Books

Hello again, dear reader. I've been reading a ton of books lately, I don't know what it is. I finished "The Wonder Spot" yesterday around 9:00pm, and started "Candy Girl" and read right through it. Two books in one day! I really need to start going to the library again. My 550 sf. house simply cannot handle all the books I'm going through. It's so nice to have the books to re-read though. Oh well. What can you do.

Today I saw Horton Hears a Who with my wonderful 12 year old friend, Ms. Banana Bread. We had a great time, and the movie was actually really enjoyable. I laughed out loud a couple of times, and the level of detail in the animation was pretty remarkable.

So far my classes this quarter are off to a good start. I'm really excited about my "Software User Assistance" class, which seems like it will be really applicable to my future career, and I'm also enjoying the "Project Management" course a lot more than I thought I would.

Unfortunately, I did some math, and even if I 4.0-ed all of my classes this quarter, I won't quite make it up to Cum Laude territory. :( Boo! I'm still going to try to go for it though, just to challenge myself one last little bit, for what is, presumably, my final days of school, forever.

Howdy!

I just got back from Hawaii, and it was, for the most part, a great trip. Despite some initial problems (like Hawaiian Airlines losing my luggage for a few hours, a stained rental car, and a few bugs in the house) the trip turned out to be great.

I had some wonderful meals (most notably Roy's on Hawaii Kai and Sushi Sasabune downtown) swam in some perfect water, relaxed in the hot tub, read a few books and watched a few movies. Overall, that's my kind of vacation.

I've finally taken the time to update my books read and movies watched list. Since I haven't been super diligent about keeping up with them, the dates are a bit foggy for some of the items, but what can you do?

I've started my last quarter of college, and I'm really excited. I'm taking some classes I think I'm really going to enjoy (Project Management, Software User Assistance, Biopsychology, and Senior Portfolio) and my schedule is just about as good as any college student could hope for: I have NO classes on Mondays or Fridays, and my Tuesday and Thursday classes are right in a row, and don't start until 11:30. Of course, my token Wednesday class is at 9:00am, but you can't win them all.

My GPA took a bit of a dip with geography and sociobiology last quarter, but I didn't even come close to failing--which some of you know was an actual concern I had for a moment there. Hopefully this quarter I'll be able to pull of perfect (or near perfect grades) and get my GPA back up into cum laude territory. Otherwise, I'll just have to be satisfied with a piece of paper, but seriously, after ten years, I'll take it.

Aloha!

This is the view from my bed in the cottage in waimanalo. Its gorgeous
here.

Favorite things: now in Retail!

I decided to steer the "Favorite Things" away from food this time, but when I look at the list I'm compiling, it's like 90% food. I'd have to say that if I just had to list my favorite things generically they would be good food, movies, technology, and art. I've almost completely stopped listening to music, which is strange since it was such an important part of my life for a while. I think I just got burnt out.

Anyway, today's favorite thing is Scarecrow Video. This video store is in the U-District in Seattle, and was a key point in Mike's campaign of trickery to get me to move to Seattle.

The moment I walked into the rather daunting store, I ran toward one of the old ugly bookshelves--packed to the gills with movies-- and hugged it. "It's organized by director!" I was pretty much sold. When we first moved here, Scarecrow had more titles than Netflix (Netflix has since surpassed scarecrow, but I choose scarecrow any day.)

When we first moved here and didn't live close to the store, we went a couple of times just to get weird movies we'd heard about that we couldn't get at blockbuster. We felt like serious hipsters when we went to rent "Audition" (way before it got seriously popularized in the US, and released on DVD). The VHS cassette we rented had a $300 damage deposit. Oh yes, we were in the big leagues now! The movie was just as awesome (and gruesome) as we had hoped it would be, and the deposit felt like membership in a secret society. Sure any schlub off the street can get audition on DVD now, and it probably looks better and has all kinds of special features, but there is nothing secret or special about a mass-market DVD.

Anyway, I'm really just procrastinating here to avoid doing homework, so I should get back to it. Looks like posts are going to be every couple of weeks, dear readers. I guess that's what happens when you take 25 credits.

Bad Danielle!

I know, I know. I've been totally remiss about posting to my blog. What can I say, I'm a bad seed. Sorry if this post is a little bit "all over the place," I've got a lot of catching up to do.

It's been super busy in my world, taking 25 credits is no cakewalk, let me tell you.

Things are going well, the Giants won the Super Bowl, which is quite an exciting event in my house. My husband looked like he was going to give birth to the next Manning child for the last 5 minutes of the game. It was really very exciting. Our guests (we fit two whole people in our house) lost their voices, and they don't even care about football. Mike was just so excited that it was contagious.

Anyway, good times were had by all.

In the exciting news category, Mike and I (well, really Mike, cause I usually win) have finally gotten our first real casino comp. We're going to get to stay in the Red Rock Las Vegas (a totally beautiful hotel) for two nights in April absolutely free (well, except for airfare, food, gambling... wait a minute, we're probably going to spend exactly what we would have spent if we were also paying for a room, those sneaky bastards.) I'm really excited about it. Hopefully the room service has improved since the last time we stayed there. And hopefully I'll win enough to make up for Mike's big losses again. :)

(Sorry about the utter lack of transitions here.)

I have been experiencing a book deficit, so I am seeking recommendations. I feel like I've read everything ever written, but I'm sure that can't be true. I've gotten so desperate for books that I've started re-reading my collection. The other night, I had finished my assigned reading, and I stalked around the house scouring the bookshelves for something new and exciting. Finding none, I cracked open "God Bless you, Mister Rosewater" and proceeded to read it from cover to cover. I've moved on to "Welcome to the Monkey House" but I highly doubt that short stories are going to last me very long. I need your help, dear reader. What's good? What's new? What's old that I might have overlooked?

Finally, I shall post another "favorite thing" for some reason this one is food as well...

Simply Apple: I am completely in love with this apple juice. I recently had another life-changing apple juice at the cafe at the Elliott Bay Bookstore, but it's from a local orchard, and much harder to source. Simply Apple is my favorite only because it can be found in the grocery store!!! Simply apple, despite being secretly made by the fascist corporate behemoth that is Coca-Cola, is an amazing juice. It's made only of apples. No sugar, no water, and it actually tastes really, really good. It has been sold out of my local grocery store recently, so I decided to try some other "natural" apple juices, but none of them have been nearly as refreshing as simply apple. They got just the right mix of sweetness and tartness (mostly sweetness) and it's such a great drink. If I could find it, I'd have it every day.

My Favorite Things

This Christmas, I received from my sister and my mother, possibly the best gift I've ever gotten. When we were talking on the phone about what to get each other for Christmas, I was like "You know what, I have way more money than you, and I feel guilty when you buy me things, so why don't you just make me a list of things you would get me if you had all the money in the world."

Well, I knew that my sister wouldn't heed that advice, so of course a package comes full of Christmas presents... but... there was also a binder that accompanied said presents. The binder was titled "Oprah Winfrey Presents: My Favorite Things - Christmas 2007: By Laura and Mom." To let you know how awesome this whole thing was, I'll rewrite the first page for you here:

"Please Read Before Starting Your Christmas Adventure!!

Danielle and Mike-

First of all, Merry Christmas (and happy belated birthday!). This year, Santa sent his favorite little helper, Miss Oprah Winfrey, to help Laura and Pam (henceforth referred to as "Mom") select their favorite things from the past year and send them to you as gifts this Christmas.

In order to begin this adventure, you must first unpack all gifts from the shipping box. As you will see, each gift has a number on it {there were 11 of them - D}. The numbers on the packages denote the order in which the packages should be opened. I strongly suggest (and so do Oprah and Santa) that you do not open the packages until this booklet tells you to. This folder has been put together (with lots of hard work, I might add) to ensure that you get the maximum amount of enjoyment out of your gifts.

If you have questions or concerns (or simply wish to express your gratitude) feel free to call the customer care center at the number provided.

Yours Truly,
Mom and Laura
Customer care representatives

Questions? Concerns? Call XXX-XXX-XXXX {Number blacked out to prevent you from calling my sister to demand presents yourselves - D}. Operating hours may vary.

As you can imagine, my excitement level was high. So I had to wait until I had read through each one, and open the presents in numerical order so that I could read their accompanying binder instructions, which were accompanied by witty descriptions, comparisons to pop culture icons, and some really fabulous illustrations. Also, there were some gift cards embedded on the pages, so I got to open the hand-made envelopes just like those awesome books I read as a kid that contain different letters and things that you get to interact with. Honestly, the presents themselves were actually pretty fabulous, but my husband and I were so entertained and touched by the effort that went into the binder that it pretty much made our holiday...

Anyway, the whole point of that two paragraph diatribe was really to introduce a new feature of my often neglected blog. My Favorite Things. And no, it's not going to be bullshit luxury items like "Uggs" or $700 hand creams. Although there will possibly be some luxury items on the list, it's not so much a list to inspire people to buy me gifts, but a way for me to remember the things I've had that seem extraordinary. Additionally, although they will necessarily be in some kind of order, they are not ranked in order of preference.

So. to inaugurate the Favorite things, here are a few that I know are absolute favorites.

Smith Brothers Farms Chocolate Milk: Smith Brothers Farms is a local dairy that raises their own cows, and makes their own dairy products. The result is absolutely AMAZING. Now, i will drink just about any chocolate milk, since "Chocolate Milk" on its own could certainly be on my list. But Smith Brothers takes it to a whole 'nother level. The milk itself is amazing. The cows are fed grass from local providers, and the dairy controls the entire process, so they know what goes into their product. The only milk I have ever tasted that surpassed this milk was in Canada, and we all know how much better their food is than ours, anyway. So, if you like chocolate milk, and you're near Seattle, you should really try SBFs chocolate milk. It'll change your life. Or at least taste really awesome.

Smith Brothers Farms Sour Cream: No, I am not being paid by SBF to promote their products, I just happen to love them. Their sour cream is the best sour cream I've ever tasted. It's thick, and subtle, but it tastes so good, I could just eat it right out of the carton and be fine. What's really awesome, is that SBF still has residential milkmen who will deliver this stuff to your house on a regular basis. AND the price isn't much higher than in the store. It's awesome. I can't say enough great things about them. I've driven past their farm, and the cows look really happy. If California has happy cows, the ones in Kent, WA must be ecstatic.

Whoo hoo!

Well, I'm finally finished with my creative writing class. I made some compromises on the final story, which, if you'll remember from my previous post, I wanted to make a doomsday tale that got progressively more disturbing, and ends on a sour note.

Instead, knowing that my original story would not be appreciated by my instructor, I went with a different ending, and a different tone all together. I will link to the story at the bottom of this page, but you shouldn't read it if you are upset by swear words or graphic violence. :)

I will add some caveats first...

1) I actually don't really like creative writing.
2) I don't like happy endings.
3) I didn't really take as much time on this as I should, so this story should probably be read more like it's a first draft than a finished story *but don't tell my instructor that.
4) My sister is a much better creative writer than I will ever be.

If you've been in contact with me recently and I haven't replied, I'm sorry. It's because I'm a bad person. No, really, it's because I'm taking 25 credits, and it makes me want to cry. Since this class concludes with this final paper, I'll officially be down to 20 credits tomorrow. So I might be more available.

So, here's my story... I hope you enjoy it, but it won't hurt my feelings if you don't. I'd love some feedback if it's constructive.

My story.