Blah.

I do not feel like doing my research paper today, but I know when I get it done I can rest easy. It's an easy topic, but he's being very particular about citing. It's probably for my own good. I need to get my printer/scanner up and running.

Which means I need to clean my room.

Which then means I need to do my laundry.

And thus I will probably not have time tonight to work on my research paper.

It all comes around full circle.

Sigh. Time to go take ANOTHER music test. Why was I such a fool to schedule back-to-back classes where the syllabus is identical???

Bye-bye.

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

It's been a long road for you and I, SP-ED math...

We've worked through some tough homework together, and most of the time we fought until I couldn't even stand to look at it. So complex, so variable... why can't you always be true for me? Sometimes, I got bored with you, oh SP-ED math, constantly rambling on with your polynomial-nonsensicalness. Other times, you thrilled me and I enjoyed spending hours with you alone in my room. I couldn't always quite figure you out, SP-ED math, though I knew it would only be a matter of time until you opened yourself up to me.

Our time apart while I was away was good for us, I think. I could re-evaluate what I'd come to know and love about you, and appreciate you for what you truly were. Sure, you were always questioning me, but who was there to answer you each and everytime - I was. Yes, indeed, you were challenging to me, hard to get, a tease, but finally I made you a part of me...

SP-ED math, what we had was a truly beautiful thing, but our affair was only for a quarter of the semester; we both knew it couldn't last. You and I have been there before, we said we could leave each other alone before Christmas, but you weren't quite done with me yet, and I had to see if there was more there than what was.

I'm glad that we tried again, SP-ED math. It was great getting to know even more about you, and a little part of you will always live on inside me. Whenever I see a cursive "x" or function, know that I am thinking of you.

Good-bye is always hard to say, but we can't live in the past forever. I am moving on to bigger and better things: college algebra, geometry, triginometry. Perhaps, one day I will find Mr. Calculus? No, we both know that certain dreams will just never come true...

You'll find another, darling SP-ED math, I am sure of it, and it will be just as thrilling and passionate as before. There are always more fish in the sea, more dumbasses on campus, all waiting to find someone like you.

I will keep all the quizzes and homework that you gave me as a token of our love, and I could never part with my textbook (with the "sentimental value" of $156.00).

Before I change my mind, SP-ED math, I must let you go. I must leave, and you must get over me! This B+ I hold in my hand has opened my eyes to the fact that we've reached the end of our time... goodbye, my darling... remember me...

Conclusion to an amazing week

I know I was bad...
I meant to post this as it happened.
I failed you.

So, here's where we left off...

Monday was a silly day. I was very tired.

Went back to Keyfoods so Rodney could stock up on foodstuff for the week. He finally got bagels for his new toaster (yay!) and I bought the necessary ingredients to make Chicken Noodle soup, because I felt like stepped-on-shit that day.

We wrestled the futon to the ground and refluffed it - never look inside cheap furniture, cause its kind of gross and you don't want to sit on it for awhile afterward. Then I fell asleep on Rodney while we *tried* to watch movies - I was being difficult. Couldn't get into No Country for Old Men and then switched to Amadeus.

Rodney bought me coffee. Let me tell you, nothing tastes better than a coffee handed to you by your man when he went and actually left the house to go buy it for you. Mmm... thanks!

Then he left me to go do laundry. This was a very sad time for us. It was the first time we were apart for more than ten minutes all week. I anxiously made my soup and waited by the door like a sad puppy for him to return. I tried to read, but that didn't help. Then I tried to study, but that definitely wasn't happening either. So I sat there and played on the computer half-heartedly.

When he finally came home, it was nice. We ate dinner, did dishes, he put away clothes. I like routines with him. Cleaning can be fulfilling, cooking can be fun, especially when you're doing it for/with someone you love. Plus, I love our apartment! -I'm so happy with it and I want to keep it (reasonably) tidy.

Then it was a Tuesday!

It was a very fun day, but it was also a sad one. I didn't want to face our last night together... not yet. I kept thinking maybe I could just skip out on school for the semester, pack up my stuff, and move in immediately. Then I was thinking this could mess things up for me, and if I'm going to spend my life with this guy, it's not just about what I want to do anymore.

Went to Lefgos Pyrgos, a beautiful jem of a cafe in Astoria. They make excellent flan, and my coffee was very tasty. The atmospher is worth a look-see - its made to look like the Greek coastline, everything is shiny and sunny inside, glass and white and mediterannean blue. Love it.

Rodney cooked dinner on this day, and it was very tasty! He made breaded chicken cutlets and it was accompanied by leftover potato soup (which is so much better afters it has had time to fully develop in the fridge). It was a wonderful marriage of tastiness and comfort food! :)

Then, honestly, what happened before going to the East Village is a blur for me. I remember finding the invite on Facebook, and reading some, and *unmentionable activities* but that was about it.

I forgot to explain - silly me. Rodney has a friend from college, Joe Yoga. He's a one-man artistic revolution. (I should promote him... here's his site). Anyways, we went to an open mic night to go listen to him play music. I was not prepared for what was in store for me:

First of all, the East Village is crazy shit. Piercings, sushi, coffee, and weed. Love it love it love it all! And a VERY young atmosphere, not an old person in sight ('cept for Rodney). On our way to the venue, we passed Astor Place -famous for the Astor Place Riot that started the American Theater movement/identity- which excited me because it was a decent portion of my theater class @ Kent.

Well, we looked and we looked for this place called Under St. Marks Theater. Seriously, I felt like I was looking for Platform 9 3/4. It was just NOT THERE. Then, Rodney's like "oh, here it is!" and its this tiny stairwell leading into the bowels of only-God-knows-what, we descend further, pitch black, almost trip going down a hallway, and we are met by the doorman...

Polyanna over here (aka Myself) thought that the "underground scene" was a dramatic creation of Hollywood. Hahaha, guess not! Rodney's fumbling for the right amount of cash to get in, and I'm thinking "how the fuck does one stumble into this place?". There's a guy doing standup, and all I catch him saying is "anything with 3 holes is a bong, a woman could essentially be a bong". Eye's as wide as dinner plates - I is an excited Alyx. I'm about to be entertained!

Here's the lineup:

The aforementioned comedian

A singer/songwriter - guitar & harmonica

Another singer/songwriter - guitar... wrote a trippy song about abandoning a start-and-stop life

Master Lee - a comedian who's performs as an insightful Asian master, real funny shit, nice delivery

... there were many more, including Joe Yoga's live brainstorming session and the dirty balloon animal man. For more information about that particular night and Penny's Open Mic, go here.

We left shortly after the Hootenany Break where all are invited to sing a selection of random songs, and this weeks list included 99 Red Balloons. Rodney got me a beer and I danced some, but I was pretty beat and needed to pee, so there you have it. I left out this: Stopped for pizza, went home, sex, depression, sleep.

Then... Wednesday, dreaded Wednesday came.

I cried. I did not want to sleep alone. I did not want to leave me home or my Love. I insisted on staying, however it would've been too expensive to wait until Sunday to return home. *sigh*

We went to a beautiful Italian restaurant for lunch, the name of which has since escaped me. It was very classy! We had wine, and this awesome bread. Then fresh mozerella with tomatoes, mmm... perfect! I ordered 3-cheese spinach ravioli w/ a walnut & spinach sauce. Perfecto! I didn't try any of Rodney's pasta, but he seemed to be happy. Everything was absolutely lovely! Rodney knows how to show me a good time :)

We rushed home to grab my bags, I cried even more... cried all the way to the subway. We decided to take a cab instead - crazy cab drivers! This guy is doing the crosswords while driving in mid-day traffic to the airport, and it's just stop-go-speed-brake-go-speed-change lanes-speed-brake... I was terrified!

Finally, the hardest part of the trip was upon us, the End. Sadness, some sniffles, lots of kissing and hugging and "please don't let me leave" and "but Alyx, you need to go back to school and work" and "no I don't, I need you" and "well, I'm not going to stop you, but we're already here and it's only another month until we see each other again..."

Let me just comment that at that point, a month is like years. It feels like years of not talking, touching, kissing, enjoying the city, laughing, having someone to hold you at night, all that. I forget that I have friends and school and the time will pass because this is that crazy point at the end of the semester, and nothing else seems to matter except that our week went by in an instant and our time apart seems like eternity.

I miss miss miss him and Astoria and all that it means to me. It's taken me 3-4 days of working on this post, because the more I write, the more I remember, and the harder it becomes to not just leave it all behind and move. I can't wait for everything to just be over and done with. I am so ready to start this new life.

Restaurants

Just got back from some crowded, noisy Greek cafe. Wow.

Rodney's Mom has balls of steel. She just worked the room, making sure that we got what we needed in a timely manner. That's cool. I can't do that. Haha... I love her, she's too funny. His dad is cool too. I think tonight he's said much more than ever. I get hugs and kisses (which is cool, but awkward because I'm not use to this yet... It's awkward because I go for a hug, and his dad goes for a kiss on the cheek, and it's just out of sync lol).

The place was called Agnanti. The food was actually pretty good, but it was so tiny. Everyone was bumping into each other, rattling off Greek and being "rawr". Lol. One of the busboys had these thick glasses, and he always gave a deathglare if he looked right at you. He tried to steal Rodney's rice, lol. EVADED!

So I wanted coffee, and we went to this place right across the street from us called Waltz Astoria. It's pretty neat. A little cafe with some artwork and a small stage for open mic night & performances. The coffee is good (and fresh, which is rare). So, there were all these people sitting around with their Macs (woo) and Rodney offered to go get my laptop (cause he's a sweetie like that) and now, here I am, telling my story. I'm trying to make it brief because my last post was ridiculous.

I'm going to be pleased to go home, because we super-cleaned the apt today to impress his parents, and they were. Apparently, I get to choose the bedspread and sheets and curtains that Rodney's Mom (Christine) is buying for us. It's very sweet and generous of her.

I super heart Astoria. This is tre cool that there is a cafe right across the street from me. Cheesecake, coffee, music... I is a happy Alyx. Signoff.

Day Two in Astoria *UPDATES* *LONG*

Hey guys! AH! - Love it here! This city is so neat.

Yesterday, I woke up in the arms of my lover. That was nice. I get used to sleeping with someone, and then I have to go home and train myself to not expect it; it's much easier learning new habits than breaking them.

Thinking that I could rock the kitchen, got up to make breakfast and surprise Rodney. I get way too jazzed about making stuff. If someone else was buying our groceries, I'd go wild!

What I tried: omelette- with green peppers, onions, and cheddar VeggieCheese (which is actually REALLY good). (and english muffins)
What happened: kick-ass cheesy scrambled eggs! (and english muffins)

Then after that, he did the dishes (points!) and I played the Sims. I cleaned up a little. We watched House. He played video games. It was pretty casual and random. Around 4 we finally got out of the apartment. Walked around Astoria to find a restaurant to take his parents to today (which became obsolete, because they already knew where they wanted to go haha). Once we found our restaurant, we looked around and these are the things we saw/did:

• St. Demetrius Greek Orthodox Church - very pretty, but didn't see a sign telling us when Mass was, so we didn't go today (and this made Rodney a happy man). But it was very beautiful from the outside and the mosaics are great. I wanted to hear the singing and stuff. Here's my favorite Psalm on YouTube.
  
• We went to the 99¢ store and got some stuff for the kitchen. I now have a soup ladel, 2 whisks, and a veggie peeler! This should make cooking a lil' easier. Wish I had this stuff when we were making potato soup, though...
• Found a thrift store, and we got a nice teapot and he got some books. Looked for a coat for him since the zipper broke, but no luck. I'm very excited that there is a thrift store and a dollar store. I was worried about costs, but Astoria is more like my hometown Warren on steroids with public transportation.
• We went to Starbucks. Rodney had Rooibos tea and liked it, so I'm going to add that to our little grocery list. We went to the supermarket on Friday and got some potatoes, onions, peppers, lunchmeat, milk, butter, and eggs. We have basics. But I we keep forgetting the damn salt! It's okay... we need to drop off our form for a discount card today, too...
  
• Checked out the florist. Some poor guy killed his bamboo plant. He seemed sort of attached. But the flowers were cool... there are a lot of florists and gift shops around here, actually... I hope that means Alyx will be getting lots of tokens of affection from Rodney... :)
• Saw a Czechoslovakian restaurant!!! Steallar. I've never seen such a thing.

We dropped of our finds at home, then hurried to the subway to meet Raina, Rodney's sister. She's really cool. Raina lives in Philly with her husband and she works in an animal research lab. She's a cat person, too. I was nervous to meet her, but once we got to the bar we were meeting her at, it was cool.

We went to The Dead Poet, which is a really nice pub. They had drinks named after famous poets and there were books stuffed in the walls. It was crowded and loud, but a lot of fun. Rodney got us drinks... he had the Edgar Allan Poe, and I drank the signature drink, The Dead Poet. I got to keep the jar glass it came in as a token... Rodney's token was a book taken from the wall, which must be encouraged because it's stamped on the inside "This Book Stolen From The Dead Poet ..." along with an advertisement! It was neat. Whatever was in this secret drink tasted amazing and knocked me on my ass. Good job, Alyx. Get drunk, meet the family.

Raina brought her friend Jen along from Philly, who'd never to NYC. She works with Raina, she was really sweet. We went to a pizza place called Uno's and once we were somewhere quieter, the conversations kicked up. It was really nice to hang out with people Rodney knew, and hearing all the stories about their parents and when they were kids.

Too bad we had the worst waiter ever. This guy was a douche. He made a big deal about the fact that we waited too long "by his standards" which was all of maybe 5-10 minutes, but then proceeds to forget our drinks... I didn't get my diet coke until like almost half an hour after we ordered! My salmon was okay (I wasn't in the mood for pizza) but Rodney thought he got the wrong stuff on his pizza, the guy talked to him like he was an idiot. I didn't like that at all. But he kept talking to us and making jokes like we were all buddies... which is sometimes okay, but this guy just oozed asshole. THEN he tells us that a guy who looks *just like the waiters* is stealing checks off the tables, acting like he's taking the bill up... so we're all like "Should we give it to your manager then?"... this guy set himself up for that one. I dunno, it was just weird and I didn't like him. But, I also think that my idea of good waitstaff and what is "good waitstaff" in NY are two entirely different things. I'm used to hospitality over speedy service. I guess the aim here is get in, get out. That's cool in its own right, just have to get used to it. But the dude @ Uno's fails in both.

So we took the train back to Time Square, bid farewell to Raina & Jen, got back into Astoria, I got coffee, and we called it a night. I don't know if it was something I ate, or the Dead Poet drink, or the coffee... but I woke up around 3 am and just puked my guts out. Fan-fucking-tastic. I barely made it to the bathroom, haha.

Now I'm sitting here "writing a novel" according to Rodney, as he's playing Dragon Warrior IV. In a little bit I'm going to pounce him, then we're going to go explore more of Astoria and go to the park. It's a sunny day again! It's been sitting around the mid-40's, high-30's this weekend, which is nice and comfy for me but a nightmare for Rod. I keep telling him he doesn't really know what winter is, but, you know, Rodney knows it all... lol. Around 6 we're meeting his parents on 19th street to have dinner at some Greek place. Yay Greek food!

Random other updates: Saw The Watchmen - AWESOME movie, barely seemed like it was 3 hours long, and IMAX remains amazing. I'm finally learning how to work the subway map and transport successfully. Rodney is part of the Facebook community now. We have our first plant - an Orchid!!! My favorite flower! And I'm all set to start research tomorrow for my English paper. There's a library very close by. This place has everything!!!

Here's a photo-album of Astoria pics. Enjoy!

(MOM! - CALL ME WHEN YOU ARE NOT WORKING! I don't mean to interrupt, sorry. Love you.)

Potato Soup for the Soul

I know it's been a VERY long time, and I have neglected my audience (all 3 of them), and for this I am sorry. It's been quite the week. All kinds of disasters and triumphs, but this is insignificant to the greatest part of my week: boarding a plane to LaGuardia airport and visiting my lover.

I'm sitting here blogging, listening to Leonard Cohen, with Rodney's arms around me (Heaven). This is great. Our apartment. Still a little hard to comprehend. This makes everything else seem so complete. I love knowing I have a home here, with him.

We walked around the neighborhood about 2 hours ago, to make a key and buy some groceries. It's lovely here! It's pretty peaceful all things considered. All of the apartments are these wonderful works of art, made up of iron and brick and Greek and art-deco influence. It's haphazardly, but quirky and wonderful. There are all kinds of neat stores right on our street, we can see the Hell's Gate Bridge. In the streets, no lie, you can hear Greek music flowing from the little restaurants. I'm in love.

Just cooked our first official dinner. Made potato soup, family recipe. Also had grilled ham & turkey sandwiches. It was very yummy, but the potato soup could've been more tender. I'll get better with practice (I hope).

Now, I'm going to go *cuddle* Rodney. Promise to add some entries about my weekend.

See you on Wednesday.

{ily♥}

He did it. We did it. We got an apartment. It's in Astoria, but not the one he looked @ earlier in the week. This is big. So big. I don't even know what to do or say, other than smile and start calling moving companies. I'm scared out of my mind.

What if he ends up hating me or I'm not good at cooking & cleaning?

When will I get to see my friends and family again?

What if something goes horribly wrong or I made a mistake?

I'm optimistic at the same time. This could be the second chapter of the Love of My Life.
We'll just have to see...

In the meantime, I'm kicking college ass. Lots of big projects:

Honors English: Research paper looking @ characters from Sophocles' dramas & looking @ them as victims of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)... also, PowerPoint about the Sodomites from Dante's Inferno

Ethics: Reading Bentham & Mill's utilitarian arguments of ethics

Math: Defeating remedial pre-algebra!

Politics: French government

Cultural Anthropology: Research project about pederasty in ancient Greece (man-adolescent partnerships)

World Music: The Middle East & working on a Power Point about the Shawnee Nation music traditions

European Music: The Classical Period

I'm also going to be a part of the Honors Seminar @ the end of the semester, showing off my project about Greek pederasty. And I am a judge of art & poetry in Kent's quarterly art publication, ICON.

Super busy, so maybe this will explain why I am not available to write as many blogs as I would like? Time for bed now. I enjoyed this update, hope you did, too.

Oh, and my baby got a haircut and is looking all cute! See?

Its a dark picture... stupid camera phones :(

Bored Survey 1

30 Random Questions...

(I get bored and do surveys sometimes...)

1. When was the last time you shaved your legs? before Rodney came to visit (ew... i should do that)

2. What were you doing this morning at 11 am? getting my ass out the door for class

3. What were you doing 15 minutes ago? checking my facebook

4. Are you any good at math? once i get the process

5. Are you mad at anyone right now? myself

6. What do you drink most often? jack daniels, southern comfort, misc. whiskey

7. What is your favorite kind of potato chips? munchos

8. Do you know the words to the song on your MySpace profile? yeah, all of them

9. Last thing received in mail? an e-mail to the judges of Kent's art quarterly

10. How many different drinks have you had today? 2: sprite and an iced mocha.

11. How many people did you talk to on the phone today? 2: a CSR from a moving co., and rodney

12. Any plans for tonight? yeah, sleeping :)

13. Do you draw your name in the sand when you go to the beach? sure do

14. What is the most painful dental procedure you ever had? having my wisdom teeth pulled

15. What is outside your front door? a porch, an s10, a garden hose...

16. Do you have plans on friday night? studying :)

17. Do you like the ocean? in theory - never seen the ocean for myself

18. Have you ever received one of those big tins of 3 different popcorn? no, but i've given them during the holidays

19. Have you ever been to a planetarium? yes: once when i was really little, then again @ cleveland nat hist mu, and w/ rodney @ the nat hist mu in NYc

20. Do you ever drink coffee? as often as i can :)

21. Something you are excited about? moving to astoria

22. Who around you has the most problems? my parents: my dad got laid off, things aren't looking good for mom

23. Are any of your great-grandparents still alive? yes: 2 of each!

24. Describe your love life? long-distance but intense, quick-paced, challenging but awesome

25. Where do you keep your change? in a coin purse

26. When was the last time you spoke in front of a large group of people? when i did a presentation about medea for honors

27. What is something you usually look forward to everyday? talking to rodney in the evenings

28. What was the weather like on your birthday? fantastic!

29. Do you sleep with the door to your room open or closed? closed... its always closed

30. Have you ever personally met a celebrity? If so who? no... but I want to meet the house md cast :)

Here I Am & Astoria

Here I am - this is me
There's no where else on earth I'd rather be
Here I am - it's just me and you
And tonight we make our dreams come true

It's a new world - it's a new start
It's alive with the beating of young hearts
It's a new day - it's a new plan
I've been waiting for you
Here I am

Here we are - we've just begun
And after all this time - our time has come
Here we are - still going strong
Right here in the place where we belong

I've been feeling mushy today. It's about 6:11 pm, and I haven't done anything today. In about 5 minutes or so, Rodney will be finishing stuff up @ work and be heading uptown to check out an apartment in Astoria... anything I've heard about/read about this city is great! I'm crossing my fingers and hoping he gets it...

We found it on Craigslist last night. 1 bedroom, $1200/month, and the pictures looked nice. There's an Open House tonight so he's jumping on it. I'm awaiting anxiously at home for news about what is going to happen.

In the meantime, I've been listening to Bryan Adams like crazy on imeem.com. Nothing new to talk about other than that. Just randomly looking for something to do, so I blogged.

Tattoo Lust

This might be the most exciting thing I've discovered ever... UV Tattoos!

They are tattoos inked with FDA approved blacklight reactive ink and are virtually invisible in normal light... seriously, how cool is that? Feel free to sponsor my quest for one :)

Here are some pics:

To Rodney

I haven't been very active on blogging all week, and this will continue into the weekend because Big City Boy is coming to town for Valentine's Day and I don't plan to be around my computer.

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!

The Vagina Monologues

I'm working on a draft for my Musical Identity paper, when out of the blue this pretty girl taps me on the shoulder and asks me if I have 10 minutes to spare. Sure, why?

"Well, we want to interview you and your vagina."

Huh?

I just did a brief interview in an exchange for a free ticket for a local production of the Vagina Monologues. Their trying to tape all these women answering questions about their vaginas to show during intermission. I chose to go uncensored (no blurred face) because I guess I don't care.

1) If your vagina could say 2 words, what would it say? - Respect me.
2) If you vagina could wear anything, what would it wear? - Leather.

Funnily enough, they can't get any women on campus to do this! I'm actually a little shocked. I wasn't offended by the questions, they were funny and they serve a purpose. I'm happy to help. But what is every other girl afraid of? I can't wait to go see TVM on February 21. It'll be a nice birthday present to myself :)

So, what would yours say? What would it wear? (If you're a guy, pretend.)

World Village

What I Learned in Cultural Anthropology Today

If the Earth's population could be shrunk to a village of 100 people, the community would be composed of:

• 57 Asians
• 21 Europeans
• 14 People from the Western Hemisphere (North and South)
• 8 from Africa
• 51 Females, 49 Males
• 70 Non-White Peoples, 30 White Peoples
• 70 Non-Christians, 30 Christians
• 50% of the wealth would be in the hands of 8 citizens of the United States
• 80 would live in sub-standard housing
• 70 would be illiterate
• 50 would be malnourished
• 1 would be near death, 1 would be near birth
• Only 1 would be college educated

How does this make you feel? I know how this makes me feel: very small, and yet larger than life.

I get to be from the North-Western hemisphere, female, white, wealthy, (assuming because I'm "wealthy") live in a decent home, have food, read, write, and be college educated.

I represent 1% of that community; one out of 100.

Wow.

Consider the wealth part alone... 50% of the entire communities wealth only in 8 people? Only one of us is college educated? Only 30 literate? How did Americans get this way, and at what cost? I'm not ungrateful, and I know that social, political, and biological stratisfication makes certain truths uninevitable - but to this degree? Hm. Makes you think.

What do you think?

Home From Work 2.8.09

Less than a week until Valentine's Day.
{I miss you.}

My birthday is coming up. That's depressing.

Not much good happened this year. Graduated with no friends to speak of (but that changed for the better by June), sprained my ankle while moving, spent my whole summer working and suffering under the tyranny of my aunt, broke up with then boyfriend, got kicked out by said aunt, failed a college class...

But I'm doing better. School's better, living situation is better, love life is better. I hope by this time next year, I'll be reflecting on a happy year as a new CUNY student living with Rodney in a cozy apartment in the Upper East Side. Mmm... wonderfulness indeed. I want to have a nice couch that I can get comfy in, wearing big fuzzy socks and blogging by candle light... atmospheric with a Rodney snoring in the distance in the bedroom, tea steaming on the coffee table, and some light music gently playing from the stereo. Oh, let's make it better... I'm blogging, and Rodney is massaging my feet! I could go for some of that right now - owwie toes :(

I genuinely enjoy daydreaming about living with Rodney. I've never lived with someone I care for. People change when they share their lives 24/7... I hope we can withstand that :\

I'm about to go enjoy some more House M.D. and fall asleep, but I'd like to leave you with a song to listen to today if you get the chance: "Grave Digger" - Dave Matthews. Apparently, Willie Nelson has done this song, too, so I don't know who's covering who... Telepathin, you're a Dave Matthews/Willie Nelson fan, do you know?

Oh, listen to this too: "Nothing On But The Radio" - Gary Allan. I'd be cool with being with a certain someone right now with nothing on but the radio. And for the special someone, Dave Koz does a song by a similar title "Nothing But The Radio On" and I think you'd really enjoy it. Love you.

"Two people meant to be together
Two lovers dreaming of forever
And it just keeps on getting better
With nothing on but the radio
Feel the music playing soft and slow
You and me and the lights down low
With nothing on but the radio"

Goodnight All.

2.7.09

Today was blah. Laundry. Watched more House MD, downloaded Season 4 - waiting on Season 3 to finish up. Lots of Facebook action. I feel (+1) more social I guess. I still need to do taxes, complete my FAFSA, write my English paper, call about my glasses, and (finally) send in my laptop.

Sounds like Rodney is having fun at Comic Con NY 2009. Also sounds like he spent mad amounts of money, but hey, it's once a year. Maybe next year we'll go together and I can understand more about comic book collector enthusiasts?

Later in the week when I'm feeling less blah, I'm going to upload an interview VLOG entry I did featuring Valerie and her love of Webkinz. Check back for updates.

{Oh, and my father called me today. Double blah.}

8-Bit D & D

Dungeons & Dragons = <3

I love this epic game, I really do...was never very successful at keeping a campaign going, but I hope to one day achieve this feat. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the byproduct of the D&D rage... comedy directed at D&D geeks!



The BEST spoof of D&D has to be this 8-bit creation by CyberMoon Studios.



I'm attacking the darkness!
I love it!

Also, I'd like to add this song by Stephen Lynch, which this video reminded me of:



And when we put on our cloaks and tell warlock jokes we're the coolest kids at the school...

{No we're not.}

I know.

Playing Dressup

"eLouai" is probably my most favorite waste of time on the web.

eLouai.com is the invention of Louai Munajim, a freelance artist from Montreal. While the site itself definitely lacks design (and in my opinon a user-friendly interface), it makes up for it in that the dollmaker programs are very diverse in their components. I'm always impressed when I go through the hundreds (literally, almost thousands) of options I'm given to dress and surround my avatar, making her unique from head to toe.

There is a strong Korean-Anime influence in Louai's digiart and there are lots of "kawaii" elements; expressive and exhaggerated eyes, pastel, soft lines, girly, fun, and cute. Also, the combination of dreamlike and realistic pieces make it possible to create a fairy princess on Madison Avenue, as well as put a schoolgirl underwater.

eLouai.com has several dollmaker programs, as well as "room makers" where you can create doll houses and "puzzle makers" which are jumbled pieces of art that you put back together like a jigsaw. I'm not so impressed with room maker because of its limitations as far as design and keeping realistic size aspect ratios.

The true highlight IMHO is the Candybar Dollmaker, which allows you to create a doll and corresponding environment that are about the size of a candybar. I play with this ALL the time, and I like to save my creations or e-mail them to friends. Candybar Dollmaker has such a following that a Candybar's Next Top Model simulation community has emerged, begging the question "Who will blossom?... Into Candybar's Next Top Model!". This "competition" has made some users create YouTube videos depicting CNTM "footage".

It's been fun sharing eLouai, but now I just want to go play it! Check out my latest:

Love from cold, wintry Ohio!

Gorillaz!!!

Gorillaz is a great band with a great story. How could I forget them? I guess I was too busy buying into vintage... Oh well! If you haven't had the opportunity to check them out or hear them, I'm providing you with a Free Starter Kit, containing:

1) Playlist of songs off their debut album "Gorillaz" (2001) collected from imeem.com
2) Link to a place where you can buy their albums and albums of underground groups similar
3) The Wikipedia article about Gorillaz*

My favorite songs from their first album "Gorillaz": Slow Country & Punk

"Slow Country" is cool, calm, & meaningful. It's the serenity of "getting away from it all" and it has this groovy organ melody. And I like "Punk" because I wrote a Coca-Cola Ad to it for a 7th grade English assignment and KICKED ASS! Oh, "Re-Hash" & "19-2000" are catchy tunes, too.

Actually, I don't pick favorites. I love the entire album and every song is something different and haunting. These guys are great and experimental, and now I'm going to make an effort to reconnect with this groups music. Goodnight.

*Yeah, I know... I could do better than Wiki, but I'm tired and not in the mood to cite more... :(

Birthday Shirt

Yesterday (formerly known as Today) I received a nice little soft package with a note:

"Happy Birthday Alyx! I love you more than this T-shirt*, lol. Love, Rodney"

Delight!

The shirt is called "Follow It" and it's distributed by Threadless. I love this t-shirt site! They're an interactive design-to-screen-print company. Users submit designs, vote on favorites, even provide Threadless with the catalogue pictures of the consumer wearing the product! It's pretty genius I think. I've joined the site, but no real activity to speak of. I'm waiting until a novel idea hits me so I can try my hand at designing my own tee for submission.

I e-mailed Rodney this tee a few days ago, thinking it was an extremely clever and (for me) romantic design. I like following "IT" (when "it" is my heart, not a scary Stephen King invention...*shiver*). Rodney is my boyfriend and bestfriend and he lives in Manhattan while I wither away in Ohio, so the subway reference is double cute.

Aww... ain't he special? :)

*"I love you more than..." has been an ongoing inside joke between Rodney & I to see who can zanily out do the other in the love department. It all started when I StumbledUpon! a site called I Love You More Than (Blank) which is the brainchild of Paperwhite Studio who "wants to depart from the cliche Valentines sentiment and found out the real things we use as a measuring stick for love." Some of the entries are hilarious, others insightful and a little sad at times. Really cool, totally worth checking out and even adding to. (I did, can you find it?)

Garbage v Nikka Costa

I'm not sure how to really begin a blog but with a neat discovery, so I'm skipping introductions for now and moving right along. I was listening to some Garbage a few weeks ago and found a song I wasn't familiar with, Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go) from their album Absolute Garbage. This particular song has some bars of a very upbeat, electronic tune.

So there I am, laying down on the floor tapping my foot to the beat and getting all zen with Garbage, and this feeling of deja vu sweeps over me...Haven't I heard this melisma somewhere before?

All of a sudden, it hits me. I won a CD in a karaoke contest at a mall overnighter and I remember this song. Flipping through the CDs in my disc book, I find it - New Noise. It was some compilation album from 2002 that FYE produced. I'm all excited, knowing that I have a hard, legal copy of this great song in hand... but when the disc loaded on my laptop, I get a totally different song that's eerily similar: Everybody Got Their Something by Nikka Costa.

*blink blink*

Here, check them out yourself:

Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go) - Garbage

Everybody Got Their Something - Nikka Costa

Bizarre, isn't it? I'm going to do some research on these two; compare the actual notated music, see who is REALLY behind the music, official release dates, etc. Foul play or cooky coincidence? Encyclopedia Alyx is on the case!

(For the record, I like them both: Cherry Lips is good to just listen to, but Everybody Got Their Something makes me want to get up and move!)