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[18 Dec 2009|03:21pm] |
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| holiday snaffus |
[28 Nov 2009|08:00pm] |
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mood |
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Thanksgiving itself was frankly nothing to be delighted over. I am, however, Thankful for having the chance earlier with my Autumn Harvest Gathering to exude the hearty spirit of Thanksgiving. I somehow knew Thanksgiving itself wouldn't be festive and thus took the chance with filling an earlier date with loving friends instead.
Plans were tentatively made prior to my dad's arrival. Marc and I were invited over my aunt's house, to spend the holiday with her and my two cousins, and most likely with their boyfriends (those who had one at the time). We have spent Thanksgiving there before and frequent their home every now and then. It would have been nice; the food, the company, not having to worry about anything. However, I didn't want to leave my dad home by himself, as I know his mood would sky dive. Melissa wasn't sure if she'd be working. I kept prodding, "What do you want to do for Thanksgiving." He'd reply with "Nothing." He didn't want to celebrate but I still felt a tinge of guilt when thinking about abandoning him for his...family.
Yes, his family. Let me explain. His brother, Paul, divorced my aunt (so is she an ex-Aunt because she isn't blood related?) years ago, found someone else, and is now living in Costa Rica, leaving his daughters (my cousins). When I was really young, I remember being close with Uncle Paul, Aunt Katya, and my two cousins, one the same age as I am. In fact, through Paul and Katya, is how my Mom and dad met. So, of course there would be tension. I knew Katya and my cousins would feel weird if my dad, their dad's brother who left them for Costa Rica, would come along with Marc and me. He wasn't technically invited. My dad knew this.
I made up my mind and thought, I should do what I want on Thanksgiving, they ARE my family, and since my dad is being all "bah humbug" with this holiday and doesn't want to celebrate anyhow...so be it.
Well, earlier this week my car's battery died. I would have replaced it on Wednesday but waiting until Black Friday meant the battery would be $30 cheaper. I decided to wait, tell Katya Marc and I would not be joining them for Thanksgiving (they were disappointed), and thus could not abandon my dad.
The day my car battery died was Tuesday. I had both Tuesday and Wednesday off in addition to Thursday and Friday because of mandatory furlough hours. Technically I could have had Monday off as well but I opted to work since I already deducted furlough hours when I was doing morning shows that first week of training.
I was supposed to drive Emily, Melissa, Marc, and myself to Disneyland, in celebration of Melissa's 24th birthday (which takes place on the 30th)! Emily ended up driving, no biggie. At this point, Melissa had already been a cast member of Disneyland for two weeks and was able to enter the park for free :D. We competed for high score in Toy Story Mania, ate chowder at the Pacific Wharf, and drew Daisy Duck at the Animation Studio. By that time, Kimbo ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kimbolina and Hitomi met up with us for more Disney awesome-ness.
Everyone except Marc and myself grabbed fast passes for Tower of Terror (Marc and I have been on it once). Then we rushed off to do something NEW. I've been liking this "find something new at Disney to do" approach. It's been working the past three or four times I've gone now. This time we all took an adventure on the Challenge Trail! It wasn't as "challenging" as I expected nor did it have as many obstacles as expected, but it was fun XD. We totally put our kid gloves on during this one! Jumping through the rope bridges, crawling through the moving tunnel, "climbing" the wall - horizontally, haha. There was one thing we couldn't do because we weren't young enough, though Kimbo fit the height requirement. They totally need more things for adults in that Challenge Trail! Once the others were on Tower of Terror, Marc and I did some shop gazing at "Off the Page". I loved looking around in there.
Again, Kimbo and Hitomi split up from us, as we soared through California while they ate Harbour Side at D-land. They were still eating when we caught up with them - now with Dole Whip Floats (which were like half price thanks to Melissa's cast member discount!) in our hands. It was getting quite cold by this time, especially with our delicious ice-cream and juice. Once we were finished we took a BUNCH of photos in front of Fowler's Inn! It was so much fun :D.
We said our goodbyes in Adventure Land. Kimbo and Hitomi needed to go. The rest of us took a cruise in the jungle, spotted Indy in the forbidden tombs, and took a shuttle to space. For our picture ending, in dedication to Kimbo and her signature dance move, we all raised our arms and pointed our index fingers...though Melissa, as a newly recruited cast member, did the Disney two-finger point. We ended our night with hot chocolate and cider at the Carnation Cafe (as we do on most Disney nights).
Disneyland is a BALL when you are with friends!! ♥
Then, it was back to reality.
Thanksgiving consisted of pizza. Frozen pizza. Even though I said I'd go grocery shopping with my dad for traditional ingredients on Wednesday, he didn't like the idea. I told him I'd make anything. His grunts were all the reply I would receive. Finally I said, half-joking, "Fine, delivery pizza." My dad instantly perked up, "That's an idea!" What?! Anyway, I amended my comment with, "How about we cook homemade pizza?" Unfortunately, for some reason, we didn't buy the ingredients on Wednesday at Winco (where dough balls are $1) and they were closed on Thanksgiving. Superior was open...but they only had frozen pizza and were closing in 10 minutes.
Yep, that was about it.
Friday my dad took me to PepBoys and I bought my battery, oil, and oil filter because it was on sale. I wanted to watch my dad put in the battery (too heavy for me to lift in the slot!) and then I was going to connect it. Everything went downhill from here though. My dad put my battery in wrong! It looked wrong to me but I didn't question him because he has put in many car batteries. I should have spoke up! After all, the clamp not fitting SHOULD have told him he had it in backwards. Oh no, he runs off to PepBoys again for a clamp that fits the wrong terminal.
Luckily I didn't do the connections because once the new clamp was on the wrong terminal, he went to clamp on the other side, and guess what, it sparked. My dad jerked his hand back, while I screamed XD. He didn't stop there, he tried again, and again. Finally, I spoke up, "I think it goes the other way dad!!" Turned it around, and voila, the clamps fit the terminals perfectly XD;;. So at this time, the negative terminal doesn't look new and pretty anymore. That isn't the worst part of it.
I'm supposed to be going to Kimbo's so Marc can practice for their upcoming Christmas show - which is on Saturday! He already had to miss the practice on Wednesday due to my car being out of commission. I'm running pretty on schedule as I back out of the driveway, when I find my power steering isn't working. What else...my automatic locks. It turns out my dad blew a few fuses as he made his own fireworks using MY vehicle.
This awesome, easy, only takes 10 minute battery changing was now a day effort. You see, his diagnosis wasn't initially blown fuses, until he called Ray, his ex-co-worker husband who works on cars. We changed one fuse my dad had on hand, still didn't work. Called up Ray again. Luckily he was on his way back with his wife and new born baby boy from the tree farm up the canyon, so he was coming toward our house anyway. He came over...they were over, I talked to Angela about her baby, while Ray and my dad tampered. Kimbo was called...Marc had to back out of the show. I was really saddened by this fact. Kimbo also counted on Marc. They've been working so hard together! It was really a shame. Anyway, Ray went to get something, still working on my car. Finally, figured out what fuse to buy. Of course it is no where to be found when my dad and I go to all the local shops. My car is still out of commission.
My dad feels horrible. He also thinks Kimbo is going to be really mad at him (I think this is cute). *sighs* Fortunately, my dad never gave up the effort to buy this $6 fuse that no one carries. He found it in Hemet today.
Well, on the positive side, I know A LOT more about my car now :D. I know about my fuse box, how to change fuses and the differences between them, and I know how to CORRECTLY change my battery. I do love knowing how to do these small things myself.
Saturday. Today. The day of the supposed Kimly Christmas Show. On Friday she said she managed to find someone to take Marc's place. I was disappointed. I really wanted to see Kimly and Marc perform in this Christmas show! Then we find out that the time changed, so I wouldn't have been able to go anyhow because of a prior engagement. Then, the show was canceled all together. o_o
Anyway...this morning I recorded for "Princess and the "Pigs". That, in a separate entry *^^*.
~*Chell*~
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| I can taste your stink and every time I do, I fear that I've somehow been infected by it. |
[16 Dec 2009|04:34pm] |
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I want things. But I can't have them. Not because it's not within reach. But because I choose not to have them.
I'm sick. I'm getting better though. The last two days I've been sitting at home just playing World of Warcraft all day sipping on Tea. Today I'm at work. I'm still sick, but I have to tough it out because I have only 2 hours of sick time left. If I use up those 2 hours... that means I have to get written up, which means no raise at the end of the year, which also means no possible promotion either. Bad mojo. Caffeine. Caffeine will help me tough my way through this. Luckily it's been relatively quiet.
Oily Revenge Continues:
So my car has been spewing out oil everywhere. I think I may have fixed it, again. We'll see. Yesterday I caught her will virtually no oil in it. The dip stick was pretty dry. Thanks to Emily and my Mom for tipping me off. "There's a crap load of oil where you parked your car" Wow really? Twice? I drove that thing back from the Desert. I can't believe she is still running. Go Rotaries. Compression is still good too. Hmm. I really need to get her rebuilt again, and this time around do this MOAR Right.
Information Technology Christmas Tree:
The Desert Folk put a Christmas Tree together. Fiber, Blackberries, and more... all ornaments. Expensive. Also, they have a lot more time on their hands than we do in San Diego. I miss that.
Find Pictures behind cut...( Read more... )
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| everyone at autumn |
[22 Nov 2009|10:30pm] |
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Lady Gaga |
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Arriving on Monday, my dad came home permanently. His company's fab closed at the end of the summer and became unemployed at the same time I did. He hasn't been able to find a new job in Boise, Idaho. There was no use for my dad to live in Boise as a roommate paying for board there when this house is still in his name. It took him a while to finally make a firm decision. Melissa and I finally convinced him it was time to come home. Even Marc was in favor of his return.
My dad moved because he needed time, a new environment, a way to get over his loss. I believe his attitude has adjusted, his mind has cleared, and his moodiness lessened. At this time, the four of us living together will be beneficial, at least financially and perhaps even emotionally for my dad. Plus, my dad is excellent with yard upkeep and doing those random home projects that Marc, Melissa, and I would never get to. My main concern is if he diverges into that rotten state of mind - that depressed, "I don't want to do anything, everything is worthless, I am worthless" horrid attitude. It would make it living with him difficult, as it did the initial year of my Mom's passing before he temporarily moved to Canada.
Beyond that, I'm not worried about us all living together. Adjustments will definitely have to be made, communication will be key, but when it comes down to it, I think even with Marc and I being married, this set up (temporarily!) will be a good situation. Having the master bedroom that used to belong to my Mom and dad, my dad now in my old room, is nonetheless weird XD.
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Auditions at RCP took place on Tuesday for "Chanticleer and the Fox" (same director as "Velveteen Rabbit"). I have a pretty good intuition when it comes to whether I'll be cast or not; there are characters that I sense fit me well, which most all actors probably have. I had an inkling last time I'd be cast in both shows I auditioned for and that's precisely what happened. This time I am very sure I will not be cast. None of the characters truly suited me. While auditioning, I just didn't "feel it" and would come up with all the things I should have done after the fact.
It was a fun audition. Jennifer's auditions are always entertaining. We got to pretend we were riding on stick ponies while "neighing". We clucked like chickens and cried out upset then rushed with sticks to get the bad guys. Jennifer had a lot of fun watching us too. I don't regret auditioning and I don't feel bad about not obtaining a part. I think this attitude is definitely something positive; rather than beating myself up. As Jennifer says "If you don't get cast, don't take it personally, plant a flower and move on" most of the time it isn't about your acting ability at all.
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Saturday was my Autumn Harvest Gathering. The turn out was great; all my closest friends attended! Carmen came with her husband, Wayne, and toddler, Grant. Grant was the basis of our entertainment :). My dad noticed a "group divide" but I think it was mostly due to seating arrangements. It mixed up as the evening progressed anyhow. At points, some people were in the studio on youtube, or in the bathroom as Kimbo cut Priss' bangs, later music was played with strobe and colored lights in the living room.
I served gumbo and sweet potato soup in bread bowls. I liked the sweet potato soup more than the gumbo, others preferred the gumbo. I'm still in the trial and error process of gumbo making and think I can do it much better given a next time. There were of course an array of appetizers. Kimbo and Hitomi came over early so Kimbo and Marc could practice music for their upcoming Christmas show. I did some last minute organizing and prepared the items I needed for an activity. Meanwhile, Hitomi made corn bread, and popped other appetizers in the oven, then helped me cut out my fall leaves for the activity.
Emily and Linda brought desserts. We were definitely not short on food. I'm glad I decided to only make the soups and cut up vegetables with some ranch dressing. I had bought pre-made bread bowls (which cost a good penny!) but it made things less hectic. The gumbo and soup were done in crock-pot fashion. So really, this party was very low stress for me, usually, I'm still preparing stuff by the time guests arrive. I didn't feel that common host pressure I usually feel.
Most people left before we played my activity. Linda and Emily were left to play with Marc, Melissa (who arrived late due to work), and me. I had a series of "thankful for" questions, that each person wrote on their leaf of choice. Each person read their answers aloud at the end (though, it was supposed to be for the one you were chosen for), then we hung them on the curtains. When you drive by my house you can see the falling leaves :). They thought it was a cute activity and said it would have been fun with everyone.
I am deeming the Autumn Harvest Gathering a success. I cannot wait to see the pictures Emily and Hitomi took, especially the picture of all my favorite people together! *^^*
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I wore my new outfit for the Autumn Harvest Gathering. My friends approved :). Sadly, at the end of the day, while playing that activity, the thread that holds one of the clips to fasten the pants broke. I could have sewed it easily but Emily and Linda said I should just exchange them. I did that on Sunday. The particular pants I bought were out of my size so I grabbed a different style of the same price. These pants were even cuter with a nice belt. I needed to go to Kohl's anyhow, to redeem my $10 gift card (my 2nd one!). I decided to buy a tunic sweater. I love it! It will make me look more professional at work, instead of a student when I wear my sweatshirts and hoodies. It's cute, flatters me, long and cozy. Happy with my purchase ^^.
Till next time,
~*Chell*~
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| I will hurt you LARGE Alien |
[15 Dec 2009|08:46am] |
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Even though you know it, it's easy to forget. Here's a refresher. You Tiny Tiny person you.
A little bit more catchy, you know, for the kids.
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| "I have a sheep, doing roofing, over at my house, drop in, put on zeppelin and eat chedder cheese" |
[11 Dec 2009|02:58pm] |
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I think I may have a very low grade fever, so expect grammatical errors.
Work. Has. Been. Busy. The budget deadline is coming up, so everyone pushes things to get done at work. They want all their budget money spent. Which means, I get to work on a couple projects on top of everyone screaming for help with their projects. Also most of the IT team is taking vacation right now, so that's even more extra work for me. Plus I'm getting sick, or I've been on the verge of getting sick at least. I've had a sore throat for about a week now. I've been loading my body with water, vitamin C and Green Source. I think all those supplements are keeping me from going over the edge with sickness.
Despite being sickly I've been working out again, getting my germs all over the Gym equipment. But the good in this bad is that I have more prominent abs. Trying to get them more out again. Go Abs go! But I started smoking again, so it's also hindering my ability to work out the way I used to. I tried to give up caffeine and smoking a few weeks ago, that lasted all of 4 days before I went nuts. I was a dick to everyone. I've cut down a lot though. Baby steps I guess.
Thanks Giving was fun. I'm looking forward to Christmas. I don't know what my mom's plans are for Christmas but, I do get Christmas day off. We'll see what happens.
It's been raining here in San Diego this week. Monday was the worst. It was basically the apocalypse. Trees fell over, derbies all over the place... it was nuts. I left work early that day, and the free way was pretty clear. Because everyone had pulled over out of fear. Visibility was so low. Despite being a relatively open road everyone was still doing 30MPH.
I am going back to the Desert either tonight or tomorrow morning to take care of some stuff. One of them picking up the devil cat, or as some would call the Krampus. But I actually love the cat too. People want to hang out?! Yes?! Indeed.
More stuff to be posted later. Viewable by Friends only.
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[15 Nov 2009|11:15pm] |
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Orientation for "Princess and the Pigs" took longer than expected. I would have liked to do a second read through as suggested by a familiar face despite the length. The familiar face was George, a clinical professor at Loma Linda. He's the author of the play, "Hiding Place", I had the privilege of being in; my first theatre production at Lifehouse Theater. He plays the Prince's adviser, Chalmers. Wayne, the founder was present and read for the King (who did not turn up), though he was only there to meet, greet, and inform the cast members. It seemed everyone was from the "inside" except for myself and the guy who plays the Prince, my Prince, hehe. He's really good! In the play he has to use two different voices since he disguises himself to fool and punish the Princess. He does the two voices so well. I met the author of the audio drama and her sister, who I believe is leading these audio book sessions as producer.
After brewing myself some tea (they had a tea chest filled with many flavors as well as hot chocolate, and told us all to help ourselves!) I settled in talking to George. I sat next to him and the guy who plays the Prince. After the read-thru I had a lot of feedback. I usually don't give my all during initial stages like read-thrus because of older habits taught. But it seemed that everyone was reading how they would be actually acting. A lot of attention was on me being the Princess, having the most amount of lines, and on the Prince. The producer said she was only "picking" on me because I indeed had the bulk of the script. Listening to the author's feedback and then the producer's, I could tell the producer knew what she was talking about. In fact, I believe she probably works at the On Air Studio, having worked at some type of radio station before. Her direction was exactly what I always hear when it comes to voice over. It made me really happy to know she knew what she was talking about! I took my construction criticism to heart...honestly though, everything that was said, I had already critiqued myself on the exact things, which, again, made me very happy :). I liked having the directional input that second my musings.
This is why I really wanted to do the second read-thru that was suggested. I wanted to show them that I could take direction well, putting what they said to good use. However, it looks like I'll just have to show my prowess during recording ;P. It's so exciting to be involved in an audio book and even better being the main character in that audio book! *Squee* I'm pumped! Recording on November 28th :D.
The next day, my co-worker, Sohail, and I went out to lunch downtown. He had treated me in October and it was my turn. We ate lunch outside of Simple Simon's, a gourmet sandwich and soup place. The decorations on the Mission Inn were being put up. It was nice sitting in the little courtyard area, looking at the Mission with the Christmas decor, showing the holidays are soon to come!
Veterans day, Kimbo (kimbolina) and Hitomi came over. Hitomi managed while Marc and Kimbo worked on Christmas songs together for their upcoming Christmas performances. I'm really looking forward to it! While they practiced I did some cleaning.
Yesterday, I used the Kohl's gift card I received to buy a holiday outfit. If you spent so much money that day, they would give you another $10 gift certificate. My holiday outfit came out short so I had Marc buy some cargo pants since his old ones are ripping and are really big for him now. He was being a little difficult but I finally persuaded him to try on a few pairs of pants for me. It was a lot more fun than looking at clothes for myself! Really though, I wasn't digging the styles too much on the juniors side (and I usually hardly ever like anything in Women's), but I was digging the styles for men :D. It's fun to dress up my sweetie ;P. The plan was for him to pick out an outfit for me to wear, more specifically a dress. I do not own any dresses, except for my wedding dress. My friends said I need to change that. I wanted Marc to pick me out something, something that would make him stare and say "Wow..." Unfortunately, there were no dresses at all that satisfied this one request. I agreed with Marc in not liking any of the dresses. So we went with an outfit I could wear for my holiday gathering as well as looking nice for work when I need to look less like a student (my normal jeans and a t-shirt). I ended up with an argyle mock vest and comfy, cute, yet professional looking black dress pants. On the hanger, the mock vest didn't look like much, but I think it looked a lot better once it was on me. Plus, Marc's expression changed when I tried it on for him ;).
Today was fun in an interesting way, haha. I recorded for the Waterman Foundation, the educational company. Initially I was cast as the teacher figure in the new interactive program they are putting together. I thought I may be doing one other character, a little boy. I only received lines for the teacher. It so happened that I am playing multiple characters. After recording for the teacher, taking a while to get exactly the tone he wanted and not being so "animated", redoing a few lines here and there, he gave me the concept art for a few more characters asking me to "come up with a voice." At that moment I wish I had more improv under my belt. He told me my voice reel was great and thought I could do a few more characters. He didn't really tell me what type he wanted for each, he just said "go for it!" I was able to do two young girl characters. I am hoping they sound different enough. I made one my shy, quieter voice and the other more loud and bubbly. Once those were recorded, he showed me pictures for these other characters, one that looks like a bird and the other a box. I tried a bird like voice for the one with the beak but I don't think he liked it. For the box, I asked if he'd like a little boy voice and I ended up doing that. I don't think he even knew what he wanted exactly. I sat there for a while playing around with voices before recording and felt ridiculous, haha. I also felt very pressured. Though, my nervousness did flee a bit after half-way through the teacher lines. You could hear my voice waver initially. I just didn't know what to expect. It did end up being fairly painless, especially since, get this, the recording studio came to me! The day before he asked if I knew of a quiet spot to record or if I had a driveway. The studio was in an RV - mobile rig! The mobile studio was not what I expected at all. The guy had a mic on a stand and an analog recorder, just spinning, no separate takes. Weird. Marc has more of a mobile studio than what was in that RV from what I could see. Ah well. Once I was done recording, the guy from the foundation said I could step out for a while while he recorded some lines and then he'd get me when he was done. The process of recording and thinking about those characters didn't take too long, only 45 minutes. And I did end up having fun when I figured out what he was looking for, for most of the bit characters. But the best part was walking out my door, into my driveway and into the RV to "work". No travel time! We discussed the payment again and said he wished he could pay me more. I didn't feel satisfied with my takes though. I told him if he needed re-takes that I could record them in my own home studio and send them. I ended up redoing all the bit characters I recorded for including that bird like one on my home studio an hour or so after he left because I just felt what was done in the mobile studio wasn't good enough. I made sure all characters sounded different and gave better emphasis to things, imaging what was going on with the little I knew about the game/program, and sent them off to him. Later I receive the message that our little home studio sounded really clean and he appreciated my effort and dedication to have redone all the lines. I just want it to sound good :).
That's about all this week :).
Take care,
~*Chell*~
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