Fire

As the summer gets closer and closer, more and more people start to have bonfires--the best part of the summer, right? There are many elements to a bonfire, each an essential part of the overall experience. Some of the things that you need are:

• Stuff to burn (old railroad ties, sticks hand picked from the forest, old couches that sit on your lawn all winter, or pallets stolen from Wal-Mart... all work beautifully)
• People to come to your bonfire (invited via technology, of course. Only the VIPs might get an actual invite inside an actual conversation)
• Food and pop to consume while around said fire. This includes the ever-famous s'mores delicacy... not only delicious, but a beautiful art and talent for everyone to better themselves on. Starbursts are also an excellent thing to roast.
• A place to have the inferno
• And, of course, a way to start the fire.

This last bullet is probably one of the most important. Not all of us were Eagle Scouts!!! To light a fire, you can use:

• Flint & steel - the manly man way
• Matches - the real man way
• A lighter - the woman way
• Or my freshman year best friends' favorite way: lighter fluid, newspaper, hairspray, and a match. Lots of lighter fluid, not so much newspaper. The hairspray they use, flame-thrower style, to light the dangerously sodden newspaper/wooden pallet concoction. Oh yes, they did think they were cool. Ah, youth.

This leads me to my next question. What lights your fire?

Some things that light mine:

• Fast cars
• Loud music. Lots of bass, but not too much
• Driving fast in said fast cars blasting said loud music. Windows down. Sunglasses on.
• Cities. Shopping. Movies. Going out to dinner.
• BBQs
• Art
• Beards
• Pretty things
• Lefties
• Golf
• Traveling! duh
• Looking around and realizing that the nature around you (reality, if you will) is better than a painting, photograph, or poem could ever be. Paintings don't let you breathe in the fresh air of all spring and green things, or soak in the striking blue and white of the mountains... the purple hue covering everything when the sun sets, or the deep reds, golds, and browns of fall, especially when the sun is shining, and the warmth is setting in. I do love nature, I'm just not very good at it yet.

Different people have different interests.... their fires are lit by different things than mine sometimes. However, my friends tend to have at least a good number of things in common with me... but the differences just make it more fun for all of us! That way we can do new things!

I'm pretty excited for this summer. Time for lots of my favorite things.

And just in case you were wondering.... what's my favorite part about fire?

Why, the heat, of course.

Mmm.... sizzle sizzle.

Random ramblings of Mondayness

Today is 4/20. I wonder how many people are high right now. Oh boy...

Irrelevant.

I've been delving into Twitter lately. I just wrote some ramblings about it on my PR blog just a little bit ago. It's really a fascinating thing... and yes, John Mayer does have Twitter too! Check it outttt! johncmayer

Ah, technology. I can't wait to have a library/study in my house someday... there, I will sit at my iMac, check the news... then, later, flop onto my favorite chair, and curl up with a book that I've selected from one of the many shelves framing the room. 

Ah, ramblings of nothingness.

This is the last week of spring semester. Then finals. Then summer. Hallelujah.

Except for summer classes. 

Oh well.

I love my friends :) 

Happy Monday. 

It's time to be productive. Yay for an open schedule and sunshine all day. 

Deal Breakers

It seems everything in life is relative. Any given subject has two sides to it--the good and the bad, the pros and the cons. Going to college, for instance, is expensive, time-consuming, and stressful, but the advantages of college far outweigh the drawbacks.

Pros and cons are what we base all decisions on. Things are relative; we can either decide to work with something, or we can decide it's not worth it. Oftentimes big decisions are hard to make, and there's usually going to be both good and bad sides on most weighty items.

However, one side will ultimately win over another. It's eventually going to come down to a decision with benefits on one side and compromise on the other, or it'll be a decision where compromise isn't really an option, no matter the benefits. Sometimes there are also those decisions that seem virtually perfect... flawless, even... until you find out about the deal breaker.

You know what I'm talking about. That point where negotiation doesn't matter anymore. A deal breaker. The ultimate con.

For example:

- You win a free vacation. Deal breaker: It's to Iraq.
- You find your dream boy. Deal breaker: He's obsessed with unicorns.
- Your parents tell you they'll send you a on cruise for free. Deal breaker: They're your two roommates, and they're planning on celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary while on the boat with you.

These are all pretty straightforward decisions to me.

Sometimes deal breakers aren't so obvious though. Sometimes it takes time and development before you realize that what you thought was just a slight con... is actually... a deal breaker.

.... at what point does a con become a deal breaker?

Easter with the fam

Right now it is SOOO PRETTY OUTSIDE and I am stuck inside doing my homework. I am DYING to go play tennis, and/or head over to the driving range to hit a few balls... but no. Here I am, stuck inside, longingly wishing I was outside... so... here is my compromise. Blog post.

Well... where to start? Okay. I love my family so much. My cousins are seriously the greatest thing ever. I love that people can't tell who belongs to whom because we're always together and we're all around the same age... and we're all Asian, so they can't tell us apart anyway ;)

I wasn't planning on going home for Easter, but after two hours of staring at the ceiling after church, I changed my mind.

After we ate a combination of ham, funeral potatoes, stir fry, rice, ribs, cookie salad, regular salad, jello, donuts, and cheesecake, we just hung out for the afternoon. Talk about a culture clash... that food all sounds ridiculous... but you know what? I don't really care. It really was more structured than that.. but whatever. Ha

Dinner was great with all of the aunts and uncles over at my Uncle Don's house. Family is great. My other uncle talked about golfing for like an hour while we watched the masters, and then told me that I need to date golfers because they'll make the best boyfriends. lol. Too bad he doesn't know I already have a thing for golfers. Anyway....

After just about everybody had left after dinner, it was just a few of us hanging out that were still at the house. Isaac is running for junior class vice president, and he realized he needed some posters to put up at school the next day... so Katie, Isaac, and I all got together and used white paper, markers, and sheer genius to make posters. They are all custom made, with no two posters saying the same thing. I should have taken some pictures of them.

Some of our brilliant slogans?

"Don't vote for a hot dog, Vote Isaac for VP!"

"Algebra banana! Vote Isaac for Junior Class VP!"

"Owls are nocturnal. Vote Isaac for VP!"

"I'm Isaac and I would vote for myself."

One of my personal favorites: "I'm a basket! Vote Isaac for JR VP!" (See picture below)

As you can see, we decided to go for random. The kids at school are going to be so confused... It's going to be awesome. Good thing we made one poster explaining it all... it just so simply stated, "You had to be there. Vote Isaac for VP!"

Meanwhile, my little brother and my cousin Lacy just sat watching us, innocently playing with their play-dough while their siblings made fools of themselves.

hahaha.... here are two glimpses into our brainstorming sessions

(This one I was attempting to "shake it like a salt shaker..." but this time with an ACTUAL salt shaker... and... well.. this was the result)

bananas?

Lucky for me, family has to love you no matter how ridiculous you are. I love my family.

Sidenote on different versions of songs

Ever heard an artist release a cover of a song that is just TERRIBLE?! well. here are three new songs that not terrible.

Two favorites that ROCKKKK (literally): 

• Muse's remake of Michael Buble's Feelin Good (I heard it in the background of seven pounds the other day and had to leave the room to look it up because it was so good) 
  
• I almost forgot to go at the stoplight when it turned green because the most beautiful remake I have ever heard in my life just came on my radio. Seether has taken a classic Wham! song and made it ROCK!!!!!!!! aaaahhh i love it too! so much. ---> Careless Whisper. Seether. two thumbs up for sure

And then Flo Rida took that beat of that Eiffel 65 "Blue" song and put it in this sweet new radio song.... You've probably heard it. It's pretty popular these days. Called Sugar (feat Wynter). Not bad, but definitely a little mainstream. I'll get bored of it soon. 

I like my two new rock songs the best. 

Okay. Now go look those up. My sidenote is ending. Bye bye

Muse - Origin of Symmetry is the album

And Seether IS kinda weird. This album artwork is a little wild. 

I just realized "Flo Rida" is like "Florida".... I wonder if he's from Florida or something. Weird. 

Kris Allen slash American Idol in general

I like how my posts are often just about things that I like. Usually I just have to get them off my chest... so sorry if you get subscriber updates of my ridiculousness and don't quite know what to do with them. 

The latest indulgence: Kris Allen's last performance on American Idol. The studio version of his song has been played approximately 41 times now in my itunes library. Irrelevant.

I'm not a big TV watcher but my roommates are obsessed with American Idol... so... by default, I became an addict as well. Actually... Addict is probably too strong of a word. It's more like I'm an indulgent fan. I do forget to watch episodes and do not know the entire life histories, birthplaces, social security numbers, and favorite ice cream flavors of the entire top 9 memorized. yet. Seriously though the fact that I even know who is on this season is saying something... 

I love this show though. Maybe not all of them... but this season specifically I have loved. 

The point of this is that I love this cover of Bill Withers' Ain't No Sunshine

here's someone's stolen youtube version of the itunes song lol

Studio:

Michael Bolton also sings a version of this. It (and 31 other songs) is on his latest essentials collection which i may or may not have bought last night in honor of sappy music... wow embarrassing...

Um so yeah... back to Kris. Here's the live version. (just the audio though)

This season is going to be interesting though. Adam is pretty distinctive... and people love him. I could easily see him winning it. Eh. I don't even know!! 

P.S. Shout out to Mark's bakery in Logan...

If you are ever in Logan and are in the mood for a delectable little treat, go to this little bakery called Sweetly Divine. The nicest man EVERRRR owns it and he is so freakin cute!!!!!! (Clarification: Cute like grandparents-holding-hands-as-they-shuffle-around-in-the-mall cute, not cute like that-one-boy-in-your-math-class-who-always-smiles-at-you cute.) This delightful little baker's name is Mark and he is from POLAND and his delicacies have put me in a state of delirium many a time. And dude... if you like marzipan, Mark is your man!!! He also doesn't know I'm writing this--weird, I know, i'm so weird--but it's in the plaza by Costa Vida and Shopko. Google tells me it is located specifically at 1309 N Main, Suite 90 [Logan, UT... etc.] 

Go now. Go go go....

I MISS CAITIE SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!

I adore Caitlin Olsen Scott.  And I miss her like crazy!!!!!!!!!!! 

Sigh.

That is all. 

Colors

Sometimes I wish I was an artist. I love colors.

It's two in the morning and I just randomly changed all of the colors on my blog. Who cares if they match or not? I like them. And it's two in the morning. Who really cares at 2 in the morning?

Graffiti? Beautiful. Would I decorate my entire house with it? Probably not. But fascinatingly beautiful at the same time.

When I was little, I used to say my favorite color was rainbow. I would arrange things systematically based on their place in the rainbow color scheme, and when I drew Santa in the second grade, I got disqualified for drawing soot on his coat, presents underneath a newly scribbled tree, and a matching set of hat and mittens in my favorite hue... rainbow.

Ever dream in black and white? It's a miserable experience. Scary, too. Colors are what make life beautiful. Colors make us alive.

Skin, crayons, leaves, books, clothes.... all different colors. Variety is the spice of life, after all.

Spices make stuff more interesting. But not as interesting as color.

And I think that my favorite color is still rainbow.