Freaks and geeks

Let's get scary.

The weekend is upon us!  Halloween has injected itself into all of us and we can't wait.

Fantabulus.

Here comes the sun

It's back!  Blue skies and sunbaked sidewalks and a certain something in the air.

Halloween is, as you should all know, this upcoming weekend.  To all those I love and cherish, but no longer live close to, I WILL be expecting pictures.

I do have a fair amount of work today, so my time spent in the sunshine will be, unfortunately, limited, but it's time well spent nonetheless!  Time to catch up on all that delicious delicious vitamin D (and later time to binge on vitamin E to counteract the UVs)

We have normality, I repeat, we have normality.

I want to see you smile

Once again, thanks Mathew for turning me onto these!  Made my day!

If you can get through these videos without smiling, get yourself checked.  Parking validation and carpool lanes have never been this wonderful.





Start with Validation.  They take up a bit of time, but they're absolutely absolutely worth it!  If you're smiling, you're doing it right.

<3

At a deadly pace

I poured everything - chaos, tears, desperation - into dance. And so I purged until there was nothing left and I could once again grow into someone stronger, more powerful, and more beautiful. This is the fortunate miracle of the marriage between movement and music.  And now, it gets to be mine again.

Rehearsals start today, which means I can once again call myself a dancer.  It's always hard for me to describe how dancing makes me feel.  It's like transcending everything awful and horrible in the world and being absolutely immersed in something beautiful.  It's saying everything that words can't.  It's feeling everything there is to feel.

Someone asked me when I feel most beautiful.  What do I wear?  What kind of makeup do I put on?  My answer is when I look like hell after hours of working and sweating, when my makeup is running and my hair is greasy and my entire body hurts.

I feel most beautiful when I look like this:

Because everyone should have a hobby, right?

Much love.  Have a passion!  Life is boring without one.

Falling Whistles

I was introduced to a really cool project today (thanks Mathew!), and it's something I feel I should spread.

Falling Whistles is working to bring awareness to the war currently ravaging the Congo; despite being one of the world's deadliest wars to date, it seems that far too few people know what's going on.  I urge you to check them out; it's something I didn't know until today and it's something I wish I had found sooner.

You can also check out this video for more information.

And now, snack!  Good day to you, sirs and madams.

Maybe Black Mesa

That was a joke.  Haha.  FAT CHANCE.

It feels good to write again, and it feels especially good to write again in beautiful Solana Beach.  I'm no expert on the subject, but the way I feel when I return home is proof enough to me that where and how you grow up defines a lot of who you are.  You can take the girl out of San Diego.....you all know where I'm going with this.

I saw most of my old haunts.  Returned to my ballet alma mater to take a class (I forgot how much I missed getting my @$$ kicked on a Saturday morning), went shopping at all of the best thrift stores, enjoyed good company and fresh sea air at Pannikin, and in about 7 minutes I'll be off to the best brunch cafe in southern California.  Mozy's Cafe in Leucadia.  Look it up, people.

Remember where you come from.  It's called home, sweet home for a reason.

Groovin' up slowly

Another midterm meets its match.

After a few days of work, I'm ready for some serious relaxing.  I'm also ready to make the pilgrimage to my roots; I'm heading back to Solana Beach for the weekend!  There are some things you take for granted until they're no longer there.  Granted, I love it up here and I wouldn't change anything, but it'll be great to see the ocean again (not having it within eyesight at all times has taken some getting used to).

Also, if you listen to "Come Together" closely, each verse describes a member of the Beatles.  Fun fact!

Corgi flop

If you're wondering where your youth and good looks and vitality went, this puppy sucked it out of you to maintain optimal levels of adorability.

It's Tuesday!  It's a sunny, warm Tuesday that follows rather quickly upon the heels of an awesome Monday.  It was great to see the Hallman clan at CMC.  I need to hang out with those boys more often.

Short post.  Midterm Wednesday.  Studying commences.

You...

just lost the game.

SNIPED!

Nighttime....DAYTIME!

Has it really been four days?

My bad.  But on the bright side, all midterms and papers and classes are accounted for as of 9:50 this morning!  My week is officially over!  And I do believe I'm going rock climbing today at noon.  Get excited for me, peeps.

I'd also like to congratulate my wonderful mother for making it through another year, putting the running count at an undisclosed number (I'm fine with revealing her age once I get permission).  Huzzah!

The skies are clearing up, the sun is out, there's a lovely bright quality to every new day...all that's left for me to do is enjoy the weekend!  You should enjoy the weekend too.  Weekends are lovely things.

HAPPY ENOUGH TO NECESSITATE THE USE OF CAPS LOCK!  PEACE OUT.

There is a light and it never goes out

Tyler Clementi.  Seth Walsh.  Billy Lucas.  Raymond Chase.  Justin Aaberg.  Asher Brown.

And these are just the stories we've heard on the news.  Unfortunately, there are so many more stories and voices that we don't get to hear, but that makes them no less important.  These boys died for a stupid and senseless reason; someone hurt them so badly that they felt they had no choice but to take their own lives.

It's true that LGBTQ tolerance has come a long way (only as recently as 1973 was it declassified as a mental illness in the DSM), but clearly it needs to go further.  Feeling alone and dehumanized shouldn't be a normal part of identifying as gay or bisexual, but for too many young people it's a part of waking up each morning.  However, I don't want to just focus on the sexual orientation of these victims.  Homosexuality is not the issue at hand; the issue at hand is insensitivity and cruelty, which unfortunately are ills that anyone can experience.  Gay and bisexual teens are at a higher risk for being bullied than straight teens, but thousands if not millions of people feel ostracized because of their socio-economic status, religion, appearance, gender, or mental and/or physical handicap.  This sort of abuse leads to depression, and in the worst cases, death.

There is a silver lining to all of this, and it's that your actions and words can positively impact someone just as much, if not more, than they can negatively impact someone.  How would these six stories have turned out differently if these boys had the support and acceptance that they deserved?  So my challenge to you is this: instead of worrying about the terrible things others are saying, concentrate on being a friend, a confidante, and an ally.  People will always get hurt, but if there are more of us willing to be healers, we can have more stories with happy endings.  Love is incredible.  It can change, and in some cases save a life.

I'm ready to stand up and be a healer.  I know there are more of us out there willing to do the same.

Futurism

Good morning!  It's a new day here in Claremont and the grass is green, the squirrels are chipper, and the sun is....NOT HERE??

So it's pretty gray and a bit chilly.  This is why I have my track sweatpants.  I am of course rocking the white on top, spreading awareness for teen drunk driving like so many of my friends at home and across the country.  My advice to everyone is to keep a reliable taxi company or a trustworthy friend/family member in your phone contacts; leave your car at the party, I promise it's not more important than you are.

This will be a short post, as I've got a midterm on Thursday and I'll be damned if I don't do brilliantly.

ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD

We could go to the park

John Legend tonight at Bridges Auditorium.  AWESOME.

I've never been a die-hard fan, or really much of a fan at all; I got a ticket because I figured it'd be a cool thing to do with my fellow CMCers.  But he's very talented.  I'm inspired to buy some new music.

That's it for my Friday.  More exciting things to come with the weekend!

Stay classy, [not just] San Diego.