Bucket List Additions

I've thought of a few more things that I want to do before I "kick the bucket" while I was watching The Buried Life (Mtv) today:

• Go to Comic Con once.

I may not be a "FanBoy" but it would be alot of fun to see everyone dressed up like characters from movies & video games. Why not?

• Attend a monster truck rally

I've been to a rodeo, so why not see the truck version? Sounds like fun.

• Watch a space shuttle launch in Cape Canaveral, FL.

Space! The final frontier.

Formspring.me

I had no idea what Formspring.me was until a week ago when some friends on Facebook began posting it to their pages. Its similar to a Truth Box or Honesty Box application BUT its just a page! Post the link to your friends so they can ask you anything anonymously. ANYTHING! Its up to you what is answered and what remains unknown.

Curious? I was, so I added it to the list of sites I'm on (FB, MySpace, Twitter, DailyBooth)
Here's the link to my page--- http://www.formspring.me/beachnerbum

Leave me a question. Anything with a question mark qualifies. Hope you're having a good week, I've got to go get some sleep. Goodnight!

4 Day Storm

I'm generally not a big fan of rain. But this week it was a nice change to see....well except the part where everyone took the umbrellas and I was left to run across campus in the pouring rain. This picture was taken after I jumped into my car from Day 1 of the 4 day storm. Immediately afterwards I drove over to Cheryl's house where I fluffed my jacket in the dryer before running to her car to pick up her friend Ashley. The 2 of us were on our way to Corner Bakery when Cheryl's grandmother calls (she lives with her grandparents because they're awesome). Her voicemail told us that there was "a tornado coming straight for Irvine!" and of course my immediate response to her was, "there's no way there's a fucking tornado in Orange County guys....that's just ridiculous". Little did we know that there was a water spout in San Clemente and all of LA was flooded---a few lucky people had kayaks to get home. Unfortunately for all of the excited kids that wanted to see a tornado, there was no real tornado touching down anywhere close to us, or even at all. We just ended up watching the news for an hour and a half inside Ashley's house to keep Cheryl's grandma from freaking out. Even the newsmen and weather people said to stay indoors until the Weather Service gave an "all clear". I don't think I've ever had to wait for an "all clear" in Southern California----though I'm sure alot of people have that are near the regular burn areas. California has a tendency to randomly catch fire. Fire! The herpes of natural disasters! You never know when it'll flare up!....that was terrible, anyways...

Apparently I was wrong about the tornadoes because about 2 days later there was a tornado (small and short-lived, but existent) that heaved a sideyard shed into a strawberry field and destroyed a large fence in a nearby city. So the weather has gone a little crazy? But hey we go our much-needed water and some entertainment out of it. The worst thing that happens with "El Nino" is mud slides, in which case, I hope you don't live on a hill. Oh and by the way more rain is on the way next week! Lovely.

Transfer Flashback

I wrote this last year during spring semester finals week of my sophomore year of stress...I mean college. It's interesting to look at where I was at, in my mind-set with school---I was under the impression that Fall 2009 would be very different from what actually happened. Excuse the typos and the misspelled words, this was written on my old MySpace "blog".

Monday, May 18, 2009

"Well school has been pretty slow as well except for the past maybe, 3 weeks. It's like the beginning of the semester is dragging along just to torture you with projects n assignments n essays, then suddenly oh hello there spring break--->BAM finals are in a week! You're F'd! Haha luckily I did pay attention while school dragged along for most of the semester. I am sooo rambling it's ridiculous.

Anyways, so I'm really kinda disappointed in myself. I thought that by now I would be ready for transfer to a CSU or a UC if I became some kind of study nazi in the library---of coarse I decided to have more fun than last year instead haha. Last fall I did apply at a few places n got accepted by Sonoma, but by then the whole Evan n Ben n me living together plan fell apart when Evan decided that he didn't feel like going north to another CSU. Can I please let all of you know that the school that you attend makes no difference on what job you end up getting unless you're going for a huge career; doctor, lawyers, big time business-person. Let me get this through everybody's head also, there is NOTHING wrong with going to a community college for the first two years. It doesn't mean you're any less intelligent than someone at another type of school.

Continuing the topic of transfering to a CSU....yea so I got accepted to Sonoma but I have no plans of going all the way up there. I simply have no reason to go that far n spend a ton of money that neither me or my parents have. Basically I'd like to get through as much school as I can without ruining my credit score n plunging into a hole of debt especially because my parents would be paying for most of it. Which I'm very glad that they're doing. I know that money isn't easy to come by these days. Alot of us are looking for second jobs n more hours to work. It definitely sucks but I'm sure it'll get better soon.

I also applied to SDSU, which shot me down [I saw that one comin] along with the other 56,000 transfer applicants that were denied. So, they can suck it. For now I'll just be goin to IVC n Saddleback to finish up my last I think 6? credits hat I need then I'll probably go to Fullerton because it's close. Financially it's a good plan so that's what's gunna happen unless I won the lottery.

Dinner's ready. So I should end my rant or ramblings that really had no point. I just needed to let that out I guess. Have a lovely evening. I'll be eating dinner, meanwhile being Twitter-spammed by Nura n Breanna n Kevin like always. Jesus, Nura you update your Twitter too much ahhhhhhhhh!"

I can tell that I was VERY tired of listening to everyone's bullshit about what made their college better than mine. The only difference was that they had a better football team (IVC doesn't even have one by the way) and a higher price, meanwhile I enjoyed a lower cost at the same exact classes in smaller classroom sizes---no giant lecture halls for me! Suckers! In fact, I've avoided what so many of you have done, ruin your credit and bury yourself in a grave of debt. The only thing I'm missing out on by going to community college is the parties and the dorm life of a 4-year university. And ya know what, I couldn't care less. I would probably drive my roommate up the wall with my OCD and spastic study habits. Oh and one last lovely benefit, I never got my freshman 15. Hooray for not getting fat haha. I could go on, but I should be reading right now.

Something to think about: Would you pay to go away to school for the "experience" or stay home to save? Or do you even have an option (I could've if we weren't middle class....stupid government)?

Quick Movie Reviews

Real Quick Movie Review! Sorry I've been behind, so here's a few of my recent rentals!

THE HURT LOCKER (drama) - 5/5
A story about a man who willingly goes to Iraq to do what he loves, disarming bombs. Great camera work and intensity. One of the best movies of 2009! Look for Oscar nominations soon.

THE PROPOSAL (comedy) - 4.2/5
What's the best way to not get deported back to Canada? Oh yeah, marry your boss. Hilarity ensues on a trip to Drew's hometown in Alaska.

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS (kids) - 4/5
A young inventor discovers how to make it rain food and help his little island. Plus a great "be yourself" theme throughout. Plus Neil Patrick Harris voices Steve the Monkey.

INVENTION OF LYING (comedy) - 4.4/5
One day a man gains the ability to tell lies, in a world where the human race tells the absolute truth at all times. Will this help him change his terrible life? Stories like the big invisible man in the sky are created from a moment with his mother, and changes the world.

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN (comedy) - 3.5/5
Larry goes back to the Museum of Natural History to find out that his old friends that come to life at night are being moved into storage at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. Though his business is doing well, he misses his job as a night guard at the museum. A familiar Egyptian enemy arises with the help of gangsters, Ivan the Terrible, and Napoleon.

Here Comes the Rain Again

Finally! The weather has stopped spazzing out for once and chosen to be winter. It rarely rains in Southern California to begin with, so we need it pretty bad. There's always someone saying that "we're in a drought", but we live in a natural desert. Sorry if your lawn isn't perfectly green all the time. Here's the forecast for the rest of the week (sadly this is harsh weather for us, we're wimps)

Personally, I like watching and listening to the rain. But if I have to go out into it, I hate it. The whole wet and cold thing---not so into it. But hey, it's better than living somewhere with 3 feet of snow or a hurricane on the way. I'll try and be happy with the minimal sprinkles here that we call the "pouring rain". In fact, I'm pretty sure that our rain is nothing compared to other places in the world. Sure it's supposed to rain for the next whole week, but in some places it rains everyday. Rocksie looks confused. "Hey why is water falling from the sky? " If she has to go outside to go to the bathroom, then I'll plastic wrap her like always. Golden retrievers + rain = very stinky...then the whole house stinks.

Random thought, I've never been kissed in the rain---probably because me and my boyfriend don't like standing in the rain---maybe I'll give that a try while it's pouring this week. We might even make a Disneyland trip while all the lame tourists are hiding in their hotels haha.

Fake

There's always one or two "celebrities" every year that refuse to go away. Over the past few years, it seems like there's been a plethora of them.

• Paris Hilton - "Like Kansas, flat, white and easy to enter."

• Heidi Pratt - "Someone with no talent but who is so totally full of themselves they don't know that everyone's laughing at them, not with them."

• Tiffany Pollard (New York) - "Both Tiffany and her mother Michelle have both shown traits of fronting a FAKE PERSONA in order to become and stay famous.....Tiffany's Ebonics will disappear from time to time. Replaced with a very Proper English way of speaking. This comes from the fact that she was raised in (Utica, New York); As opposed to a poor ghetto. Which is something Tiffany never eludes to."

I got these definitions from UrbanDictionary.com, which means that they're all written n voted to the top of the page by everyday people online like you and me---not their famous friends that think they're so great. I find them disgusting. Every one of them humiliates themselves and goes out of their way to stay famous. DUI's, plastic surgery, and all.

This week Heidi Montag has come out to say that she's just had TEN surgeries done! By the way, this is her second set of procedures. The first time through it was a breast augmentation and a nose job. She wasn't ugly or anything before, jsut obviously insecure. Now I can honestly say that she's a fake. Not famous for anything talent related, over the top about everything, hair extensions, fake body parts....I mean come on, is there anything authentic about this girl anymore? She's sold herself for attention. I hope that she goes to therapy or gets some help before she turns into Joan Rivers.

The Huffington Post summed up her surgeries: "She had her breast implants increased to DDDs, a brow lift, a nose job revision, lipo on her stomach and thighs and a butt augmentation, among other things." I take pride in being natural, and I think that it shows character. But some people get plastic surgery to feel better about themselves. My mom did last year because she's had two kids, this is warrented. But a 23 year old woman with no kids and a career based on the media?? Why!

Sadly this is what she said about her surgeries, "I was made fun of when I was younger, and so I had insecurities, especially after I moved to L.A. People said I had a "Jay Leno chin"; they'd circle it on blogs and say nasty things. It bothered me. And when I watched myself on The Hills, my ears would be sticking out likle Dumbo! I just wanted to feel more confident and look in the mirror and be like, "Whoa! That's me!" I was an ugly duckling before."

What in the hell?!

2010 Resolutions

This is probably a bit of a belated New Years resolution post but hey, gotta do it before January is over! This month may end up going by fast since Winter Break ends tomorow. Boo! But yay for school....yes? Alright! So let's do this thing.

2010 Resolutions

1. Drink more water.

This seems simple enough right? But for me I tend to go with juice or soda more often. Like many people, I'm a soda addict which is bad for my waistline, bloating, and the health of my teeth. So why not put in some effort to drink more water? We're all made of 70% water anyways. It's great for my skin and my mood. Everybody likes having nicely hydrated skin!

2. Go to the gym....no seriously, just go.

I don't particularly like going though I should. I've started going twice a week since Christmas and I've noticed that I feel better. A bit more energy and a happier feeling. Endorphins! I feel much more confident in myself when I go regularly.

3. Pass Math 8.

As most my friends and family know, math is not my strong point. This semester I'll be taking my final math class in college, and I aim to pass it the first time. So let's batten down the hatches and put in some more study time and effort. I may hate math, but this is the home stretch and I wanna be done with it forever as soon as possible. I took Math 253 fuckin four times, this class MUST go better.

These are all self-oriented goals because I can do them all. Mainly I want to feel healthier, I want to feel better. I'm not fat, or even near being overweight for my BMI, but I want to be in better shape. I find that sometimes I lack confidence because of feeling fat, so why not get rid of the fat feeling by going to the gym? That works. My skin gets all nasty and dry from my eczema, drink more water and put some lotion on it....though that doesn't cure it, it does help a bit. In my opinion (and most self-help gurus'), I can't help anyone else unless I help myself first. So my health and emotional/confidence will be put first this year.

I won't sit there and complain that I feel fat. Or complain that my skin is bleeding because its dry (sorry I know that's gross). I can fix things, or at least help them. For my body's sake, MY body. Why else would I make these resolutions? Haha knowing that my ass is rock hard is a bonus.

Summons

Today was my first day ever attending jury duty...well jury summons. I know its not exactly the same thing. Jury "duty" would indicate I'm on an actual case, which luckily I'm not.

Sitting in a room of 600 people is strange. There's so many people yet everything still manages to look the same. Everything looked gray to me, maybe it was my crappy vision. Old white-haired women sitting in groups of 2 or 3. Middle aged business man looking at a newspaper. Me, sitting alone to avoid any human contact with strangers. I didn't want to talk to anyone. Why? Though the woman staring at me looked semi-friendly, she was past 60 and I have nothing to say to her but "Geez I'm barely awake" or "Do you know where the bathroom is?"

I was "summoned" to report to building 30 of the Superior Court of Orange County in Santa Ana at 7:45am. I'm not functional at that hour. Pretty sure half the people there were sleep walking just like me. My GPS got me there, I parked my car at the lot closest to the entrance and walked to the elevator. Got to the right floor...sat down...started playing Virus Buster on my mom's Nintendo DS (yea it's my mom's lol).

Of course I have the luck to be "randomly selected" for a case on some top floor court room with 75 other people. I was told "oh yeaa, you'll just sit there all day and probably never be called" BULLSHIT, this was the first "random" selection of the day. 75 out of 600 chances, FML. By now it's almost 11am, the sun is all the way up and I'm awake but feeling awful. I didn't eat breakfast because I'm never hungry when I'm dead asleep at 6am....oh and I'm low on iron right now so I feel dizzy.

Feeling sick, nervous, cramped, and bored out of my mind for nearly 3 hours. Unpleasant? Very. I didn't even have time to go to the bathroom. I wasn't a happy camper. I felt like I was either throw up or have an anxiety attack.

Luckily since I'm a full-time student and classes begin on Monday I was unable to be on the jury for the criminal case. I don't think I would be comfortable being on a criminal case anyways. Why can't all the old ladies in the waiting area just be the jury instead? They seem genuinely interested in being there unlike myself....and all the other students that wasted time and gas to report in (only to be disqualified).

"I hate that I couldn't bring in my knitting needles!"
"Why don't they let you bring those while we wait to be called?"
"They're considered a weapon"
"Ohhhh..."

My dad said I had to call him whenever I got to the courthouse and when I left, for safety reasons. So I got to go out to lunch with him once I was done by 12:30....not a bad way to end that miserable process if I do say so myself. June 2010 I'll be called in again, hopefully not for a real case. Maybe I'll give them answers they don't wanna hear and get out of it. Orrrr I could pretend to be a crazy racist or mute. I think I'll go with mute.

Friend Mistakes

Do you ever get embarrassed for those close to you? I'm not talking bad fashion statements or your friend has a giant zit on picture day---I mean when they tell you about something they did. Perhaps it was something stupid, usually a mistake. We all confide in our close friends about our thoughts, dreams, and our faults. But sometimes my mind tells me to yell "#$@*&^%!!!" at my friends.

Everyone has their faults and struggle with improvement. But I hate to see my friends fail and faceplant again and again. Disappointing, embarrassing. I love all of my friends no matter their problems, and I try to steer them in the right direction but I get so frustrated by them at times.

"What were you thinking?" Clearly they weren't.
"Are you high?" Fuckin stoned out of their minds.
"How much did you drink?" The whole handle of Sailor Jerry.

Of coarse I'm too mild (in personality) to actually do this, but I certainly make a point to call them stupid in my mind. I'm really not sure whether this is a good or bad quality. On one hand I think its good because I'm not being a bitch by telling a friend they acted as an idiot and should know better. And on the other hand, this is an example of not communicating my thoughts to someone I care about.

I (for some reason) attract people with the stupidest problems (in my mind they're preventable). Self-control seems to be a problem with many of them. I won't point out anyone directly for their sake, but it honestly bothers me when they screw up. I had a good friend go to rehab then relapse. We knew it would happen but watching them fall back down sucks. I think he's doing well now, but still hasn't kicked his drug habit. Not all of their problems are as serious (drug abuse) as my example but still their vices negatively impact their life. I can't fix their problems for them, though I wish that were the case. Can someone let me know where to get that magic wand? I'll check eBay or Amazon later.

Let's say I have a friend that's dating a dirtbag. I'll call him Douchey McDoucherstien. I do not like Douchey McDoucherstien, but she does. Do I want to tell her that he's a huge asshole and she can do better? Of coarse I do, but I'm not going to make her into the idiot because I hate hurting people's feelings. I'm sure we all have that thought go through our head after a long weekend of fucked up stories from close or distant friends. "Why was that a good idea?"

So to all those mistakes:

Dear stupid ass,
You're giving me a fricken headache. Please stop. What ever happened to live and learn? Did you forget the "learning" part? Apparently so. Here's to you, showing the fail boat how to do it. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!
You're not invited to dinner,
Courtney :]