I've moved....again here's where:

http://ashelyyoung.blogspot.com/

i like it better there

Ahem. Soon after posting above a rather interesting event occurred, I was...well, I'll just show you:

YEEAAAAAAAgggghhhh! I'm so bored! Who would have known that I would go from being completely overloaded with things to do to being done and bored out of my brains with hours to spare? I'm going to make it my personal goal today to find as many pointless-yet-fun things to do. I'll post results here. I already have one activity: elfyourself.com. It doesn't sound worth it, but trust me....it is. Maybe I'll spent some time in general computer/blog/facebook upkeep. Yeah. That sounds about right...

Well, what goes around comes around I guess. Last Saturday, I was gloating at how I never get sick, and what do I wake up to this morning? Sore throat and runny nose; maybe a fever coming on. It's fabulous, you should try it sometime. On top of this rather obnoxious little cold my mother has completely cut me off from my coffee consumption and seeing as though I am unemployed, there isn't a thing I can do about it. My will to go on has been taken away! Nectar of life! Blood in my veins! Elixir of magic! I'm not addicted. I can quit anytime, I just don't want to. But this little strangle hold has left me without a motivated bone in my body, right before finals week. What am I going to do?! 

On Tuesday, I officially switched my major to Art. In reality, it doesn't mean anything, it's just a pull down menu when you register for a new semester. I could change it back any time, but it's the emotion behind it that's the big deal. I'm seeing myself more and more in this field everyday. I feel like this decision is based on actual skills that I have and can increase in the future as opposed to a physics major which was a constant daily struggle. When I really think about it, the only reason I wanted to be an astrophysicist was because of Star Trek. It was all based on fiction! I was setting myself up for a life of disappointment when I didn't see aliens peeking out from behind nebulae, or when I wasn't asked to be on the Enterprise as chief engineer. Haha.

You know, though, the farther I get into this artsy world of filmmakers and illustrators and animators, the more I realize how competitive it is. It's all about getting yourself exposed. I'm starting to understand why celebrities do the moronic stuff they do. I hate that. I think that's why I didn't like "the business" from the beginning. There are so many egos at stake, especially mine. Just the critiques in class alone are hard enough to stomach. Someone could spend hours and hours on a drawing or a sculpture just to have the class shoot it down in 5 swift minutes. Being able to take criticism and use it to better your skills is definitely a learned skill. I think I'm doing pretty okay, though. There are some who are much worse than I am at accepting criticism. I kind of take it as a challenge (which is another thing, I'm so much more competitive in art than I ever was in physics. For example: there's this kid in my figure studies class who's almost always just a little bit better than me and I can't stand it!!! It makes me put just that much more effort into my work the next week.) but there are some who just take it as a personal attack.

Anyway, I just scrounged up enough money to get a Hazelnut Latte (which is an absolute miracle!) and I'm going to go grab one. So excited!!

Starbucks has questionable taste in music. Today it was World music, but with an exorbitant amount of La Cucaracha. When will it be Christmas music time?! I need it! I crave it!

Anneliese, Carolyn and I are each trying to make it colder by sheer force of will. On Saturday, Anneliese and I walked around town and expecting it to be cold, wore huge scarves. Unfortunately it lasted for about 10 minutes before I realized we looked like ninnies. Then I started to sweat, so I yanked it off. I've been knitting like a fiend for the last few weeks and I want to start wearing my scarves! I think I was born for a colder climate, I'm ready for a biting wind and the promise of a white Christmas.

Yesterday, there was a movie set up in El Dorado Hills. Normally this would be terribly exciting, but I think it's for a funky horror movie called, "Chain Letter." There were all sorts of extras and such. Actually, they put out a casting call to our school, asking for people about my age. "Bah!" says I.

Quote of the day, supplied by Mom:

"Fat free milk is nothing more than water that they dipped an utter in."

Ahh...so here I sit. At my newly usable desk, with my gingerbread latte (supplied by neighbour, thanks neighbour.), procrastinating about a sissy research paper. I'm not a choir practice because of it, instead I sit, thinking, procrastinating, thinking, YouTubing, thinking, etc, etc. It only has to be 3 pages and she wants pictures within the text, so really that's like, two words, but I am so disinterested in the subject matter that it might as well be a book.

Something I realized tonight, partially brought on by the slight euphoria of coffee: if I stick with this art thing, my options are pretty much endless. I can do whatever I want! I could go into film, I could illustrate books, special effects, advertising, anything! I'm excited at all the possibilities! I can't help but wonder what the next year of my life will bring. A job I can finally enjoy? A handsome man? Direction? I can only pray.

So here I am. I'm sitting at my desk at home which, if you knew my room, is an incredible feat in and of itself. This is the first time my desk has been cleared and accessible in months. That is no lie. I'm sitting at my desk, feeling rather cute today, and wearing my fake artsy glasses which are now giving me a headache and will probably damage my eyesight irreparably for the rest of my life.

My computer has entered a slow downward spiral that can only ultimately lead to spontaneous combustion. It's running much slower than it used to and overheats frequently. I have to prop up one side in order to use it. I've done it for so long and my head so used to cocking to the right that when I don't prop up one side, the screen looks crooked.

I've been missing an exorbitant amount of class lately. It's not like it matters, really. Community college classes are often a joke. But it does make me a little anxious not knowing when we're having tests. This is the only reason I'm going to class today. Oh, and also, I would like to get A's. Except, I miss about every other class in astronomy and I still have a 99.2% in the class. Hhhh...

Alright. Seeing as I've been awake since 8am (this is amazing) and I haven't eaten, I'm going to do that.......now!

So I was on YouTube today, just clicking around as usual. I see that Oprah has made herself a profile and is posting things from behind the scenes and things like that. This is all well and good, whatever. What is interesting though, is how the people of YouTube seem to be responding. Most of the replies I've seen are of people who aren't that happy about her and I would have to agree for the most part. I think what makes people so cranky about it is that YouTube began as a website for the people, for the little guys who never really had a voice in such a public forum. These people have, for the most part, put a lot of time and effort into making a name for themselves. But then, Oprah, who is so highly publicized as it is, goes on YouTube and is instantly featured and all of the sudden has taken a certain amount of attention from aforementioned little guy.

To be honest, it's not really that big of a deal. I just thought it was interesting. YouTube in and of itself is kind of a fascinating social experiment, albeit a multi-billion dollar one.

I just realized that I'm wearing pretty much exactly what I was wearing in my Userpic. Poo. I need some new clothes. If my mom actually read this, this would be a hint, but as it is, I'm just throwing it out there for no particular reason.

And now I'm going to go watch some videos about nerdy things, and I'm not going to be ashamed of it. Well, maybe just a little ashamed. Okay! A lot ashamed! Don't judge me!

 Ahh...the sweet smell of winter. Today was the first day of the season I could see my breath. How exciting. Now though, that the coldish season is here, I'm feeling a bit of hypochondria coming on. I had to take the bus this morning, and as we all know, public transportation is the #1 place to catch a hideous disease. Prepare yourselves everyone: I touched the railing. I know, I know. I broke the cardinal rule. But the driver parked too far away from the curb! It wasn't my fault! There was definitely some sneezage and some nose blowage going on in there too. 

Today is Halloween. Time to break out the yearly tradition of turning out all the lights in our house, sitting in the dark and snickering as little kids knock on our door, wait, then leave...broken hearted and candyless. Muahahaha! Our own litte version of Halloween horror. 

I want to move. Here are my options: Oregon, Seattle, Montana, Vancouver or Maine. Somewhere cold, rainy and trendy. Maybe not so trendy. Maybe not so rainy, but cold. Handsome men: definite necessity. Not drop dead gorgeous, approachable, good bone structure. 

Want Ad: Need male, Mid to late-twenties, a little bit unattractive, good skull, broad shoulders. Oh, and single. Must play instrument and sing in church choir. The scent of trees to follow wherever he goes preferred, but not required.

 So, long time no see livejournal. I haven't posted for awhile because, frankly, I was getting a little creeped out. Somehow, making myself vulnerable for all the world to see is not that appealing. Now, however, I am putting away my misgivings (for Anneliese only) and sharing a bit more on ye old LiveJournal.

It's a little bizarre coming back. I've stayed the same in some ways, but I've also changed a lot in others since I last posted here. I was looking back on another journal I had from, I think, high school and into college and some of the stuff I posted on there makes me cringe. I didn't get rid of it because there is, after all, a big chunk of my life written there, but it was hard to not hit that delete button. 

Don't you hate it when you think you're really funny or clever or witty when you're in the moment, but when you look back on it, you're really just annoying? Like, really really annoying. Oh well. I guess in a way it's good that I can look back on all of the fluff and appreciate a little thing God gives us: the maturing process.

On another point: I have completely wasted $200. I bought an iPod recently with some birthday money (from June). The other night, in an excited flurry from the prospects of having clean clothes, shoved pretty much every piece of clothing I own into the washer, only to realize 20 minutes later, that I had left my iPod delicately placed in the pocket of one of my jackets, now hurtling through the spin cycle. Four months of musical bliss, ended with one swift shove into the washer. It was horrible tragedy in real life. 

I've tried to make it work a few times since then. It's slowly coming back to life, but I'm skeptical that it will ever be completely back to normal. I have given it up for loss. And you know, if anyone would like to donate to the "Ashley-the-Stupid needs a new iPod" fund, I would be ever so grateful. 

Alright. That's about all the energy I have for one post. I'm resisting the urge to put something nerdy right here, but I think I can avoid it...nope, can't:

Live long and prosper internet friends.

So my mom and I were watching Jeopardy, and the conversation went something like this:

Alex Trebec: [paraphrase] "What part of a sheep does [some ethnic group] eat?"

Mom: "Testicles."

Jazmine: "TESTICLES, TESTICLES!!!!"

Ashley: (expression of horror at the realization that her mother had just inadvertently taught a 4-year-old her first "man" word.)

you know those times when you think, hey, i don't look so bad today, and so you're strutting your stuff all around campus and then you catch a glimpse of yourself in the window of say, Commons, and you realize, "hey, i look really awful. as a matter of fact i look downright disgusting" and then the rest of the day is filled with self consious actions and it's hard to look anyone in the eye. yup. that was me today. i have to work on that tomorrow.

So the President of the United States is coming to my town next week!!!!! And I'm not going to be there! Apparently he's doing some campain stuff for someone. Maybe Arnold. My rinkindink little town, the town I list on my address. Anyway. It was a weird, random event I felt I must make known.

Hm. Apparently there was an official "Pirate Day" about a week ago. I guess only the geeks knew about it, one of which I am not (hm).

I'm starting to discover that I have an odd work ethic. I don't feel like I've accomplished anything unless I suffer a little first. Lack of shower, lack of food, lack of comfort, lack of sleep, excess coffee, lack of liver. I can't work the 9-5, go home, get 7-9 hours of sleep and be satisfied with my job performance. I have to work the 20 hour, or at least have the illusion of the 20 hour (sometimes abbreviated with YouTubing frolicks), the 4 hour sleep, which is very real and then start it all over again the next day. Then, I get so burned out that I spend one day, sleep for 12 hours, get no work done at all, feel crummy, miss all sorts of events and stay in my pjs all day. Maybe I should do a little balancing...it's a thought anyway.

So i had a revelation last night whilst brushing my teeth. The radio was on and there was a commercial for Outies, but I realized in a sudden rush of enlightenment, that it's not "Outie" but "Audi". I have lived my entire life giggling every time I hear about those cars because I think of a belly button. Here I was thinking that was such an asinine name, when really, it was I who was asinine.

On another note: Tony Hale was at Biola!!!!!! I was 20 feet from him, and I didn't even see him. I vaguely saw the group of people he was in, but not him. THE INJUSTICE!!!

So I have finally reached the point in physics that I have been waiting to reach for 3 years. (Alright, alright, so I'm not an english major.) Relativity!!!! I don't particularly care about how fast a ball is going to fall if I threw it at a 35 degree angle at 45 m/s. Why? Why on earth do I care? I don't. But I do care about relativity. It's so amazingly cool! Just to think of time slowing down the faster you travel blows my mind away. Completely away. Anyway...

So I was in Commons yesterday, and this girl who was working there somehow got everyone who got a coffee to spill their life story in about 3 minutes. By the end of this three minutes it was like they were all best friends. It was strange to say the least, but kind of cool. We should all be so friendly. And she made sure that all the freshmen she met were going to go to church today. Haha.

That's another thing...I really like to eavesdrop on people's conversations in Commons. They're always so dang interesting. I've been through everything from half hour testimonies to tear-filled racial discrimination lectures. Yes, emotions drip from the walls when there's highly caffeinated, highly sugared beverages involved. Never a dull moment.

Well, yesterday, I moved into my new room. It seems like so long ago already! Today, was my first day working at the bookstore. I'm just doing rush work for now, but I'm kind of hoping that they'll keep me on for the rest of the year. Maybe my workload won't be that bad...maybe it will.

While I was training at the register, I saw a man come up to the locked doors in the front of the store. I kid you not, he looked exactly like Will Ferrell. Then, to add shock to amazement, I work with Steve Carell. It's like a friggin' Anchorman here!

So when we moved in, Katelyn and I found some suspicious looking leaves in our wardrobes. Marijuana, anyone?

During training, we had to do this excercise: Use a provided popular song and create new lyrics exemplifying a different aspect of customer service, then sing it. We had "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" and our service was to be nice enough that the customer would want to come back the next day. It was perhaps the most mortifying moment of my life. Anyway, enough of this.

At church today, Jerry started his sermon by talking about love. He commented that it was the most misused word in the english language. It's thrown around too much; people are always using it without realizing the meaning behind it. I, myself, hate using the word unless I'm willing to back it up with emotion. I'm always feeling cheated when someone I don't particularly love uses the word on me. They pull the love card, expecting me to say, "I love you" right back. One of two scenarios usually play out: either I give a fake half-way smile and say "I love you, too" through clenched teeth, or I give an equally fake shy smile, accompanied by a nervous/uncomfortable/awkward giggle as I avert my eyes. Love for me means so much more than the usual haphazard way it's cast upon the unsuspecting victim. What I'd really like to say to the love-sayers is, "I like you, too" or "Thanks." and walk away. Both of which would be strange at least, if not downright insulting.

Speaking of cheating my emotions: has anyone ever seen those Jetta commercials? The ones with the people driving in the car, talking about a movie, or a girl or something trivial and all of the sudden a car comes and broadsides them? I hate them. I give them permission to sell me a product through humor or meaningless chatter, but not this way. The thing that annoys me the most is that they're effective. It's just a commercial. Something I see maybe 50 times a day. I've learned to tune them out, to resist the urge to go out and buy everything I see. But these...I have this insatiable need to go out and buy a Jetta (had I the money) and I don't like it. It has too much of an affect on me. I took the time to Google it, just out of curiosity, and according to USAToday, it's having the same need-to-buy affect on the rest of the country, more or less. They're playing with my mind! Even worse, they're playing with my emotions. I like it not.

At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite, I feel the need to say a few words about the completely intolerable heat we are experiencing in Sacramento. Not only is it nearly as hot as the surface of the sun, but it’s muggy too. 100° is just a distant, fond memory at this point. But wait, there’s more. It appears that the sun has decided to shine all night too. It’s just as hot at night as it is during the day. The weather people say it’s because we have a ridge of high pressure, I say it’s because Hell has decided to ooze from the depths of the earth (incidentally, the noun “ooze” is sediment that contains at least 30% skeletal remains of microscopic floating organisms, or so says the Encyclopedia Britannica). It’s eerie to have the nights so hot. Usually we have a delta breeze to cool us down, but this is simply no longer so. Next week it’s supposed to be in the 90’s. Praise the Lord! Finally relief.

 

It’s amazing how distant a memory Biola is turning out to be. It seems that I have been home for so long, that it’s been years since I’ve stepped into that bubble. Accessible refrigerator, you will be sorely missed.