I am sitting on the floor on a zebra striped pillow typing on my laptop that is on top of an empty Sony VAIO box from my sister's laptop. My old graphing calculator is resting on my right on a white box, and it makes me think of high school.

My sophomore year of high school I did not have a proper calculator. I used a tiny (handsized) pink calculator that had come with some bubble gum I got while Trick or Treating some years back. How ridiculous to reach Geometry and not have a good calculator, and I was teased by my teacher but it was a class of two, so it didn't matter much. The other boy in my class often showed up to school in a Spanish wrestling mask, so I really didn't have anything on him.

I upgraded to a bit more stylish gray calculator that had more functions, but I eventually got my TI-85 over the Christmas break of my Junior year while I was in Algebra II. I really did put it down to the last minute. I barely knew what I was doing.

Since I got a 500+ on my SAT & I took four years of math in high school, I got to avoid math in college. Almost every single Emerson College kid I know has avoided math -- way to go! So we end up stupid with no future of doing well on the GRE -- at least, I wouldn't have done well. Although, I just don't do well on tests.

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The one thing that I regret is not keeping up with Japanese while in college. I studied for four years and now five years have passed since I've studied it. I hear it everday (while I'm here in TX) between my grandmother and mom, but it's not the same as speaking it myself. It's true that I pick up words and I still remember how to write hiragana and can recognize most katakana and even a bit of kanji, but it's all fading and fast.

It's the one thing I didn't want to lose.

I stay up most of the night reading nowadays.  I've already finished two books since I've been back.  I really shouldn't count one of them since it was mostly full of illustrations, but I don't care.

1. Squeamish About Sushi: And Other Foods Adventures in Japan -- Betty Reynolds
2. Kafka Was the Rage : A Greenwich Village Memoir -- Anatole Broyard

I'm almost finished reading Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk.  This is the fourth novel I've read by him, and after the third, Choke, I thought I would never pick up another Palahniuk book.  I thought he was done and finished, since everyone I know who has read Diary has not liked it.  Although, I figured since this was an older novel I wouldn't be such a bad thing.  It doesn't go for the same shock value effect that Fight Club, Choke and Invisible Monsters do.  It's different and I'm glad.

I also want to read his new book, Haunted, which seems to have to do about writing and books about writing always interest me.  I saw it in hardcover at the airport, but my mom didn't want me purchasing anything new and/or excessive in the book arena.  Books are a huge weakness.  I often am holding back when I walk into a book store.  If I can leave with nothing, I consider that a big feat.  It's the same thing with cd/record stores, especially if they are cheap/used.  Oh, I hate to let a good bargain fly by me.

I'm always hoarding things for later if I can buy them now for cheap.


For reference:
-Netflix Queue & Watched List
-2005 Book Reading List

I stumbled across this interesting idea through a blog explosion banner. A documentary of blogging?! Well, it got me thinking of everything that I've gained, lost and found through blogging. I know that the writing showcased here is entirely brand new, but I've been writing online for the past four years at [a polka dot], formally: Grrrl on the Run, Searching for a Punk of My Own..., Adventures of Turtle but reached fame during it's stint as The Hipster Brigade. I've meant amazing friends: Sabrina, Justin, Barrios, formally of www.stabthings.com; and many many more. I've made enemies too, but I don't think I'll publicize their whereabouts.

The dry spells, when writing became just too much for me, I started writing What Grand Ideas! Although, it was started at the same time as The Hipster Brigade, it was rarely used, but now I find myself more a part of the livejournal community. I think the one reason that I continue to share my writing online is the fantastic experiences I've had: meeting new people that I would never had gotten a chance to meet otherwise. The internet makes meeting people limitless. It is really such a small world.

This is my plea to 59 Bloggers:

I've been blogging non-stop for the past four years. It was picked up as a casual hobby to document my boring years in college, but I soon figured out that I was gaining attention. I've used my blog to find hook-ups, best friends and boyfriends; as well as to showcase my one true love, writing. Now, there are pictures as well. Although, I started blogging with nothing in mind, I find it a great release for my limitless amount of words that can be found floating in my head, and to help medicate my occasional bouts of insomnia.

Home. I spent 10 years of my life here, but it's far from it now. This is not where I live. I've abadoned the life here in Texas. Boston is what I consider home, even if my place of residence is constantly changing. The streets, people and places are what ground me.

When I come back to visit my old neighborhood -- twice during the school year -- during Thanksgiving and Spring Break, it felt even more distant than usual. There are new buildings and places I don't recognize. This is not the place I left at the age of 19. Almost all of my friends have left and the ones who haven't are going to soon. Even the music venues have changed. It's strange that the entire city has gotten a face lift while I've been gone. It was only four years.

There are things I enjoy here. Places that doesn't exist anywhere but here. I crave the simple southern life sometimes, but I can't stand the sight of churces on every corner and the Jesus fish on every shiny new Lexus that passes me.

This place barely felt like home when I had nowhere else to go, but now, it's like a stranger asking for directions to a place I've never been.