Hot Summer Nights

Wow, I’m having the hardest time doing work right now because my stomach feels like I have an ulcer or something.  It’s from the antibiotics -- I took the last one yesterday but boy did they screw my digestive system up.  I’ve had almost no appetite for the past 5 days or so.  It’s a bummer.

So instead of working (which is really frustrating) I’m just doing some random stuff…like updating this blog.

Two nights ago the weirdest thing happened.  I was woken up at around 5am (it was still pitch black out) to the sound of a very low flying plane.  It sounded like it was circling around.  When it didn’t just pass over I got a bit nervous so I jumped out of bed and ran to the front door.  I realized there was a helicopter with a searchlight hovering over my neighborhood.  I got pretty freaked out when I saw a few men walking quickly down the street with flashlights looking into people’s yards.  There were no sirens or anything.  My adrenaline was definitely pumping.  I didn’t know if there was a murderer running around or what.  I was a little on edge thanks to the two stories that have been in the news about the girl that was recently kidnapped and killed and the body of Amber DuBois found recently in Pala, which is inland and not that far from here.  In the morning I talked to my landlord and she said that apparently it was Border Patrol looking for a boat of illegal immigrants (Mexicans).  Crazy huh?

Recently I’ve been listening to a song by the Smashing Pumpkins called 1979.  For some reason that song gives me this incredible feeling of nostalgia about high school.  It gave me a feeling about high school nostalgia while I was in high school, for crying out loud.  How can you have nostalgia for the present?  Anyway, I think it just brings out a certain emotion about the past.  I sometimes fall into melancholy…it’s weird but for some reason I enjoy it.  That sounds completely emo I know, but it’s more that the song brings out some memories that are incredibly crisp and clear.  Like the green fields on our school grounds, and sports practice after school.  Like class night.  Like lockers and changing classes.

Music is quite unique in that it can bring out emotional memories.  If you buy a CD for a trip and listen to it the entire time you’re on the trip, then put the CD away for 6 months, the next time you listen to that particular CD you’ll feel like you’re back on the trip.  It’s like the songs store a particular emotional fingerprint.  It’s really cool, and I think this is why I like the interplay between movies and music.

The weather is absolutely BEAUTIFUL today here in San Diego.  It feels like summer.  It was almost too hot for me after lunch.  Too bad I’m suffering from this stomach ache.  I’m going to to try to surf a little later and see if that helps.  Usually if I surf when I’m having indigestion or something it totally helps.  Fortunately my sinus infection is quite a bit better.

I think this is cold!

It’s been a bit chilly here in San Diego the past week.  Not sure why, but it’s been a bit chilly to want to hang outside.  Listen to me – now I think that 63 and sunny is too chilly!  I think that it’s COLD when it’s 56 and cloudy.  I’ve lost my mind.  But seriously, it gets kind of cold if it’s breezy, which it usually is after lunchtime.   I was looking at the observed temperatures for this past week over at weather.com and yeah, to me a week of sub 60 temperatures is COLD.  I guess it’s proof that I’m now a San Diegan.

I finally have my voice back today.  Well, not completely.  Some of my range still comes out as no sound, but it’s 75% back to normal.  I sounded absolutely awful since Saturday, and my voice was cracking on every word.  Plus, my right ear somehow got clogged and it wouldn’t drain.  So I went back to the doctors and got the usual round of antibiotics again.  This is a bit ridiculous – antibiotics three times within 3-4 months?  Oh well.  At least I’m getting better.  I’m going to have to become one of those people who uses Purell every 5 minutes because I apparently have the immune system of a little baby.  Sigh.

Dell U2410 Monitor

In other news, my new computer came!  It’s a beast.  I had to get a monitor separately, but I’m not sure I’m too happy with it.  I got the Dell u2410.  It’s a pricey monitor, but I wanted something that would be business quality and able to be useful for graphic design.  Well, it’s great except for one thing – there is this horrendous anti-glare coating on the screen that makes it look so grainy.  To me it looks awful, and maybe it’s just my eyes but I feel like I go crosseyed when I try to read text on the screen.  It’s hard to describe, but it causes white backgrounds to have a prism quality, kind of similar to what you see on a TV screen if you sprayed it with a mist of water.  It reflects the little LCD pixels in slightly different directions so you see itsy-bitsy specks of red, green, and blue.  I mean, they are really itsy – you can’t pinpoint one really, but you can still see them as a mist.  Sadly I might have to return it to Dell and get a different monitor, probably with a glossy screen.  My laptop doesn’t have a glossy screen – it’s matte but it doesn’t have this problem.  I’ll give it another day and do some more research on alternate monitor options.

I’ve been feeling a bit listless these past few weeks.  I just feel off-track, like I’m not going anywhere.  I guess I need a challenge; I need to be creative.  That’s the tough thing about doing internet marketing…I’m a bit bored with it and it’s been a bit monotonous lately.  I really need a goal to spur me right now – something to accomplish.  I’m not sure what that is yet, but I need to take some time to think about it.  I guess I just feel that writing websites about computer software and other stuff is just not very fulfilling.  Or maybe it’s just that I’ve been sick and sitting on my butt.  But I’ve just been a little…bored I guess.  It’s weird to say I’ve been bored, because I’ve been doing all sorts of fun stuff with my friends here.  But in my down time I feel very directionless and frustrated for some reason.  I had a strange but very vivid dream the other night that might offer an explanation; I was on the Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey team (don’t ask me why, I’ve never played ice hockey in my life…I’ve never even held a hockey stick and worn skates at the same time) and I was stuck on the sidelines.  I felt like I had all this talent and skill and I wanted to get in there and shoot a goal, but the coach (who was played by, in an amazing amount of randomness, my gym teacher from high school) wouldn’t put me in the game!  I guess this just goes to show that I feel like I want to do something significant.  I’ve always had that desire – to do something really significant.

Anyway, I’m gonna do a bit of soul searching and figure out a project or a goal that I can work on.  I’ll still be doing my usual job, but I really need something that I’m passionate about.  I’m just not sure what that is yet.

Ugh.  Well, I’m sick again.  Somehow I caught a cold last week.  Wednesday was about when I started feeling it.  I’m pretty bummed – I really think that since Nov. 1 I have spent more time sick than healthy.  It’s so frustrating because I keep trying to get into a schedule of running and surfing because I want to get into better shape.  I know I’m in relatively good shape but I just like knowing that I’m being active.  I like feeling super in-shape rather than just passably in-shape.

Bear Mountain, CA

I went snowboarding with Val and Alexis on Saturday.  I had a lot of fun but unfortunately I was a bit in a daze the whole time since the cold was just taking it out of me.  I also couldn’t talk!  I sounded like a strung-out sorority girl who had too much Vodka the night before.  However I think I boarded pretty well, and it was my first time at Bear Mountain here in California.  Val was able to get us free lift tickets too, which was awesome!  Even though it was crowded and the snow quality was so-so, I really liked Bear.  I think it’s because it has a lot of smaller jumps that I can go off without being too scared.  I really want to get better at going off jumps – it’s really exhilarating!

Last night a bunch of us watched the Oscars at Megan’s house in Solana Beach.  It was fun to actually do that – I love watching the Oscars but it’s so hard to find people who also like to watch them!  So we had dinner, wine and cheese, and commented on the show.  I really had a good time.  I love movies and the film industry, so that’s my thing.  I also saw quite a few of the movies that were nominated so I felt like I had a better feel for who should have won.  I was psyched that Katherine Bigelow won for best director – the first woman to win a best director nod.  Has it really taken that long?  I’m not an ultra feminist or anything, but seriously.  Also, the fact that she directed the war movie “The Hurt Locker” is awesome.  Just goes to show that us girls actually CAN direct a serious action movie, not just romantic fluff.  Bigelow also directed Point Break and K-19 The Widowmaker.

Grumpy Clooney

I didn’t think that Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were that funny though.  And what was up with George Clooney!??  He looked like he had a stick up his rear end every time they showed him on camera.  After doing some research it was supposed to be part of the gag, but I totally did NOT get it.  I really thought Mr. Clooney was angry, and it was kind of uncomfortable.  Lots of other people had no idea what was going on either.  Check this link for more info.

In other news I’ve been reading a book called “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.”  I really like it so far.   I’m about 130 pages in, and it’s a mystery/suspense/political intrigue kind of book.  I’m not quite sure how to describe it.  It takes place in Sweden, which is a really neat setting.  I’ve always been interested in places like Sweden and Finland and Norway.  You just don’t hear about them that often and I’m curious about their culture.  I think they’re pretty modern and Westernized.  I’d love to go travel there someday.

Also, I changed the theme back for you, mom.  For now.