mosh pit of pictures, videos, updates, and rainbows.

starting off this post with an obviously controversial piece of work by banksy. seeing that it's been way too long since i last published a blog post, this one might be horrendously long because i'm going to include all the links/pictures/etc. that i've been wanting to post on my blog, but have been too lazy to.

links:
- zoomii: an incredible online library. a "real" bookstore.
- whichbook.net: amazing book-choosing resource.
- fuzzmail: specifically the "what is fuzzmail?" page.
- driftless farm house: beautiful architecture.
- nobel prize winners hate school: lovely school-hating quotes by nobel prize winners.
- portfolio of jesse van dijk: wonderful project.
- flock: my new, awesome web browser.

pictures:



comic from garfield minus garfield. funny stuff:
videos:

remember bill o'reilly's freak out? well, there was a remix.


awesome street style soccer. beautiful.

updates:
1. i got my permit!
2. my hair is gradually fading from blue to purple.
3. i've gotten better at my anatomy (drawing).
4. i'm still struggling through my novel.
5. the winners of the writing contest on wordclay will be announced on monday (the 30th).
6. i'm in the process of starting a comic.
7. i failed at the artist's way, again.
8. i failed at convincing my parents to switch my school, again.
9. i will be leaving for oregon in a week.
10. i win at life.

a piece of advice:
do not engage in a challenge with your friend to drink an extra-large coke during a movie because then you will have to piss at least three times during the duration of the movie and the people that you have to pass by to get to the aisle will ask you after the show if you are alright. and you'll miss a lot of the movie.
just a tip.

pink floyd + avacados: an unlikely combination.

side notes before the actual post:
i got an ipod and fucking love it.
i am growing an avacado plant although i am not a fan of avacados.
i am dying my hair blue this coming thursday.
i have listened to the entire pink floyd "dark side of the moon" album every day for a week and a day.
i got a new pair of fivefingers (orange, gray, and black) and love the looks and comments (a woman telling her daughter, "don't stare, don't stare, don't stare") i'm recieving.
i am valiently struggling to work through a pile of homework at this very moment.
i entered the third/fourth version of the story i posted on here (below) in a contest by wordclay (self-publishing company).
i got a 98 percent on my oral spanish final!
i will (most likely) be learning how to screenprint by a professional (she owns an etsy shop. go buy something.)
i'm making something new for my nephew, but i'm not going to tell you what it is!

now, for the actual post:
disclaimer: sorry, this is a rant.
i've been hearing a lot lately that we should hold some sort of respect for people (like the president, especially) becuase they're in a higher position than us and are more informed. i have a problem with this because a.) just because someone is informed doesn't mean they do the "right" thing/anything with that information and b.) no matter which way you slice it, they are just people. and when people say something to the effect of, "give him/her a break, they're the president/whatever", i want to smack them and yell, "yeah, they were put in that position because they would be able to take this criticism and do something about it!" people are silly.

i just don't care what people think about me anymore.

clocks and watermelons

well... this is going to be quite the post. first off, updates:

1. 13 days of school left until the end of the school year!

2. with the combined efforts of myself and my dad, we have gone back five generations into our family ancestry and learned that i have roots in spain, poland, germany, france, england, and russia. pretty cool stuff.

3. editing my novel - am in the process of transfering it to the program ywriter (free program used for writing novels) but am usually editing about a page or two a day with all my homework/bullshit/stuff.

new quotes that i like:

"You see, Elaine, the key to eating a black and white cookie is that you wanna get some black and some white in each bite. Nothing mixes better than vanilla and chocolate. And yet still somehow racial harmony eludes us. If people would only look to the cookie, all our problems would be solved." - seinfeld

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." - albert einstein

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." - groucho marx

"In the beginning, the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." - douglas adams

hot library smut:

i want a library like this in my dream house - spiral staircases, the works. that would pretty much make my life.

and pretty much the best decision-making tool ever:

so yeah. my life has been filled with bullshit, drama, crushed hopes, breakdowns, break dancing, clocks, watermelons, bob dylan, etc. this menagerie of randomness is nothing more than a release of some images that float through my head on a daily basis.

and, by the way, it's almost summer here even though we had snow earlier this week.

more does not equal less, but less equals more?

confusing stuff. anyways, more updates/plans/shit that can take my mind off of pc high, etc:

more plans for the year after i graduate:

1. build an electric car with my dad. well, not so much build, but rather assemble an electric motor in a lightweight car without a kit. just beginning the research, but i'm totally into it (especially now while i am waiting to recieve my driver's ed. book). the only 'bad' thing about it is that it can get only about 50 miles per charge, so if i go anywhere outside pc, i'd just have to stash some really long extension cords in my trunk.

2. create a zine. i was at the coffee garden the other day (after seeing my friends from realms who i haven't seen in over a month!) and i picked up a zine from the back shelf: the salt lake rag. essays written by teenagers about stuff that actually matters. amazing. the best part was, of course, the condom taped to the front (donated by the aids foundation!). nah... just kidding. but seriously, if i could take that as my inspiration, beef it up with some more art stuff, and add more written pieces from people i know, that could be a fantastic project, no?


updates:

1. started using my moleskine again. god, i love that thing.

2. been setting daily and weekly goals for myself. very helpful, i can tell you that. i had a whole lot of shit to do today and actually writing it down made me realize how important it was to not just store that kind of stuff in the back of your brain, where it can hide behind all your other thoughts (like: "what kind of wood are clipboards made out of?").

3. i finished my homework today! it is actually very exciting since i had a shitload to do:

- finish my english essay analyzing how elizabeth bennet's (from pride and prejudice) responses to mr. collins' and mr. darcy's proposal speak about her character and what i would do in the same situations.
- complete my creative writing story (children's book about what we've learned in school) with about fifteen+ drawings. most of them look good.
- study spanish so i can retake that test and get more than an 8.5/20 on it.
- world civ. homework that i should have had done long ago but never did it.
- study math so i can take that test on wednesday and not fail.

4. i designed a desktop background for class of 2009:

5. i started rereading what i have edited from my novel so far (only 19 pages so far, unfortunately) and DAMN. i'm a good writer.

one last thing to leave you with: why do people use so many exclamation marks when they're not even exclaiming anything!!!!!

locks of love

i am planning to chop off most of my hair this summer. for one thing, my hair is a bitch during the summer and also, i don't want to pay for bleaching and dyeing my 24" long hair blue. it's just not economical no matter how cool it is. so, i planned to donate about of a foot of my hair to locks of love, the non-profit organization that makes wigs of donated hair for alopecia areata/cancer patients. fortunately, i did my research and found:
- locks of love receives more hair that it can make wigs then sells the surplus hair ($352,401 in 2005)
- most of the hair is sold to commercial wigmakers rather than given to patients
- the wigs are not always free; they charge juvenile patients according to their parent's income level
- the kids have to jump through hoops to receive a wig (get letters of recommendation from teachers, write essays)
- charity navigator (largest independent charity evaluator in the united states) reports that 81.1% of their donations go to program costs, 12.7% go to administrative costs, and 6.1% go to fund raising costs.

i did find some good, honest organizations for hair donations though. i would advise you to check them out:
1. pantene - beautiful lengths although i'm a little hesitant to donate to pantene, i think that it's at least better than having a foot of my hair turned into a hairpiece, no?
2. wigs for kids
3. zichron menachem

as a final note: i wish i had this hair.

reflection post

as i head in to the final quarter of this hellish school year, i have some reflections:
one no one ever has to put up with bullshit. it is your own fault if you are not strong enough to speak up against injustice. people have enough power within themselves to change their reality, but most people just like riding on everyone else's coat tails. so, listen up, world: only you can change the things you see need to change.

two take everything one day at a time. if that's too far ahead for you, if you don't feel you can go a day at a time, take it an hour and a half at a time. say to yourself, "i can survive anything for an hour and a half" because you can.

three define everything yourself. do not give in to social standards of 'beauty' and 'morality' because they may not be right for you, as a person. you only need to live up to your own standards, yeah? if you solely live up to other's standards, you will never be happy with yourself.

four life is too crazy, too unpredictable, too significant and insignificant to take too seriously.