Movin' On Up!

Well, it's been a while since I've been back. I don't think I'll be able to write as much as I could before. That's a bummer. Having a full-time job really takes a lot out of a person..

A lot has happened in the last month. Since getting a job (which was supposed to be temporary), I've been promoted to a full-time position that is permanent. I was also given a raise. Two raises, actually - but that's not important....

With my new permanent job and income, I decided it was time to start looking for a new place to live. Almost 4 years here at the apartment on the 3rd floor is enough for me. In order to afford all the deposits, the moving expenses, start up fees, etc - I needed a roommate.. and a roommate I got!

I signed the lease papers on the house on Thursday and I am so thrilled. I am eagerly anticipating moving into a roomy house with a backyard for my children and dog to play in. This house is a little over 2,000 sq feet, has 3 bedrooms and a game room upstairs. We plan on converting the game room into a bedroom for one of the kids. With my roommate helping out with a little bit of the rent, I'm going to be paying LESS than what I am paying now for my apartment. How good is that!?

The kitchen is huge and will be a nice upgrade from the small one I have in my apartment. I no longer have to worry about my children or dog being too loud and bothering the people underneath us...

I took some pictures of the house on my phone when we went to do out final walk-through to make sure we still like the house... and like it, we did!


This.. is the pantry. Huge, huh?

Backyard

Living Room - view from the kitchen. That door is the front door.

Standing in the same place in the kitchen... to the left of the living room is this breakfast room. The living room and breakfast room is divided by a 1/2 wall.

This is the kitchen - view from standing in the breakfast room. Don't worry - that wall isn't pink. It's just bad lighting! If it IS pink (and I think I would have noticed), that wall will be the first I will paint... if I ever do paint.

Nice house, huh? :) I didn't take pics of the upstairs because it's just too much to take pictures of... Ya'll come and visit once I get settled in... ya'hear?!

Life & Chocolates

"Life is like a box of chocolates.... you never know what you're gonna get." That's one of the most famous quote and probably most widely used - but I have to say it hasn't gotten boring yet... at least to me. I've always liked that quote. Why? Because well, it's actually true. None of those boring, stupid lame lines like "The grass is greener on the other side." DUH! Everyone thinks the grass is greener on the other side but no one ever thinks about how it's NOT greener to the person that's actually LIVING that life.

I wasn't planning to write a blog tonight but I figured - why not? I'm feeling wide awake among other things. I figured I wanted to see if my writing changed at all. Maybe it will. Maybe it wont. You be the judge of that and let me know.

Hmm, what to say? Life in general sucks, doesn't it? But right now - I don't really have any complaints. Yeah, I'm going through some tough times but who isn't? With the gas right now at ridiculous stupid $5.00 a gallon in Cali and almost $4.00 a gallon in Texas - who isn't miserable? Food prices are on the rise too. Economy sucks right now. It's ok - blame the war. Everyone does. It's better to have something to blame other than yourself. And you know what people? Your stimulus check isn't actually FREE money. It's "borrowed" money from your next year's tax refund. Did you know that? If you didn't check yahoo news frequently and are clueless, you probably didn't know that. I feel sorry for the suckers out there that spent all their $600-$1800 on clothing and stuff thinking it's all free money. They'll find out next year that their tax refunds are reduced and they'll be stuck knee-deep in credit card debt. Ha-ha. Who's laughing now?

Ok - enough about life. That's depressing. Let's talk about chocolates - that's much much better! I personally prefer dark chocolates. Yummy. Milk chocolate = ok but dark chocolate = orgasm. It's the best. I keep seeing advertisements for dark chocolates that it's also a natural antioxidant. It prevents cancer (supposedly)! All the more reason to eat tons of dark chocolates a day! Yummy. But - it'll cause pimples, some people believe. Yeah right. It'll also cure headaches too, but that's my personal belief.

And you know what's also bugging me? Stupid spam forwards from people who keep sending me info that's totally false. Here's news to you people - ever check out Snopes.com? PLEASE, please, for the sake of mankind, check your information there first before you send me the stupid forward! It's pretty annoying when I get false info. You'd be surprised just how many people agree with me.

Since I'm talking very randomly about random stuff that random people randomly think about (seeing the pattern here?), one last random topic of the night - sleeping. Did you know that on average, we sleep away basically 1/2 of our life away? If we were alive for 100 years, we slept approximately 50 years of it. That's a bummer! Since I'm 26, I have already slept approximately 13 years of my life away! That really really sucks! I want to see things, explore the world, travel, see whatever exciting fun things there are to see. But I LOVE to sleep. I could sleep up to 12-14 hours a day if I didn't have responsibilities to attend to. That also meant sleeping my life away. Talk about double-standards. Oh well. I hope that in this life, I get to sleep all I want AND travel the world, see everything there is to see. We'll see if I get to accomplish that. Let's see if ANYBODY gets to accomplish that.

If there's anyone out there that was capable of sleeping all they wanted AND still saw the entire world (the important, amazing, fun, beautiful parts of it), let me know your secret. I want in on it.

The Most Awesomest Show (and the lamest blog title) Ever!

It's no wonder that Lost was the most viewed show on Thursday night. It pulled in over 12 million viewers for its finale. If you watched it like I did, you'd understand why. The special 2-hour finale was action-packed, seriously. It moved at a fairly faster pace than usual and I have no complaints about that. A fast-paced episode meant more content.

For weeks, I had been looking forward to this major finale. TV review articles on Yahoo and other websites kept promising that many questions would be answered and that we'd finally have some kind of solution to long-standing issues that we had been wondering about for more than 1 season - like, how did the Oceanic 6 make it off the island? Why was it just the 6 of them when more of them wanted to get off?

I particularly liked this season. They didn't kill off too many characters and introduced a bunch of new people. The new people aren't my favorite but I guess they add some kind of spice to the plot. Knowing "Lost," these new characters aren't just fillers - I'm positive that there's something a lot deeper. Maybe I'm wrong. But if I'm right, who knows when we'll find out?

If there has ever been a show that has been exceptionally talented at keeping secrets, it's this one. Spoilers are far and few in between. It's impossible to get any real information or spoilers for the season or for upcoming episodes. If you wanna know what happens, you just have to watch. In a way, I really like that - but the way that "Lost" is going, we'll probably have to wait another 2 seasons to finally get answers to questions that arose during THIS season.

As I mentioned above, for weeks I had seen articles talking about how this season's finale would give us some insight and clear answers to several things that we've been wondering about for weeks. So I sat down on the couch, flipped on ABC and watched eagerly with anticipation to what would have been one of the best episodes ever. Don't get me wrong - I loved the episode. I was captivated. But I was disappointed as well.

The finale brought on MORE questions than answers and I still didn't get the answers I wanted. What happened to Claire? Did she die? In a previous episode, we saw her following her father (who's dead) into the forest. Was he collecting Claire's soul? Or was he a figment of her imagination?

One thing that I absolutely loved finding out this season was that Jack and Claire are in fact, half-brother and sister. That explains everything now. It explains why Jack has a hard time getting close to Aaron. It explains why he was struggling with the fact that Kate was raising him as her son.

I do have to applaud one thing. I was shocked by the ending - but disappointed as well. It was creative (and expected) the way that they kept us on the edge of our seats in the very last scene with Ben and Jack. They stood by the coffin and spoke for a while without giving us any clues who it was. It was one of the longest few minutes I've ever experienced while watching TV. Finally, we saw who was dead. My first question is - why? Why him? Why did he commit suicide? I was expecting to see someone else. I was pretty sad because I liked him. But his death raises a lot more questions. What happened on the island after the Oceanic 6 left? What happened that made it so bad that he couldn't live anymore?

This brings me to my last few questions. Where's the island now? It disappeared - which explains why the Oceanic 6 headed back to civilization. Why was Ben crying when he moved the island? He said that once he moved it, he couldn't go back. Why? I'm noticing a pattern here.... "why?" I'm always asking "why?" when I watch the show.

Sadly, this is the end of Lost, for now - until January 2009. People - if you're ever gonna start watching Lost, do it now. Go out and rent all the season DVDs and catch yourself up. You won't regret it.

Television is overrated - but not this week

I grew up on television. I watched hours of TV everyday from the time I got home from school (3ish) to the time I had to go to bed (9ish - yeah, I had strict parents when it came to bedtime). My shows ranged from cartoons such as Tale Spin, Darkwing Duck, Duck Tales and Chip n' Dale; to reruns such as Saved by the Bell, The Cosby Show and Roseanne; to nighttime sitcoms such as Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Full House, Boy Meets World, even Dawson's Creek and such shows from WB. That was the 90's. How I miss it.

A bad habit is hard to break - especially one as mind-numbing as watching TV. I could just sit there for hours and not get bored. Shows after shows, the only times I ever got bored was when commercials came on. And back then, commercials weren't on all that much. We see a lot more commercials now than ever which means less actual air time (and less acting) and more moolah for the networks.

Since then, I've stopped watching TV as much. Mostly due to burnout and boredom. I only watch a few select shows and well, maybe some others if I'm really bored.

Anyway... this week is pretty much known as "finale week" in the world of television. A bunch of shows are showing their finales and attempting to surprise the viewers with cliffhangers so they'd return next season. So I figured I'd watch a few of them to entertain myself. And I have to say, I am impressed with what I've seen so far, I think.

I am not among the thousands of well-equipped people that own a DVR so for shows that are on at the same time, I have to painfully choose which show I'll watch in each time slot. For instance, I wanted to catch Gossip Girl but it was either that or The Big Bang Theory/How I Met Your Mother. I caught Gossip Girl when they were doing reruns during the writer's strike. Contrary to popular discussion, Gossip Girl is actually an entertaining show filled with typical high-school bickering. Lame, yes but entertaining nonetheless. The cast isn't too hard to look at either.

I loved the finale to The Big Bang Theory. I've been an avid watcher for the entire first season so of course, the outcome of the finale wasn't crucial. I would have kept on watching next season anyway if it sucked. For those of you who hasn't seen the finale, I won't ruin it for you. I will just say that it's equally hilarious as past episodes and my, what a mighty nice cliffhanger. You can bet that I'll be tuning in next season to find out what happened.

As thrilling as The Big Bang Theory was, I was a bit disappointed in How I Met Your Mother. I felt cheated. I felt that CBS built us up on such a great finale only to let us down on the next one. Oh well.

As for Tuesday and Wednesday, I didn't feel that TV was worth my time so I didn't watch any of the finales. Nothing special happened on these nights anyway. Well, there's Dancing With The Stars but I was never a fan. I did try to check out CSI and some others but I just couldn't get interested. I'm a fan of crime, forensic science and law, but I don't like CSI. It's just too.... unrealistic, the way they are capable of solving each and every crime - and quickly, I might add.

BUT - I am SO looking forward to tonight. I only plan to watch one show though - Grey's Anatomy. Yep, I've fallen victim to the show. I've only started watching the show a couple weeks ago. I have a friend who's an avid viewer of Grey's Anatomy and started watching Private Practice when they made a spin-off. She kept telling me about the shows but I never expressed interest in watching it. Then one day - I was out of town for my certification testing and caught an episode on TV. And boy, that episode impressed me. I had long regarded Grey's Anatomy as another "ER" - not worth my time. I was wrong... way wrong. The drama is a lot more interesting and a lot more realistic as realistic goes in sitcoms. The cases are interesting and well, the injuries are a lot more fascinating.

So, tomorrow night, I'll be joining the millions of others who will be camping out in front of the television for 2 hours to find out what's happening with the cast of Grey's Anatomy. That'll be the last finale for me - until next week. Next week is the 2-hour finale of Lost. THAT is the one I've been waiting for all season.

The Big Bang Theory

Geeky title, right? If it makes you think about evolution and all the science stuff, then mission accomplished. That's exactly what they want you to think, sort of. Who's "they" you ask? Well, "they" are the writers and producers of a hilarious sitcom. Currently in its first season, The Big Bang Theory is experiencing huge success with geeks and non-geeks alike. It's about 2 geeky roommates (Leonard and Sheldon) whose combined IQs are 360. Stereotypically, they're also scientists. They think they have the answers to everything - that is - until a beautiful girl moves into the apartment next door. As Leonard falls for this girl, he is forced to travel down a path unknown to geeks to discover a new world beyond science. Sheldon is the geekiest geek you could ever come across. He is responsible for the crazy adventures and mishaps that we see each week. To join Leonard and Sheldon are two of their geeky friends, Wolowitz and Koothrappali. Everything about this show is stereotypically correct - even their names.

Character Synopsis:
LeonardLeonard is a guy striving to break out of his geeky shell. He excels in history and literature and spends his time working on physic theories on a whiteboard. Even though he adores geeky activities and has Star Wars hygiene products, he tries hard to get rid of his geek label. He falls in love with the girl next door, Penny, but is afraid to let her know how he feels. He feels at home with his geeky colleagues but wants more socially. You can't help but feel sorry for the guy. You'll end up rooting for him in the end.

SheldonSheldon is the geekiest geek you could ever know and that you probably wouldn't want to know. He can be perceived as a conceited stuck-up snob who is content with everything science and wants nothing to do with anything else. Because his IQ is higher by 14 points, Sheldon disregards Leonard's intelligence and often puts Leonard down for the fact that Leonard is interested in a girl. As smart as he is, he doesn't undesrstand sarcasm and is more inclined to do anything scientifically ethical rather than anything morally and socially ethical.

Wolowitz
Wolowitz is a sex-crazed geek who is constantly trying to hit on Penny, which angers Leonard and annoys Penny. He tries to impress girls with his knowledge of six different languages (and he only knows a few phrases in each). He is incredibly socially challenged but possesses enough courage to be rejected repeatedly.

Koothrappali
Koothrappali is a native of India who suffers the most when it comes to women. Unlike the others, he doesn't blurt out embarrassing information - he does the complete opposite. He is unable to speak a word to any girl, unless he gets help from alcohol. Once, after having a few drinks, he proceeded to have a conversation with Penny. That was probably the only conversation he's ever had with a woman in years.

This show is unlike any other. At first, I was uncertain of whether I would like it or if it would even be successful. The idea of the show seemed a bit far-fetched. After watching just one episode, I became hooked. It's funny, intellectual and dimwitted. As entertaining as it is, I often feel like I just suffered a brain aneurysm whenever Sheldon talks. It is often like watching a train wreck and yet, you can't turn away because it is just so fascinating.

If you don't ever watch another sitcom for your rest of your life, at least watch this one. You won't regret it. Mondays on CBS at 7 central.

Memorable Quotes:
Sheldon: "It took you four years to get through high school?"
~~~~~~
(Talking about Penny)
Leonard: Our babies would be smart and beautiful.
Sheldon: Not to mention imaginary.
~~~~~~
Sheldon: This car weighs, let's say, 4,000 pounds. Now add 140 for me, 120 for you...
Penny: 120?!?
Sheldon: Oh, I'm sorry. Did I insult you? Is your body mass somehow tied into your self worth?
~~~~~~
(Sheldon is trying to find a spot on the very edge of the couch clumsily trying to eat his breakfast while Penny is sleeping on the couch)
Leonard: What are you doing?
Sheldon: Every Saturday since we’ve lived in this apartment, I have awakened at 6:15, poured myself a bowl of cereal, added a quarter-cup of 2% milk, sat on this end of this couch, turned on BBC America, and watched Doctor Who.
Leonard: Penny’s still sleeping.
Sheldon: Every Saturday since we’ve lived in this apartment…
Leonard: You have a TV in your room, why don’t you just have breakfast in bed?
Sheldon: Because I am neither an invalid nor a woman celebrating Mother’s Day.

Guilty Pleasures

One of my guilty pleasures is watching soap operas. Yes, typical of me. I’m a stay-at-home mom, whose days consist of picking up toys, wiping up poop, wiping runny noses, and picking out whatever thing my son stuck up into his nose or ear. In the middle of it all, I watch TV.

Today, while I was watching one of the shows, I realized something. Well, not really realized (I had known all along) but wondered how it came to be that we were all so accepting of relationships that go on in soap operas. Take “The Bold and the Beautiful.” Right now, there’s some weird storyline going on involving a baby. To make a long story short, there’s a guy who wants to marry a woman who’s the legal mother (not biological) of HIS biological baby brother. So he’d become a step-father to his own brother. Not to mention that before he fell in love with this woman, he was dating this woman’s daughter not too long ago. And this woman is at least 20 years older than him.

I don’t have to tell you about Days of Our Lives. Everyone knows that show. There’s a huge cast on this show and in one way or another, they’re ALL either a Brady or a Horton. Or like Hope, some of them are both. Who cares about the other people? Everything revolves around these two families, including relationships. They’re all one big happy family – literally! I see a girl dating her uncle. Sure, the uncle was adopted into the family but he’s still her uncle nonetheless (and they’re the same age, how convenient). I see females moving fluidly between fathers and sons, brothers, uncles and nephews, cousins, and even grandfathers (ew)! Nothing says it like a girl who has dated every male member of a certain family. You gotta love Brooke - she's dated (and married) every male in the Forrester family. The father, both sons (had an affair with them at separate times then later married them), had an affair with her daughter's two different husbands (not at the same time). And get this, one of her daughter's ex-husband is the half-brother of one of the Forrester sons, who Brooke got back together with for the millionth time. Oops, did I confuse you?

My favorite character in Days of Our Lives is Sami, no contest. You have to give it to the girl, she’s changed. AND she deserves brownie points. Why? Out of everyone who’s dated everyone else in the family, she only went after two brothers. Who wouldn’t? They’re hot!

To sum it all up, even though I have a habit of catching soap operas on TV daily, I’m still amazed at how accepting we are of what happens in the shows. Maybe it’s because we’re relieved it’s not our own lives. Maybe it’s because watching their messy lives helps us appreciate ours.

Here’s my reason for watching (and I told a friend so just last weekend): I watch the shows to learn from their mistakes so I don’t make the same mistakes! If anything, that’s a pretty darn good reason to keep watching! :)