today is one crazy day! EVERYONE THROW A PARTY.


Today makes the 150th Anniversary of the release of Charles Darwin's "On The Origin Of Species"



The 200th Birthday of Charles Darwin



And the 200th Birthday of Abraham Lincoln



THROW A PARTY!! BAKE A CAKE FOR LIBERTY!! RAISE A TOAST TO KNOWLEDGE!!

The rules are that for 8 days you have to post something that made you happy that day. Tag 8 people to do the same.

in honor of 12/15/08
#5
IT'S MY BIRTHDAY

12/16/08
#6
Didn't get out of bed until 10am!!

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i had a lovely birthday yesterday ^^ didn't get out of bed til i felt like, spent the morning and the better part of the afternroon cleaning and cooking, then linnet came over and we backed a cake* and exchanged gifts** and waited for steven, who got his gift when he arrived, and then we watched a bunch of Pushing Daisies***, the Colbert Christmas Special, some Wonderfalls, ate dinner, which was a fabulous lasagna that i made, ate cake****, and then at around10:30pm or so, we drove out the the coast. it was FREEZING and the wind was blowing, but once we got down the cliff to the beach, it was actually really nice. the sand was all damp from all the fog and moisture so it was easier to walk on, and we just wandered around, talking and looking at heaps of kelp. xD;; then it started to rain, and because it was so cold, the rain was freezing so it was like being pelted with sloshy hail xD;; so we went home.

it was a lovely birthday 8D


*DELICIOUS CAKE.

**i'm pretty sure that due to christmas being a week from tomorrow and with my current schedule, i won't get to see linnet or steven until after the holiday, so i gave them both their presents last night ^^

***CRYYYYYYY. why must all the best shows get cancelled??????

****DELICIOUS CAKE.

LINNET AND STEVEN WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS ON MONDAY I MUST KNOW.

~*~*~

meme stolen from around

The rules are that for 8 days you have to post something that made you happy that day. Tag 8 people to do the same.

tags: it's always good to acknowledge the things that make you happy ^^

12/11/08
#1.
The trees. Just before I wrote that funky blog earlier, when I was so filled with what I've since figured out was an overwhelming sense of purpose and emotion and passion (I've only felt like that once before.), I took a walk around campus to enjoy the crisp December air and and to kind of calm myself down. Something about the clear orangey-blue sunset skies and the trees, I wanted to cry. The trees were so beautiful. So many kinds of trees expressing their various winter selves.

Happy Decemberween, everybody!

it's been a bittersweet year for this family and for me. from my brother's attempted suicide to the birth of my sweet little niece, to my older brother's family moving back to rohnert park to my father's illness in august, to concerts, to falling outs with old friends.... i've seen high's and low's. i've tried and tried to keep up the cheer and all that good stuff, and it's not been easy. it seems like everything i've done in the past months has been a mixture of sweet and sour, and it all leaves me wondering, is this what being an adult is? is there always someone to turn a sour word to every situation, to every little thing another person tries to say? i guess it's true what i read a young wombat say once-- "if nice were easy, everyone would be doing it." *sigh*

but still! despite the up's and the down's, alot of good happened this december.

first of all, i spent my birthday is d*sneyland! which has been for years and will continue to remain one of my top favorite places in the world-- and definitally my favorite place to go with my family.

i got a couple birthday gifts, but the best gift i got was the determination my family had to be together for me. my brother and sister in law went through alot on that trip-- their car broke down! GAH! they didn't actually get to d*land until 6pm saturday night! they were supposed to be there at, like, 3am saturday morning--- it was a fight for them. they had to get towed to one town, then had to be picked up by Enterprise and taken to a different town where they could rent a car, then they had to drive the rest of the way to aneheim. and all of that done with chad being as unhelpful as is humanly possible, and a 4 year old who means well, but just doesn't have the self control her mom wishes she has xD;;

anyway, before their arrival i spent.... well.... friday. with my parents. i have decided that my mother is awesome and wonderful and i love her like crazy for all that she has done and endured and put up with, always with a smile, always with love, always with all the patience and selflessness and consideration in her heart. i have also decided that my dad.... well, i love my dad. i can see how he and i are very much alike, but it also makes me very grateful to have a person like my mother around to balance him out. my father is not.... well, i guess it's mean of me to compare him to my mother. but still--- i don't think he's been in a good mood in a long time, and i'm so sorry and so sad that he has to be in such a bad set of mind. he can be awesome-- understanding, kind, good natured... when he wants to be. but he is SO quick to defend himself. as selfless as he may ever get, he's still just looking out for himself. he gets offended and hurt so easilly, and it is so hard for him to forgive...

but anyway, what i'm getting at is that it was work to have a good time for the day and half i spent with my parents on our own. i don't really want to go into it, because the fun happened when everyone was finally together, and john and dad had stopped being pissed off at each other. i tried to smooth things over as best as i could-- i thanked my dad for treating up to the trip, and i thanked john for working so hard to get him and his family to d*land. they were both too busy being angry at each other to understand why the other was angry, but i was really touched when i finally got it out of john that the reason he was so angry was not because kairi was being a brat, not that the car broke down, not the extra money the trip ended up costing him, but the fact that he now only had a few hours to spend with me on my birthday rather than a whole day. so he asked if i would stay an extra day and go home with them. chad even offered to leave the next morning with my parents so we wouldn't have to buy another ticket (also, his girlfriend and i have the same birthday, so he wanted to be with her but hey XD whatever works lol)

anyway, i stayed the extra day and i'm glad i did. it was nice to get away from my parents, it was even nice to get away from chad. and it was a beautiful opportunity to spend time with kairi. she and i had so much fun together :D not to mention her parents-- we had a good time, too ^_~ over the 3 days i spent in the park, i got SO spoiled. i had a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY button with my name and age on it and not only did all the cast members at the park wish me a happy birthday, but so did some of the guests, too xD;; it was really fun. i bought glowy things and a watch and a wreath... it was a good time. i love D*sneyland at christmas :D

the castle was GORGEOUS!!!! covered in snow and icicles and garlands and wreaths and twinkling lights.... it's lovely.  honestly, very lovely. 

and after that comes christmas. christmas, christmas... even though the men in my family are sick with nasty-annoying syndrome, it was nice. christmas gifts were a success, singing was done, cooking, eating...

and then i got an iphone D:

wow.

as well as some movies, some clothes, a GORGEOUS shadowbox that my brother and sister in law made me :D

and now here i sit, in my bedroom... i just finished watching Little Miss Sunshine and now i'm watching Mulin Rouge. i love these movies :D
and i'm trying to decide who i love more xD;; Ewan McGreggor or Steve Carell. i think i'll choose not to choose. but at this very moment, i think it might be ewan mcgreggor. because he's so cute and so hansom and that is probably one of the most gorgeous singing voices i have ever heard, and if he didn't look like it means it so much when he sing, then it might be different--- but i can't help but melt a little inside watching him sing xD;; oh dear-- i'm a sucker for music and singers i can believe, and i don't think i can believe anyone more than i can believe him when he sings. *mumble mumble* *trailing off* *loss of thought*

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PHOTOS.

my brother accidentally whipped the pictures off my card. so.... ToT sorry for that-- i'll see if i can scrounge some of his pictures off him.

anyway, there we go.

i played with my cousins tonight-- my cousin has 2 daughters-- one 12 and one 10-- Ashley and Kaila. fun girls. i've known those girls since they were born. i spent alot of time with them when they were little then they moved away and i didn't get to see much of them anymore. but i see them at christmas every year. the cool thing is that they don't come to the realization that i'm a complete dork xD;; or at least if they have, they like it because i'm the one adult that will still play with them. i think Young Adults fall pray to the I Want To Be Viewed As An Adult By All syndrome, and they kinda... stop being a child. i like playing with kids ^^ there's a certain honesty and carefree-ness that a child possesses. it's wonderful and sweet and infectious, if you catch sight of it.

anyway, we had a good time. they told me secrets and we rough-housed and played with my new phone, and it was a grand and lovely time. like i said, i love kids. they have so much spirit and enthusiasm and such a capacity for love in them, it's just beautiful.

but anyway, i'm just rambling now, and anyway, despite all evidence to the contrary i'm not feeling very conversational at the moment. if i keep going, i'll just start describing in all the detail my vocabulary possesses the melancholy mood i;m in, and i really don't feel like doing that because riding along the side of the melancholy is the extreme sense of gratitute i've been feeling for the past little while. i am supremely grateful for what i have-- for my family and friends, for my job and for school and for children and music and food and cookies and for the ability i have to see and appreciate it all, and i'm not bragging here-- i live with people who can't see and embrace and feel cheer at what beauty and bounty there is around them and us, in my own home-- and what a sad state to be in, i think. to be angry and hurt and victimized all the time, and in their own minds.... there is too much to love and to hold in the world to feel so awful all the time. i am happy to have what i have, despite how lonely i feel right now. despite every negative feeling swirling around in me right now, i am grateful and happy. Merry Christmas, everyone, i love you, and thank you for being my friends ^^