Happy Near Year!

What a year it has been! my first year since I was 18 that was retail management free! Holy cow. Handsome Gentleman Friend and I have been on so many adventures (which you can check out at Dr Mookie Loves Blog) and I have never been so grateful. My family is amazing and helped me through school and helping me not be devistated by debt of said school and that also falls into my gratefullness. (not a well constructed sentence but what ever!)

I bought a goldfish, his name is Tuttle and he is adorable. I started him a blog (the old goldfish experiment blog) and it has ruffled some feathers. People are so quick to assume that someone has no idea what their doing or is out for evil without even reading or looking into the matter. /its amazing and would have been devastating to me before but now I guess I'm finally growing up because they can all suck a huge bag of dicks. Anywho, Tuttle is adorable and Im watching his growth, and posting pictures to show how fast a cute little comet can grow out of a 10 gallon tank. Why a 10 gallon? Well 10 is the most common sized tank available. This also makes it the cheapest tank to get. The common lore is goldfish live in bowls, which I'm sorry is wrong. get a betta.*bettas do better in bigger tanks too but will be much less of a hassel and fewer tears then a goldie*

Many goldfish enthusiasts and keepers go by 2 gallons of water per inch of goldfish. This is the school I tend to subscribe to, and have had many goldies live to be over 10 years and over 10 inches long. Now many keepers spout the "Goldfish love 20+ years and grow over 12 inches".I have quoted this. But in my experience and in polling true goldie keepers, this isn't the truth. I'm not saying it CAN'T happen, it totally can and you need to be prepared for it, especially is the fish you won at the carnival ended being a koi hybrid, but if your a pet owner who's PET passes away at 6 or 7 years and was only 7 inches long you may feel like a failure, and this is far from the truth. You are a great keeper and honestly your pet had ordinary genetics.

This leads back to the 10 gallon tank. I recently heard a smart man say "If you have a solution and people aren't willing to do it then its not a solution." So true, People scream at new fish owners "You need a pond!""!00 gallon tank per fish!!" "Its just gunna die anyway" and this is a horrible way to try and educate people about the MOST POPULAR PET IN THE WORLD. I agree the bowl is not a way to go, but perhaps I can convince a bowl person to switch to a 10 gallon tank and see how beautiful and healthy their pet can be!and yes, most of the fish will grow out of it. but by then their owners will hopefully be hooked on the hobby and be ready for more tank space. Or they find them a pond to live in, Either way a 10 gallon tank is cheaper then many of the critter keepers and so is easier to convince an owner to get, and is more space for the pet.Win win? I think so.

Anyways, after that pet rant.This year has already been awesome! We went rang it in with an N64 showdown. On the first went to a fantastic party at Leo and Michaels, On the second saw Heather Cesar and KJ, and yesterday saw Dinosaurs with the Aunts and Teri and Don! Im a spoiled rotten girl and am so happy

A Lovely Weekend and Anteaters and Movie Theories

This weekend was amazing. Really the whole week. On Wednesday my animal anatomy class went to the SF Zoo, and since I hate myself and am working on the superficial muscle structure of an anteater.. And since there is exactly 0 reference for that anywhere in the world, I hunted down the anteater keeper. First I stalked Nancy, a docent, a lovely older woman who sent me to Stella, keeper of books and docents. Stella printed me some info that won't help this project but will help my general knowledge, so Nancy and I headed off to hunt down Bruno. Bruno is overworked. Bruno gets to play with exotic birds and anteaters all day and I think he wants a vacation. And maybe a raise. But Bruno is awesome. Bruno let me ask a million questions ranging from childish to unanswerable and to shut me up let me FEED THE ANTEATER OUT OF MY HAND! My hand was licked by an anteater!!! She likes Avacado. So my life is complete now.

Saturday Tim and Kate came down and we hung out in Japantown, did the Japanese photobooths (so much fun!!!) Then saw Matt and Kim at the Warfield. I'm a true San Franciscan now, and possibly a hipster. But the show was fantastic and the company was amazing. Handsome Gentleman friend is now destitude as his girlfriend spent all of his monies, but I think he had a good time as well. Sunday we headed down to Daly City to see Brandi and Codi, long time no see, and watch one of the greatest movies of all time.... Big Trouble in Little China. I'm watching again right now in my TV, but this was in theaters... Big screen. Big sound. The way it was ment to be seen. Codi apparently had never seen it.. I don't know how that happened since we have been friends for many years and I watch it almost monthly... His reactions were what they should be. "What the fuck did I just see?" You just saw movie magic my friend! Later that night I spent more of GFs monies because Amy is home from Italy!! And to celebrate we went to Pinole creek for fried chicken that takes 2 days to make :3 it was fantastic even though she was a total pill.

So my theories on BTLC

Everyone in this movie except the white people are in or were in a gang. Jack, Gracie and Margo are the only ones with 0 knowledge of the gangs. Egshen is the leader of a frikin street gang! The Yang Shin carry automatic weapons at a funeral.

Also the Wing Kong gang/trading company/ho ring is run by a horny ghost.

Eddie is a matredee with an intamate knowledge of the inner workings of the Wing Kong. Eddie was Wing Kong. Is that why he an Eg almost never share a scene?

The leader of a gang (Eg) drives a tour bus. For fun? Is it a front?

Jack Burton is just a guy who delivers hogs and wants to help his friend.

Jack has a truck called the Pork Chop Express and delivers hogs. Your mind = blown

Their drunk and or high in almost every scene. Count the bottles of beer on the tables at the Dragon of the Black Pool next time.

And lastly, the restaurant is called The Dragon of the Black Pool. Why is this not a thing here in the bay? I would eat there every night and wear the shirts... Not just cause of the movie but also because its a dragon... Of a black mfing pool!

The Skip in a Song

Today while walking down the street, headphones in my head holes, in was listening to Marc Maron. I heart WTF and Marc. Anywho, he was talking to Mic Jagger! Holy crap! And after the 10 minute interview, Mic graciously hung up and Marc did his thing, going through his thoughts. My favorite part BTW. Marc mentioned listening to an album in his youth and it having a skip at a very specific point, and for two decades after waiting for that skip in other versions.

This is what music should be

I also have songs, mine bad tapes and shitty CD copies. Songs I can time based on clicks and scratches, that's what made your copy unique. Also music was more sacred. Now its disposable. I know people who go through songs like they are potato chips. I grew up with parents who were very into music, hell, Dad toured with Buddy Miles, Uriah Heep and worked with Janis Joplin. But we were also broke as shit, and therefor each album, cassette and CD were like gold. The first Album I bought with my own money was the Beetlejuice sound track. Followed by Harry Belafonte. But I wanted the movie album because i could get the most variety of music for my buck. This tend continued for a long time for me, some of the life changers were the Twister Sound Track- My first into to Van Halen, Matrix Soundtrack- oh metal! and the Drew Carry Show Soundtrack, thats an amazing collection of early rock. Each one had imperfections I would wait for with my CD Walkman in hand. 

I still don't get music "In Bulk". Actually I came into some iTunes gift cards thanks to Handsome Gentleman Friend, and have been buying up songs one at a time. Just singles. I was for a while buying them once a week, and obsessing over it for a week or so then moving on. After quitting horrible corporate job I have been more conservative, though this morning, as if bringing this Maron quote into being, I got some songs I had been lusting after since high school, blasting when I could catch them not he radio but never made it into my collection. 

Any suggestions of singles to add to my collections? Im big into 60, 70, 80s rock 

Adults and Stuffed Animals

Anyone who knows me at all find out quickly, I LOVE TOYS. Like will be in my house alone playing with my ponies. I have almost all of my childhood stuffed animals, because the thought of them ending up unloved in a thrift shop kills me. Mostly Im a functional adult, who pays her bills (unless im outta money? who hasnt been there...) Is finishing an intensive BFA program and trying to launch a small business. But at night, when Im not with Handsome Gentleman Friend, I sleep with my bear. His name is Binky. I have had Bink since I was 2, when my old bear, Buddy, went missing on a shopping trip. I have a memory of a kid running up and ripping him out of my hands, but no one can corroborate so I could be one of those made up memories... At any rate my poor mother tried everything to get him back, even took out a want add. A carbon copy of Buddy was purchased which I rejected, he was an impostor! He lives with my mom currently, his name is Theodore and we have come to terms that he isnt an actual impostor, but I digress. Binky I pick out myself, and I remember, some large department store, rows of plushies and bins, and I found Binky. We were meant to be.He came with his name, a little tag on his ear my parents read to me. After that we were inseparable.

Bink has gone just about everywhere with me.As a kid he came on sleep overs and to my grandparents and Aunts houses, to school sometimes even. I remember when I had a sleep over and realized I would be the only one with a security bear and had to hide him in the toy box and was miserable the whole night, and felt so guilty. He was the leader of my toys, and had to live in the commons? But we all survived. Once I accidently left him on some train tracks for an entire night. We were at my dads indie auto shop, which had train tracks running behind it. My sister Tess and I were playing (yes on the tracks, oh the 90's) and it wasnt until we got home I realized Binky wasn't with me. I cried to much, and my loving father told me stories about him being hit by trains and devoured by raccoon's and coyotes. Miraculously the next day he was out on the tracks, with that smell fabric gets when toasted by the sun. Turns out the train tracks there were no longer in used, hence why we were allowed to play on them, and you thought my dad was negligent! Well, he was just not about that.

What brought all of this up? Well, I still sleep with Bink as I mentioned before. I turn 30 in 2 months and I sleep with my bear. Not every night, but sometimes I need someone to squeeze and GF is not there. This is normal but the other night GF and I crashed at my abode for the first time in a long time. My house is kind of inconvenient for alot of the stuff we do on weekends so were not there alot. Anywho, I moved Bink to the dresser where he resides when he isnt on my pillow or in my arms and my handsome man and I dozed off to sleep. The next morning I woke up, with GF wrapped around me in warm embrace. I realized I was wrapped around another man though...Binky! I had apparently reachout up and grabbed him in the night but have no recollection of this. GF smiled and didnt make fun of me when he realized his grown ass girlfriend was sleeping with her bear. (He is well aware of Bink, I brought him up early in the relationship because love me love my bear.. and my cats.. and my fish.. and..) This was weird for me though, but I chalked it up to a few beers and not feeling great the day before.

Then yesterday I fell down a rabbit hole of the internet as Im prone to doing. I found this great article by a gal named Daisy here:

http://www.xojane.com/family/Realms-of-Gold-Stuffed-Animal-Hospital

Its such a sweet story and something many of us Plushie owners have had to contend with. So I follwed the links from the articles to Realms of Gold's Website, then Dr. Beths Blog...

http://doctorbeth.tumblr.com/

After spending half a day reading stories I stumbled across some pictures of a bear that looks JUST LIKE BINKY. It came with a video, which i started watching and realized was RIDICULOUS. It had a slow version of "I would walk 5000 miles" and I paused it and started showing it to GF in hopes of some good laughs when... the tears started. I have no idea why, or where they came from. But by the end of the video I was a mess. Handsom who was laughing and joking stopped and was geniunly concerned. His girlfriend was loosing her shit over a video of a bear being reconstructed. Im tearing up now thinking about it. The idea of anything bad happening to my bear is the worst thing in the world. Literally the worst thing that could ever happen to me would be loosing my bear. He's been with me through Tough times, good times, moving and moving and moving and moving and moving out and detroit, evictions, couch stays, long trips, everything. I will cry more for his passing them many members of my own family for one simple reason, he was there when they weren't.

So this is my confession. I love my bear. No shame! Plushie owners unite!!

Pictures from Handsome return from New Orleans on Valentines Day surprising me with gifts in an arrangement with my best friend

Art School

Art school is something that is either taken way to seriously (CCA I'm looking at you) or is completely blown off as some fools folly. In my fourth year here at the Academy of Art I have realized its somewhere in between, Art students work their REARS off. I know people finishing other degrees and from what I can tell its about double the work time. Yes studying Law or Medicine is tedious, but those guys get to party. There's a lot less partying going on when you have a project our teacher expects you to spend 40 hours (yes, a full work week) on, times 4 classes. What? 160 hours worth of work a week? not every week per say, but ya, some weeks. Especially during finals. There's no test, its just present what you have worked so hard on and let the masses right it to shreds during critique. The first 2 years I was here we were loosing a student a semester to suicide. Sadly this "hippie" life style isn't for the weak of heart. Your art CAN'T Be personal. If its personal you will be destroyed. Art school is NOT for your life passion, that book you've been writing since the sixth grade, the comic with 17 installments, your "character". No, this is for breaking down everything you thought you knew, everything you hold dear, and replacing it with hopefully better knowledge. Unless you get a nut job professor, in which case you will spend the next semester getting disemboweled by your new teacher (ask me how I know this). So why do it? Arnt artists supposed to be dreamers and creators? We are, but to compete you need to have a a Liam Neeson set of skills, and some how try not to kill off that dreamer, the one who wrote 17 issues of your unpublishable comic because while its bad (your comic is bad.) there is creativity, a few good, usable ideas, and when your finished, jaded and broken you can pick over the carcass for little bits of meaty goodness. Anyways, welcome to my blog!

September was my last post? REALLY?

Well if anyone still reads this other then roaming spambots Im sorry. both for what you have to read and that youve not had anything new to read. Im sure the angry Darlene rant is getting old. So whats up?

October- Halloween was AWESOME. I mean, really really awesome. My handsome gentleman friend and I went as Spanky Ham and LingLing from Drawn together. We made it to Peters awesome house party with the co-workers and Sid's amazing party, both of which were so much fun. Also Midterms happened and I did surprizingly well, especially for 5 GD classes...

November- Thanksgiving went on, had it at Nan and Sue's again, and we took Ed in the Jeep which was an adventure all its own. Also I decided to dry dock poor Darlene as her tags came up, its a SMOG year, her check engine light is on and I have like $3 cash to put towards it. GF is awesome and lets me steal Gretchen. Poor Darlene though...

December- Finals! FML.... Who ever says art school is so much easier then their life should try vector imaging and flash coding. Yes, Im an action scripter now! Well, with a ton of help from KTea.... :3 My sweet handsome man was in Utah for most of it. Before he left we drove to Redlands to visit my mama, and I had a great time. We got to visit some apple orchards, eat really good pizza, drink at Hanger 24, and visit. Then Mama came to visit for 9 days which was AWESOME. Christmas was wonderful till my sister was... well... Tess. Tess is Tess. She has my Grandmothers Bridge now (long story, its her turn) and I may never see it again BUT I got the hopechest, which for you non-catholics, is a big cedar chest used for storing linens and what not. Really it was origionally for young women to keep the things they would need for marriage, sheets, pillowcases, silver ware etc  ... But my grandmothers is big and beatuful and smells amazing and its mine. Bitch can wait for Dad's... lol. Last few days of the month I was in Utah for reasons I'll relay later...

Oh and I got fired from Evil Corporate Soul Sucking Peice of Frikin Shit job, or ECSSPFSJ... lol! And you know what? never been better! My stomach is 1000% better, and Im going to reopen my Etsy shop, and a lot of new good things! Lets see if I can scrape together less then a living wage from this stuff!!

Also, Cooper and Hale Bop passed away. About a week from each other. It was really sad, but they both had REALLY good runs. Cooper was 5ish and Hale Bop was 12... 12 GD years old! Go Fishy... Goldie Han is great, getting fat. Castor and Pickles are spunky as always and 2 sweet little ratty muffins have joined the ranks- Tamale and Fajita! :3

All in all 2014 was a pretty good year, and i think 2015 will be big. it better be, im supposed to graduate and turn 30! I may be the only person excited about 30, Ive made it!

Birthday Joy and San Mateo County Fair!

So Alaska pictures are still being processed...ya Im slow.This week has been insane..I though summer was supposed to slow down, be easy and fun...So before all the joy, heres some angry rant.

Upon my return i learned my horrible job and my horrible union were locked in a pissing match of Jean Claude proportions. so first we were gunna have a vote on strike, which ment the managers ran around like idiots harrassing everyone. We got letters from the GM of both buildings saying he would fire us, and essentially kill our families and piss on our ashes (in a corporate way). then my manager made sure to max out my time off pay while i was gone so now i have none... even though i planned it so i would save some. This also ment my next paycheck was... $71. uuugghhh.... Anywho then another creepy ass manager from a lower floor took pictures of my with his phone in the LOCKER ROOM. There were like 30 people there but now their all saying they didnt see it even though we all did. I decided I was going to over react and fight this as sexual harrasment... but now i have had panic attacks at work and am thinking.. Im not over reacting, apparently this is really freaking me out. I had to leave work yesterday (not making for good paychecks...) and am job hunting as we speak. (what if your manager reads this? wont you be fired? if anyone is really reading this... HEY VANN AND TIM, GO FUCK YOURSELVES YOU PERVERTED ASS HATS.)

Can I say Handsome Gentleman Friend has been absolutly amazing through all of this. Thank you handsome :3

OK! Onto the JOY!! It was my birthday on the 8th!! I turned 29 years old.. for realsies! not a fake! a true 85 baby. Anywho, Flea and Tess and Husband and Tess' man all came down and we had an awesome time! We met at Steve's, and fun fact, Tess hadnt eaten and was grumpy and late... But oh well. We awaited Flea and Ryans arrival. eventually we headed to Cafe Avalino's, one of my favorites (but the owners sold.. Pizza's still good but Im scared!) After Avalinos we all headed to Pacifica for Tacobell. For those who dont know, Pacifica is a little seaside town just past San Francisco, and the tacobell backs up to a gorgiose white sand beach. Therefore its heaven, correct?

Tess and Chris split, so Flea Ryan Handsome and I all headed to Rogue! As a Rogue member I have been promised a TShirt, and free pint for my bday. Of course they dont do that anymore.... but they do offer a LITER of beer in exchange... (I kinda wanted a tshirt :/) but the Chocolate Porter is AMAAAAAZING. We also had Marionberry Mead, some samplers, Potato Nacho's (crisscut fries covered in yummyness), a hummus platter and all kinds of yum. We also headed to gelato after with Flea and I kiiiiinda drunk. All in all a great time

Then on Saturday, my cousin Jeff came home from the airforce!! :D just for a short leave, but yaaaay! so to have family birthday and celebrate Jess we headed to the Nantucket, which i havnt been to in yeeeaaarrss... BTW the food is AWESOME. 

Handsome, Amy, Jeff, Sue, Nan, and Janet! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Angry Hate Filled Rant of DOOM

Izzy's mad again, watch out. So Im posting tonight from my good old reliable beast Ralph. So if Im missing any T's I appologize now.... What happened to the new laptop? Well, its been acting a little wonky then the other night it full out died. The hard drive failed and its toast. No worries, I backed up everything a few days before and ill take it to Best Buy and have them fix it, they did sell it to me only 4 months ago.So I take it over, apparently they only guarentee the hard drive for 90 days on that model, its been 120. Yep, one month after the warrenty expired. I called numbers, hollered, cried and everything for 2 hours.. they offered to mail me a $100 vouvher towards repairs in 7-10 buisiness days.... but I have to buy the supplies from them. Fuck you Best Buy.

So I went home and called ASUS who built the stupid thing, and a very nice lady helped me with some info, and i spoke to many people of varrying accents. BTW they tranfered me more times wih less holds the Best Buy, or should I say RAPE BUY. Asus agreed that they cant do anything over 90 days, so I told them I will be happy to spread the word that their computers only last 3 months, and they offered to look at it for free, hey cover the shipping and if I want them to fix it they will gaurantee it for another 90 days.... I asked what happens when in 120 days it fails again like it did this time and they dont have an answer. but ill take them up on their free inspection. since I don get my RAPE vouncher from Best Buy for 10 days anyways.

I also offered to speak to them in person, but they dont wan me to do that... Anyway the email me the info, and i tell them, I DON HAVE A COMPUTER... so she tells me all the codes and what not. I head to FedEx and... they cant search the codes on their system.. I have to use their computer- for $5 - and give it to them. So Im here at starbucks with Ralph retrieving codes and Blogging angrily.

On my hate list-
Best Buy- Geeksquad Certified means it WILL die in 4 months, we gaurentee that!
GeekSquad- We do whatever Best Buy tells us, right master?
FedEx- To retarded to pull heir own delivery codes. REALLY???
Asus- has the ability to work themselves off if we can work this out, aka you fix what you made.

I really did have a good week and weekend before all this... :( I'll post when Im in a better mood...

Dinosaurs, Meat and Strike

Sorry for yet another delay. Last week the regular schedule was on hold because the train that takes 400,000 people to and from San Francisco decided to strike. Apparently making 70k-100k a year isn't enough, and paying for 16 percent of their benefits is just to much for the employees to stand. So the whole city was on hold. As for me, I decided if half my building wasn't going to show up I would reap the rewards and accepted 45 hours, one of which was holiday pay and 5 hours of over time! I crashed at handsome Gentleman Friends as getting across the bay was almost impossible. As for the strike after 4 days the unions lost all public support and decided to take a month to renegotiate. 

But this last weekend after working my feet sore my sweet man took me to Discover the Dinosaurs!!! Over 60 life sized animatronic dinosaurs, inflatable slides for kids, and so much fun!

Ill post more photos from not my phone. Did I mention this is a mobile update? :3 anywho, the MEAT OF THE WEEK! Was created and consumed. I was able to purchase some little chuck steaks, which are a thin but tough little steak for about $4 a lbs. I marinated them in some soy sauce, olive oil and a dash of Montreal steak seasoning and seared them hot and fast. Then served them sliced thin in strips. Yum!!