DustBuster Christmas

I love to give presents more than anything on Christmas, whether it's a box of homemade fudge or a nifty gadget or lipgloss, I love seeing pleased faces at my well-spent expense. This holiday however I have been on a far tighter budget than ever before. I am unbelievably grateful for how much I received today... Especially the money to go towards an improvisation class at The PIT (People's Improv Theater) in NYC. One of my more practical favorite gifts however... Was my DustBuster. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all... And to all a good night!

This is not a paid endorsement by Black & Decker.

 

Sadie the Shiba Inu unwrapping her Squeaky Llama

Word of the day.

While reading the NYTimes top stories on the N train this morning I came across a story about Sunni and Shiite involvement in Lebanon. The word in question: Shrapnel. I truly enjoy learning words not yet in my vocabulary. The iPhone is awesome in that it tells me any word I'm unsure of... And when all else fails I can just open my Dictionary.com app.

Prayer for Sandy Hook

The horrifying tragedies in Newtown, CT last week have received constant coverage from Washington, journalists and social networking sites. Though my mind has been flooded with various haunting images and stories of the Sandy Hook struggle, I have not yet given my prayers in my own expression. That is what I will do tonight. With all of my heart and soul, I hope for the victims to carry on in a more lovely place than this corrupt world in which we live, and that those affected by their loss will maintain hope in their hearts.

"The majority of those who died were children - beautiful, little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old," Obama said.

"You can shed tears that she is gone,
or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that she'll come back,
or you can open your eyes and see all she's left.
Your heart can be empty because you can't see her,
or you can be full of the love you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember her only that she is gone,
or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind,
be empty and turn your back.
Or you can do what she'd want:
smile, open your eyes, love and go on.”

-David Harkins

Rest in peace little angels.

To brighten your evening...

What is it about them that make me want to stay up all night on google image results for  "animals cute funny?"

 

Choo choo, all aboard!

It's official, I've bought the ticket, waited at the station, the iPhone train came [on delay] and I hopped on.

I'd write a more in depth post about something, but I'm too busy playing on my iPhone 5.

Photo Credit

Lost time 

is never found again.

-Ben Franklin-

"It's all about the Benjamin's baby" is the fragment that came to mind when typing the credit to the above quote I chose to represent my self-induced frustrating morning. Yes, there were a few others, some about time being slayed by clocks, some about the mystery of it, about its value and teachings... but I feel like Franklin hit it right on the head. 

He wasn't metaphorical, or looking backwards in regret. He isn't concerned with the future here. He states it matter-of-factly, just as I'd have expected him to. He speaks in the now. The words themselves stand still, but the implications go so much deeper than that. 

1. Don't waste your time, you won't get it back.

2. Don't let someone take your time away from you, its not something you can afford to be stripped of.

3. Don't look back searching for what you had, because you're not going to find it.

4. LIVE IN THE NOW.

I missed my train this morning by about 20 seconds. If I hadn't put the four extra sprinkles of cinnamon in my oatmeal, if I didn't brush my teeth, if I had one damn swipe left on my metro card. 

I ran...no--sorry--sprinted from station to station praying that this morning, time would be on my side (not to mention that my heeled boots would suffice for the marathon activities.) Like some kind of karmic thanks for any good deed I've done this month.

So I arrived at Grand Central at 8:47, and just a minute later, watched in awe as my train abandon me at Track 112, lived through a foul-mouth moment or two, and by 8:49 I was being charged $3.70 for a measly Smart Water, at which point a few more swears escaped my mouth. 

Moral of the story: After buying my ticket for the train to come in the next hour, I was sitting in the waiting room by 8:52, and instead of babbling on and on about how I've failed myself this morning, (#denial) I was using my misfortunes productively and writing this post to educated you about the importance of time with a little help from B.F.

Poetry: I've impressed myself, "B_TCH"

Just came across this forgotten poem in a forgotten folder... The document titled, "POEMS BITCH." Not sure when I came up with the poem or it's ingenious title, however I would imagine sometime circa 2009.

Like moth to theflame

only half-remembering 

consequences

every time eyes meet 

frozen memories

like a tragic pileup, fixation sets in and 

takes hold of body, 

resulting in unrelenting 

emotional paralysis 

heart and soul anesthetized

this same masochistic scene 

we have seen so many 

times before.

#TBT

1.	TBT	111 up, 31 down
	ThrowBack Thursday(s) Today is TBT! buy tbt mugs & shirts #tbt #throwbackthursday #throwbackthursdays #throwbaccthursday#throwbaccthursdays by Layzee888 Jul 19, 2012 share this add a video      [definition: urbandictionary.com]

Ever see or read something in the cyber world over and over again- like a weekly trending acronym on Facebook or Twitter?  1/2 of me wishes my web-friends would stop inventing new wordplay, the other 1/2 and perhaps that one which is more curious, wishes I knew WTF they all meant! Coming to the lonely realization that you are one of the only friends on your network who has not taken part in the latest fashions in hashtag [#] is not so gladdening.  My #-illiteracy began with [#tbt] aka #throwbackthursday. Everyone posting photos of themselves as kids, with friends, pets, most of which quite humiliating. The thesis of this blog post: I had no idea what #tbt was because I have a Blackberry! As r0sesarered posted on ask.com,  r0sesarered:5 months ago Throwback Thursday is all about posting old pictures that you liked. In Instagram, you get to snap photos, put a desired filter and transform the look of the photo. You can also share the photos on various social networks like Facebook and Twitter. The Instagram application is supported by Apple products such as iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch and all Android camera phones. My reaction to this information was somewhat like the following: GIF: cgreggg on Photobucket So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, yet again another example of my outcast from society via my sad, pathetic iPhone-less life. Only two days now until I travel on into the Blackberry after life, in which I will finally read #acronyms with ease, unlike this guy. ^. P.S. ^#TBT^

iPhone: The biggest thing to happen to me since EnV Touch

Photo: Apple.com

Now that I have boycotted the iPhone train for as long as technologically possible, I am finally receiving my iPhone 5 in the mail this coming Friday. 

boy·cott

 [boi-kot]  Show IPA

verb (used with object)

1.

to combine in abstaining from, or preventing dealings with,as a means of intimidation or coercion: to boycott a store.

2.

to abstain from buying or using: to boycott foreign products.

See also:

hyp·o·crite

 [hip-uh-krit]  Show IPAnoun

1.

a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religiousbeliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actuallypossess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.

[Definitions: www.dictionary.com]

Why? Well, other than the fact that my own dad left me hanging on BBM (Blackberry Messenger- you remember- that application everyone raved about 2 short years ago? What? You don't remember? You refuse to entertain the idea of a life before Instagram? Cough- denial- cough) and my dog chewed my Blackberry camera lens? 

To give you a better idea of why I gave in, every time I am out of the apartment, and need to look something up- whether that be a street, a coffee shop, a subway, my signature line is, "Well, you all have iPhones, can someone with an iPhone look it up?" They all look at me funny, I hold up my ancient Blackberry Bold as if its a soup can with strings attached. (See photo below:)

Photo: alamoareabsa.org

Anyway, after I've snapped two fingers in front of their nose a few times, they find the answer we were looking for within seconds. So no, I am not buying into the materialistic trend of an iPhone. I am buying into the convenience of its high tech mechanization and all those damn apps. I do however guarantee the iPhone 6 is announced after Black Friday next week. #fml. 

             Video: Youtube's Bite TV

Strong for Armstrong

I have a new found appreciation for music from the early 1900's after the scat singing jazz jingles of Louis Armstrong aka "Pops" blessed my "Mamas & Papas" Pandora station. His music and that music which is relative to his soothes me in a way that I have never found with current/mainstream music in any other era.

I always knew I wanted to live in a different time period, but the desire has never been so prevalent before my latest discovery of Lou Armstrong and company.

Take a listen for yourself, do you see what I see?

My Pre-Election 2012 Facebook Rant

Don't buy into the partisan bickers; change the direction of this country.

The following post is remembering back to before the re-election of Obama, when my Facebook news feed was constantly clustered with a daily accumulation of blunt, argumentative, and ignorant pre-election jibber-jabber. But it wasn't the partisan argumentation, it was the discouraging posts, simply telling people to take any opinion or passion they had and to "stick it."

The post to follow was my response to the ridiculous pointless bickering on Facebook those weeks of debates. 

So yes, please read on for my anti-jibber-jabber jibber-jabber:

[If Facebook/social media is one of the largest driving factors in all of your lives, therefore driving today's media and to an extent, our society, what is the problem with the expression of opinions? Why all of the negative connotation with the election?

Everyone has either been telling each other off for having different opinions, or to shut up for sharing one at all. 

Is it crowding your news feeds? Can you not see the latest pictures of friends posted? 

How horrible it is to actually believe that one day it will be us with children who will be looking up to the same (oftentimes) uninformed ranting. 

I think it's awesome that young people can be so passionate about an election, but at the end of the day, left or right, you all live in the same damn country, AH-MUR-IC-CUH. Let's embrace our changing outlets. 

Ok there, that's my "rant."]

I'm a big girl now!

ATTENTION:

Through advisement from the Career Starr Center at Baruch, I have created my own business cards in hopes to make it easier to connect with the big world. Please take note of my super creative and well-thought-out-design:

Layout courtesy of www.vistaprint.com

That is all, thank you.

Dear Society, Please Wait Up.

Photo Credit

When I type a username and password into the small rectangular adjacents, I am "connecting" with the rest of the cyber world; GMail, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, BlogSpot, etc. where the Internet used to be an evening pastime before licenses were issued to our adolescent procrastinating minds... Escaping from homework, responsibilities, reading, quality time with family, we were connecting with our friends via AIM and MySpace... And in doing so disconnecting from the reality that our lives were moving faster than we were.

I wasn't ready to learn, uninterested in the concept of self education. And now, here, a senior undergraduate, totally frustrated with myself , feeling left behind in a way. Feeling like I have missed out on something, even though I have the rest of my life to get it back. I guess it's just hard to initiate that sort of self motivation.

I saw a movie recently, The Words... The writer is frustrated, he feels he will never live up to par with who he believes he should be. I feel the same way, like my words just aren't good enough. Of course that's why we have iPads and computers and thesaurus.com... But I feel like I'm cheating. Like I don't have to work as hard at it, so if it isn't my vocabulary I feel even less adequate as a writer to write it.

Of course, there is always a balance amongst these things, that I know many individuals achieve daily. It's also a series of habits, that I feel so far behind in I wish I could just hide out in a library for 3 years from the rest of the world, the world of connection and distraction...

I wish I could disconnect to come back to society in 3 years with billions of pages read and reconnect, only on a slightly higher level. I'm ready to learn I just feel like telling society to hold up a minute, I'll be right there.

Photo Credit