I feel the air brush against my arms and my back as I take my fleece zip up off and let it sit against the base of my back as I sit here preparing to write. Prepared to let it all out. This is my blog and I can and will write whatever I want. From this point forth I will no longer sensor. I will no longer care who reads this or what their purpose for reading it is. You can think of me as you like. I am only interested in people who can accept me completely for who I am. Not just the bits and pieces of me that you occasionally see walking past me to your next class or briefly waving at you at the gas station.

This isn't enough for me. Going to school and knowing that my future will be what I hope it to be isn't enough. My future is in the making and there's a long way to go between now and the future. I need something now. Right now. I remember when I was younger walking from one school to another for I don't know what reason a girl named Michelle Rielly told me that at the end of each school year she'd think back to how silly she had been and all the things she wished she could have done differently. I felt the same way and we both agreed that, this particular year had been different. I always think back to that moment because it's how I feel about the end of the year as a whole. Not of how silly I have or haven't been, but of how much has happened in a year and all the things I want to change. This year unfortunately isn't different for me. I haven't changed much of what I wanted to.

I want to promise myself that next year will be different. It's not that I'm unhappy with what I want, I don't mean to sound ungrateful. I know that I'm lucky and what not. But this is it. I know that things need to change and it's not going to happen unless I do something about it. Stop making excuses, stop worrying about my mom, and just do it. In all honesty as much as my mom is the only person who can push my buttons I stopped really caring about what she said a long time ago. She doesn't mean to but she's very pessimistic and puts people around her down most of the time, even if only jokingly. So doing the things I want shouldn't be a problem.

I think part of my problem is that I don't know what to change. Well not entirely. I know what I want and I'm working towards that, I just don't feel like it's enough and I've felt like that for a while. I want more, but more what? So what I'm going to do next year is try a bunch of different things and do a bunch of different things. I'm going to completely surrender my life to a list of things I want to do. I'm going to push myself. It won't matter if I'm in bed half asleep and wanting to push the snooze button. I'm going to do it. I don't care if it's raining or if the road is half blocked because of more construction. I'm tired of feeling like this and I will not allow myself to continue to do so.

What I ask of you .. whoever you happen to be, is for support. You don't have to tell me you've read this, just ask me how I'm doing and what I've been up to and tell me to keep going. I need that little extra oomph. If you want to do any of these things with me then let's go! I want to have fun.

List of things I want to do & try
finish learning Italian
travel route 66
go to Disneyland
go to blizzcon
teach myself the piano
make a video once a week
blogging everyday
visit Brian & Helen
visit Emily
go to mount rushmore
visit yellowstone national park
go camping
go fishing
exercising regularly
Painting something
at least 3 picnics
learn to knit
make an oragami crane
riding a hot air balloon
fly a stunt kite
ride a horse
yoga
karate
pottery making
pilates
ice skating
rollerblading
having short(er) hair
cook and eat 10 dishes I've never tasted before
go to a casino
go to a winery
go sledding
get certified in CPR
learn to play poker
fencing
learn about different types of fauna in my area
calligraphy
go grocery shopping really really late
learn to ballroom dance
drive a convertible with the top down and music blaring
give another public speech
tell someone the complete story of my life
surfing
get to know my neighbors
sing to the elderly
stay out irrationally late dancing
plant a tree
ride a motorcycle
spend a few days on a boat

If I think of more then I'll add it another blog! Life is about living not just existing and I'm ready to have a damn good time. 2010 WILL be an amazing year.

What are some things you want to do?

Peace, Love & Pancakes
-Liberty

Greedy!

Okay! So I am for the next however long this blog takes to write going to be totally greedy and just write about things that I want. Not things that I need, although some of them I might, but just plain out want. For the sole purpose of being greedy and indulging in that part of my brain that I squash through the year. I want to know what you want too :) Tell me!

Lots of Christmas cards - I LOVE THEM and I want so many that the mailman starts wondering who the hell I am! I love reading the written message more than the card itself, but the cards are SO cute! :D

A tripod - I love making videos but being able to put the camera where I want it would come in handy in so many situations. I want one so bad, to be able to just point it instead of having to place it on top of things and hope that I can stand on my tippy toes or sit down enough! It's pretty self explanatory I think

Electric keyboard - I want to play an instrument with the same fluidity that I can speak multiple languages. I love music, it's a big part of my life and to be able to enhance that aspect of my brain and my love of song writing would be absolutely amazing.

Chocolate - Do I really need to go into this one? I freaking love chocolate and I want some. End of story .. gimme

A new car - Sick of it always breaking down, it's less reliable than my appetite (pancakes aside) Don't care what kind, just something cute and clean that turns on when I want it to and is warm on the inside and takes me where I want to go!

Personalized Stationary - I want pretty paper with my name on it, just my name nothing else. I've wanted some for such a long time. I love writing letters because it's personal and it shows that I care enough to take the time to write a letter and what could be more personal that writing it on pretty paper with my name on it!

*I feel bad for wanting stuff. I have so much already and so much to be thankful for that I actually feel bad for wanting more stuff that I truthfully don't really need >.< But I shall continue this list and finish it and make it up to myself in another blog*

Proximity - To my friends. I love my friends so very dearly much, but unfortunately none of them live close enough to be able to call them and see a movie on the whim. I want that. I want someone to come over for dinner randomly after work, to have hot chocolate with at the kitchen table as we discuss the finer aspects of that particular day's weather. I want a hug when I want a hug and not a /hug, but an I can feel your arms around me hug.

More Questions! - On Formspring ( http://www.formspring.me/itsjustlib ) I love answering questions on here! I would love to log on one day and just have a bagillion questions! That's what I want :D Love it!

Love - I want to be hugged, and cherished, and wanted, and loved more than anything. I want to be looked for, and sought after, and adored.

SO! Tell me what it is that YOU want! Be totally greedy :) no limits!

Peace, Love & Pancakes
-Lib

Things I'm currently obsessing over

So, yes. I like a lot of things and I get really excited about a lot of different things. And right now I just feel like sharing with you some of the things I simply can not get enough of. Enjoy :)

La Roux - I am completely in love with all their music. The song 'Not your toy' has been on repeat for at least the past 2 hours and I'm not sick of it at all. I'm dying to make a music video for 'Bulletproof' and I would love to see what they're like as people if they can create music this good.

Alex Day - His CD 'Parrot Days' is absolutely amazing. It's really refreshing and yet has the ability to call forth feelings of nostalgia and happiness. It's completely superb. I love it. I want to do covers of at least 4 different songs off the CD and I've already memorized without having meant to all the lyrics to the songs. Long live nerdiness.

Ignoring my phone - It's been so nice just leaving the phone on my night table and not worrying about it all day! Totally leaving it there on purpose, it's so much less stressful I love it!

Nail polish - I love it. I want cute colors and different shades of everything! Polka dots! Stripes! My nails need color! More color i say!

Formspring - http://www.formspring.me/itsjustlib GO ASK ME QUESTIONS NOOOW! I love answering formspring questions, it makes me super happy for some ridiculously awesome reason that I am so not going to complain about! I love it.

Hot Chocolate - Come on. Do I REALLY need to explain this one? It's cold out, it can hold whipped cream and marshmallows, and it makes me feel warm and cozy! :D I love it!

Photography - Absolutely loving taking pictures of EVERYTHING, seriously I have a plethera of totally random things that I'm taking pictures of! It's lovely! I just feel like it and a lot of them aren't really interesting to anyone but me! I love it.

? - There's another thing that I'm totally obsessing over at the present time, but I like keeping it to myself, I like having something that's just mine :)

So go ahead! OBSESS! LOVE IT!

Peace, Love & Pancakes
-Lib

Friendship

Friendship is tough. And that's understandable seeing as most things in life that are worth having are difficult to obtain and eve more so to maintain. (except for ice cream, that's easy to get and even easier to enjoy) So I have lots of friends, but I can't put them all under the same category so to speak. But what else can I call them? They're not acquaintances, that's too impersonal. Instead I have a 1 to 5 scale to detirmin how close someone is.

1 is a sort of not really friend. You see each other a lot or spen time together because you hang out in the same circles or places and you might think each other is cool, but that's about as far as it goes. A hello, a goodbye, an occasional picture together, maybe a facebook add and that's all there is to it.

2 is a sort of situational friend. You again see eachother quite a bit in groups or certain places and really get along. You talk about different things and relate to each other. You know a little bit about each other and you might even send gifts through facebook applications, but you don't hang out outside the group.

3 is a friendly friend. This is a person you genuinely like. You spend time together on your own and talk in private. You can laugh about things together, even form inside jokes. You look forward to being around this person because you find them "cool." You've started to get to know them and you're finding out things you have in common. You might talk on the phone or through some messenger system and you can say things like "I was talking to so&so and ..."

4 is a good friend. Personally making the change from 3 to 4 is difficult for me. 3 is comfortable, I'm getting to know the person and it's fun. 4 starts getting personal. This is someone you've known for a while and are comfortable with. You each score pretty high on the how well do you know this person quiz. You know some personal details about each other and you've been around when things aren't all sunshine and lillipops. Your parents might know about them and they send you at least a card during the holidays and your birthday.

5 is an amazing friend. I don't want to use the term best because nobody can really be a best friend. Anyone who's close enough to be considered a 5 is special. If going from 3 to 4 is hard, going from 4 to 5 is almost imporrible with me. 5 is someone you truly trust. This is someone you care about a lot and love spending time with. You know each other's fears and pet peeves and you have a plethera of both good and bad memories together. You count on each other to be there through thick and then. 5 is a good person that you should never let go. It's the kind of friendship they write poetry about and show in movies.

I have sine 1s and a bunch of 2s, mostly 3s, a couple of 4s and a missing fingers handful of 5s. Whatever the number I'm thankful for the people I have around me and I appreciate having aany degree of friends. There's absolutely people that are aquaintinces that I'd like to get onto the scale. They're great people and I want to get to know them. In the same way there's 1s and 2s that I'd like to get to a 3. It's not always about you though, sometimes you're ready to be a new level of friend but the other person isn't. Either way make sure you're always thankful and appreciatative for those people you can actually call friends.

I like meeting new people and making friends. Where on the scale do you want to be? Talk to me and let's be friends! :D (how's that for a corny ending eh?!)

Peace, Love & Pancakes
-Lib

No intro on this one :) Just going to start rambling.

Being told that I should or shouldn't do something if I ever "have hope of speaking to" someone again, pretty much makes me say go to hell! I can get over it, you should to.

Being having a total blast editing my NaNoWriMo novel and writing the next one too! Up until a few days ago that was the underlining tone to all my thoughts, what would my characters do, how would they react and what would they say. And of course it's been so much fun coming up with those answers because if you don't already know or can't imagine, my characters are very well developed and a lot of fun to write about for me.

Emily's cat is preggers! And I want a kitten so bad! She better give me one! Jacob passed away earlier this year and now with Babe gone I really miss the companionship of a pet. I don't know if I'm ready for a puppy again yet, but I really want a kitten to snuggle with and take care of. I miss waking up to Jacob on my tummy or still sleeping right up against my side.

Boys! Boys! Boys! I like boys in cars! Boys! Boys! Boys! Chasing boys in bars! .. Ok. Maybe not so much, but the Lady GaGa song is pretty much amazing. I've been completely obsessing over remixes and covers this month, don't even know why but it's been fun to have mini dance parties in my room whenever I feel like it. My new favorite mix being Colette - If (Dave Aude) mix .. it's amazing. Which I can thank Patrick for, because apparently he can do that song on Difficult Mode on DDR haha!

WoW has become more fun now that I get to play with friends! Mind you I haven't played much because LAINEY IS HERE WITH ME! But when I do get to play it's totally awesome and full of win. Which means YES LAINEY IS HERE WITH ME! And that's been amazing, I love her. She is such a good friend and a big human shaped sack of wonderfullness <3

I made a new friend this week, totally awesome person. I'm talking bff material here, it makes me excited :) I've been super happy and what not about it.

OMG WINTER BREAK! ANOTHER EXCUSE TO USE CAPS AND STUFF! :) I'm looking forward to lots of food and cookies! YumYum! haha I'll see you laters!

<3Lib

It's day 3 of thanksgiving break, I've hugged 13 people I haven't seen since July, gotten 4 OMGURALIVE phonecalls, too many texts to count, drank hot chocolate 5 times, eaten 22 delicious malted milk balls, opened my camera 6 times, sung 4 Christmas songs, told my mom I loved her 7 times, and kissed my dog 27 times. It feels good to be here. :)

(23 malt balls and just realized that on the side of the Whoppers box there's a recipe for a candy malt shoppe pie! I SO have to try it!) I'm excited because while I might be out of classes for a week, the youngsters still have school till Wednesday which means I have a chance to go visit the kids at Pine Grove! I'm super excited to see all of them again. It feels really good to know they've been asking where I've been and saying they missed me, but on the other hand that means there isn't anyone else playing with them like me. I love playing charades and whatever other crazy game I can think of at the moment to do with them. They're such an awesome bunch of kids I really can't wait to see them again.
Going to church this morning with my mom was such a surprise, I got to see both Father Lodi and Father Sandy, and they said if I wanted to read at mass next Sunday before I leave to call them later this week. I might just do it. I really miss reading at church.
I've been stuck on phase 3 of the annoying What Drives Edward Volvo contest until today. I sat down, I didn't try to beat it, instead I just sat and watched the patterns the maze took and did things that way. It's silly but I'm so proud of myself to finally beat that thing! It was really rather frustrating the amount of times I tried a week or so ago and couldn't do it. Phase 4 and 5 weren't nearly as tantalizing.
NaNoWriMo is almost over! A week left and I'm pretty much on target. Since I'll have a little extra time this week (kind of) I'm going to try to bang it out early so I can satisfy my inner editor and work on tweaking it just a little bit. It's been really hard not to poke at things as I write them, it's just how I do things ya know?
I saw New Moon last night! Yay! It was really much better than I expected and maybe that's why it wasn't horrible, I went in with low expectations. The only 2 things that really bugged me were how much the audience was missing; having read the book I could make connections better and pull out important details that weren't pointed out in the movie and the marriage proposal; he's not supposed to propose until the 3rd movie and the scene where he proposes is supposed to be so much more intimate than a confrontation in the woods! I really hope they don't have the wedding in the 3rd movie and I hope to see more of the Cullens. Aside from that I'm a happy camper. Although I still can't believe they already have a release date for Eclipse. July 2010, I am so there!
I have to go dress shopping soon for a party or two I'm attending in December and I'm kind of looking forward to it. It might just be that right now I'm in a girly mood and the thought of putting on my pearls and pulling my hair back into an elegant bun is very appealing right now, or it might just be the fact that sometimes I really enjoy dressing up. Either way I'm pretty excited about looking for a dress. I'm aware of how picky I am, I'm very particular about almost everything, but it's going to be fun regardless. Most of all I'm looking forward to having my mom with me to shop for it. I know she'll tell me the truth about a dress, she'll tell me the truth about anything, she won't sugar coat it.. she never does! :)

I don't celebrate Thanksgiving and it's never bothered me. I used to go back to Spain and it would be a nice little vacation, but since I'm staying in the states I've become a lot more self conscious of not celebrating it. (24 malt balls) For my mom engaging in Turkey day festivities would mean succumbing to the American ways and becoming more a part of this country than she'd like and I can understand that. While I am very proud of my Spanish heritage and I absolutely love all of the customs and traditions that come with that, I don't personally feel like adding a new tradition would make me any less Spanish or any more American. Thanksgiving is a purely American holiday, but the idea of giving thanks for everything in your life and celebrating those ideals and joys with family and people you love is by far not purely American, or purely anything for that matter. And I think that's what I'd like to part take in. Mind you, I don't need to wait for one day to say thank you and I don't, but I like the idea of dedicating an entire day to being appreciative and acknowledging all of life's surprises. So yes, I'm considering trying something Thanksgiving like this year. Maybe sitting down with my mom over a nice dinner and talking about everything we're thankful for and relish in the wonderfulness of being together. Not to mention we've actually got company over this year, so I think I have to actually do the whole Turkey and mashed potatoes deal. What else do people eat on thanksgiving? I'll have to look it up and whip up something appropriate for the occasion. We'll see how it goes yes?

For everyone already home and spending time with your families, have a wonderful week if I don't speak to you soon! :)

Peace, Love & Pancakes
-Lib

(25 malt balls)

Today

Today is Saturday, November 14th, 2009. It's not new year in any country, religion, culture, or happenstance. And yet for me it is a new beginning. Not one I necessarily looked for or wanted yet I'm ready to open my arms to it, because let's be honest .. if I don't I'll have to deal with it anyway right? So as I sit here listening to the stupid Verizon Fios commercial before my FannyLu song I prepare myself for the changes that lie ahead. A new-er mindset, things to get reaccustomed to, and other such things to get reacquainted with. Some of which I'm actually really looking forward to and some that I know with a little time will become second nature again. I know what to expect and how to deal with it so overall I think I'll be just peachy. Good news is I'll have plenty of time to do more of the things I've been complaining I don't quite have enough time to do. Things that are changing now either because of the newness or because I'm choosing to change it because of the newness .. more time with my friends, my cell phone box is staying full for a while, I'm not going to answer my phone as promptly as I usually would and it's getting turned off when I go to sleep, I am sooo gaming again, JustAskLib will be reopen soon with some restrictions like a set number of emails I'll agree to answer monthly and such and hopefully a website where questions and answers will be posted so in case I don't get to your particular email you can hopefully still find some help and maybe just the answer you were looking for, more blogs, more videos, more randomness, less stress, Sunday Night movie night is back(info below), and my vent is open to anyone who wishes to come chat with me(info below)!

Sunday Night Movie Night: Every Sunday night I'll be on skype along with whoever wishes to be there with me and watch a movie! Hopefully we'll have a nice little conference of new and old friends and some good times watching a flick together. Think of it like going over to your friend's house and hanging out. Now with cold weather and such and the fact that most of my friends are so far away this will be perfect to hang out and do something fun. I'll post the movie for Sunday November the 22nd within the next few days! :) See you there?
My skype name: itsjustlib

My vent info:
Hostname: Titanium.typefrag.com
Port: 57324
No Password
Hop on and if I'm there we can chat it up :) BTW my name is [PancakeQueen] Kale

And I suppose a message to anyone who happens to read this. I don't write a blog for you to hold anything against me or to give you things to throw in my face. I don't expect you to understand or agree with everything I say and I don't expect to have to justify anything that I say. I don't write on here so that you'll have something to be angry about and I don't expect you to take anything personally. Most of the time I write because I want to, because I have thoughts or ideas that I need to get out of head and into words that I can see. You can call me self indulgent or too wrapped up with myself and I won't particularly care. You probably don't know me. All you know is what you see, how you analyze and take what you see, what I choose to share in this blog and what you take from reading it. If you happen to enjoy my odd ramblings and usually scrambled thoughts then lovely. If you're someone dear to me and you're just wondering what's going on in my mind or what I happen to be going through then I'll warn you now that I don't always make sense, but I promise I'm not always totally ridiculous. Other than that, I hope you have a fantastic day and that the many twists and turns of life lead you to the exact place you hope to end up in .. and they don't then call me, I've got a shovel and we'll start digging.

Peace, Love & Pancakes
-Lib

Life

I feel so lucky in so many ways. I have so much to be thankful for. I couldn't even begin to describe them all. And yet so often I feel like I don't appreciate it all, like I could be doing more, like I don't take good care of what I have. And it makes me so sad. I was born and I have a beautiful mother who adores me, people in my life who genuinely care about me, a wonderful mind, a bright future ahead of me .. and yet I feel like I waste so much of my time. I don't know exactly what it is I should be doing differently or that I feel I should be doing differently. All I know is that I need change. There is so much beauty in the world every day. I don't understand why so many horrible things have to happen. I don't understand why people as a whole don't stop being jerks to each other. There's so much good that we could be doing and yet we don't. Life can be so complicated and so simple and so bad and so wonderful and so many things that a thesaurus would do it no justice.

I just want to say thank you so much. To everything. For giving me patience and showing me how to be a good person. For forgiving me, for loving me. I won't ever be able to thank everyone enough for the things I have and I've experienced. All I can do is try to pass it on and do better than I am.

And maybe that's all I can do. All I have to say right now.

Spaced

One of my biggest pet peeves about myself (is it weird that I have pet peeves about myself?) is that a lot of times I can't find the word in English that I want to use to name or describe it, sometimes I just forget the word and say 'Whatchamacallit' instead. (OMG So Blogger won't take youtube, facebook, or autosave as real words, but they accept Whatchamacallit!?) This is one of those times where I can't really explain how I feel because I don't really know what to call it, in any language. So, I'm just going to try and describe it so to speak. As usual I don't expect most of the following to make entirely too much sense.

I feel all over the place. I thinks it's a combination of having a lot of things going on right now and my mind. My mind always has a lot of things going on. It never really lets me rest and most of the time it's okay. Heck, most of the time I love it. I love how I can read an article or talk to someone and somehow a few seconds later my mind has wandered off to something completely different that usually makes me laugh because of the randomness and the fact that it does indeed relate in a way only my mind can think up when I'm not really thinking. My mind thinks faster than I do. If I'm consciously thinking of something the process of thinking can go pretty slow, but if I just kind of let my mind go off on it's own tangent it does amazing things. It can be a lot of fun and I enjoy surprising myself, but right now I feel like I wish I could put my mind on standby. It's not even like it's thinking ridiculously awful things or anything of the sort, at least not more so than usual. It's not that I worry too much either .. trust me. I just feel like I have too many ideas. There are too many things my mind wants to do, that I want to do, that I don't have the time or the means to do. And so I feel like half my mind is going to waste and then I get frustrated or annoyed that I can't do everything. Which in itself is annoying because I'm smarter than that. I know that it's silly. I love what I'm doing and I know that some things will come with time and that there's just no physical way to do everything all at once and even if there was I'd probably kill myself trying and in return not have fun doing it anyway. I'd say that I don't have enough time for everything and I'd be right, but that's because everything includes so many things .. let me give you a little glimpse of what everything is.

I have 243 unedited, untouched video clips on my camera.
I have 3 pages of video ideas and notes.
I have 2 pages of Wrock songs I want to write.
I have 16 pages of pieces of non Wrock songs to finish writing.
I have 7 songs I'd like to record.
I have 13 new recipes I want to try.
I'm behind on NaNoWriMo and I fully intend on finishing.
I just painted my room a few months ago and I want to do it again before Thanksgiving.
I have 5 unfinished blogs.
I have 13 new voicemails, I'd probably have more but it's full.
I have at least 8 people that I miss dearly and would love to spend some time with.
I have 2 upcoming appointments I need to move to different dates.
I need to find a day off to get my 3rd molars removed and get braces.
I'm usually done with Christmas shopping by now .. haven't even started.
I need to send out my out of country presents out in 3 weeks.
I have 2 tests to study for.
I have a work type project I'm working on for my friend Bill.
I want to publish my poetry.
I want to be a part of a radio show or podcast.
I need to find a dress for EvilDay2.
I want to finish writing my book about Pancakes.
I want to actually fall asleep when I'm tired.
I want a level 10 dish in Restaurant City.
I want to finish the illustrations for my Children's Book.
I'd like to hand make all my Christmas Cards this year.

Yea ... and that's just the immediate list that I could think of with no sleep. So, am I overly ambitious? I don't think I am. I just have a lot that I want to do. I know it's preposterous to assume that I can do it all, I just don't want to leave anything unfinished. All with time I suppose. I just find it annoying how my mind is always here and there and this and that, I can focus when I need to but when I'm not focused I'm ... a lot of things.

Okay, I'm done for now I suppose. I almost feel like trying to blog everyday. What's wrong me!? Ack! I'm going to finish this up before my mind makes me think I want to do anything crazy.

Peace, Love & Pancakes
-Lib

It's 5:23 ... I can't sleep. I haven't been able to sleep for a while, despite my efforts. Watched the rest of Push (Great movie btw), drank milk, got extra blankets, took blankets away, listened to classical music, played around with those stupidly addictive facebook apps, watched some youtube videos, lied down with no noise at all ... wrote a blog.

So I'm just going to ramble for a bit and not expect anything I say to make sense.

I hate coughing. I hate it even more when my nose is runny and I have to cough. I need a really big breakfast, but I know I'm not going to get it. I'm grumpy because I'm tired. Me Me Me. How many times can I say the word 'I' in this blog? I don't really think I want to know. I'm obsessing over the chartjackers single 'I've got nothing'. It's pretty much amazing. I'm behind on NaNoWriMo .. I want to catch up today during class. Is it bad that I've got my ticket to see Twilight: New Moon already? Who wants to come with me!? Emily's going too in her perspective theater. I love autosave. I think facebook should add autosave. I don't like that facebook and autosave aren't considered real words by the blog, even though the blog itself uses the word autosave. And seriously .. facebook? Catch up with the times. *Mentally snaps fingers* I miss my friend Patrick, he's like my little brother and he's totally made of awesome and I've been an awful friend and haven't kept in touch. In fact I've been doing that a lot .. not keeping in touch. I've gotten so bad. People I need to find/get back in touch with because they're awesome and I miss them: Patrick, Mike T.F, Nick Webster, Jacob, Matt Gerber, Julian, and Aleksey. Lainey, Bo and Alicia don't count because even if it's the occasional skype/facebook comment I do have soooome contact with them, as much as I miss conference calls watching silly videos and being random. I got to talk to Julie, Brian, and Emily today and that made me eternally happy. I've missed them so much. "OMG HAI GUISE! WHO WANTS A BODAY MASSAGE!?" -Emily as EdwardCullen. Yes my friends are that awesome. I painted my nails this pretty clearish, sparkly, pink and I really like it. The wall is really cold. My head hurts. My spongebob squarepants silly straw sippy cup is dead. It makes me sad. My hair's a mess. I need a shower. I'm gunna go do that.

Buh Bye

37 'I's in this blog. .. Well I guess that one makes it 38.

Peace, Love & Pancakes
(I hate how grammatically speaking there should be a comma after Love ,.. as in 'Peace, Love, & Pancakes. So, I always leave it out because I don't like it. I'm sorry comma .. please don't hate me)

42... okay I'm done. 43.

Safety

I feel like most people take safety for granted.

We snuggle up in our warm beds at night, looking forward to rest most of us not even thinking about the possibility of danger. We expect that we're safe. That because there's blankets and walls separating us from the outside world, that we're somehow immune to everything that goes on out there. But we're not. Glass can be shattered, doors can be broken, and security systems can only go so far. Some people are ignorant enough to think that money makes them impermeable, maybe because they can afford better security, some just because they think it makes them better. But the truth of the matter is that every single person alive has something to offer. Something that makes them worth something, even if a particular person chooses not to believe it. There are people who are just mentally ill, there are some people who just don't have the patience to attain something honestly, and others who feed on the displeasure of others. You might think that you have nothing to make you vunerable to a situation of that type, or that nobody would come to your particular house or apartment, but I can tell you that almost everyone who has something happen to them thought it would never happen to them.

So if nobody is really safe (at least not all the time), then what do we do? I am by no means saying be afraid all the time and always think of the worst. It's that American saying I've heard .. prepare for the worst and hope for the best. But please, be prepared for the worst. We can't think that everything is fine and that nothing can happen to us or the ones we love just because. I say give yourself a reason to feel safe. That means very different things for different people. That may be martial arts training, forming a neighborhood patrol, guard dog, extra security around the house, whatever in particular makes you feel safe. It's important to have a contingency plan just in case. Cover all your basis and make sure that you know no matter what may happen, even if you're put into a compromising situation, you will be safe. People may be unpredictable, but your house, your surroundings, your knowledge doesn't have to be.

Some tips from me to you ..
-Don't share your plans with anyone who wouldn't be directly involved or doesn't need to know. If someone does choose for some reason to go after you, the first people they'll go to is the ones you care about most.
-Have more than one plan. Few things in life ever go exactly how you want them, be prepared for everything. Even for the things you might not know might happen.
-Have an emergency kit in your car and in your home. If you do need to run away and are able to drive away or just get to you car, it would be useful to have something there that can help you. I'd suggest having a prepaid charged phone just in case, the kind that just sits around till you decide to you use it. The great thing about a phone is even if there's no money or minutes on it, it can still dial 911. For your home, flashlights, extra batteries, and keeping your cellphone near you are always important.
-Do your best to stay in shape. I know that may just seem like a good healthy lifestyle tip but in reality someone in better shape is more agile, can runaway faster, think quicker, hide in smaller spaces, and most of the time stay safer.
-Use code names. If someone happens to have your phone wired you want to make sure you can communicate when you need to safely. Instead of saying something like "There's something going on, I think I'm in danger, meet me in the mall parking lot." You can say "Bartholomew's principle called again, she needs to see us at the school right away." Whatever it is you want to use, make sure the person who needs to know what it means, knows what it means.
-Have really good friends. Really good friends tend to care about you a lot and will most of the time know when something is wrong. If you never miss out on gameboard night and you're not there and your phone is going right to voicemail .. they'll be sure to check things out.
-Be a good person. Don't do bad stuff like kill people, steal from anyone, lie to people, or just about anything that might possibly cause a troubled consciousness and you're less likely to be the target of anything that might put you or your family in danger. Which just leaves the possibility of world or area disasters.
-Stay calm. No matter what goes down always remember that you're going to be fine. Don't forget that you're not Chuck Norris and your life isn't a movie. You probably can't swiftly remove the gun from the opposing forces' hand. Don't freak out. Follow your plan as best you can and if something goes wrong be as resourceful as you can be and do your best to get back to your plan.
-Think positive. Once you have a good plan that you can feel good about don't worry to much about things. The more you focus on good things in life the more good things will come.

I know that most likely if someone reads this they're going to view me as a pessimistic sort of person, but I promise that I'm not. In fact the majority of the time I'm really very happy and I always find the good in situations. I just think it's really important for people to come down to earth sometimes and see that there are different sides to their realities. And it never hurts to be prepared.

Peace, Love & Pancakes
-Lib

A Very Potter Memoir: Story 1- Expelled

Sitting on a train on my way home I feel enthused to share some memories with you.

Particularly some Harry Potter related memories and particularly because I shared one at a meetup group and I thought "Hey! Sharing this stuff is pretty fun!" Harry Potter fandom is one of those things in my life that I care about dearly and appreciate a lot, even though not everyone around me really understands it or would even take the time to see that it's more than whimsical words on a page. Some of my favorite memories both recent and growing up include Mr.Potter. So, trying to keep things in chronological order, including but not limited to almost getting expelled, meeting my first American friend, and getting a promotion, over the span of a few blogs ... I present to you A very Potter Memoir.

When I was a child, I was very strange. (Not that I'm any less strange now, in fact I can attest to having grown more uniquely than most people I know, but I'm at a point where I happily accept it and can occasionally find a group of people where my strangeness is more of a normality :) TGTSNBN ftw) I spent hours classifying rocks as part of my collection, fangirling over Star Wars (Thanks dad), obsessing over Sailor Moon, and reading countless books about catholicism, religious history, Shakespeare, and whatever else I could get my hands on from my mom's office. By the time I was 11 my parents worried about me a lot because I was so different than the other girls my age. Preferring my books, languages, science, anime and radio shows to makeup, dress up, barbies and other 11 year old girly things. My mom talked to me about how she didn't exactly love the books I was reading and how I should read the kids' stories I had in my room instead. I told her that I had already read all of those and they were generally uninteresting. (Not to mention the more she didn't want me to read a book the more keen I was on obtaining whatever information it held) My mother being the witty and intelligent woman she was (and still is) goes to a bookstore and asks the lady for a chapter book for her daughter from the children's section. Something "interesting". (I remember my mom using much more colorful language to describe the 'lady' from the bookstore who's responsible for all the events that spawned from me reading the book that she recommended, but personally I pray and give her thanks every day.) The wonderful lady at the bookstore handed my mom the first (and only at the time) installment of the Harry Potter series. It became my absolutely favorite Christmas present that year.

I read it in about 2 days, leaving my mother positively pleased at the time, and completely devouring every detail from the egg shelled colored pages that could maybe, by any means, possibly be real. I reread it several times, making notes to take back to school with me. Wondering if I could convince my parents that getting a goat farm was imperative to have lots of bezoars on hand in case we got poisoned, or at least where I could obtain devil's snare sneeds and other such things to make my own potions. (Potions has always been one of the most interesting aspects of the book to me.) I begged for an owl and to be signed up for school in England since they refused to move there all together. For the most part they thought my obsession was cute and would go away, even after I came up with drawings of how I wanted to redo my room Hogwarts style. They were happy to see me so excited about a book actually aimed at my age level. They never thought a book would get me in so much trouble.

They sent me back to school with my notes tucked away and lots of crazy magic ideas floating around in my head. Now, I need to explain a couple things about my catholic boarding school. In the morning we had classes, lunch, a little play time, more classes, dinner, homework/study time, a little play time, bed time, most weekends I was usually with my mom because I needed to stay inside due to harsh, hot weather and my too sensitive skin, but on Sundays we went to church. Between the school and the church was a little piece of fun and the thing most of us kids looked forward to the most throughout the entire week. There was a bunch of little stands and tables and carts full every kind of sweet you can imagine. Pastisset, Pestiño, Turron, Gloria, Churros, Bizcochos ... you name it. Now most of us received an allowance from our parents and most of them spent all of it the first Sunday after getting it in the mail. This is where my business, more like loan shark, abilities come in. At that point I was getting an allowance, or a 'paga' as we called it, from my mom, one from my dad, one from my great aunt Laura, and another from my madrina (I think the America equivalent would be a god mother). And I didn't usually get it all at once, so I was never in a rut come Sunday. What I started doing was lending out money for sweets and pastries on Sunday, with a 10% interest. Now I never took more than someone could pay me back and after a while I even implemented a pay over time program for the girls who didn't get as much of an allowance or only got money for holidays and on their birthday. And in the same way I also had higher interest rates for those girls who didn't pay me when they said they would and were just overall unreliable. When I came back to school after the holiday break and after having read the wonderful new book in my life I created a new program. I lowered the interest rate for the girls who agreed to play a particular game with me during play time.

The school was very strict on what they let us eat at play time snack wise, so we each took turns going to get various fruits and bowls and then in one of the corners under a tree I conducted my very own pretend potions class. I was thrilled to have an audience to explain all the details of the book and of how things were done in this made up place. I was a very strict teacher. I laugh so much when I think about how I hand picked wands (fallen branches) for each of my students and made of incantations and recipes for different things. Things went like that during play time for a while, with some girls really getting into it and having fun, some of them writing to their parents asking for the book or for a real wand and things of the sort. And I guess that's when the trouble started to brew. Between the girls' weird requests and the fact that our corner started to get pretty big after a while the nuns started to wonder what we were doing and eventually on one sunny afternoon one of the nuns slowly walked over to see what exactly it was we were doing. She asked us and got an assortment of different answers but managed to hear the word "witches" several times and spells and magic. I've never seen someone go so pale or freak out so fast. Her eyes popped out and her lips went paper thin for the minute before she started yelling at all of us to stop immediately and saying how wrong what we were doing was.

She took me to the head nun's office and explained that I was brainwashing the other girls into not believing in god and doing witchcraft and showing them how to use magic using fruit and branches. I didn't dare protest out of fear of being expelled, but when she asked me what was going on I tried to explain to her that I read this book called Harry Potter and we were just pretending like in the book. She didn't believe me and sent me to an unoccupied dormitory for the rest of the day and night. My mom was at the school the next day yelling at me. During the meeting with my mom and the 'madre superiora' I was told that I was going home for one week to be reminded of my religion and of what I believe in and I was never to speak of the book or anything from it ever again. (I remember thinking that a week away would be detrimental to the pretend potions lesson plan I had designed in the back of my french notebook) And if I did I'd be expelled. End of story. No more nonsense.

My mom was furious and frustrated and worried about me. We talked a lot when we got home and she genuinely tried to understand what had happened and why I had all these ideas in my head. She took the book away and told me that it was over. We spoke of religion a lot and she tried to push into my head that God is the only thing I should be talking about at school. She couldn't understand that I wasn't worshiping the devil or witchcraft or anything. I was just playing. It still astounds me that just because it had to do with magic it was such a big deal. I was sent back to school after my week was up and was watched very closely during play time and during any interaction with other classmates.

Will I ever be able to read the 2nd Harry Potter book when it comes out? What happened to the girls who played with me? What happened to our pretend wands? What happened to my harry potter play time and all the before mentioned questions is a story for the next installment of a Very Potter Memoir: Story 2- School Strikes Back. I think if the school had found out about my little money lending business I would've absolutely been expelled, but hey! I was just a kid :) Right? Muahaha!

Do you have any fun Harry Potter memories? I want to hear them!

Peace, Love & Pancakes
-Lib

Love stuff

I feel like I'm such a complicated person.

And in truth I am and yet in retrospective I'm probably not. Am I that much more in depth than the average person? I don't know. Maybe other people are just as complex as me and choose not to indulge the parts of them that might cause more of a ruckus than they're comfortable with. Maybe that's just it. I'm comfortable with all those unconventional little pieces of myself that make me into the undeniably semi unique person I am. I don't necessarily agree with them all, or even like them all, but I accept them all as a part of me and therefore hold a certain level of love and adoration for them. Even the part of me that can admit to enjoying cold weather as an excuse to have more blankets cuddled up with me and the part that secretly fantasizes about what the world would be like if characters like Buffy, Dr.Horrilble, and Harry Potter were real. And c'mon ... obsessing over the same song for 3 weeks is okay! Right? Being completely passionate about a million different things is somehow totally normal, and the fact that I don't care how much of a whatever anyone thinks I am for openly expressing my love of whatever it is that I love is perfectly commonplace. Maybe.

It's like when I compliment someone and they look at me strangely as if they just looked at me and happened to notice that I have three heads, each resembling the three stooges but with more colorful hair and more feminine voice. You know how when you go to a Harry Potter movie premier, if you get into the right theater everyone is dressed up and jumping up and down about the excitement of the new installment of the movies and it's not at all out of place to be giddy and exuberant and ramble about Harry Potter? It doesn't matter if I'm surrounded by a room of co-fans, or just one. If I'm excited about something it shows. I'm openly happy. What is so wrong with that?! What's wrong with being honest. Who cares what people around you who may or may not know you think? It's their loss for not experiencing the feelings of utter joy every time the should so feel like. And if they judge you negatively for it then they're just not as comfortable with that situation and that's their loss. Oh well. I know many close minded people are under this assumption that if someone posses the ability to have fun and laugh often, they must be missing the part of their brain that allows them to be serious, coherent, or otherwise responsible. Those people, I can promise you, are not worth your time. One has nothing to do with the other. Not in my eyes anyway.

So, my advice (even if you didn't exactly ask for it) would be to be responsible at work, do good at whatever you put your mind to, and be happy. Nothing else really matters unless you want it to. (I mean that socially btw .. I would never ever say that the melting of the icecap doesn't matter, or that you shouldn't give two thoughts to using reusable bags instead of plastic or paper) Be proud of what you love, share it with people and give them a chance to be awesome. Or if you prefer to keep your loves to yourself, do it because it's just too amazing for most human ears .. not because you fear what other people's opinions might be about your tastes.

GO! BE HAPPY! LOVE STUFF! WOO!
I <3 you. No seriously. I think that you're awesome. :)

Peace, Love & Pancakes
-Lib

Random Musings

-I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

-More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

-Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

-Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

-That's enough, Nickelback.

-I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

-Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?

-There is a great need for sarcasm font.

-I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

-How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

- I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

-The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

- LOL has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

- I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

- Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

- Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

- How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

- I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent someone from cutting in at the front. Stay strong!

- Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

-What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

- While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

- MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighbourhood.

- I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

-Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

-I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

- Bad decisions make good stories

-Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Sailor Moon Book that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

-If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

-Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....


-You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

-Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

-There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

-I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

- "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

-I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

-I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

- I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

-I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

- As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

-Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

-I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

-Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

-It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

-I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

-I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

-The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel fat before dinner.

I'm a nerd, I know :)

I'm going to try and explain how I feel today.

A lot of this probably going to sound either really weird or considerably silly so I apologize in advance for anyone who might happen to be reading this and not really know what's going on. But I am not, for the record, being silly or anything of the sort. So, with that I will embark on the journey of trying to express in words how it is that I feel today, in large part for my own benefit so that maybe I can understand it better once it's written down. (or typed)

I realized that I'm alive.

I mean I know that I'm living, I know that I'm alive, but I am alive. It doesn't matter for how long or for how short in perspective to the history of the world. I am here right now and I have the capability of doing amazing things. Aside from the amazing things I already know I'm going to do like work for the UN and help American society raise children with more respect, confidence, self awareness, and knowledge. There is absolutely nothing stopping me from doing anything except for myself. Who cares if my life is short. It's my life, let me worry about it. I will do with it as I please.

Reality is perception.

By that I mean that reality is what the vast majority of people believe, for instance if the world wants to believe that the world is flat .. then guess what. The world is flat. I don't always agree with the reality of human beings. And I am indeed a human being. A curious, complex creature with hopes and a determination to reach to every single star I have set out on my journey to reach. The most important part about it all to me is keeping in perspective that everything affects me. When I drive by a person walking and I look at them they affect me. Whether I realize it or not or want them to or not. I think we all affect each other directly or indirectly and that's why it's so significant to me to be able to help people. Because we all play a roll in everyone else's lives. I feel like I'm starting to ramble but I'm going to go with it.

As I sit here I have this immense feeling of life streaming through me. Everything looks new and beautiful. More so than other days for me. When I bite my lip I realize that's my lip. When I look in the mirror I realize that it's myself I'm looking at. Not that I wasn't aware of those facts before but now, it's as if I'm actually taking the time to recognize them. This is so difficult for me to explain. Everything that I do feels like I'm doing it for the first time, even though I know that I'm not, it's still invigorating and makes me smile. Grr. I can't imagine what this sounds like to you.

I guess the reason I even wanted to try and share this with anyone is because I really hope that people can realize that we need to be more self responsible of what we do and how we act. We have a tremendous effect on each other and the capability of having that effect on the world. Why don't we as people band together to use it in a more positive fashion. Why don't we quit wasting time being negative and hating on eachother, and focusing on the stupid things we might not like, and instead focus on how to make those things better and how we can take small steps in everyday life to achieve greater things.

These thoughts have sparked an idea.

I want to make a difference in my community. I'm going to write a letter to everyone on my street. I'm going to talk about togetherness and how we should act more neighborly towards each other. It's not about religion, money, social status, it's just about forming positive relationships with the people in your community. I hope that the people who read the letters don't think like most people do "Oh no, I don't want to meet other people. Bah." This could be a really great thing if everyone gets together. I'll have to think this out more thoroughly of course. And I'll post later on when I have a finished copy of the letter that I'm going to send out. And most importantly I'll document the whole thing.

So, am I crazy?

Probably. But that's okay. Just another day living as the Pancake Queen. Boo ya.

Peace, Love & Pancakes
-Lib

I hope I get a lollipop

So, I'm not particularly fond of doctors.

Are you? I can think of only 1 person who I can honestly say I know loves doctors and not because he is one or anything of the sort. I think my biggest qualm is really that they're not just doctors, but doctors in the USA. More specifically, doctors who studdied and got degrees in the USA. Now before you jump on me and start calling me names for being racist towards Americans and all that jazz hear me out.

I go to school here in the US.

I like going to school. I love to learn and I love everything and almost anything that pertains to expanding the mind and broadening horizons. But, I'll be the first to admit that school in the states is entirely too easy. On a public standpoint the level of education in the US doesn't come close to most Eurpoean schools, that's a given. But one thinks that colleges and universities are supposed to offer a richer more indulging sense of education and dedication to learning. I know that many schools do, they just happen to cost an arm, a leg, one eye, and half my soul. And I'm not even saying that you need to go to some expensive, over the top learning institution in order to recieve a good education or make something of yourself. The reality of the situation is that if you're smart, if you're good at something, if you work hard for something that you want, it doesn't matter where you go to school .. you're going to go places. But getting into school here is so easy. And I guess that's what really scares me. It's not the hard working people who are going to school to do something great and better their quality of living. It's the people who go to school to do something for money, or because they want to make more money and really have no passion or care towards what they're trying to attain. It's the 3 nights a week dental hygienists school that promises $60/hr job at completion and a degree to certify your ability to assist a dentist and touch other people's mouths in a medical fashion. Meanwhile, the school itself costs somewhere around $4000 (books and everything included) and will admit anyone into it's program. That's the school that scares me. Those are the degrees that make me fear doctors. Your doctor might have a degree from a really nice school, but who's to say they just barely passed. Why do they make you sign an agreement before any major surgery that if anything should happen to you during the "standard proceedure" that they are completely not liable for anything, even death. That freaks me the heck out.

Lawyers?

Malpractice law firm lawyers can make $70,000 a year. Why on goodness' green earth are there so many of them? "of all the malpractice payment reports made world wide, over 80% of those payments were made by United States doctors with the whole rest of the world accounting for just 20% of all payments made for malpractice"(Michael Russel, http://tinyurl.com/kwu324)

That freaks me out even more.

Now, don't think that I wasn't afraid before. That I suddenly developed this fear of doctors and that I've been completely oblivous to these feeling before hand. Oh no. Ever since first coming to the US I've been iffy of doctors. In Spain, when your ear hurts you go the local pharmacist and he can give you something to cure it and stop the pain. Spanish chemists differ to those in the US, they are qualified similar to your local 'general practioner, this saves queues waiting to see the Doctor and can also save money. They are highly trained and are a great resource as they provide free medical advice for minor ailments. They can supply a wide range of medicines over the counter without a prescription. Many chemists stock homeopathic and herbal remedies. Here if your ear hurts, you need to go to the doctor or the emergency room if you can't stand the pain, then get diagnosed with an ear infection or something of the like, then get a prescription, and then you can go pick that medicine up. Not to mention a lot of driving around, a lot of having to handle pain and a lot of money. So you can understand my woes. Maybe. It just feels like every little thing that happens here you need to pay a high bill for a doctor when it's not really neccessary. It's just annoying.

And it can freak a Spanish girl out ya know?

So, I have my dentist appointment coming up on September 8th. The same day as the line dancing event thing that I'm very much looking foward to attending. I'm actually trying a new dentist. The program that I'm going to be participating with, in general is relatively scary to me I suppose. Mostly because it's not going to be actualy dentists looking at my teeth. It's going to be dental students doing everything, supervised by specialists. So maybe I'm a total idiot for agreeing to this. I mean, aside from the fact that it's less than half the cost of a regular dentist even with insurance .. which sure can be very appealing, there are no real benefactors. I guess the fact that there will be specialists supervising every aspect and proceedure makes me feel a little better. I can afford a regular dentist, a specialist .. not so much. So on the other hand maybe this is going to be a totally good thing. Maybe it'll be great. And maybe I'll end up with nerds or pez for teeth. Ugh. Gotta think positive. *breathe* I shouldn't anticipate this with horror. I know that it's going to be okay, it's just scary. I feel like a little kid for freaking out so much over this.

Then last night I talked to Pedro.

And Pedro had a really awful experience with dentists here. Which indubitably brought my every misdoubt, pang, apprehension, and indecision to life. He had his wisdom teeth removed and a couple cavities. Nothing too spectacular right? Oh no. So very, very wrong. The so called professional dentist drilled too far up in the cavity and removed too much jawbone when he removed the wisdom teeth. So he was in pain, he got an infection and to top things off he had to get prosthetic jawbone pieces and over a year later is still paying for it. Gee golly wilikers. That totally makes me feel awesome about going to the dentist. Really.

So! I totally had pancakes for breakfast.

Along with lots of sugary, sweet syrup. Mmm. My new dentist will utterly love me don't you think? Let's just hope I come out alive .. and with all my teeth. A lollipop wouldn't be bad either, one of those lemon ones. :)

And for the record .. Americans totally invented pizza and stuff right? So could I not love you crazy Americans! (just picking on you .. it's all out of love I promise <3)

Peace, Love & Pancakes
-Lib

On my mind

So, I've really been wanting to write a blog.

I have this thing where an idea will get into my head and until I write it down or do something with it's glorious being, it won't go away. Sometimes I'll write the thought or ideology down and then I'll keep writing with full intention of eventually passing it on to this blog or some other form of the written word. It usually doesn't happen like that. And then I scold myself. And then stuff happens. So my intent right now is to not have any particular thought or in any one state of mind, but instead share and communicate all the things that have recently (or not so recently) been on my mind.

I love my mom.

I know that at times I have a tendency of talking a lot about her. People that talk to me a lot can testify. I know it can sound corny and get boring sometimes, but I talk to my mom a whole lot. She's one of the most interesting people I know. (and I'd like to think I quite a bit of people, keeping in mind how many millions of people actually exist and thinking about the fact that I am indeed just one person) She has a lot of life experience and has a lot of knowledge. She's intelligent and thoughtful. I really enjoy conversing with her most of the time. This of course affects our mother daughter relationship in a positive manner and I'm grateful that we can be close and share our thoughts and opinions, and at the same time have such different views about .. pretty much a lot of stuff. (I almost said everything but truth is our core and foundation is almost exactly the same as far as values are concerned) I feel like in a lot of conversations I say "I was talking to my mom and .." or "I was having this conversation with my mom and she said .." Now, it's not that she's the only person I talk to or listen to, or that she's the only person who has any effect on me. It's just she has a lot of great things to say and often times I want to share that with people because I think they'll appreciate the message or idea pertaining to whatever current conversation me and that person are having at any present time. I think a part of me many times feels like the things she says need to be shared with more people because she herself has a difficult time expressing them because of her lack of English. Either way I feel really lucky to have her as a mother and an important figure in my life. Not just as a family member but as an intellectual counterpart that I can be honestly open with and talk to. She's just that great.

That leads me to wanting to say thank you.

Not just to my mom but to lots of people. To the people who aren't just my friends but people I can count on to be there for me. People who are honest with me and won't judge me on stupid or superficial things. People who genuinely love and care about me for who I am, not what I can do or how much I'm willing to them them. The people who have influenced me in a positive way and people who want to see me progress and reach farther life because they know that I can and know that I want to. To the people who share things with me, not just the bad stuff that makes you want to cry or tear your hair out, but the happy thoughts and silly happenings of every day life that remind us that life isn't television or a band account but a series of memories and a series of events that makes every moment worth living. To the people who can share the things they love with me and know that I'll appreciate it and at least try it even if I can't myself share a passion for it too. To the people who worry about me and send me pictures of pancakes with smiley faces when I'm sad. To anyone who's ever made me smile or giggle, and to everyone who puts everything they are into what they do. I just want to thank so many people. I love so many people. I'm not miss using the world love either. I genuinely adore and cherish so many people that make a difference and impact my life in the tiniest of ways. I want people to be happy and to lead positive lives. To eat pancakes, and see rainbows, and do things they love. Create something amazing just by putting a little piece of themselves into it. I just want to thank you so so much for everything. You make me happy, you make me think, you make me look at things differently. you make me stronger, you remind me that even though people can suck, they can be pretty gosh darn awesome too. Thank you life.

I totally just sighed in real life.

I feel like such a cornball! (hahaha) But I mean everything I said. Do you ever feel like you say something that you mean a lot but if and when someone else happens to come across it they won't take it as seriously? I almost feel nobody should take what I say seriously. At least not too seriously. Nobody should take themselves too seriously, that could be dangerous. I just really hope that my message gets across. Funny thing is, I don't always know if I have a message. Well, I guess that's not totally true. I totally have a message that I wish I could imput into everyones mind. But I mean when I write. Sometimes I write just to write .. because I feel like putting my thoughts into writing. But I don't neccessarily know if I can say that everytime I have a thought there's a reason. I mean sure .. there's a reason that thought came to my mind, but it is there an actual reason for that thought. I don't know.

I don't know a lot of things.

And I'm really completely okay with that. While I could go on and on about things that I would love to know (like why girls have to go to the bathroom in groups) there are absolutely some things that I will never mind not finding out. I don't think that I meant to not know and I can accept that too. What I'd like to know is if there's a limit. To my mind I mean. Is there only a certain amount of information that I can capture or take in before certain things disappear before I can take new things in. I've been reading this book about the brain works and I'm very much hoping to find my answer at least by the end of it. If I do happen to come across that particular bit of information I will absolutely be sure to let you know.

Books.

Boy, do I love to read. Sometimes I feel like I could read and forget about everythings that my body happens to need in order to live. Like say .. sleeping. I've recently decided to make a sacrifice .. kind of. I am not going to buy any more books. I want to buy a kindle. So the monthly budget that I have towards books, I'm going to save .. and instead in a few months buy a kindle. Great idea huh? Only problem is the not buying books part, mostly because I can't live without reading. I need to read. I'm thinking I can do the 69 cent used books from amazon thing or the download books onto my computer to read them thing. We'll see how that goes. My biggest concern with the Kindle is that once it's full of books .. I can't fill it anymore. And as of right now there's no way to take books up and store them in some alternate reality online or on a back hard-drive if I so choose to do so. That's really my biggest qualm. I'm also looking at the differences of a Kindle vs a Cybook ( I think that's how it's spelt) I've read the customer service for Kindle is superb and that returning a book is really easy. I'm still not totally convinced though. I need to do some more research before I'm totally head over heals. Either way in a few months I will be the proud new owner of one or the other. The reason I want one so badly is because of how much I can save myself. I spend at least $100 monthly on books. I read 5 -6 books and that can get costly. So if I can spend $10 a book using one of these devices .. I'm going to save myself a lot of money. Not to mention traveling is going to be so much better. Instead of lugging around a couple books .. I carry around this little device from which I can have almost any literary masterpiece which I choose to read at my fingertips. It's going to be great. I'm very much looking forward to it.

Money.

I wish I had more of it. (don't a lot of people) Not in the 'OMG I want more money so that I can buy over 9000 things and stuff' (not that I wouldn't like a new car and what not) but in the way of being able to help a lot of people. Being able to buy that $5 million machine for the children's hospital, being able to have a new hospital and new home built for the homeless animals. Help the homeless shelters. There's a lot people who need money. I will volunteer as much I humanly am capable of within my time constraints, I will talk, create, think, and do what I can. But so much of what these people is money. And I just wish I could give it to them. That's why it makes me so sick when people on welfare drive $30,000 cars and spend money on junk food and name brand clothes instead of things that their kids are in need of, like a healthy nutrition and books. (I mean c'mon, everyone needs books, growing minds especially) That's one of those things I'd love to do if I ever won the lottery. Not just give a huge check to a hospital, because that's going to go to waste. Sadly a lot of the money that gets donated goes into people's banks .. people who don't need or deserve that money. But go to that hospital's directer and talk to them about what it is the hospital needs and buy it for them. I don't want my name all over the news or anything, I don't want anyone to know I'm doing it because I don't want anyone to think I'm doing it for public image like some people do. I just want to help them. It's not that child's fault they're sick and in need of help.

Help.

I need it. I'm actually pretty bad admitting that I need it too. I'm all about helping other people. I mean if anyone needs me for just about anything I am right there. But the moment I need something .. hmm .. nah I don't need anyone! I can do it on my own! Totally. But right now I'm going to state that I do indeed need help and I'm actually open to it and wanting it. Now before you start to worry no it's not anything serious. It's just about music. I guess it's love related. More hobby related but I love music, so to me it's very much love related. I've always written poetry and written songs and what not. And recently more so than usual. My biggest frustration is that I have no music to go with my songs. Mostly if not entirely because I myself can not play an instrument nor can I read music. Now mind you It's not like I've really tried to even play around with any of those create music programs. I could probably try and I should actually now that I think about it. But even so I'd really like someone to work with. Just as a for fun thing. It's something that I love so very much. Writing songs and poetry is just on of those things that I hold so very dearly to my heart. And I know that I always will. Now don't be afraid. I'm not one of those people who is just so in love with what they do that they believe that I everything I do is a work of god and there's no room for improvement. That's the bigger reason why I'd like to work with someone. Not everything I work on is finalized, few things are. Working with someone who loves music like I do and has the ability to create music and tunes would be a lot of fun and would give me the ability to see what it is two heads are capable of doing with some of my creative flows. So, let's hear it then. Who wants to work with me?

Funny thing?

Funny thing is I don't even think anyone reads my blog. Haha! I do indeed write things to express myself and for my own benefit. But it makes me laugh how I often times write as if I'm addressing another person or group of people when in fact there's nobody else out there in interweb space. *Sigh* Okay I think that's all for now really.

I think I say 'just' too much.

At least I feel like I do. I don't think there's such a thing as too corny, too funny, or too long. So there. Yea. I'm done. I'm going to push the post button, see how far along the family is doing in terms of getting ready to go home, see what it is that I can work on as far as NYDA stuff goes, aaand somewhere in there I'll update twitter and be awesome.

Peace, Love & Pancakes
-Lib

Dr.Horrible

So, I love Dr.Horrible's sing a long blog.

I think that it's pure genius. It says so many things and it can be so sad at times, and yet it does so in a brilliant array of wit and comedy. It has so many details and makes me feel so many things. I love it so much in fact that I thought it would be a good idea to share with my mom.

Bad idea.

Last night was her birthday so she was already a little tipsy after cake. She doesn't understand english entirely and in fact often prefers to watch movies aimed at family and kids. So, she missed a lot of the humor and some major key points in the plot. I could tell she was annoyed through most of it and kept asking me what the point of it was. I didn't want to talk to her about the message or ruin anything for her till the film was over. So after it was done in possibly the most annoying tone she could've mustered she asked me again what the movie was trying to say.

The movie is a tragedy.

(Contains Spoilers)
Even in all it's comedic genius and likeable characters (even the ones you love to hate) you can not deny that the movie is sad and is indeed a tragedy. The movies most prominet message in my opinion is be careful with your priorities. Dr.horrible wanted nothing more than to be with Penny. He also wanted to change the world because in his mind society is in a rut and all the political wish wash and behind the scenes lies aren't going to make anything better .. ever. Which is what makes him a villian. The whole .. not wanting to follow the status quo and wanting to take care of humanity himself thing. In order to show Penny that he's worth something and at the same time be respected by the public so he can have a chance to change the world the way he wants to, he wants to join the Evil League of Evil (not to mention it'll ofcourse make Penny take him more seriously). At one point joining the ELE means he has to kill someone to get in and while at first there was a moral question in his mind, when Captain Hammer takes Penny (just because he knows that Dr.Horrible wants him) his feelings of murder turn into objectivity and killing Captain hammer to gain enterance into the ELE becomes an obssesion. This obsession leads him to forget his original reason for everything; Penny, and in turn through a series of accidents and poorly thought out spurts of anger leads to him (technically) killing her. Everything he ever wanted dead, because of him. Because he cared so much about killing Captain Hammer and being accepted into the ELE that he forgot to think about the consequences and bistandards.

I think that describes a lot people today.

People who start something in order to achieve something and somewhere along the line forgot their original objective and get caught up in things that suddenly seem more important. People who aren't and won't live out their dreams because bigger houses, better cars, more money, promotions, and social appearances are more important to them. What happened to their dreams of becoming firemen, astronaughts, journalists, writers, biologists, activists, and whatever else they wanted to be and do before they decided money was more important. Life is not all about money. Now, I am by no means undermining the importance of financial stability or denying that money often times make situations easier. I'm just not one to believe that in an effort to achieve that balance of having enough money to live up to one's personal standards of living, you should sacrifice your dreams and settle for short term monetary or superficial happiness. And more importantly let the world around you influence your way of thinking in a negative fashion. Just becuase 10 million people do it, does not mean that it's right. Most people are unhappy with thier life. That doesn't mean you haveto be unhappy with yours. You don't haveto live like other people.

And I hope you don't.

So, this opinionated explanation sparked a conversation with my mom. She completely disagreed with me. Not about the message of the movie because she couldn't really argue that, but of my way to view things. She thinks people don't do what they want because they need to be responsible. Because they get married and have families and can't walk around their whole life living in fairyland and wishing on stars. She also thinks some people change their dreams and lower their standards, coming to realize that just living is what's best and accepting that we're on this planet for a limited amount of time.

I ofcourse, completely disagree. Kind of.

I'm not telling people to be unhappy in their relationships and with their families. I should hope that everyone who gets the great responsibility of being a parent enjoys everything about it and holds on to every moment of laughter and learning in that experience, because time goes by quicker than you think. I fully understand some people change their dreams and not everyone knows exactly what they want to do when thier 20 years old. I'm not saying be irresponsible and do crazy things to achieve your goals. And I understand that sometimes families and love and certain actions will cause people to put their dreams on hold. My friend's dad waited almost 30 years to become a teacher (his life long dream) because he had to work at a job that would allow him to provide for his wife, 2 children and help his sick father. But he never stopped dreaming. He knew that after he retired from IBM he'd be able to live out his dream. He loves his family, adore his two now grown boys, and is completely enjoying what he's wanted to do for so long. It's never too late. Nothing says you can't have what you want except you. Life doesn't change you, you change you. You're the one who chooses to learn, adapt, and percieve your experiences the way that you do. But I'm getting off on a whim here. (A whim I happen to be very passionate about)

My message is clear.

As corny as you might think it sounds, go for your dreams and don't forget it's never too late. Above all else stick to your beleifs and what -you- want. Don't be sidelined by what the world appears to hold as valuable. Your life and everything you have or don't have is completely up to you.

As for my mom ...

it makes me pretty sad that she really thinks that way. It hurts even more that she thinks she right soley because she's older therefore being more wise and having more life experience. And while I respect her great and by no means disagree that she knows a lot more about certain things and has way more experience than me in life, I don't agree that it means she's automatically correct about everything, all the time, hands down. I'd like to think I'm an intelligent individual with cognitive thoughts, who only sometimes visits fairyland. And I wish she'd recognize that she raised me as a strong, independant thinker with the capability to grasp other people's perception and respect it without having to agree or let go of my own views. I'm an extremely positive person and so I know that a lot of my thought processes and ideoligies with clash with my mom's more tainted way (or as she calls it; realistic) of looking at life and way of thinking and tackling any situation. I don't expect that to change. But I do hope she can eventually come to see me as an equal despite my age.

I hope that time won't change me.

I don't ever want to be bitter and I hope I can stay positive and remember that happiness is a choice. I know that life happens. I'm ready for it and even if I'm not I know I'll come out of it with more knowledge and somehow find 'the silver lining'. No matter what.

SO YEA!

Go watch Dr.Horrible .. it's pretty much amazing. And please let me know what you think about it! I'd love to hear your thoughts! I'm very much in need of a Dr.horrible outlet at the moment.

Peace, Love & Pancakes
<3Lib

I can't even think of a word to describe how I feel right now.

Let me start by saying that Sunday I had a really long and annoying day, mostly (if not completely) because I had car trouble. I started off Monday tired and not particularly looking forward to the rest of the day. I wanted ever so badly to get some sleep .. but I had things to do. Responsibility always seems to beckon. At some point I passed out at my desk. Yes .. I slept at my desk for about 13 hours Monday night. You have no clue how surprised (kind of pleasantly so) I was that nobody woke me up. I have a couple theories as to why but we won't get into that.

Yesterday was insane. It was long and amazing and full of awesome.

Line Dancing was insane. I had no idea what I was doing and that was absolutely the best part. It was something totally new for me. Like watching those old school movies where everyones in a barn dancing with cowboy hats and boots and southern accents and stuff. It was pretty much full of awesome. I love how awesome the people were. They weren't there to try and hump you or pick up some chicks or whatever. Just to line dance, enjoy themselves, and have fun doing it. The enviroment was just wonderful.

I can't wait to go again in September.

Time always amazes me.

I never realize how quickly it passes by. How sometimes I look at a clock and I want this minute to go by so quickly and how other times I look at the time or the date and emerge in a state of awe because I didn't realize so much time has gone by. I get annoyed waiting in a line to pay at times and yet I'll submit myself to aimlessly watching link after link of youtube videos .. and mind you some of them are brilliant, the majority are really a waste of time. When I was younger at the end of every school year I'd reflect on my life and my experiences that past year and for a long time at the end of each year I'd laugh at myself for being so immature and making so many mistakes, promising that I wouldn't do them again next year. I'd look at the sky and compare to a painting and smile at how wonderfully beautiful it is. When each school year would start I'd think to myself .. this is a fresh start. I can make every change I want. And I'm not really sure why the start of a new school year would give me that idea or fill me with such empowerment as to think that I could make anything happen. Because, now I know that it doesn't matter what time of the year it is, what's happening or what isn't happening, the only factor stopping or pushing myself to do anything is myself. There's always going to be something going on, someone wanting my attention, some responsibility I have to take care of, something that stresses be out or has the possibilty of upsetting me. That's a part of everyday life. I can't and I won't let that stop me. I'm empowered to make a difference and get things done every single day of my gosh darn life whenever I so well please. I make the decision to do something or let something get in the way and not to something. It's me. If time surprises me because it's going by too fast thats my fault.

It's a reminder that I need to do things, not just think about doing them or want to them but actually DO them. So here's a list (or two.. or three) of things that I WILL get done.

Things I'm working on..
1.Special Breakfast Video
2.Ninjas > Pirates Video
3.Collab Channel
4.Interview segment
5.Girls Dont Play WoW Project
6.Sexy Goddess Tribute
7.Working with S.A.S.

Things I'm kind of working on..
1.The rest of the ninja songs
2.My red bouncy ball story
3.My book about Anna
4.My book about ninjas

Things I want to do..
1.Go to all 3 Harry Potter conventions next year
2.Go to the next Nerdfighter's gathering
3.Win a contest relating to something I really care about
4.Learn to play an instrument

Okay .. so in between whatever blogs my mind happens to come up with 1 week from today .. I'll post another blog and see how much closer I am to completing some of these things and which of them are already done! Because yes .. some of them .. should be done by then.. I hope!

Peace, Love & Pancakes
-Lib

Global Geek Week!

Global Geek Week is HERE!

If you're into all that nerdfighter stuff (which I totally am) You'll have heard all about it but if you haven't and you want to ..

http://www.youtube.com/group/globalgeekweek
OR
http://www.globalgeekweek.com

I myself made a video about it too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s86Fl2qcp7Y

Let me know what you think! I had soo much fun making this! .. Writing the actual song was my favorite part!

Everything is a mess.

Well okay fine. That's not true. In truth I can't even say that everything in just MY life is a mess. Mostly because life is designed so that you can't ever have total and utter control over your life, at least not every aspect of it. (Not that you'd want to because hey in my opinion we already spend a ridiculous amount of time worrying too much about the future) And I can't even say that everything that I do have total control over is a mess. So I guess in truth .. it's really not that messy. I just don't like having the plate I balance on my head ever so carefully, suddenly unbalanced. It's not like I can't deal with it, I can't just let the whole plate fall because the galactic lunch lady decided she wanted me to have more peas on the left side of my plate today, or because the invisible green giant chose my plate to take a huge handful of my chocolate cake off of. Generally, you'd assume that having something taken off your plate is awesome. Because it's less to carry and all. But when it disappears off your plate like an enchanted entree at a Hogwarts table, like it was never even there, leaving not so much as a crumb or a little frosting on the plate .. it's actually kind of hard to adjust to. I mean sure, I have lots of food on the plate but what if I wanted that slice of cake? What if I was saving that very slice for something special or because it was my favorite piece on the plate and I wanted it really bad. What then? Nobody asked me if I wanted that slice of cake. It was just taken. Totally gone. When something is being eaten off my cake, maybe because the expiration date is fast approaching or because fresh can be good I'm pretty much okay with it because I know that I can get more and because it's being taken away in small portions, I can sense the plate shifting and adjust accordingly. But what if this slice of cake was special and while I can get another slice of cake .. it won't be -that- slice or from -that- cake. What do I do now.

I guess it's really not messy. There's no pictures of the cake, no smudges, no frosting, not even the fork (or spoon, if one was even used) that stole it away. Maybe the cake left willingly. Maybe it wanted to upgrade from a Spongebob plate to a Silver Platter. I can't really blame it I suppose .. it was a really spectacular slice of cake. I bet it would've been good.

Argh! Now I'm hungry. >.< Damn metaphors.

Party like it's 1999!?

Earlier today I was watching a video and they made a joke about this guy being the 99th degree. No doubt a reference to the 90s band 98 degrees. Laughing at the memories of me oogling over NSYNC and BSB, and wanting to be one of the Spice Girls, I went on Youtube to find some old 98 degrees videos and before I knew it I was in a whirlwind timewarp. Listening to LFO, Dream, Dreamstreat, BBMAK, and even some beginner Britney Spears. Music is one of the most amazing things in the world to me, and that is maybe why I'm unable to hear this music without remembering all the other things that encompassed those years for me. My first trip to the USA, the discovery of Anime, the start of my obsession with music, my 2nd & 3rd languages and my first experience at summer camp. Learning from my mistakes and the mistakes of the world around me, leaving the negative connotations in the past and bringing back the fun those years held.

It is with those thoughts that today, I make a tribute to the 90s.

To Marilyn Manson and The Cure who revived Goth. To Kurt Cobain and grunge. To Michelle Pfeifffer in Batman Returns and later to Victoria Beckham for making the catsuit popular. To platform shoes, Dockers, and cargo pants. To Johnny Carson and the premier of Friends and ER. To X-Files, the beginning of Power Rangers, Sailor moon, and even Bevis & Butthead. To the end of Fools and horses and the first ever HDTV. To Ellen Degeneris, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and MadTV. To the emergence of Teen Pop, Boy Band Craze, Alternetive Rock, and the start of Hip Hop's top 40 Reign. To MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, and TuPac. To Spice Girls Girl Power, Counting Crows, and Ms.Morrissette's Jagged Little overly platinum Pill. To Dolly: the world's most famous sheep, to the pentium processor, mobile phones, the IMAC, and the microdrive. To the hubble, the pathfinder, and genetically engineered crops. To the Hale-Bopp, GPS, and Fermat's last theorem. To AOL, Instant Messaging, and the birth of the buddy list. To Y2K, Lara Croft, Mortal Kombat, and the console wars. To Jurassic Park, Mario, Luigi, and even flaky Princess Peach. To Zelda, Everquest, Starcraft2, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil and Pokemon. To the first McDonald's in Moscow, to accepting that homosexuality isn't a disease, to Nelson Mandella, and the simpsons. To U2, Reality TV Shows, the end of the cold war, the Oslo accords, and the gulf war. To the end of the Ethiopian civil war, Bill Clinton and Monica Luinskey, and Margret Thatcher. To Colombine, to OJ Simpson, third wave feminism, and Freddy Mercury. To Hurricane Andrew, Selena, Cindy Crawford, 'the Rachel' haircut, Mother Teresa, and the Wonderbra.

To waking up early on saturdays to watch cartoons, being young(er), and believing the whole world was mine .. or at least had the possibility to be. Some good, some bad, all different, and all questionable .. the 90s were a time we'll never forget.

Peace, Love & Pancakes
-Lib