellastars) functioning and looking the way I want to. I decided to tinker with it just to try and add a site meter, to see more about how many visits I get. But because LJ is annoying with its restrictions on embedded media (e.g. Flash, JavaScript), I couldn't use the usual tools, like the Izea Toolkit. But Sitemeter offered a JavaScript and regular HTML tracking image, which suits me just fine. I replaced the syndicated module (that'd be the one with the RSS/Atom icons) and made sure my title images were displaying, and viola! Lovely layout. :) I kinda miss the days when I used Greymatter and could design my own layout (I still have my old one featuring Emily Strange), so I might end up starting another blog (hopefully something a bit more streamlined than this... LJ is just sort of my "dump" repository, where I post about everything) on seventh-star.net.

Read more... )

Then today, Juana, her sister, some of her friends, and Melina and I all went to L.A. Family Housing in North Hollywood, where we worked on Valentine's Day cards The original plan was to make Valentine's mail boxes, but they ended up too small... I think the cards were a much better idea, in the end, as more kids came and the cards offered more possibility for creativity. We stayed longer than we thought and made a HUGE mess, but we cleaned it all up in the end and had some very pleased kids. I think today was the first time in several years that I got so artistic that I actually had ink (from markers and stuff) all over my hands again. I used to be covered in colors in elementary school, so it was rather nostalgic for me.

And now, for some random lists:
Like

* The huge variety of applications on Facebook; I'm always finding more that are cool

* Sarah Brightman's new album "Symphony," but most especially the track "Fleurs du Mal," which (oh you're gonna hate me for this) has helped inspire a new arc for "Eternal Dimension," the third and final installment in the "What Doesn't Kill You" series. FYI: it starts with WDKY (36 chapters), continues with "Circle of Seven" (not sure of the exact chapter length yet), and ends with "Eternal Dimension." And that's all tentative at the moment, because there may very well be a new Yu-Gi-Oh series coming out, called Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 5D's, though I have no idea what the 5 D's are. -_-. But GX (though I haven't really seen more than a few episodes of it, due to the cringe-factor) is most likely going to have its role to play in the WDKY-verse, so why not this new series, assuming it's halfway good and gets picked up and dubbed like GX did?

[livejournal.com profile] guardian_kysra, it's all your fault, you know. I like SB so much now that I not only watched her on Martha Stewart's show the other day (she performed "Storia d'Amour"), but I actually sat through the crazy opening sequence of "Pasíon," the Spanish soap-opera that SB sang the opening theme for-- in a duet with a countertenor whose voice sounds... very feminine. Plus, I got the entire Charmed: Book of Shadows OST because it had "Free (Swiss American Federation Remix)," and then the Free EP, which includes the song I'm listening to... but I wonder, which version is the one SB performed in the music video on LAUNCH! Yahoo? Have I mentioned I love remixes?

* The 795 colors that Diana's going to be featuring in Sailor X v2.08. She's already done amazing work (and been updating like a fiend) with 2.07, having just added the skirt stripes and collar stripes again. The ideas are plentiful, the colors almost endless! It's an absolute joy to take every weird senshi idea I've ever had and plug it into Sailor X... while not every single option is available yet, they almost certainly will be soon. Going back into the nerdy realm of Sailor Moon (and Otaku Senshi) has never been so fun! BTW, if you haven't yet checked out the official Sailor Xv2 DeviantArt account (or mine, where I post some of my creations), then look-see: Sailor Xv2 - me!

Dislike
* Having to send invitations to ANY amount of friends just to see my results for a quiz on Facebook

* Crappily-written quizzes, e.g ones with predictable answers, a limited set of answers (e.g. only 3 or 5), or terrible spelling/grammar (this applies to any quiz, anywhere). Actually, this applies to everything. I don't "relate" to anyone who can't be bothered to capitalize properly, use complete words (FYI, "ur" is not a word, unless you're talking about the ancient Mesopotamian city), or put apostrophes where they belong.

* Having to still be updating [livejournal.com profile] 30kisses for the New Year's 2008 Purge. Even having another mod on the team doesn't seem to have helped... is everyone just always busy at the same time? I hate feeling like I'm doing everything on my own.

* Not feeling organized enough! Argh, too much paper! Too many files! Everything, too complicated! (I suppose I should consider it a blessing that I ran out of paper for my printer. At least... I think I did.)

* Still having not heard from anyone at RPGClassics about my application to make the Star Ocean 3 shrine there. Not even on the forums. Hmph.

* Figuring something out moments after you resigned yourself to having done the best job you could do and "to hell with it." I did that with my first homework assignment for RTM 330, my first online class. I missed the whole "APA requirements" for assignments (or is it only papers?). Oops! I wonder if the professor will cut some slack for the first assignment? Then again, she seemed to have mentioned somewhere that the discussion questions aren't even graded, but I can't find out what really is graded, besides projects (like a genealogy paper). It's harder than I thought, keeping up with WebCT... maybe I ought to set it as a homepage this semester?
azurite: (deadlines whoosh)
It's suddenly occurred to me, with the force of a volcano exploding beneath my feet, that I am a senior. What's happened? I know it's all unreal-- I still feel sixteen, still remember the hallways of my middle school, and still consider myself a B.I.T.C.H-- babe in total control of herself.

And yet, with being a senior (and don't say it... I know this sounds like a Spiderman line) comes a great amount of responsibility. There's pressures from all sides to graduate on time, to get a scholarship (or two, or three) and go on to a good college. It seems like everyone's doing it, and in response to it, colleges are getting more crowded, and tuition is going up.

How terrible. But I find in my senior year, it's harder to get by, even a mere three weeks into the year, without money. Many of my friends have jobs, while others are desperately scouring the job binder, or applying (like me) to work at the polls on Election Day (this will be my second year of waking up at an ungodly hour to sort papers). I had a job once, about two summers ago, but that was when I was an inexperienced, money-grubbing teenager, with no sense of a timecard or anything like that.

Now in my senior year, I'm wishing I hadn't spent that last $20, or had put those $150 from that job two years ago into my bank account. Everything that people hype about senior year-- whether it's worth the talk everyone spreads about it-- costs money.

If you plan on graduating on time, and with your class, prepare to dish out money for the cap and gown. Me, I'm in the all women's advanced choir, and I have to pay $40 for an embroidered fleece jacket, and $50 for a yearly rental of a black dress. If I want to keep my demi-ratty song book that is emblazoned with 'First Ladies' in gold text, that's another $20.

Oh, mustn't forget PROM-- that's going to be in the hundreds. I don't know where it is yet, but hopefully it'll be at the hotel where my mom works so I can work for cash or something-- since dances were never my thing anyway, but it's always fun to "be there."

I was thinking about getting a senior ring, but the deposit is $50.00, and the cheaptest, nicest looking rings I could find were already $159.00. Yearbooks-- which I haven't gotten since my sophomore year, will be at least $65. I already scalp $3 off my mom for lunch every day, and more on days when I have Night School or special events that I want to go to with my friends. I'm not even including movies and other outings, since this is my senior year, and I may never see my friends again.

This bill is really adding up! I'm skipping most other dances, like Winterball and the Boat Dance... and there's always other stuff like sweatshirts, pom-poms, pens for yearbook signing, haircuts, @_@...

Between all my other gimmes, I don't know where to start. I know there's fundraisers and fee waivers for some of the more required stuff, but YEOUCH!
azurite: (lois & clark)
I'm a horrible liar, thinking I can just move on with my life. Maybe it's pathetic of me to be so attached, but I don't think I can survive a month. Two days has been hell. Maybe I just need something to distract me. Like these songs.

I'm dreamin'/And dyin' inside/Just don't care anymore/Keep on sinkin'/Stayin' me.../Thought I was real/Thought I could feel/The walls crumbled/Time passes/And the world keeps on movin'/But I'm drownin'/Always sinkin'/In my own despair

Pathetic, ne? Reminds me of the Clementine song. Now THAT was eerie. Oh well, I write what I feel.

My life is told in the magazines/Hidden by flashes, my heart unseen/I try to smile/And pretend that it's ok/I'm living through another day/Scandals and heartbreak/Shockers and heartaches/All there for the world to see/I'm a million-and-one masks/Adaptin' to any situation/Never see the real me/I survive, hiding the pain/Dreamin' of the day/That shoulder I lean on.../Will finally stay/Be more than a faceless/Name to drop/I'm living... through another... day.

Ah, this one is strange... it's like a sad song for a celebrity whose live is always misinterpreted by tabloids. It kind of reminds me of "Lucky" (Britney Spears- *Shudder*) and of Pink's "Lonely Girl". Eh, go figure.

Bleh... 2002-2003 Classes )

Oh, in better news... ^^ He talked to me~! We talked about everything and anything but the fact that we were broken up, or that day. But now it seems like we really are living up to that "unspoken" promise of staying friends. I really hope it lasts. =)

Hoax or Opportunity? )
azurite: (aries)
Well, I'm brunette again. It's weird-- considering I've kind of gotten *used* to being a strawberry-blonde... or whatever mesh of colors you could call my former hair color. I dyed it specifically for a convention I wanted to attend in Late April, but did the dye job at the end of March, because I wanted to go back to school 'new.' I made the awful (well, sort of) mistake of using two boxes-- since the first time around, my hair was a rusty red, rather than the Nicole Kidman-blonde I'd hoped for. So on the night before school started again from Spring Break, I bought another box of dye (when my mom wasn't home) and did it again, leaving it on well over triple the amount of recommended time. But those silly strand tests never work, and the chunks of hair I took out always made my hair look uneven anyway. By the time the convention rolled around, I wasn't really a blonde by definition anymore (if I ever had been, I'm not entirely sure) but I still fit the parts I wanted to play just fine.

Why the sudden change? People liked my new hair color, even if it took them a while to get used to it. The first comment of my chemistry class was "Oh my god... is she trying to be HK?" Of course not. Some people look good with blonde hair-- some don't. ^^; For a long while, I was one of those who didn't-- but as my roots came back and my hair became redder, people said it suited me. Though my mom wasn't slow to point out that due to my ultra-pale complexion, my original dark-brown-almost-black was a far better color for me. So, since my senior portraits are at the end of this month, my mom wanted me to look my best, and so I went back to my original color.

The good news is I like it-- the color seems darker than it was originally, but now I feel more comfortable choosing my clothes-- I don't have to worry about my pale complexion and tri-colored hair making me look odd. The strange part is, of course, that I dyed my hair in the first place to be different. Not so much to be noticed, but just to be different. I succeeded on that end-- with some odd results. Since dyeing my hair, several people talked to me-- surprised that I would go so far. I've never been meek or shy in any way, but I suppose there's a fine line between being outspoken and being outrageous. I don't think I'll be losing my social skills any time soon just because I re-dyed my hair. Of course, people will notice-- namely, my boyfriend, who hasn't known me with my dark hair, and has only caught glimpses of pictures (and I was feeling rather lousy when he said he liked me with my reddish hair) of me with it. Oh well. ^^
I've also made some rather interesting discoveries about myself-- though having nothing to do with my hair color.

For starters, my three favorite snacks are Wheat Thins, Goldfish Crackers, and Yan-Yan/Pocky. The first two are healthy to a degree, and the last two are "highly addictive." I used to like Mashuga Nuts (the brown-sugar walnut ones) but since they're so hard to find (like Bubbie's Pickles, even though they're MADE here) they're sort of a rare treat. Mom got me a pack of chocolate ones, and you can't eat them without milk. *grin*

Another thing is that I have a love for decorating. I've been looking forward to going to Pier 1 Imports for the longest time; Feng Shui (and astrology) are favorite hobbies of mine, and I find myself reading magazines that "normal" teens wouldn't touch-- Barbie Bazaar (nothing to do with decorating, unless you're a demi-collector like myself) and Family Circle. ^^

Last, but not least, I really have found a variety of journalists and teachers who I admire and aspire to be like. There's my exuberant summer school English (and regular-term yearbook) teacher, Ms. Tay, who has such an outgoing fun personality, but with a snap-like bite to her, it makes me think of spiced Cheetos. Very odd. I also love watching John Stossel, Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, and have recently heard of the Hispanic talk-show sensation, Cristina. It just enforces my dream of becoming a journalist-- though I'm not entirely sure WHAT kind yet-- maybe broadcast, maybe print (magazine? newspaper?). I might even (and this was my original idea) want to go back to my high school and TEACH Journalism there, as a real, accredited teacher, rather than an English teacher that had an extra class slot to fill.

I just hope this kind of motivation and aspiration stays with me all year long.
azurite: (yuna berserker)
Perhaps a year from now this won't be true, but as I slept (on the couch) last night, I had an inspiration. I was reading the book "Death by a Cheeseburger: High school journalism in the 1990s and beyond," whose title came from an article of fiction describing how someone died by a cafeteria cheeseburger. I was reading the statistics, trying to imagine how I could improve the staff I'm on now. My mom told me earlier today that my sister had been on the beginning journalism staff in 1991 and 1992, and I was amazed. I wish she was still around so I could talk to her about how it was back then.

So now, I'm looking at how some states require journalism teachers to have certification-- California doesn't. It's sad really, because California is so wide and diverse. The teacher we have is a good teacher, but horrible with teaching journalism. He doesn't inspire, edit, or anything, I don't know what the word is, but he doesn't motivate. So I've decided that I want to get a Master Journalism Educator degree, and return to my high school after college to teach Journalism there.

Good method of reforming from the inside out, ne? That's my goal, my motivation from now on. I want to be the kind of teacher kids look forward to seeing every day, the kind that motivates, inspires, and teaches.
Since the passing of the teacher that I didn't know, and the memorial ceremony (see "Teachers Bash Fight" entry) I wanted to be one of those people "changing the world, one kid at a time." Of course, I would be horrible in social services, so what better than to deal with journalism (my favorite subject) with high-schoolers (and right after college, assuming I stick to this goal and get a MJE degree, I would get along best with them, being only 8 or so years older than senior students)!? It's a great idea, and I'm really going to push for it.

That inspiration I had lost so long ago I have again. ^^ And I'm happier than I've ever been.

Ta-ho-ho!

Sep. 4th, 2001 02:56 pm
azurite: (pgsm senshi)
Over Labor Day Weekend, I went to Lake Tahoe in the very northern part of California. WOW. Being a city-semi-country girl, I was amazed at all the wilderness. Vast expanses of trees in every direction, and water, water, everywhere!

I stayed in a real log cabin-- there were even antiques like fire-blower accordions, and old 50s stoves. Staying there for three days made me realize just how much I take for granted-- how much the future today depends on the history of yesterday. And how glad I am that people sacrificed their time, money, and often lives so we could get this far.

Excuse me for being all sappy, but when someone tells you not to take something for granted, do it. I mean, where would we be without Internet? Or electricity at all? How bored would we be without radios and CDs, or sites to check out?

What kind of country would be living in if we hadn't won World War II, or gotten out of the Civil War era? What if we were still stuck in the Great Depression, or the 70s? I mean, some eras are infinitely worse than others, but you kinda have to look back in the past and admire those people-- for their ingenuity, bravery... and of course, all their faults that got them into the situation in the first place.

People like them watched the country grow and become a beautiful place that people want to visit, and stay in, and grow up in.

Already, I've decided I don't want to leave California for college. I've got so many choices, and sometimes, I'm not even sure what I want to major or minor in, but I love this state. I love San Francisco. Maybe I'll stay up north here in CA, but then again, maybe I'll go to CSUN near my grandparents. Or UCLA in the center of it all. I want to treasure this place I live in, and my friends that I was lucky and blessed enough to meet here, and my family that was smart enough to come here.

Call me a dork, but I really appreciate this country, even if it has politicians and lawyers. ^.~

January 2016

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