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I really just wanted to pop on and record this day for posterity. Today I went hunting with two other girls for our first “real” apartment…aka our first housing situation that will be in our own names, separate from school and parents (probably).

We spent about 6 hours together touring 5 complexes and visiting 6 — unfortunately we were too late to tour the last stop. Add in my commute from San Diego to the Anaheim area and my total comes to 14 hours and 40 minutes. And I did that on 4 hours of sleep because I went to the midnight showing of The Incredible Hulk.

I’m also leaving the house again in 8 hours and 15 minutes from now…so yeah, good night!

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I have things to write, but no will or focus to write them. There is simply too much to do in preparation for the Biola film. Which starts shooting on Friday, or possibly Thursday. Insert boggling eyes whirling in panic here.

The reality of it is that I have had the opportunity to work on several student/independent projects. I don’t think I’ve ever worked on any project — film or otherwise — that has run into this many problems. Every time it seems like we’ve got things ironed out and running along nicely something bad happens.

It is almost impossible to imagine that I won’t fall off the face of the earth while we’re shooting, so I thought that now would be a good time to test out that Twitter account I tentatively signed up for a few months ago.  That way I can keep everyone updated on the fact that I am still alive, and what life is like on set. Click the pretty button to visit my page.

I have to say, I’m already kind of addicted. It’s one thing to create a thoughtful blog post that is witty or wise or just worth reading. It’s much easier to be funny and offer useful content in little 140 word blasts.

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This video is completely awesome and made of win: watch it.

Now watch the corresponding Windows version.

Oh Macintosh, how you make my pulse race.

ETA: added links to youtube instead of the embedded video, which was messing with my layout.

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I managed to squeeze in a trip to the bank today to deposit my paycheck. The teller handed me the little receipt with the balance printed on it. To say I was surprised that the balance was only $191.79 is putting it lightly. My mind instantly began wondering if somebody had hijacked my checking account. I simply couldn’t think of anything that I had spent more than 10 bucks on in the last two weeks. So I went online to find out where my precious greenbacks had been distributed.

As it turns out, that check I wrote to Uncle Sam back at the beginning of April had finally been cashed, as had that wonderful parking ticket courtesy. Yeah, that will definitely put a drain on your funds.

Helloooo adult world. Anybody got a spare summer job lying around?

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“You never hesitate to tackle the most difficult problems.”

Ha. Ha. Ha.

See this? This is me, hesitating to tackle my most difficult problem. Namely, that I need to write 1 1/4 more pages of film analysis and at least skim through the 70-page cinema history chapter in the next 45 minutes.

I am going to have to do something to celebrate tonight because these are the last two major things that I have for the semester. After this evening, the last two weeks of the semester are a stroll down academic easy street. Of course, this is all provided I can actually get my brain to turn back on for another hour and a half.

This is me, tackling the problem. Like, now.

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2 weeks of intensive papers/projects + radio work + paid work = general weariness.

general weariness + 14 hours volunteering at Media Conference + driving & wind-down time = exhausted.

14 hours volunteering + teamwork + hanging on a real studio lot = satisfaction in a job well done and new friends.

7.5 hours of sleep + 3.5 hours at Disneyland + movie for paper + slower than molasses internet = bed time.

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I just got back from my interview with the Student Media Board. I think that it went well, but it’s one of those situations where my brain wants to over analyze everything in an effort to figure if they really liked me. You know, was that a disproving look? Did I actually answer the question she just asked? Are they just humoring me? I’ve also got the adrenaline rush going, so rather than go a rambling diatribe about the need to feel validated and accepted and the nerves that interviews always bring, how about a stupid story?

Yesterday we got out of class a little early, so I walked towards the dorms with one of my friends. It worked out pretty good because our path was through the parking lot, in the general direction towards my car. We finished talking, parted ways, and I walked over to my car.

Except my car wasn’t there.

I scanned the parking lot behind me, nothing. Weird, I thought. I could have sworn I parked right here. I stood in the parking lot for a minute, deep in thought, trying to remember where I had parked. Nothing was coming to me except the vaguest feeling that it must have been the front parking lot. So I walked there.

Nope, not there either.

I tried again to picture in my mind where I had parked. Nothing. My mind was completely empty. I returned to the back parking lot, walking slowly through the half empty lot. Maybe somebody stole — oh, there it is. Turns out it was one of the first cars I walked by while conversing with my friend.

Is the semester over yet? Because I’m pretty sure I just lost my mind.

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I love iTunes. I’m pretty sure it has become the wildly successful venture that it is because of people like me, people who hear a song on the radio or TV and simply must have it. Now.

I can’t say I’ve ever really regretted buying a song through the iTunes music store. I listen to all of them, with the exception of a few that were purchased for my old radio show “On Fire.” At present, my “Purchased” playlist sits at 259 songs. Now to be fair, there are quite a few freebie “discovery downloads” as well as a couple albums (the complete Handel’s Messiah takes up 43 tracks all by itself). Sometime last summer I figured out how to curb some of the impulse buys without forgetting a song that I actually did want. I turned on the shopping cart feature and let songs sit there for a couple weeks before coming back to see if I still wanted them. It’s worked out pretty well thus far.

But there are still those pesky songs that I either can’t figure out if I really want them enough to buy them, or I’m just too lazy to delete because I might want them someday. So, without further ado or exposition, I present 10 songs that I wanted to buy at one point.

10. Downfall - matchbox 20: Nothing especially interesting here, I just loved this song when it originally came out X number of years ago.

9. Putting on the Ritz - Mel Tormé: I was cutting together a liner for Biola Radio that used a drop from Young Frankenstein and I thought it might be cool to use this song as the music bed, but ultimately it was left out of the final version. That didn’t keep it from ending up in the shopping cart.

8. Un.orthodox - ??: I suspect this is a Christian rapper that I pondered checking out for the purposes of Biola Radio. When I went to check the album info in iTunes just now, the album/song/artist seem to have been removed completely. That can’t be good.

7. Doxology - Passion: Strolling through looking for a different song I found this. I adore old hymns and have decided I will eventually buy the entire album (Ancient Hymns) instead of a couple songs like this one.

6. Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon: Heard the back end of this song on K-EARTH after not hearing it for years and had the strongest impulse to buy it right.this.second. I mean really, who doesn’t want to walk around going “ah-ooooo, werewolves of London!” in their head?

5. Good People - Jack Johnson: If you know me, you know I’m a pretty chill person, which make mellow surf rock like Jack Johnson right up my corridor. This one will probably get purchased as summer gets closer.

4. Cotton Eye Joe - Rednex: See this for explanation. Yee-haw!

3. What is Love - Haddaway: Uh, wow. Nothing really to say here. I suspect it was carted for the same reason as the above, but now I can’t for the life of me figure out why I ever thought I wanted to own this song.

2. Are You Gonna Be My Girl - Jet: Found this one while looking for song samples to use for a homework assignment. It used to get some good airtime at KKSM, which is how I developed a liking for it.

1. Look What You’ve Done - Jet: So pretty, I’d forgotten all about this one until I found “Are You Gonna Be My Girl.” I’m so torn over which one to buy, I just don’t think I want both…

And there you have it. A little glimpse into the strange world of my personal musical tastes.

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Today was one of those days, the kind where everything piles up and the there’s not a spare minute for anything until after class. So I swung through a fast food joint to get some kind of sustance into my stomach around lunchtime (sorry mom, it’s true).

I grabbed my $2 food and was about to pull away from the window, but instead of receiving the typical thanks-and-have-a-good-day, the girl said, “hey, can I ask you a weird question?”

Kind of an odd thing to have happen at the drive-thru, but I figured if it was too weird I could just drive away.

“Sure.”

“You know that song ‘do your ears hang low’?”

“Yeah…”

“What’s the part that comes after ‘do your ears hang low/do they wobble to and fro/can you tie ‘em in a knot/can you tie ‘em in a bow/can you throw them…’?”

She trailed off, and I had to do a quick sing-thru of the song in my head (yes, even though I’d just heard it).

“Um, I think it’s ‘can you throw ‘em over your shoulder like a something something soldier”

“Gah! It’s been running through my head all day and I can’t get that one part!”

We shared a laugh before returning to the usual relationship between employee and drive-thru customer.

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Isn’t it odd, the things that make you feel grown up?

You might think that it would be the fact that I can drive a car by myself, or that I can write a check with my name on it that will withdraw money that I earned from a job. Sure, those things make me feel like an adult, but they have been absorbed into “normal life” and thus have lost the wonder and magic.

My mother would tell you that my brother and I have sketchy memories. That we misrepresent our childhood to our younger siblings. I’ll be the first to admit that we embellish a little, probably on purpose (with age and seniority comes certain rights after all, and I kind of doubt that the younger siblings would believe there were any icy roads for us to walk on with bare feet to school). So it’s possible that this particular memory is lacking in the precise details — though I promise not on purpose.

I remember my parents occasionally indulging in a particular kind of ice cream. Haagen-Dazs vanilla swiss almond. Now, when we were really little,  we weren’t always allowed to have much or any at all. At one pint, Haagen-Dazs is almost the same price as a half gallon by other brands that were much more affordable for growing families. Sometimes a pint of vanilla swiss almond would appear in the freezer and then mysteriously disappear a few days or weeks later. Smooth creamy ice cream and perfectly roasted almonds coated in chocolate — mmm. It’s worth the price and it’s worth keeping it from the kids.

As we got older, Dale and I knew we were really going places when we were included in a 4-way split of that prized pint. Now that I shop for myself and live alone (at least until the end of May), I still can’t help but feel particularly grown up when I reach into the freezer case for a little frozen treat that includes chocolate almonds.

In fact, I’m feeling pretty grown up right now. Yum.

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