arisha: (troy achilles)
two random pics )
arisha: (epic mickey: in which disney blows my mi)
Super short and only a little bit spoilery (but I'll cut it anyway) first thoughts on Toy Story 3 before I run back to the theatre to start my shift aaaaaah~!!!

Buzz-- Buzz-- Buzz Lightyear to the rescue! )

Also, we got to watch the Tangled trailer but apparently there was a mix-up of some kind because we watched it in FRENCH. xD
arisha: (Default)
[Error: unknown template qotd]

The first specific news event that springs to mind is the OJ Simpson trial. I guess I was about seven when it was going on, and I kind of generally knew what it was about, although my only opinion about it was that I was sick of hearing about it! haha how can a seven year old be sick of hearing about a news story, looking back I think this is kind of amusing but at the time I was so serious. One night it was past my bedtime and my parents were trying to convince me to go to bed, and I stalled and I stalled, and then a trial update came on TV and I was all WELP THAT'S IT FOR ME! and went to bed just so I didn't have to listen to it, hahaha. The day the trial ended, Mom walked to school to pick me up (we lived on the same block as my elementary school, which was awesome), and the first thing she told me was that the trial was over. I was so happy because I never wanted to hear about it again, lol. Oh, kids.

This was slightly later, but I also remember getting really sick of hearing about Monica Lewinsky. And I definitely had less of an idea what that news story was about. :P

The first news event (if this even counts, seeing as it happened like twenty years before I heard of it) that I remember hearing about though was when I was like four? five? and my dad told me that Elvis was dead. I had never realized!! I was actually kind of upset. :(
arisha: (myrna loy is awesome)
So my dad sometimes goes on this local TV show where a host and several guests (usually people in the media) sit around talking about issues in the news. Having noticed that women are only invited onto the show about 10% of the time, and the only non-white guest is invited on maybe once a year, my dad developed a habit of looking around at the others just before filming begins and announcing, "Well, I'm glad we're representing the full diversity of the community - from middle-aged white male to middle-aged white male." So he thinks it's his fault that they recently hired a second host, who is younger than middle-aged (although he's still white and male) ... and of course my dad hates him. haha! Apparently this new host comes from the Stephen Colbert school of interviewers, twisting your words around in a desperate attempt to make it sound like you're arguing in favour of something horrible. Keep trying, Dad! ^^;

I realize that lately I haven't been posting at all about what's actually going on in my life, lol. Yesterday my manager asked me how many shifts I want in the upcoming weeks and I had to remind him that I'm leaving in eight days! (Those of you who remember the fiasco surrounding my JLPT weekend may come to the conclusion that this is kind of in-character for him, haha. I really like him when he's not making a mess of my schedule!) I'm nervous of course, and still kind of panicked about getting everything done before I go, but I've also started getting really excited. :) I've just returned from one last doctor's appointment, I'm done all my shots and oral vaccines, I guess now I mainly just have to finish packing and finish writing our itinerary for the first week. I got my volunteer placement a little while ago - I'm going to be working in a daycare that's run by SOS Children's Villages, which is actually a child sponsorship organization! (You might have seen their TV commercials starring Mike Holmes.) So that should be interesting, and hopefully enjoyable. I always wish I could hang out with kids more often so I guess here's my chance! :) [livejournal.com profile] the_wykydtron told me last night that she thinks I'm going to return home speaking little kid Spanish, lol! Maybe! xD

Anyway, I'm off to bombard my volunteer coordinator with some more annoying questions. xD
arisha: (escaflowne merle)
I'm late, but today was Elvis Presley's 75th birthday! My mom is a fan of Elvis and, as a result, he's the topic of several anecdotes from my childhood. Way back when, January 8th was actually the date I was due to be born, leading my parents to refer to me as "Elvis." Or, if I am to be completely honest, "Elvis Arnold." Whenever I heard this story as a kid, I always assumed Arnold was Elvis' middle name. It wasn't until we got a channel that showed reruns of Green Acres that I learned that the "Arnold" in my nickname actually came from a fictional pig. :| I ... don't even know, lol.

Anyway, so yes, that's my connection with Elvis - until I was born, I was named after him. xD Oh, and if you had asked four-year-old me what my favourite song was, I do believe I would have said "All Shook Up." xD That plus "Beat It" plus some Sharon, Lois and Bram ... yeah, that's pretty much all the music I listened to as a preschooler, lol. xD

~*~SURVEY~*~ )
arisha: (potc2 lulz)
On my Facebook I now have friended three cousins from my mom's side of the family. I see everyone from my dad's side of the family on an almost annual basis, and compared to that, the amount of contact I've had with my mom's side of the family amounts to pretty much nothing - and in fact I have never had any sort of contact whatsoever with two of these Facebook cousins. One of them wrote on my wall today asking "What's new?" I was complaining to my dad about how that's such a ridiculous question when what's new to her is everything that's ever happened in my life ever, and he agreed with me that I should reply all, "Well, let's start with my birth." hahahaha, I don't know why but this amuses me so. >xD

In unrelated news, I was on Skype today for six hours and twenty minutes (the joy of having my own computer!), and I do not regret it at all. I'm stupidly thrilled that I was there to witness the epicness that is nine people in one Skype conversation, hahahaha, so much awesome. xD xD <333!
arisha: (troy walls)
~ omg how do I always end up having to go to the mall the week before Christmas? So many people, omg. D: I was really glad to be bussing, because there was practically no one else on the buses while meanwhile the parking lots were jammed full. Oh, Christmas ... I don't even know what I think of you anymore.

~ My brother is hamster-sitting this week. I don't know if there's anyone on my friendslist who remembers what happened the last time someone in my family watched someone else's hamster, but, um, it did not end well. I just told my brother I'm worried and he replied, "Don't go near it!!" D:

~ Oh my gosh you guys look what I found! Pink Lady performing "Stop! In the Name of Love" and, even more amazing, The Peanuts singing "Love Child"!! "Love Child" is pretty much my favourite Supremes song. I'm so shocked that this recording even exists but I love it! I need to listen to the Supremes more often, they were awesome.

~ For my fellow Shamoners who are following this thing as it makes its way around the world, my Opus arrived today! It was left just outside my front door, complete with a note taped to the window letting me know it had been left by the front door. lol, thanks, dude. xD I managed to get it upstairs by myself (I'm stronger than I thought, apparently), but I have no idea where I'm going to keep it. Srsly, I have owned encyclopedias that were smaller than this thing! hahaha xD
arisha: (Default)
~ First off, if anyone cares, I edited the answers to my movie quiz into the post. And now I am stealing another meme. )

~ I should probably mention at some point that I have kinda-sorta-mostly dropped out of NaNoWriMo this year. In a previous entry where I was freaking out about my ability to finish NaNo and pass the JLPT, [livejournal.com profile] the_wykydtron correctly pointed out that I would be more upset if I failed the JLPT than if I failed NaNo, and ... there it is. I'm glad I made this decision, because I have definitely felt less stressed since I made it, but at the same time I'm really bummed and really frustrated that I let myself get so behind in both tasks that in the end I had to drop one completely. I shall just have to do lots of writing in December to make up for it, I guess! :3 (lol, but remind me to change my excerpt before it's too late! I'm not sure I like the current one enough for it to be up for an entire year. ^^; )

UGH though, the amount of work I'm having to do to protect my precious little study time! It's like as soon as I decided that studying was my number one priority, all of my co-workers have a desperate need for me to take their shifts. Often because they have exams to study for, lolariously enough. Well too bad, I booked this time off and it is MINE. :P

~ My mom's work is doing this thing through the Salvation Army where each employee is assigned a child in need to buy a Christmas present for! My mom was supposed to buy a gift for a five-year-old girl, and so yesterday she and I went and bought a bouncing Tigger board game sort of thing (and the necessary batteries) and a Dora the Explorer puzzle. (lol, yes, a puzzle - I'm totally going to be one of those adults from whom no kid wants to get presents, haha!) So that was fun! Mom asked what my work is doing for the holidays and I kind of laughed at that. Like, one year I think they did a can drive, and that's about it. I don't have a lot of faith in the humanitarian spirit of this company. :X

~ November has gone way too quickly, what the heck. :|
arisha: (Default)
~ lol at how poorly I've been keeping up with my own LJ this past week. ^^;

~ Today I forced [livejournal.com profile] the_wykydtron to watch The Neverending Story and in return she pointed out all the plot holes I'd never noticed. Which kind of pained me, because when I was a kid I thought that movie was so brilliant. In related news, the Nostalgia Critic's review is hilarious. xD

~ My test voucher for the JLPT arrived today, and I discovered that the Level 2 test is being held at nine in the morning. D: And the friend I'm probably staying with doesn't live particularly close to the test location, so that'll be a fun morning. Anyway, inspired by the arrival of the voucher, I did some grammar practice ... and got a score of 3/8. Horrendous!!

~ My future husband interviewed Michael J. Fox today! I'm not particularly a fan of his acting work (well, with the exception of the "A, My Name is Alex" episodes of Family Ties and also that episode of Scrubs where he played the doctor suffering from OCD), but I heart him so much for all the work he's been doing to fight Parkinson's disease. And I HATE that he's been accused of exaggerating his symptoms. I don't know what it's like for you guys to watch him, but for ten years I lived with my grandmother as she was suffering from this disease, and in my mind there is no way he is acting. Watching this interview tonight, there were so many times where, for a split second, I felt like I was watching my grandma. And I really heart Michael J. Fox for going out there and doing all these public appearances where it's really obvious he can't control his movements, because on her bad days I'm pretty sure Grandma didn't even really want to be seen by her family members. So yeah, just for all that he's probably one of my favourite celebs, not gonna lie.

(My future husband also did a 2008 interview with Lee Thomas in which they discussed MJ's vitiligo. They reaired it recently and it was an awesome change of pace from all the tabloid trash~)

~ Speaking of awesome Canadians, I've definitely had "Canadian, Please" stuck in my head all day. xD
arisha: (Default)
So I'd totally forgotten that I once forced my mom to listen to BoA's Best of Soul for like a month straight until she came home from work yesterday all "Someone on my bus was talking about BoA!" hahaha awesome!! Today I lent her my copy of BoA's English album and she said she's going to put some of the songs on her iPod. brb, turning my mom into a J-pop fan! xD (Uh, because somehow BoA's English album counts as J-pop in my head?)

Driving lesson tomorrow. After this one, I'll only have two left. Ugh, I'm still so bad though. D: And I still don't enjoy it. [livejournal.com profile] the_wykydtron is on a quest to find the one thing that will spark in me a love for driving but I don't have high hopes. I do kind of get a kick out of picturing me driving my friends around and in this way forcing them to listen to my favourite music, haha, but still. That's not quite enough to keep me motivated here. :/

Anyway! I'm sure a lot of you have seen this already, but just in case, I am posting it again. I feel confident saying that this video is pretty awesome even if you aren't a fan of Michael Jackson. A one-man a capella group who manages to layer like six songs on top of each other without it turning into a huge mess? This will always and forever be one of my favourite YouTube vids, hahaha. <3

arisha: (king of pop)
So today on the drive to work, we stopped at a light only to discover that the car next to us was BLASTING "You Rock My World." Highlight of my day right there, not gonna lie! My mom isn't much of an MJ fan but I think even she was at least amused by it, especially when I admitted I'd been listening to that song mere minutes before we left home. xD;

So anyway, unless someone can prove to me otherwise, I am choosing to believe that there is a guy who has been driving around the city listening to Invincible at full volume. WATCH FOR HIM!! >xD

And while we're on the topic! I'm sure my fellow Shamoners have already read these two articles, but I'm linking to them because right now I kind of want everyone in the whirl to read them, especially those of you who are not already Michael Jackstans. (lol, I love that phrase and am determined to use it!!) Phonte's Teary-Eyed Tribute to the King really simply and clearly cuts down a lot of the lies about MJ, while Top Ten Questions Everyone Should Be Asking About Michael Jackson is already basically my favourite article of all time; it is simultaneously so true and so hilarious. I am seriously wondering about Question 4, and so I ask: friendslist, do any of you PYTs not own Thriller???
arisha: (Default)
Things my dad bought me in Europe:

· the Latvian DVD of The Sword in the Stone

· the Latvian DVD of Pixar Short Films Collection, Vol. 1 (lol, my love for Pixar is almost non-existant these days unfortunately)

· a German guide to Disneyland Paris

· the Polish version of King of Pop (the tracklist for this album is different for each country it was released in, and omg the Polish tracklist is a thing of beauty)

· a Polish music magazine featuring an MJ cover story

Before anyone asks, no I don't speak any of these languages. But even so, it's a pretty awesome bunch of souvenirs I think! xD
arisha: (vampire productivity)
I want to write an entry but I am in no state to write, being tired and robbed of intelligent thought by both allergies and a busy weekend at work. So allow me to brainlessly introduce you to my current obsession! (And to celebrate the start of its new season? xD; ) It is called Top Gear, and it is a British show that my brother introduced me to many months ago and that I've been watching way too much of this week. As you might guess from the title, it is a show about cars, and you may wonder what I am doing even watching such a program, never mind recommending it. Well I do tend to skip over most of the actual reviews; really I am in it for the parts where there are three guys and a mysterious race car driver who have hilarious and surprisingly epic adventures together in all different parts of the world. xD (And sometimes the background music is stolen from Pirates!!)

You can watch episodes at Hessmo.com; below are the ones I most recommend, out of what I've seen so far. Read more... )

OKAY OFF TO WATCH SOME MORE xD
arisha: (vampire productivity)
I had my mini-surgery this afternoon! :) tmi tmi tmi )

Anyway, after we got home I watched Ellen for the first time in forever, and it was a good episode to randomly catch because she had Portia on which was cute, but also because a former American Idol contestant named Jasmine sang "Reflection" from Mulan. This is BRILLIANT because a Jasmine sang "Reflection" in the movie, too! xD

OH SARAH YOU AND YOUR DISNEY HUMOUR

IT IS TOO MUCH INFORMATION

TOO MUCH!!
arisha: (potc3 liz)
40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes - This video would be amazing anyway, but of course I am even more amused by it because it features two movies I like, one movie I love and one movie I love-hate. xD

CSI Miami: Endless Caruso One-Liners - I have no idea how funny this is if you're watching it by yourself, but I watched it with my brother and his girlfriend last night and it was hilarious. xD;

Oh, and before I forget:

2. Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
YES I finally finished my reread but I shall spare you my blathering on about it except to point out that the end of the novel is SO MUCH MORE FRUSTRATING even than the end of the movie. D:
arisha: (Default)
I forgot to mention! Today I went shopping downtown with my brother and saw Darth Fiddler for the first time ever!!
arisha: (Default)
So I just bought two tickets to a kabuki performance in Tokyo. xD (YES my dad is coming with me HE DOES NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT KABUKI IS!!) I don't even know what these plays (it is 3-in-1, by the looks of it!) are about, but I once wrote an essay about a particularly gruesome kabuki play in which a bunch of people got nailed to doors and thrown into rivers, so I mean. We can only hope. xDD;

The bunraku tickets I am looking to get go on sale on the eleventh. I AM EVEN MORE EXCITED FOR THAT ONE!!! xDD!!

haha of course all this excitement comes after an hour of fiddling with Google Maps trying to find out what the best located hostel in Osaka is. (Aaaand also which ones have private showers. I know, I know, but I'm sorry, public bathing is one cultural experience I'm just not prepared to experience right now!) GOSH parts of planning a trip can be TEDIOUS. >:/

(I am going Tokyo - Osaka - Kyoto - Fukuoka and Kitakyushu, for if anyone wants to tell me some nifty places to visit. ;) )
arisha: (reina)
Some of the things I did today:
another chance to get burned )
arisha: (reina)
My dad and I went to a Rick Steves talk/book signing this evening, and overall it was pretty interesting (he's not as much of a dork in real life, haha), but there's one thing that has me a bit baffled. He expressed regret over the idea that five languages go extinct every year; but later he admitted he only speaks English. I guess I just feel that he can't be too upset about disappearing languages if he can't even be bothered to learn something as mainstream as French, especially when his job has him going to Europe for four months out of every year. :P

ahaha yes my month-long obsession with the Trojan War seems to be over, and now I am back (after too long an absence) to being crazy about languages. I spent three and a half hours yesterday doing kanji practice just for funsies, haha, so yeah, you know I've got it bad. xD;
arisha: (scarlett o'hara)
ahahaha I love that this is an entry in [livejournal.com profile] whatwasthatone. My brother and I make reference to that exact scene ALL. THE. TIME. xD

Augh I am too tired to write a proper post right now. I shall only say that I am SO MUCH IN LOVE WITH SCHOOL right now that I kind of hate that it's already the weekend. You may remember how much I was in hate with school last semester? I have no idea what's going on here either but I won't worry myself about it too much if my enjoyment of school manages to last. :) I'm unnecessarily anxious about how much I should be working this semester, though. Right now I've given them two days a week but I can't decide whether or not to add a third. :/ But we have been so wonderfully slow at work this week (850 guests in our first evening set tonight; for a Friday night that number is PATHETIC) that I now magically have tomorrow night off! :D I NEVER get Fridays or Saturdays off you guys. This is EPIC.

Speaking of EPIC, the bulk of my reading this weekend is the first three books of The Iliad, so of course I am happy with that. xD; I feel like I'm cheating or something, because this is the exact same reading assignment I had my first weekend back in first year. And speaking of reading, OH MAN I BOUGHT MY BIOLOGY TEXTBOOK TODAY AND IT IS HUGE! And the study guide has as many pages as the textbook!! Have I been spoiled by Humanities study guides? Where they're only like a quarter as thick as the textbook? I cannot even get over this!!

I guess before I go to bed I should probably tell you what classes I am taking, haha. It is definitely a random semester, I just need three random classes of whatever at whatever level in order to graduate, so ... yeah. :p In alphabetical order I have:

Biology 150A - with one of my co-workers!! haha xD I'm not sure yet how much I'll like this class but I dropped a huge amount of money on the textbook and study guide so I guess I'm committed! Man it has been so long since I had a science class~ ...

Economics 111 - YES I have a class in ECONOMICS which means I actually have to learn how to pronounce it! (lol, [livejournal.com profile] athena_crikey and [livejournal.com profile] the_wykydtron may remember what I am talking about. ;) ) This is a class about the economy and its effects on the environment so it's pretty interesting and accessible for people like me who have no idea about anything having to do with economics. I feel like such a total poser in this class, though! Like I'm totally not supposed to be there. And MAN, it blows my mind that I have two classes for which there are no writing assignments. Are there seriously people who go through university not ever having to write a single essay?? Because that's just not fair! D:

GRS 300 - SORRY BUT I AM PROBABLY GOING TO TALK WAY TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS CLASS. I feel like a poser here, too, not because I know nothing about the subject but because I feel like a TOTAL FANGIRL in a classroom full of SERIOUS ACADEMICS. ahahaha I'm sure I'll still love it though. xD;

Sociology 100A - with [livejournal.com profile] the_wykydtron! Still not sure what I'm going to think of this class, we had what I guess was our first lecture today but it was very ... vague ...

And now I am distracted from this entry. The end! :D

(augh so as you can see, a bad thing about working is that I always forget to go to bed afterwards ... ahahaha hello there three a.m., haven't seen you for a couple days! :P )

Profile

arisha: (Default)
arisha

March 2019

S M T W T F S
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios