Adults say the darndest things...

I was in the laundry room in my apartment building this afternoon moving my wet laundry into the dryers. As I was doing this, I hear a man and a young girl walking around outside. The girl,about 2 years old, pokes her head inside the door and proceeds to stare at me with her large, brown eyes. I smile and wave and say, "Hello," but she just keeps staring at me. Her father follows her inside the room and instructs, "It's okay, Grace, say 'Hello.'"

Grace continues to stare at me while I'm not quite sure what to do. I continue to move the wet clothes to the dryers while keeping an awkward eye on the two of them.

Her father urges her again. "Say 'Hello,' Grace."

Grace finally brightens up and waves at me. The father persists. "Grace, say 'Hi.' It's okay, she doesn't have a hatchet or anything."

Trying to be funny, I look up at the father and say, "At least not today."

The father looks at me and says, "Well, let us know when you have one on you," grabs Grace's hand, and turns around and walks out of the laundry room.

Note to self: Leave hatchet at home tomorrow. And insert foot into mouth.

It's not so bad...

The song "Bling (Confession Of A King)" by the Killers has been on my most-played list for a little over a year. For some reason, it just speaks to me and has helped me get through some emotional times in the past few months...it's been really inspiring and motivating to me, and I just cannot get enough of it. I pretty much listen to it to and from work every day. And every time I work out at the gym. And every time I have my iPod on or near me. Or allthetime.

...Oh, and it gets to the good part around 1:50, so just skip ahead...



When I offer you survival,
You say it's hard enough to live,
It's not so bad, it's not so bad
How do you know that you're right?

I awoke on the roadside,
In the land of the free ride,
And I can't pull it any longer,
The sun is beating down my neck

So I ran with the devil
Left a trail of excuses,
Like a stone on the water,
The elements decide my fate,
Watch it go..."bling".

When I offer you survival,
You say it's hard enough to live,
Don't tell me that it's over,
Stand up
Poor and tired,
But more than this

How do you know that you're right?
If you're not nervous anymore,
It's not so bad, it's not so bad

I feel my vision slipping in and out of focus,
But I'm pushing on for that horizon,
I'm pushing on,
Now I've got the blowing wind against my face

So you sling rocks at the rip tide,
Am I wrong or am I right?
I hit the bottom with a "huh!"
Quite strange,
I get my glory in the desert rain,
Watch it go..."bling".

When I offer you survival,
You say it's hard enough to live,
And I'll tell you when it's over,
Shut up
Poor and tired,
But more than this

How do you know that you're right?
If you're not nervous anymore,
It's not so bad, it's not so bad...

Higher and higher,
We're gonna take it,
Down to the wire,
We're gonna make it,
Out of the fire,
Higher and higher. [x2]

Higher and higher,
We're gonna take it,
Down to the wire,
We're gonna make it out,
Whoa-oh-oh Higher and higher...

It ain't hard to hold,
When it shines like gold,
You'll remember me.

Mamma Mia! Here I go again...

Last night, Kim and I saw the stage performance of "Mamma Mia!" at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center. The performance far exceeded my expectations...the singing was amazing, the actors were great, and the dance numbers throughout and at the end were fun to watch and put me in a great mood. And it doesn't hurt that the music is uh-maze-ing!!!

The stage performance was exceedingly better than the movie, which made me cringe at several points throughout at both the cheesy acting and the not-so-great singing (but it was still totally hilarious in its absolute ridiculousness).

Some highlights of the evening:

The snorkel/flipper dance number with the boys in the purple wetsuits.
The gaysian...worth it!
Dark horse.
"Say I do!"
Sega!

"You wanna do it in my butt?"

I am utterly speechless.

"I will give you what you need. All I want is your big fat C. Give it to me, if you please. Give it to me, if you please. What, what? In the butt."

My new (old) job.

Today I accepted a part-time position back at DPI as a photographer at the Disney's Hollywood Studios. My last day at my current job is on August 22, and I start training (again) on August 24 to become a PhotoPass photographer (again). I'm excited about this new chapter in life - I have a series of goals that I would like to accomplish in the next six months, and I feel like things are finally falling into place in order for me to do so. Working part-time is definitely going to help me reach and accomplish my goals. Money will be extremely tight for me in the next few months to come, but it is a small price to pay for my happiness.

Here are my goals (so far) for the next six months:

• Remain POSITIVE!
• Completely focus and dedicate myself to being fit, healthy, and happy.
• Complete my parent's wedding album (something I've promised to do for the past two years).
• Organize/sort all of my old photos and negatives for potential use in my portfolio.
• Shoot more! This includes both personal work and/or projects as well as professional work. Essentially, build up my portfolio and incorporate some variety.
• Create a portfolio website for my work.
• Create a print portfolio of my work.
• Take digital imaging classes and/or workshops to enhance my Photoshop skills.
• Network, network, network.
• Enter at least two photography contests.
• Job shadow an event/wedding photographer at the Disney Event Group.
• Work part-time at a photography studio, or job shadow a working photographer.

I'm sure some of my goals will change, some will get thrown out, or the list might grow, but I think that this is a decent list to get stated with.

Wish me luck!

Because I'm feeling extra saucy today...

I'd like to build off of my last post "I Hate All of You" with a bit of my own frustrations.

Fuck you, Brighthouse, for charging me $44.95 a month for internet service that neverfuckingworks. Fuck you and your "service outages" that miraculously seem to coincide with my compulsive desire to check myspace. Oh, yeah, and fuck you, myspace, for reasons too obvious to state.

Fuck you, T-Mobile, for making me continually miss text messages and phone calls. Fuck you for not letting me know I have a voicemail, either.

Fuck you neighbors and your loud-ass children. Please get your daughter under control. I can hear her screaming and her violent temper tantrums through my wall every Sunday morning as you drag her to and from church. And about every other waking moment of her life. Fuck you and your stomping up and down the stairs. I understand that your children have enough energy to sustain a small third-world country, but that is no reason to allow them to run up and down the stairs repeatedly for hours upon hours. Are they building a Lego castle in the bedroom but all the pieces are downstairs, so they must fetch them one by one by running up and down the stairs? FUCK. Fuck you for blaring your TV from the moment you wake up to the moment you fall asleep. It is really not necessary for me to hear Diane Sawyer's annoyingly chipper news segments at 6:15 for Good Morning America when you wake up every morning. Yeah, I know when you wake up. And what you watch. THAT's how loud your TV is. And, really, it's not that good of a morning, America.