Live Your Life

I got this in an email yesterday and I thought it was worth sharing. :D
It really reminded me of how lately I've been noticing so many things that I've taken for granted over the years. I mean, even simple things...like being overwhelmed by the beauty of the tulips that i pass by as I walk from the bus stop to work every morning. Or the way the sun sparkles off of the water in Puget Sound every morning. And how great it felt to see the homeless man, who sells the Real Change Papers every morning, smile when I bought him breakfast at Starbucks the other day. And that every time I get to talk to my neice, it's like I'm sitting right there beside her.

Last night me and Kelley were watching THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER and it just renewed my love for simple things that we take for granted. So here's a little something something for you to ponder. Are there things you are taking for granted because of stress and worry and because society tells you that things HAVE TO BE a certain way?

--------------------------------------

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better.

I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.
And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room,but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy/girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it.. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Hannukah/Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

----------------------------------------------

PS: 8 more weeks till I'm in the ATX! :D

This Little Piggy

I would like to start today's post off with an apology and a confession:

1. I apologize for not updating in so long. "You shouldn't have to apologize." you say? I know. I just want to. I feel like each and every person who reads my blog deserves to know that they are important—you are important to me! :D

2. I am not perfect. Far from it actually. And I don't always think the 'right' things or 'do' the right things. It's true. A while back I was talking to one of my friends and they were saying how it affected them at times because it seems as though I have my entire life together and that every day is just peachy and great... but this is so not true.

Though I am predominantly optimistic about almost everything, there have been a lot of hits and tears along the way that have gotten me to where I am. And in case you're wondering, no I'm not like, "putting up a wall of safety" around me... I'm simply choosing everyday to take some of the most complex situations and laugh about them or talk myself into finding a bit of a silver lining. And what doesn't kill me makes me stronger and I learn from EVERYTHING.

One thing I did promise myself is to LIVE my life to the fullest and make the best of everything that comes my way. Is my life perfect...oh no no no. Can I make some of the crappiest situations not seem so crappy? yes. yes indeed.

Which leads me to the latest thing... this SWINE FLU pandemic thingy.

First of all, can I just say that the term "SWINE" just makes me wanna vomit? Can we call it the Pig Flu or the Worse-Than-Your-Average-Flu? Anything but Swine. That makes me think that every person who gets it is gonna turn into a pig...a la Pinochhio with the the whole donkey thing. Creeptastic.

So every Wednesday, we have a staff meeting where we all go into this room with chairs and couches and go over Buildings and Grounds, Computer Updates, Publications Updates and Office Reminders and such. Well today we had a big discussion about this ... PIGGY FLU... and everyone was spewing out data upon data and statistic upon statistic...and it was all so overwhelming. One of the guys asked a really good question. He asked: HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE A LIVING WILL MADE UP? And it gets all awkward quiet and like a couple people raise their hands... and I look at the guy and I go, "Um. Would you like me to write you into mine?" And everyone laughed! It was so funny... and I just kept going... talking about who I would give my iTunes playlist to, who gets my laptop, etc. And it was so funny! One of my other co-workers commented later on how glad she was that I was on the team, bringing lots of laughs and a light air. :D

Now don't get me wrong, I'm concerned about the Piggy Flu, but at the same time, if I panic, it helps nothing. And if I get sick, I get sick. And if I die, I die. I'm not afraid.

Another example would be the recent RC Teacher mailout I worked on. So I ran out of bags...like 70 packets shy of a complete mailout. So I had to order more bags. But when the guy asked me if I needed small or large bags, I just guessed large- better to get bigger ones than accidentally get the smaller ones, eh? KINDA.



Let's just say... the large bags... are large. All day I was making jokes about buying out all the Extra-Huge bags from DHL... and trying to compete with Santa... and mailing myself home. It was funny!... at least I thought so. ;)

It kinda reminds me of this book I found at Borders once called THE SECRETS OF THE BULLET-PROOF SPIRIT.

I think I'll buy it with my next paycheck and let you know if I truly DO have a "bullet-proof spirit." ;)

Another book I'm going to buy is THE NARCISSISM EPIDEMIC. Very relevant, very interesting.

Well that's all for today! Thanks for checking out the blog! :D

World Wide Open

I was talking to someone today about traveling and how much I love traveling.  I really do.  I've never been one to just stay in one small place and be content to never travel.  I mean, c'mon, I live in Seattle now, which is like 2,385 miles away from my hometown of Austin!  That's a lot of distance!  But even though I'm living here, my passion to travel is just as alive as ever.  I still want to go out and explore other places.  So, I figured I would share that with you today.  Here are some of the places I want to visit:


LONDON, ENGLAND
(i really want to go here with my friend Kelley)


MADRID, SPAIN


NUREMBERG, GERMANY
(this is where I was born, and I'd love to go with my dad!)


VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA


BARCELONA, SPAIN

One day, I will visit each of these places!

In the meantime, a new song for you to try...

One of the band members is Brian Bandas, who I had the opportunity of being on the road with doing a MCA tour up the East Coast a few years ago. Back then, he was in a band called Three Nails Short. Now he's in Nashville, playing with a new band called Love and Theft that recently toured with Taylor Swift. If you like their sound, you can find more at their [myspace] page.

Cookie Jar

hey hey hey!

Okay, so today was our first softball scrimmage!  I didn't get any pics (sad, i know) but I will for sure when we play our FIRST game next Saturday! wheee!!

No MAJOR injuries today, though I DID slightly pull the muscles in my quads... but a warm bath and Icy Hot make things much better!  I'm having so much fun playing ball again and I LOVE my team!  They're so fun!  

One cool thing though, is that I got to go yesterday to the "GREEN" Starbucks on First and Pike and it was amazing!  I tried a Cafe Misto and loved it! yum to the o!   

Then I got to go see OBSESSED with Sheree.  It was cool!  It's one of those movies I really appreciate because I'm hoping that somewhere, some crazy overtly obsessed chick is gonna watch it and realize that when you obsess over someone that you know that doesn't love you back... you need to walk away.  There are, in fact, other fish in the sea.  

Kinda reminds me of Shutter in a way... which is another movie I love.  At the end, when the chick is sitting on his shoulders, it's all I could do to be like... Listen lady.  LET GO.  Move on!  It's not worth it spending your life chasing after someone who's not gonna love YOU in all your fantastic unique glory.    

So yeah, good weekend all around.  Got a LOT of screenwriting done and I'm loving the way the stories are progressing!  Feels so good to be organized and free flowing with the creativity!  :D

Leave A Note

Not a lot to say today... except I downloaded some new filters for my Photo Booth and I LOVE it!  I'm also getting to design some logos and stuff for work, so I feel like I'm back in my element!  :D  

Did I mention that I LOVE my job?  cause it's AMAZING!

From my photo booth to you, enjoy some of my favorites:

PS: there's a softball scrimmage tomorrow!  I'll let you know how it goes!  My leg is feeling back to it's old self...let's hope I can walk home in one piece tomorrow!  :D

Green Gloves

How cool is this!  Seattle has officially opened a 'GREEN' Starbucks!  Woot!  

It's on 1st and Pike, for those who ever wanna come visit.  You can 'explore' the store here:

STARBUCKS COFFEE IS THE BEST!

I'm so so so excited!  It's such an awesome thing to see more businesses making a bigger impact on sustainability in the environment.  :D

PS: 9 more weeks till I'm in the ATX! :D

Tripping Billies

Okay so today's post is a bit of a rant... but it's a funny rant
(at least, I think it is).

So I was checking my email earlier this morning and I was emptying my SPAM folder and I noticed an email that had the title: FRIEND REQUEST: AMANDA, I LIKE OLDER GUYS.

And I couldn't help but laugh. Because not only am I NOT old, I'm most definitely NOT a guy either. And I know that I should just ignore and delete, but after getting like so many emails crowding my email... even though it goes straight to SPAM, I just get so annoyed at how little thought goes into the emails that spammers send.

Not only is half the email grammatically incorrect- I'm not sure who would want to buy a watch from someone who can't even spell "Rolex" and "cheap."

But they don't even offer me things I'd even REMOTELY be interested in. My name is Amanda—not Armando, not Raymundo, not Amman— it's Amanda. Amanda is not a unisex name. It's not Randi or Corey, Adrian, or Taylor. It's Amanda. So I'm DEFINITELY NOT going to need to make my penis grow 10 inches. Cause well... I DON'T HAVE ONE. And sometimes I feel like emailing them back and asking if somone has stolen my identity and subscribed to some lesbian sites... because all these offers for drugs to "pleasure my girlfriend" and "make her happy" really just don't apply to me. AT ALL.

And the email I referenced earlier, was sent by some spammer who is like, trying to kill 9 birds with 2 stones... cause there were 3 different web links for 3 different "companies" with different names. So either KELLI21 is desperate for me to see her picture (which I won't) or "she's" not smart enough to change her name and send 3 separate emails. On second thought, I'm kinda glad "she" only sent one.

So I'm sorry, KELLI21, I won't be clicking on your link. Because let's face it, I know you're a 40 year old single fat guy who gets paid 25 cents an email to send out SPAM emails while lounging in your boxers in hopes that some creepy weirdo will follow the link and spend money on a picture of you, which probably actually resembles a picture of Kate Beckinsale with a weird combo of Giselle Bundchen's body, Christina Ricci's nose, and Angelina Jolies distinctive tattoos. But thanks for the offer and thanks for crowding my email. And by thanks I mean GET A REAL JOB, YA CREEP!

PS to all the spammers out there:

1. I bat for the home team. I'm into guys, not girls.
2. I have a cell phone and don't need your watches.
3. I am female and have female parts... permanently.
4. Somewhere, your 5th grade english teacher is hanging her head down in shame because you learned... NOTHING.

lame.

Pour Some Sugar On Me

For the past week and a half, I've been working on this massive mailout for work and one of our co-workers has this awesome niece, Cherie, who has been volunteering time every afternoon to help. So we've been able to spend some great quality time together. This week her aunt is in Africa at a conference and she's here all by her lonesome. Did I mention she's not from Seattle (like me!). She's from Atlanta, Georgia—ATL!! So we're spending some extra fun time together this week since we get along so well and have a lot in common—like our obsessive love for BBQ and Chick-Fil-A!

Today we went to this chocolate shop in Queen Anne called CHOCOLOPOLIS!


It should have been named HEAVEN or CHOCOTOPIA! Their chocolate was amazing! It was so exquisite! Some of the truffles looked like they were marbleized stones. Seriously!

We both got chocolate covered pretzels!

She got a strawberry truffle while I got a coconut truffle and a bag of strawberry vanilla marshmallows. They taste A M A Z I N G!!!!



Tomorrow after work we're going to dinner and then on Friday night we're gonna go see a movie together! I love hanging out with her! She's so fun to be around!

Ammunition

New Music for you to try as you start out another week!  Enjoy!

THE GREATEST by Cat Power


LIFE BOAT by Miranda Lee Richards


LOVE ME by National Product


RESCUE ME by Tokio Hotel


HAMMOND SONG by The Roches

Night Music: The Hammond Song"

Walking Down The Hill

Well today was a pretty packed out day... and it was so much fun!

Now, I USUALLY never wake up early on a Saturday morning... it's rare.  And on the rare occasion that I don't, I put myself back to sleep.  And it usually works.  Not so this morning.  I woke up at 6 a.m., no alarm waking me up... just awake.  

Brushed the teeth, washed the face, put on the coffee, and started cleaning my room.

Then I go upstairs to pour some coffee... and when I get back to my room I see that I've missed a call.  It's Jessica V.  and she's inviting me to go with J. and K. to go have breakfast with them and go watch 17 Again.  She also offers to take me to softball practice, since her and Joseph are also on the team and then afterwards to have pizza and watch Marley and Me with them.  I couldn't resist!  I love these people and LOVE spending time with them!  So I'm in!

The movie was funny, breakfast was great.. and then we're off to softball practice.

I was really excited because I JUST bought a new pair of cleats on sale for 20 bones.  But I realize once I put them on, they move a bit differently than regular shoes.  So we get to the baseball field and there's this big hill you have to walk down to get to the diamond.  And as uneasy as I feel in these new shoes, I lean over to J. and say, "Okay dude.  If I totally eat it walking down this hill, I give you permission to laugh."  And I carefully make my way down the steep hill.  I've just about cleared it and I'm so excited so in my mind I'm like, "HECK YES! I CLEARED IT! I CONQUERED THE HILL IN CLEATS!" and then as I'm about to the bottom... I totally eat it!  Down the hill I go... startled and freaked out... and I land on my back... in pain.

So I'm laying there, and they are trying to help me up, all the while asking me if I did it on purpose and I'm like, "No. No way. That was pure accident."  And I don't know what's worse... predicting my fall or trying to convince people that it was completely accidental.  In any case, I was laying there and I was like "Save yourselves. Leave me. I've lived a good life."  I always try to add a little bit of humor to ridiculously embarrassing situations.  ;)

Thank the Lord I didn't hurt my ankle, but I hurt the area above it and have a nice raised bruise.  But my leg still hurts from the fall, so I can feel my whole foot throbbing and i feel the bruise get bigger and bigger.  I was able to practice, but I didn't really run as fast as I would have liked to.  Oh well.  So then after practice we get to the video store and I realize just how painful it all really was and now I'm limping cause I can feel the pressure in my whole foot.  I got to ice it down and elevate it while we watched the movie, so now it feels so much better.  

My other injury today came from warming up at the softball field.  Me and Jessica were throwing the ball to each other and I didn't catch it right.  And by 'didn't catch it right' I mean "My mouth caught it."  Totally.  So now I have a puffy upper lip and a slight limp.  But at least the practice was fun and I really did have SO MUCH FUN hanging out with my friends! 

PS: 10 more weeks till I go back to Austin for a visit! :D

We Danced Anyway

So today during a quick break, I decided to break loose and do a little jig.  This is why I don't go to clubs.  This is also why I'm glad that the streets near my work are busy... no one's paying attention to the weird kid dancing in her office.  

Now, for those who don't know me or have never worked with me for prolonged periods of time... believe me when I say that this is NOT out of the ordinary for me.  I love dancing in the office... most of time it's playing air guitar to some Thrice or Snow Patrol, but I don't play favorites.  

I even used to do this thing with my media team where I would say, "Hey, let's take a break from this work and go to Maui!"  I would then proceed to set the Apple screen saver to all the beach photos and put on some island steel drum music and make EVERYONE in my office- assistants and visitors, do a hula dance.  We kept it lively.  :D

I Have My Moments

1. First thing you wash in the shower? my face

2. What color is your favorite hoodie? bright royal blue

3. Would you kiss someone you didn't know? yes... maybe not on the mouth.. but yes.

4. Do you plan outfits? for the most part yes, unless I wake up late...then it's fair game for whatever is clean and not too wrinkled

5. How are you feeling RIGHT now? content and peaceful

6. Whats the closest thing to you thats red? one of the divider tabs in THE STORYBOOK ANTHOLOGY

7. Do you say aim or a-i-m? ...what kind of a question is that... i don't even know what that means?

8. Tell me about the last dream you remember having? I was in the ATX and there was a rat in one of the buildings and some of the guys were chasing it around while me and P.Dan were checking out the species on the internet at his desk... and I looked at him and (in my dream, mind you) said, "You know, this dream is kind of going on really long. I should probably wake up now." and then I woke up and had 15 minutes to get dressed and ready for work... see also #4

9. Did you meet anybody new today? yeah, Cherie, Marion's niece... we worked on a mailout together today :D

10. What are you craving right now? coffee...and pizza

11. Do you floss? most of the time yes

12. What comes to mind when I say cabbage? brer rabbit... i don't know why...

13. When was the last time you talked on aim? yesterday

14. Are you emotional? at times yeah, but I don't think i'm like... hyper-sensitive emotional

15. Would you dance to the taco song? i'd dance to any song... i might even look like a dancing taco when I do it.

16. Have you ever counted to 1,000? maybe. if I did i probably skipped a few numbers.

17. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it? both. I also try to make the "Dairy Queen Swirl" with my ice cream cones using my mouth

18. Do you like your hair? yes indeedy! I lovesssss it!

19. Do you like yourself? most of the time... not when I'm being a brat

20. Have you ever met a celebrity? no but I wish i did

21. Do you like cottage cheese? not just no. but heck no.

22. What are you listening to right now? BROKEN SKY by Marcus Foster & Bobby Long

23. How many countries have you visited? I'm gonna go with 3- Canada, Brazil, and Guatemala

24. Are your parents strict? nope

25. Would you go sky diving? negatory ghost rider. big negatory.

26. Would you go out to eat with George W. Bush? um...is he paying? jk. yeah I would... if he was paying... uh. next question...

27. Would you throw potatoes at him? um... is he paying?? uh... next question....

28. Is there anything sparkly in the room you’re in? my sparkly silver sequin flats

29. Have you ever been in a castle? no but I HAVE been inside a mansion... am I being graded on this thing?

30. Do you rent movies often? yeah. not as often as I just outright buy them, but yeah.

31. Who sits in behind you in your math class? well...considering I don't go to math class...and I slept through it when I did... i'm gonna pass on this one..

32. Have you made a prank phone call? many many many times

33. Do you own a gun? no.

34. Can you count backwards from 74? maybe... I might throw a "9er" in there though...

35. Who are you going to be with tonight? K.Bear... and whoever is playing on my iTunes "Goodnight" playlist

36. Brown or white eggs? white

37. Do you own something from Hot Topic? Yes... a Tshirt and some stickers... and quite possibly a wristband... though I'm not sure where in storage they are...

38. Ever been on a train? no... I want to though!

39. Ever been in love? many times... predominantly with coffee and music... and my nieces of course

40. Do you have a cell-phone? you betcha

41. Are you too forgiving? I'm not sure. I don't forgive you, if that's what you're asking! ;) jk.... kinda... moving on...

42. Do you use chap stick? no. i've never really had a need for it... i think the one time I did need it I was in Phoenix, Arizona.

43. What is your best friend doing tomorrow? thinking about me, about her husband, possibly drinking coffee... and thinking about me. ;)

44. Can you use chop sticks? yes indeedy... and I prefer to :D

45. Ever have cream puffs? oh heck yes! so tasty... so fattening... we have a love/hate relationship

46. Have you ever seen The Butterfly Effect? No. I kinda always meant to... but I never did... and now I have no motivation to.

47. What was the last question you asked? my housemate asked me, "What word would you use to describe someone who does a good job and like gets things done. You would say they have a really good work... what's that word..." The answer is Ethic. Work Ethic.

48. What was the last CD you bought? I don't really buy CDs. I buy individual songs. The last song I bought was PEOPLE GOT A LOTTA NERVE by Neko Case.

49. Boys or girls? Boys to date, Both to hang out with

50. What is your bus number for school? Well... I don't go to school.. but for work, I take the 41 to 3rd and Pine and then take the 13 or the 2 to Queen Anne

51. Is your hair curly? nope. kinda wavy... when I don't straighten it

52. Last time you cried? i can't remember. I also can't remember wanting to cry about anything.

53. Ever walked into a wall? oh if you only knew. I'm a professional Wall Walker-Into-er... is that even a word...oh well...

54. Do looks matter? to a certain extent

55. Have you ever bought anything from Pac Sun? oh yeah! I love PacSun! I'd buy more stuff there if I was a baller!

56. Have you ever slapped someone? yeah. I'd like to say it was for good reason... but let's get real... it probably wasn't. boo to me. :(  See also: David Atkins & Aaron Greear... sorry guys... 

57. Favorite time of the year? Summer, Easter, Christmas

58. Favorite color? baby blue

59. Are you sarcastic? Yeah I am

60. Do you have any tattoos? No. But if I wasn't so freakin' afraid of needles and other sharp things that involve piercing the skin in any way shape or form...I'd totally get one... something on the back of my neck at the nape

61. The last person you walked with? my housemate Rosalind to the bus stop

62. Do you sleep with the TV on? Not the TV... but I will fall asleep watching movies on my laptop

63. Where was your profile picture taken at? at GTaustin in front of a white screen with studio lights blinding me

64. Do you hate or dislike more than 3 people? I don't really hate anyone... but I do dislike a few people

65. Do you like your life right now? HECK YES! I love it!

66. How often do you talk on the phone? Pretty frequently- morning, lunchtime, and after work

67. What is your favorite animal? Monkeys!

68. What was the most recent thing you bought? a double tall latte and Bacon w/ Carmelized Onion Quiche from Caffee Ladro

69. Do you have good vision? yeah. 20/20

70. Can you hula hoop? Um... like on a scale of 1 to 10... I'm about a 2 and half

71. Could you ever forgive a cheater? yeah i could. it would take a lot of time and communication to help heal the damage done, but I'd definitely forgive.

72. Do you have a job? yes i do and I LOVE it!!!!

73. Can you handle the truth? I would like to believe so...

74. What are you wearing? jeans, a shirt, and tennis shoes

75. Have you ever crawled through a window? Many a time :D

Plenty of Paper

So I'm sitting here at Caffe Ladro, working on the screenplays and I'm so refreshed because last night, I finally got all my screenplay binders organized and ready to add more content to.  I also put together THE STORYBOOK ANTHOLOGY which is like, my basic binder I carry with me that holds the "skeleton" and "reference materials" for each screenplay all compiled in one handy dandy carry around binder for those moments when things just come to mind and I need a place to jot things down.  Or if I have downtime, I can just open up The Storybook Anthology and get some things written down.  Here is a brief intro into the binders I've worked so meticulously to put together.  





These are the individual binders, which have the various stages of each piece of formatting documentation and will also hold notes and ideas and be the main bulk of the content for each spec script.  They will also eventually hold the latest drafts of each spec script.



Each individual binder contains a CAST LIST, which is a visual of what I think each character should look like, along with a basic description of who they are; A 3 ACT CHART to help keep the sections somewhat structured; A PLOT/SUBPLOT CHART to help keep those organized and clarified; A MULTI-PLOTTING GRID for the ones that need it; A BEAT SHEET to help keep things streamlined; A CHARACTER MOTIVATION GRID that lists each "type" of character and their inner/outer motivations and goals; A CHARACTER MOTIVATION FLOWCHART for each main character that again just keeps things on track; A CAUSE AND EFFECT CHART to keep the structure solid. There is also extra pages for notes and doodles and such.


This is what I call THE STORYBOOK ANTHOLOGY:



It contains tabbed sections for each spec script's basic data, along with a tab for BACKBURNER ideas and a tab for the Story Log, which is just a thin notebook that I use to jot down ideas along the way.  And the binder itself is a full-flip binder so it folds out like a spiral notebook to conserve space for when I'm at a small coffee shop table...like right now. ;)



And each binder has it's own place.  The individual binders have a sleeve in my hanging storage "shelf" next to the screenplay boards in my room... that way they are right there when I need them.  They are organized by focus importance from bottom to top.  



I know this may all seem silly, but it's definitely a big part of my life right now and I'm so super stoked to be organized!  :D

Mi Vida Loca

Sometimes I like to pretend that I'm at least a little bit mexican. hahahahahaha! Even though I'm probably the most "white" mexican you'll ever know. But here's what I love about my family... we are like, the epitome of "that mexican family."

Every Easter, we have a family reunion. Sadly, I haven't been able to go for the past few years due to scheduling conflicts and the fact that, well... I live in Seattle now.

But as part of this reunion, everyone gets together at the park with all the other "branches" of our family. Like my grandma's cousins and their families... and their family's families...and so on... and so on... and ... well you get the point. We EVEN have Family Reunion shirts made up to help distinguish our family from the rest (ha!).Here are some pics from said reunion that might help you understand what a giant undertaking Easter is for our family:


This one is a bonus. It's from the day before. They go to the bar and sing Karaoke! And you better believe it's a sight to see! I heard that this year my cousin JJ called up my mom and all my aunts to help be his backup dancers...and he busted out with I LIKE BIG BUTTS AND I CANNOT LIE! Hilarious! I also have the vid. Hopefully I'll be able to post it later.




all the grandkids and their children... minus myself, my brother, my sister, her boyfriend, and their 2 kids


This is the whole family minus myself, my brother, my sister, her boyfriend and their 2 kids

Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours

First news to report: I BOUGHT MY TICKETS TO SEE THE FRAY AND JACK'S MANNEQUIN CONCERT!!! Woo hoo!!! I'm so freakin' excited!!! Seriously!! It cost a pretty penny...but those two...together... I couldn't resist!!

Okay, now that I'm done hyperventilating... on to the rest of the blog post:

I spent some quality time at Barnes and Noble today...which is something I do a whole lot. If you know me, this is not news... but if you don't, believe me...I'm not exaggerating. I'm pretty sure I've reached a new level of dork-dome by letting my inner bookworm run free for hours at Barnes and Noble... but oh well. Could be worse I guess... (I hope) ;)

So I read a couple of books, but one that really stood out to me is BRONX MASQUERADE. It's very "Freedom Writer's" esque. If I didn't think it would be overkill, I might look into buying the rights a little later down the road and developing it into a screenplay. But I think it's been done (the type, not the actual book) and done and done again... see also: Dangerous Minds, Stand and Deliver, Freedom Writers, The Class, Take The Lead. But I was really inspired by the poems and stories of the individuals in the story. And I like that it's got the Slam Poetry going for it. Pretty neat. Here's an excerpted poem from the book:

BLACK BOX

by devon hope

(from BRONX MASQUERADE by NIKKI GRIMES)

In case I forgot to tell you, I'm allergic to boxes:
black boxes, shoe boxes, new boxes you boxes,
even cereal boxes.
boasting champions.
(it's all a lie.
I've peeked inside and what I found
were flakes.)
make no mistake,
I make no exceptions
for craker Jack
or Christmas glitter.
Haven't you noticed?
I'm made of skeleton,
muscle and skin.
My body is the only box
I belong in.
but you like your boxes
so keep them.
Mark them geek, wimp, bully.
Mark them china doll, brainiac,
or plain dumb jock.
choose whatever
box you like Mike.
just dont put me
in one, son.
Believe me,
I won't fit.

If you're looking for a good, quick, cheaply priced read, I recommend it. :D

Speak My Language

I really would like to learn French. I think. Or maybe make my little bit of Portuguese more solid. I think it would be cool to learn a new language. But I don't really want to learn Spanish. I know that being a Mexican, I should take great pride in my cultural language... but I would like to learn something else. If Rosetta Stone didn't cost an arm and a leg, I might get it. But I think I'll check out books at Borders or Barnes and Noble today and see if anything stands out to me. Actually, I just found a French for Beginners podcast for free. I'll let you know how it goes. Maybe I'll learn some new phrases and post a video blog. Who knows.

---------------------------

Je vraiment voudrais apprendre le français. Je pense. Ou rendez peut-être mon petit peu du Portugais plus plein. Je pense qu'il ferait frais pour apprendre une nouvelle langue. Mais je ne veux pas vraiment apprendre l'espagnol. Je sais qu'étant un Mexicain, je devrais prendre la grande fierté dans ma langue culturelle… mais je voudrais apprendre autre chose. Si la pierre de Rosetta ne coûtait pas les yeux de la tête, je pourrais l'obtenir. Mais je pense que je vérifierai des livres aux frontières ou le Barnes et le noble aujourd'hui et verrai si quelque chose se tient dehors à moi. En fait, j'ai juste trouvé un français pour le podcast de débutants pour libre. Je vous ferai savoir il disparaît. Peut-être j'apprendrai quelques nouvelles expressions et signalerai un blog visuel. Qui sait. [Français]

--------------------------

Eu realmente gostaria de aprender o francês. Eu penso. Ou faça talvez meu bocado pequeno do português mais contínuo. Eu penso que estaria fresco aprender uma língua nova. Mas eu não quero realmente aprender o espanhol. Eu sei que sendo um mexicano, eu devo tomar o grande orgulho em minha língua cultural… mas eu gostaria de aprender algo outro. Se a pedra de Rosetta não custou um braço e um pé, eu pude começ o. Mas eu penso que eu verific para fora livros em beiras ou Barnes e nobre hoje e verei se qualquer coisa me está para fora. Realmente, eu apenas encontrei um francês para o podcast dos novatos para livre. Eu deixá-lo-ei saber vai. Talvez eu aprenderei algumas frases novas e afixarei um blogue video. Quem sabe. [Português]

To Know That You're Alive

Easter is here!  Easter is here!  Easter is here!

Easter is my FAVORITE holiday...yes, I even prefer it over Christmas (as rotten eggs and fruit fly towards my face).  But I promise you, it's for good reason that Easter is my favorite.

I mean, aside from the fact that it symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus Christ and freedom for me personally, and the fact that there's LOTS OF CHOCOLATE involved... Easter means so much to me.

When I was in the 6th grade, my family and I were all gearing up to go to Pasadena for our annual family reunion.  But I wasn't feeling well at all.  2 and a half weeks prior to the time we were supposed to leave, I started getting intense stomach pains.  I couldn't even laugh—it was that bad.  We went to the doctors a couple days after the pain started—for all we know, I could've just eaten something bad.  So we went and the doc said nothing was wrong, it's just a stomach flu that's going around.  

So we went home, and the pain just kept getting worse and worse.  It got to the point where I could barely walk.  Easter weekend was creeping up and we were going to make the drive the Friday of Easter weekend to Pasadena for the reunion and we decided that just to be sure, we should go to the docs to see if everything was still okay and if there was any meds I should take.  We saw a different doc this time, and he was quite worried.  We did X-rays on the spot and discovered that the pain I had been experiencing was because 2 and half weeks before, my appendix had burst and all of the bile was seeping out to my other organs.  :( 

I went in for emergency surgery and woke up to my mom sitting there waiting for me.  :D  

The doc  came in and said that it was a good thing we came in before we left out of town, because the bile had spread so much that if I had waited another 24 hours, I would have died immediately.  The bile had burned some of my other organs but they were able to stabalize me and I had a long recovery.  10 days in the hospital.  My mom started calling it my second home.  
Now every time I think of Easter, I'm so grateful to be alive.  24 hours.  Seems like forever.  But knowing that we would have been out of town, believing I had a simple stomach virus, things wouldn't have turned out so well.  

I am so grateful to be alive.  Truly.  To be able to be alive and living my life... is AMAZING.  

That time in the hospital was so good for me.  My family came and saw me and showered me with gifts and love and hope.  My mom's co-workers even bought me my first Calligraphy set and my first Drawing Pad with paints and color pencils and such.  It was the time that I watched PHILADELPHIA a bazillion times a day, crying each time.  It was the time I got to hear All 4 One's I SWEAR over and over again.  It was the time that the youth ministry leaders came to see me and give me hope.  It was the time that I remember being so grateful for life.  

Easter is my FAVORITE holiday!

Happy Easter!  

You've Got Growing Up To Do

So, one of my co-workers, Jayne, asked me to water her plants. She's growing Basil and Tomatos and is out of town for the weekend... so I offered to water them. But as she was giving me instructions, I couldn't help but feel that these plants needed to have names. no rhyme or reason to that thought process...they just did. So I gave them names. Please, meet the plants! :D


Left to Right, Back to Front: Annalise, Celeste, Nick/ Donna, Veronica, Danny/ Xander, Ella, Arianne


Left to Right, Back to Front: Rosalie, Trent, Al/ Baxter, Gabe, Savannah/ Edinho (Eugenio), Maly, Tammy/Lucy, Emmylou, Grant/ Liesel, Cassidy, Maggie


Left to Right, Back to Front: Phillip, Karina/ Roxy, Juliette/ Carter, Lottie/ Spencer, Mason


Left to Right, Back to Front:Kimmy, Evie/ Meg, Louis/ Dexter, Hank

I hope they grow and grow and grow into amazing fruits and herbs! :D

Dues To Pay

I'm so excited today!! I got my tax return back! Woot!

When I was making the big trip up to Seattle, I got a credit card to help with the move and any incidentals along the way. But thanks to my tax return, that debt is GONE!! woot!!

It feels so great to be free of my credit card...especially with this economy!

Don't get me wrong, I was so glad to have been able to use it to get here, but now that my credit debt is paid off, I feel so much more at peace! :D

------------------------------

In other news, things are going great for me here! I'm continuing to work on the screenplays so now I have one I'm focused on, one I'm tooling with and one on the back-burner. :D I think one of the hardest things is focusing on the solid one while being tempted at times to cross over into one of the others. It's a great balancing act! :D

Work is going great and my first Present Time publication should be coming in today to start the mailout! I'm so anxious to see how it looks in all it's printed glory! :D I seriously feel like I should be like, running home with a copy for my family and being like, "QUICK! HERE! PUT THIS UP ON YOUR FRIDGE!" But they'll get to see it soon enough... I'm working really hard to figure out a way to head back to Austin for a quick visit at the end of June/beginning of July for MCA Grad! :D

Hmm... other than that... not much to report. But I'm so excited for the weekend! I hope YOUR day is going great!

Feels Like Today

So apparently it's Rascal Flatts week on iTunes! Now generally, I'm not a fan of country music. I went through a short phase in high school where I was really into country music...around the time that Deanna Carter came out with "We Danced Anyway" and "Strawberry Wine." But I will admit that I do actually like quite a few songs by Rascal Flatts. They have a great sound and almost all of their songs that I like tell a story, which I love...because I'm always thinking of new stories and it's just cool to have something to glean from. So, in honor of Rascal Flatts week, here are some of my favorite songs from them:

EVERY DAY


THE DAY BEFORE YOU

(my best friend's husband sang this to her on their wedding day!

STAND

(I'm dubbing this the Master's Commission song)

WHAT HURTS THE MOST

(this isn't the OFFICIAL VIDEO...this is the only one i could embed)

SKIN (SARABETH)

You Can't Stop The Beat

Who's got an amazing new music video out?

oh. that's right.  Coldplay!

Check it!

And in other music news... some new songs for you to try!

Too Far Gone by Sam Bradley


Meiko's "Boys With Girlfriends"

*perfect use of a creepy bear in a music video for a catchy song :D

Josh Auer's "Dear You"


and for this last one, I couldn't embed. But you should follow the link below to hear a Live version of Thea Gilmore's AVALANCHE... which has become one of my most listened to songs lately! :D

FOLLOW THIS LINK TO THEA GILMORE'S "AVALANCHE"

Your Sort Of Human Being [VIDEO BLOG]

Here's a video blog for you to enjoy!

Song: EVERY DAY IS A WINDING ROAD by Sheryl Crowe

I chose to go with a different song than "Your Sort of Human Being"

for the post because it just didn't fit the footage... great song though

and some random photo shots for you to enjoy!

California Dreamin'

So, since it's tax season, I feel it only fair to mourn the sad fate of our friends from California...

ARTICLE ABOUT CALIFORNIA TAX RETURN IOU's

I'm sorry Cali. :(

truly.

Laughing Out Loud

Time for a quick blog while I have my morning coffee :D

As I delve more and more into screenwriting, I am discovering that even though I happen to be a funny girl, there are still so many doubts as to how to write that into an actual script. Because I can think of the perfect retort to something in the script, but then you have to think, "Would he really come back with something that quickly in that situation? Or would it take him a moment to get his brain in gear to just whip right back like that."

I think that the two genres that scare me the most as a novice screenwriter is HORROR and COMEDY. Which is funny because some of my favorite movies fall into those categories... but the thought of writing one of my own- freaks me out! Because like I said, I consider myself funny, and I DEFINITELY have funny experiences to glean from, but when you're talking a larger audience that you have to "win over" with your story and jokes or scary imagery and such...there's a TON of pressure. Take for instance a movie you've gone to and you're like, "man, they're just trying way too hard to be funny." That's what I fear the most. That I'm gonna write something that only I get.

Learning screenwriting and what it takes to really make the audience fall in love with your script on screen, I've really come to appreciate the antics that go on at SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. I never really used to watch the show, but lately I've been like... constantly waiting for Hulu to upload new episodes and trying to remind myself to watch on Saturday nights (this rarely happens, sadly). But man, these writers...are phenomenal. Granted, not all of them are funny all the time, but man, they still do a GREAT job. I've read a lot of comments from people who are like, "SNL is just not funny anymore..." and I'm like...WHAT ROCK ARE YOU LIVING UNDER? The competition is MadTV and ... well... just MadTV... and let's get real, SNL dominates! It's such a fun unique show...and there's hardly any really quality comedy coming on TV that's not in a movie. So, SNL writers, I salute you! (not sure they'll get the message, but what the hey)

And in honor of that, here are some of my recent favorites! Enjoy!











PS: This morning I was getting on the bus and totally slipped on the step and face planted into the doorway. It was classic! I laughed so hard. I am "THAT GIRL." hahahahahaha!