i love mix tapes

sara's birthday is on tuesday. thus, it was time for a mix cd. these two are for her. i love making mix cds, tapes back in the day. i also love receiving them from people. my closet is full of tapes from craig (if you have know me for any length of time, you know who he is) and all of my friends from over the years. and yes, i KEPT them all. i love them. they are a mini time capsule of music, memories, and emotions. i could always tell when craig was in a contemplative mood when i got a tape with the cure, the smiths or even the more meaningful indigo girl songs (emily's songs). and the same is true of the mixes that i make. the ultimate test of whether a mix cd is good is whether it's a good driving mix. so i always test drive the cd before it goes to the recipient. there's a formula...you can't mess with it.

these two are based on something sara said to me just randomly one day..."i'm a ninja of love." it's actually a song by keller williams (one of her new favorites). i rolled on the floor laughing, not only because of what she said, but also HOW she said it. it had to be commemorated in a cd set. that's what i do. the first cd are cheesy love songs and the second cd are songs that remind me of her. anyway, i love mix cds. i'm in the mood to make another one. any takers?

graffiti is art

since this seems to be "what ann likes" week, i thought i would write about something that i've loved for a long time. when i was in junior high, i had a crush on a boy named billy "conrad" weiser. he used to sneak out at night and do graffiti on the wild streets of virginia. anyway, i was severely jealous of his rebellion. however, i have always respected the unlawful artwork. i have a book on loan from borders about women who are graffiti artists. i think what amazes me the most is the incredible detail work that can be obtained from a paint can. i can't even get that kind of detail from a paint brush. they are truly amazing.

i love pandas

ever since sara, her sister, stacey, and i went traipsing around taking photos of the panda statues in d.c., i have fallen in love with pandas. i love animals. my cats. several dogs i have encountered. i also love monkeys. but i have a fascination...some may call it an obsession. i have yet to see tai shan, the newest panda in d.c. but i will see him soon. i'll keep you updated.

not a fan of rocker jeans

for those of you who are around me when i see people in these jeans, i'm sure you know what i'm about to say. i HATE rocker jeans on anyone that is not a legitimate ROCKER. i don't think they are flattering to men at all. there are some men able to pull it off, but they have to be skinny and have NO BUTT to speak of at all. i know it is always the trend to follow the style of those in entertainment. however, when i comes to that, you would have thought we would have learned from our mistakes in the 70s and 80s. the nehru jacket. parachute pants. red leather jackets with a thousand zippers. and my personal favorite...the leg warmer.

underappreciated: robert sean leonard

if you watch House at all or seen the movie Dead Poet's Society more than once (like i did), then you should recognize the gentleman to the left. his name is robert sean leonard.

he plays Dr. James Wilson on House, serving as House's conscience. they compliment each other very well. i watched almost FOUR hours of House yesterday and i just had to write about mr. leonard today.

i fell in love with his acting in Dead Poet's and was further impressed with In the Gloaming. He may have died in both those movies, but he did it with style. Swing Kids was an amazing movie and Much Ado about Nothing was a great, despite keanu reeves. how can you not love a guy that dated gwyneth paltrow (i.e. brad pitt, chris martin) and is close friends with ethan hawke?

i think robert sean leonard, the man with 3 first names, is adorable and i love watching him on the big and small screen. House is a great show...a new season is starting soon. i wish i had the guts to say even half the stuff hugh laurie gets to say on that show. i think the writing is brilliant and the show is amazingly fun to watch.

journey was also a video game

i made my first music purchase from work today. i bought the essential journey double cd set. i am obsessed with journey lately. every time it comes on the radio, i blast it as loud as i can take it and sing as loud as i can. i have two memories attached to journey. one of my babysitter's sons LOVED journey. his name was joe bauer. and the second memory was the video game (shown above) that i played for hours on atari. it was not a hard game. rather simple. that's the kind of video game i like. that's why i will never play world of warcraft. i could never handle it.

the thing that most pleased me about the purchase was when nathan rang it up, he said "i have this cd in my car RIGHT NOW!"

update on the new job

a lot of people have asked recently how the new job has been for me. i know i'm new. i know it's still retail. i know i've already had a customer tell me, "you're a manager? don't they teach you people skills in training?" yet, this has the potential to be one of the best jobs i've had.

the toy store will always be number one, but this comes pretty close. i'm surrounded by books, cds and dvds all day long. i'm alphabetizing, organizing and merchandising all day. the first thing i did was reorganize my desk, then "the cage" in the backroom, and put up my batman magnets and babel poster (that i got for free).

as some as you know, i collect business cards. in all of the companies i have worked for, only the store manager got a card. i have business cards from all of my friends, places i've worked, and places i've gone over the years. i actually get MY OWN business card! i would've taken a paycut if i had known that. just kidding.

i had lunch today with my friends, laura, joan, and bernie. they asked me the difference between the two companies. i told them i miss the people at the "stone," but i think borders is way more organized and structured. however, you can still express your individuality. i have some very unique new co-workers and i love that. the most impressive thing to me was when i opened the benefits package, there was an actual affidavit of domestic partnership form which i could fill out so that sara would have benefits from borders. i have NEVER seen that before.

how could i not love a job where i can read books before i buy them, listen to cds that i've never heard, and drink coffee all day? it's still retail, but it's not bad. wait and ask me if i like it when the new harry potter comes out.

p.s. the ipod has returned.

jury duty

i had jury duty on monday. i've had jury duty three times prior, but in virginia beach, va. this time was on a much larger scale. it was a pretty streamlined process. and for the first time ever, i was brought into a courtroom. i went through the "voir dire," the questioning of prospective jurors. at first, i was psyched to be a part of this trial. it was a civil suit involving a car accident. so during most of the questioning, i didn't stand up or say anything. THEN, they asked if the trial were to last until the following monday would there be an issue. A WEEK?? heck yeah, there would be a problem. if i were still working for the stone, there would be NO PROBLEM at all. but now that i work at borders, i would actually sad to miss work.

needless to say, i chose to answer ONE question and i do believe that it lead to my dismissal. there were 30 of us and they only chose 8 jurors. i also sat next to a woman who was dismissed who told me that she owned ELEVEN cats! she actually stood up and said, "i have seen a psychiatrist in the past and i need mental help currently." she tried super hard to be dismissed. it worked.

i was briefly possible juror no. 22. it was pretty cool. go civic duty! but they won't see my happy face for another 3 years! easiest $15 i ever made.

happy st. patricks day

i looked up "irish" on youtube.com and this video came up of brad pitt in snatch. so i took it as a sign. was he irish? do i care? :) happy st. pat's to all my irish friends (i.e. joan and sharon) and to all my not-so-irish friends!

my customer service will be affected

since our store doesn't have the nifty listening stations the newer store do, our customers cannot listen to ANY cd in the store. they can only listen to the ones that were predetermined. that's not a bad thing. back in the day, you couldn't listen to anything when you bought a cd. you just took the risk.

anyhow, the other day, a customer wanted to HEAR what the album sounded like before she bought it. she was looking for upbeat dance music for her exercise regime.

she had a copy of fatboy slim's greatest hits.

and she asked me, "am i going to like this?"
in my head, i said, "how do i know?"
in reality, i said, "i'm not sure."

i ended up letting her hear sarah mclachlan's remixed album on my ipod. she bought it. she said it was "HOT." she asked my name and told me that she would be back. obviously, she broke my ipod and now, others will suffer a lack of customer service since it's out of commission.

sad face ipod icon

yesterday, at work, my ipod just completely stopped playing in the middle of a song. i reset it and a small sad face icon came on the screen with the website for apple support. needless to say, i'm upset. hopefully, they can repair my old school ipod. i will be sans ipod for at least a week....and you KNOW how much i love my "schmod." thoughts and prayers are requested. :) by the way, big ups to my friend, eric schlosser...his bday is today.

don't call it a comeback

she hasn't been in the limelight since the 90's. i didn't even know she was on west wing till she mentioned it. despite her absence from my life, she was INCREDIBLE! i wasn't sure what to expect from her. she herself said that she wasn't a joke writer. she basically just gave commentary on life, her personal life, and on just about everything else.

i think the thing that most surprised me is that i am DATING a blonde, taller, more introverted version of janeane garofalo. why? these are things that janeane says that sara thinks...

1. she hates that rachel ray says "evoo." "don't have the time. too busy."
2. loves ani difranco. says if she were a lesbian, she would sleep with her to up her street cred.
3. hates being disturbed by phone calls and the need for social gatherings.
4. when questioned about not liking a particular album, her friends think "you just don't get it." in reality, she thinks, "no, i just don't LIKE it."
5. she constantly is swiffering and using clorox wipes. she febrezes her boyfriend's hats because they smell. (substitute shoes here)

i won't even go into her religious and political views. i liked that she talked about everything from mit romney to TLC to " scrapbookin.' " i would definitely see her again, but she is NOT for the conservatives out there AT ALL. and i loved her pants. (shown above) go plaid.

an added bonus was michael showalter, the opening act. he was hilarious. i think my favorite part was his "guilty pleasure" playlist. it included dave matthews, creed and christina aguilera. he actually even "masks" his love for journey (my new obsession) by renaming it in his ipod as SUFJAN STEVENS (one of my favorites). i think i will post a guilty pleasure playlist in a future post.

who knew she toured?

for the second time on valentine's day, sara got me tickets to see a comedian. this year it's janeane garofalo. we're going to see her tonight, somewhere in falls church, virginia. i had no idea that she was on tour at all. all i had heard was that she had a show on air america. i love stand-up comedians. the previous valentine's comedian was margaret cho, who was INCREDIBLE. margaret cho is definitely my favorite stand-up. i relate to her the most. and i, for the record, have been imitating my mom since junior high school. (WAY before margaret cho was doing it.) however, when she does it, i laugh the loudest. we have also seen kathy griffin and i love her also. suzanne westenhoefer is also one of my favorites. i'm sensing a trend...female comedians. are you shocked? i'm not. i'll let you know how garofalo was in person.

i knew i liked her

suze (pronounced "suzie") orman has been around for quite some time. she has definitely has hit her stride in the financial advice field. there was a story in new york post page six about her coming out as a lesbian. it definitely adds quite the twist to the title of her newest book. go suze! i knew that i liked her for some reason.

it pays to recycle

as many of you may know, sara and i started to recycle again. what that means is that on a semi-regular basis, we have to drop off that recycling on her campus at U of M - College Park. well, today, that trip was made a little more exciting.

as we pulled up to the recycling center, a green Ford Expedition pulls up as i get out of the car. and the gentleman driving the vehicle is pictured on the left, CHARLES S. DUTTON! (click on name for bio) i recognized him immediately and thoroughly embarrassed myself and said, "is your name charles?" he said yes, then asked me for directions to Byrd Stadium. i said i had no clue, but my "roommate" goes to school here.

i walk up to her window and say, "hey, it's the garbageman." she looked confused, but then when she approached him, she said, "aren't you roc?" she proceded to give him the directions to the stadium. he call us both lifesavers, shook our hands and asked our names. as he drove away, sara turns to me and says, "I GAVE HIM THE WRONG DIRECTIONS!!!"

all i keep thinking is that i know i've seen him in other movies and on other shows. but i could only think of him as the garbageman on Roc? i should have complimented him on his guest role on the L Word.

madea is my hero

i just watched madea goes to jail (thanks to my friend, robert). i love madea and tyler perry. i started watching his plays a couple of years ago because of a "leaf on my tree." he told me that i would love them and i do. i actually like the movies, but i LOVE the plays. tyler perry's work is not for those who may not be christian, but i don't think it matters if you are black, white or hawaiian. it's still worthwhile. it's definitely made me think about who have been leaves, branches, and roots in my tree of life.

this clip is from possibly one of my favorite parts of his plays. this particular scene is serious, but the rest of the play is laugh out loud hilarious. i have seen almost all of the plays, but i can't continue without recommending it for others to see.

by the way, i just got news that a friend of mine's child and husband will be pictured in an upcoming book, POP by Carol Ross. check it out...POP.

the jericho effect

yesterday, john popper from the band, blues traveler was arrested yesterday for weapons and drug possession. he's a rock star...so not too surprising. however, the weapons were found in compartments built into the car, along with a taser gun and night vision goggles. WHAT?!? if you click on his name above, you can see how much stuff he had in his car. he was ready for a war.

i know i am personally slacking on the "being ready for emergency" thing. however, i am never gonna be as ready as john popper apparently. i call this the jericho effect because of this show on CBS by the same name. it's a show about how a town survives an all out attack on the U.S. and despite the fact that skeet ulrich stars in it, it is a very good show. yet, it scares the crap out of me. i can see how john popper wanted to be prepared for the possibility, in his gangsta-fied manner (ganja included). i just don't think the built-in compartments in the car or the night vision goggles were THAT necessary. do you think i can convince sara to let me buy the goggles? doubtful, but you know i'm gonna ask.

how about the ganja? just kidding. :) by the way, go see BLACK SNAKE MOAN immediately. it's from the director of Hustle and Flow. i guarantee that i will post more on samuel l jackson later.

new batman movie update

i'm hoping most of you have seen batman begins starring christian bale (pictured left). there is a sequel to that movie called the dark knight (my favorite series) coming out in 2008.

some info has been released about the villians in the new movie. apparently, joker will be played by heath ledger. heath, of course, most recently starred in brokeback mountain with jake gyllenhaal.
they've only recently announced that aaron eckhart from thank you for smoking would be playing harvey dent aka two face. i am getting more and more excited about the casting of this movie. i love christopher nolan, the director.

yet, the most exciting news that i have heard was that katie holmes was not coming back as rachel dawes.i loved her in her dawson's creek days(believe me), but she did not do well in the first movie. although, i'm not too excited about the rumor that maggie gyllenhaal would be taking her place. the movie comes out summer 2008. you know i can't wait.

captain america

1941-2007

Captain America is a classic american comic book hero that died in the comic book pages yesterday. i didn't post yesterday, but if i had heard about this earlier...i would have. i am not much of a marvel comics reader, but i do have respect for many of the characters. captain america's been around obviously for a long time and i know he will be missed. if you're interested in the story...click the link, captain america.

yet another john

i am currently obsessed with this particular song of the artist called john legend. i know i'm an album behind in falling in love with him. i should have paid more attention, since he is heavily connected with kanye west (another favorite of mine). this song is off of his second album, once again. the album is really good and i find myself singing/screaming loudly to this song in the car and at home (when sara is not around). i'm sure i will rant and rave about his first album when i get it. until then, go out and BUY THIS ALBUM immediately.

i am not hawaiian

...not that that's a bad thing. i just am not hawaiian. i'm a filipino. i am proud of that fact, but at times when people ask me where i'm from i'm tempted to accept their assumptions.
at one point, i actually thought about buying hawaiian seat covers, a hawaiian shirt or plastic leis to hand out.

it tends to be other minorities who ask me where i'm from originally. i know they mean where are my parents from originally (at least in my case). they don't want to hear that i've been mistaken for many other races, mostly hawaiian or mexican. in most cases, i tell them happily that my parents are from the philippines. (the photograph below is from their actual province.)


i think the funniest thing is when filipinos can't tell that i'm filipino and i have to tell THEM. i guess it would help if i actually knew how to speak tagalog. one day i will. or i could learn how to hula.

where is sara? pt. 2

on my blog on myspace, i had listed several "excuses" on a post as to why sara had not attended a social event with me. due to her current station in life as a ph.d. student, her time does not permit excessive socializing. i, of course, despite my crazy schedule do my best to get out when i can with friends. anyhow, instead of just answering, "she's home reading." or "she's home studying, " we decided to get creative with the excuses for her lack of attendance. i was at my friend, raeann's house last night with several other friends from school learning how to play bunco. despite its name, it was pretty fun and we tried to pump up the energy during the rounds. the alcohol may have helped...just a bit. here are this event's excuses:

1. she's "waiting, waiting on the world to change"
2. still mourning Anna Nicole
3. getting Britney Spears' new haircut to emulate her idol
4. posting videos of our cats on YouTube
5. only plays CRAPS for money to support her habit
6. celebrating Al Gore winning an Oscar
7. still watching the Oscars
8. sorting out the collapse of the Asian stock market
9. practicing new tumbling routine for the next Oscars
10. trying to dismantle my blog
11. searching for a copy of The Secret
12. poking pins in her Elizabeth Hasselbeck voodoo doll
13. wondering "why would ANYONE want to hurt Dick Cheney?"
14. she's brushing her hair

pets on wheels

5th story: daisy and dixie

i met a couple of "pets on wheels," daisy and dixie owned by a lovely gentleman named bert. he takes his two dogs, miniature dachshunds (daisy in pink, dixie in purple) to senior centers and nursing homes. here's a link to the organization, Pets on Wheels. the dogs were super friendly and a big hit in the store.

it actually reminded me of another "working dog" that i met with a customer in a wheelchair. he actually had a web page because he worked for the FBI..."Fremont." he was super friendly and was vital to his owner's existance. animals are amazing not only for their ability to help, but for their simple ablity to love without condition. i never had pets growing up...except for only lonely turtle that my brother and i found.

i don't know what i would do without grace and cooper. they make me laugh, smile and at times, i'm completely amazed by them. i love that they have personalities as individuals and as a pair. i didn't think i was a "cat person," but i guess i am in my own way.

i'm a collector...

we went shopping tonight at toys r us for the first time in quite some time. as most of you know, i used to work in an educational toy store. i also collect a few types of toys myself...yoyo's, toy mini coopers, and batman periphenalia. as i was walking around, some of the toys kinda scared me. the doll to the left is an example of something that definitely was not around in my day. i also saw a large pink Barbie Hummer that a child could drive. i was amazed. i, personally, can't wait to have a child of my own. (it will give me a legitimate excuse to go to toy stores.) i guarantee you that they will have the best collection of Batman action figures EVER.