December 30, 2006
Sneezing Panda
Fuckin hilarious!
Posted by Spike at 02:59 PM | Comments (0)
Tying Up Loose Ends
This break has been unpleasently full of drama. It harkens back largely to a nasty breakup that my best friend and the BF's best friend went through over the summer. My best friend and I had a sad falling out that began with the fall semester and has lingered on to very recently. Throw in the fact that the other half of the broken relationship has been living in my BF's basement due to an invasion of relatives for almost all of Christmas break and you have the mix for a number of upsets.
Fortunatly it all seems to be clearing up, between my removing myself from the unpleasentries and the BF doing his best to get everyone's side of various stories and tying up loose ends. The stress has been wearing on both of us, and we had a much needed and very refreshing conversation long into the night last night about everything we have to talk about that isn't related to gossip or drama. Combined with a semi-successful post-Christmas shopping trip today, it seems that some measure of equilibrium has been regained. I'm especially pleased with finding a pair of jeans at Bealls' website that had only been available in sizes smaller than mine when I went to JCPennies earlier.
But I'm even more pleased to have things under control again after far too bumpy a vacation.
Posted by Spike at 12:11 AM | Comments (0)
December 28, 2006
Southern Men and Little Ladies
Men around here really like helping damsels in distress, especially at gas stations. Maybe it's that gallantry we Southerns are supposed to have in spades, but it sure is weird to have had no fewers than two different guys come up at various stages of the process of me putting fresh oil in my car at the gastation. One guy (in his thirties, at the youngest) nearly went in to get me a paper funnel until his mother yelled at him to get back in the car. This is certainly better than when a guy pulled up his truck to the pump I was using just so he could inquire about how much interest I had in going to his lakehouse, which assuredly implied a great deal of gittin me dun, though.
Nice to know people are still willing to help a gal out, but I'm very glad I am capable of checking the oil myself.
Posted by Spike at 07:01 PM | Comments (0)
December 25, 2006
Christmas with BF
My family did our Christmas-ing yesterday and last night. My mom and I spent all day baking cookies and then she and my dad cooked up an amazing Christmas feast. The BF came over for our roast beast and Yorkshire pudding. We capped the evening off with the exchange of a few gifts. Normally we do presents on Christmas morning like everyone else, but this year we shook up the itinerary in ancticipation of spending the day at the BF's parents' house for their Christmas feast.
I'm very glad the BF and mine's parents get along so well. It makes thing so much fun. While we were waiting for dinner to finish cooking my dad and BF played a game of pool together, which made me really happy. The food was amazing, and once again a few gifts were exchanged. It was really nice having everyone conversing and drinking together. BF's brother brought his girlfriend up too, sans her parents, and it's been nice having my parents finally meet the rest of BF's family. They've heard so much about his house and the folks up here and never come over. So I'm glad it finally happened.
Now it's just a matter of digesting, and trying to get in line for one of BF's presents, Guitar Hero II. His friend and little brother are over, and they get quite fierce about playing rights.
Merry Christmas!
Posted by Spike at 08:38 PM | Comments (0)
A Little Christmas Advice
"Accentuate the positive, Eliminate the negative, Latch on to the affirmative- Don't mess with Mr. in-between."
My beautiful friend Shana shared this line with me, which her mother taught to her. It's an appropriate mantra for this year. There have been hard knocks, but also a lot of amazing, beautiful stuff as happened. Nothing to do but follow this wisdom!
Posted by Spike at 02:41 AM | Comments (0)
December 24, 2006
Litte Tiny Japanese Butts
Another great time last night with some old friends with whom I don't get to hang out with nearly enough or in the right combinations of people with. We talked and got caught up with one another for a long time and my friend Leah (who went to Japan for the summer ) told us all about the Japanese pop-music industry and how it works. It was really fascinating stuff, and after we got dinner at Moe's* and returned to her place, she showed us all these awesome and hilirious movies on her computer of concerts and TV apperances a band called Kat-Tun have done.
I think what I'm most impressed with about everything Leah told us and showed us last night is this: It's obvious that the music is 1/10 of what the guys up on stage are there to offer you, so it doesn't matter if it's generic lyrics and the people aren't chosen for outta control amazing singing voices. Pop idols are there to be entertainers in general, and if the song is catchy and proven to be entertaining, there you go! That's good enough considering how much else you apparently get. These Kat-Tun idols were doing acrobatics, synchronized dancing, singing, tapdancing while juggling, beat-boxing, and with more bizzare costume changes than I think even Cher can top. One of the concerts had a theme too, it was the pirate show, and while it wasn't a musical with the songs driving the plot, there was a plot that unfolded. The band got captured by rival pirates at one point, leading to part of the concert taking place in a cage, and it was like, "Hey, let's sing out #1 single to get out of this cage" kind of plot logic.
The use of English in J-Pop is amusing too. Sometimes they manage to surpass Engrish.com miscommunications, but usually the results are even funnier. Leah showed us a magazine she brought back from Japan with some fashion shots of pop idols. One was wearing an elaborate, quasi-DIY shirt covered in patches, one of which read "Fuck you! Drug party. It doesn't know even if dying." Another hilarious example was the lyrics of this one Kat-Tun song "Ha-ha" that goes "Go club, get drunk you stupid shit. Take off your clothes and cum in my room."
Then there was the dancing of this one young man named Taguchi who attendee at this party described as "dancing like a giraffe on its hind legs."
*Moe's is a resturaunt I would have NEVER gone to if Leah hadn't told me about it. They don't use animal fat in cooking and offer tofu as a menu dish. It looks like a normal Panera-esque little chain resturaunt but its appearance combined with the food makes it come off as a really great yuppie Mojo Burrito of St. Elmo fame. It was delicious, and all the menu items had a name that was some kind of popculture reference, such as what I got-- "The Other Lewinsky." There was even a fajita that referenced Friends-- "Ugly Naked Guy." Plus, they played Soul Asylum's "Need Somebody to Shove" while we ate. And that makes me a very happy girl.
Posted by Spike at 11:27 AM | Comments (0)
December 23, 2006
A Good Party
Enjoyed a wonderful holiday party with some new friends this evening. We listened to some CDs, namely the sound track to "Xanadu" and the new Beatles remix "Love," ate the contents of several veggie trays, and had a lot of fun talking, telling funny stories, and teasing my BF. It might seem odd to comment on such simple entertainment, but it's a treat for me. The other attendees were a bit older that the BF and I (we all met through theater) and grew up in a time before everyone had to be constantly entertained. There was no need to put on a movie or play a video game. We were simply content to share one another's company and introduce one another to neat music.
I really do wonder about my generation. It seems they have been trouble makers since I was in elementary school, and now that I've hit college they seem to want to party harder than is really necessary or safe, and aren't well versed in the art of conversation. My generation seems to make much of cultural inside jokes and constantly refer to popular shows and movies. It seems like more time is spent reminiscing about the '80s, which most of us were only around for the last half of (and spent that half in diapers) than enjoying the goings on today.
Maybe I'm an odd ball, but my favorite things to do don't involve electronics at all. The best time I've had with the BF lately was when we went on a hike up on Signal Mountain along the excellent Rainbow Loop trail, and the best party I've been to since the holidays got swinging was this simple gathering tonight. It's the little things, you know. People need to learn to just kick back and really enjoy life, rather than distracting themselves from it.
Like enjoying the humor in the President saying "I'm the commander-see, I don't need to explain-- I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being president."
Posted by Spike at 12:29 AM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2006
Hello Chattanooga
I'm new to Chattablogs, but not to blogging. I've been a veteran Livejournal disciple for years, but it's time for something a little different, a little more grown-up. The stereotype is that Livejournal is a place for teen angst exorcisms, and although I've delighted in reading the blogs of a number of mature, interesting LJers, it really got to the point that my friends list was upholding the stereotypes a little too much. I've moved here in hopes of finding like-minded bloggers with more of an interest in Chattanooga-related escapades than excessivly intimate introspection.
There's a gorgeous abandoned store down on Market Street, with the most gorgeous shop front. Back in February I walked over to the Bluff View Sculpture Garden with the BF and we worked our way downtown somehow, I forget the details of the excursion. At any rate, I had him snap this picture. I was surely thinking of Akif Hakan Celebi's photo shoot with a friend of mine. I had to tinker with my photo in photoshop to get the colors to pop; sadly the BF is not very camera-savy. I'm amazed by Hakan's photography, though, and really enjoy browsing the website.
Posted by Spike at 01:44 PM | Comments (1)