Omg! It's the ipad! (Everybody fellates Steve Jobs.)

Apple unveils iPad. Basically an oversized iPod touch. Highly unportable. Costs a billion fucking dollars. Naive general public goes nuts. Everybody else goes "WTF?"

http://www.pcworld.com/article/187956/hands_on_with_the_apple_ipad.html

Dreams make no sense....

I had to drag myself out of bed b/c the dreams I was having were way too creepy. However, at some point in time I was aware that I was dreaming and was even able to consciously wake myself up. I've never been able to do that in a dream before. Most of my dreams go completely forgotten.

It began with me sitting on a large hillside, or perhaps even a mountain side. There were 3 men there, but I did not know any of them. We had apparently just done something illegal and had obtained a lot of cash. I don't remember what it was, but I know we each had wads of money. For some odd reason we had a bunch of point and shoot cameras that kind of sucked, but I was trying to figure out which one was going to work the best. There was one guy who was definitely in charge and he needed us to take pictures of something important...don't remember what. As I was going through the cameras, I was using each one to see how they worked. I got to this one that was pretty decent so I was taking some test pictures. I looked across the way and there was another mountainside. I saw a vehicle driving so I tried taking a pic to see how well it captured motion. The camera automatically zoomed in on the vehicle. At first we were bitching b/c we didn't want a camera that closed in on whatever it thought the subject of the photo was, but then we began to watch what was happening to the vehicle. It wasn't very clear (they were pretty far away), but they got out of their vehicle, some men came over the top of the hill and shot a few of them. Both groups were wearing some sort of uniform, so we couldn't figure out who exactly the good guys and bad guys were. All I can say is that the ones who did the shooting left afterward..... good guys would normally have to stay and report those things. After we saw this the guy in charge of my group told us we needed to ditch a lot of the cash we had to be safe. Most of us did, but the one guy showed me that he still had a lot of cash he was holding onto for himself. I was also told I could keep a piece of jewelry, which turned out to be my snake bracelet. I was wearing it in my dream even, lol.
After this I was suddenly outside of my mom's house. The house was different. It was in a somewhat quiet area and was extremely old. It was the sort of house that would have been extremely valuable and beautiful had to been properly cared for, but it had not. It wasn't in disrepair, just kind of shabby. I remember there being 2 camera boxes sitting on the porch when I walked in the front door. For some reason the mailman, or some similar delivery person, was supposed to be bringing a new camera and taking the boxes. I thought it odd that I had a recurring camera theme in my dream. I went inside and spoke with my mom, who had apparently starting using usenet.... I'm not sure why. I logged on my computer to see if she had actually learned how to post things on forums and, sure enough, I easily found her. Her handle was "Thirty1inHumanTwenty1inRabbit"..... it obviously didn't matter that my mom is 43, lol. I remember talking to her for awhile and how I wanted this really large, antique looking wardrobe that was in her living room. She wasn't using it. Instead she had covered the outside of it with cutouts of celebrities/characters from movies and a lot of other random things. It was all covered in posters or cutouts for sure though. The wardrobe was also sitting on top of another table.... not sure why again.
The dream then skipped ahead quite a bit. Before it had been light out and, despite weird things happening, the vibe had been calm. Suddenly I'm standing next to my car in an alleyway. It's completely dark outside and the alley is lined with fences. One of these fences is only chain-link and I can see into the yard there. There was a spicket coming out of the ground in the end of the yard with a shower head on it... although it was only about knee-height. I was standing next to the car doing something, though I don't recall what, when the spicket suddenly turned on. I became scared that someone was going to come outside and catch me so I decided I would leave and come back for the car shortly. I ran around a dark area that had tons of fences. I couldn't find anywhere to go. Every time I could see a way to go I would find there was an array of fences blocking my way. I was consciously aware of the fact that my dream had simply dropped me in that alleyway. I was pissed of because I knew if I had been able to remember how I had gotten there I would be more familiar with the area and would be able to get out. At one point in time I even circled around and found myself on the other end of the alley I had begun at. There wasn't anyone there, but I still didn't think it was safe to run back and grab the car.
I eventually found a building that had stairs going into it right from the ground level. The halls of the building were all open-air, so I could see up into it and see that it was also creepily lit up. There was a janitor visible on one of the levels who either told me I could come up, or simply gestured.... I can't recall. I went upstairs and spoke with him without actually remembering what was said. At some point in time though I gained the ability to clean anything. Yeah.... I know that sounds really weird. I believe I was supposed to be helping the janitor clean in exchange for staying there for a little while until I thought I could go back to my car. I had this short, metal rod with a sponge or rag or something, on the end of it. I was using this to clean things. For whatever reason, whenever I rubbed things with it they became instantly spotless. I'm not sure if the power was mine or the rod's, but I do know that it was a power. I remember the place being very creepy, and the lighting reminded me of a mental ward at night time. There was that faint, yellowish lighting that's only used before something bad happens. Somehow the fact that I was able to clean things was making the place seem less creepy.... things were literally sparkling after I had cleaned them. Eventually I came to a small, dingy bathroom. It was completely dirty. I went in and looked in the mirror; more creepy lighting. It was very confined and I was off alone somewhere. I started using the cleaning stick to clean it and nothing happened. I started to get upset and tried to clean it more vigorously. I tried to do it manually instead of using the "magic", but neither approach worked. I eventually became very frustrated and knew that something was wrong with the place. I punched the end of the rod into the wall repeatedly and could hear that it was somewhat hollow, but I could not break it. The vibe here was really, really wrong. I know it sounds dumb... I was in a messy bathroom or, moreso, a bathroom that wasn't able to come clean. But the vibe was horror-film, "something bad is about to happen, why can't the characters see it, b/c the audience sure as hell can?!" I woke myself up. I was apparently conscious enough to know that I didn't want to stick around. I woke up with that same bad feeling.... I went and turned on all the lights.

Sometimes my array of tabs amuses me...

I had way too many tabs open, so I went to close some. This proved to be rather amusing. Tonight, the tabs I have open included:

UCSD Poli Sci Department Staff listings
ZOYA: Nail Polish
Renaissance Festival.com
Society for Creative Anachronism
NFL.com
ESPN playoffs page
Facebook
Gmail
San Diego House Rabbit Society
DisapprovingRabbits.com
Women's Health
Blogger (obviously)
Avian & Exotic Animal Hospital of San Diego
Google image search for - "Kinkajou" (most adorable pictures ever)

I obviously love animals.... and ren faires, lol. But I find it funny that I had the nail polish tab open right next to the NFL tab. Wow... I confuse myself sometimes. Painting nails and watching the playoffs; that's some good shit right there.

I now decided that I also needed to open another tab:

Budk.com

My viewing or drooling over weaponry has been neglected lately and this is the perfect time to remedy that. :)

R.I.P. Steve Arrington - Another day in Erie, PA

"By the time you hear the siren
It's already too late
One goes to the morgue and the other to jail
One guy's wasted and the other's a waste
It goes down the same as the thousands before
No one's getting smarter
No one's learning to score..."


http://www.wicu12.com/news/index.vnss?newsid=8806&type=News
http://yourerie.com/content/fulltext/?cid=92961
http://geedit.sx.atl.publicus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100106/NEWS02/301059889
http://www.wicu12.com/news/index.vnss?newsid=8810&type=News
http://www.wicu12.com/news/index.vnss?newsid=8808&type=News

I really don't care to make much commentary here, as there's not much I can say. I wish things in Erie were different, there are still a lot of people there I care about. I'm glad I'm not there anymore though, because of things like this.

I wish people weren't so stupid.... I don't know why the kid decided shooting someone sounded like a good idea, but I think the fact that he turned himself in shows that he didn't intend to kill him.... only to shoot him. People need to understand that hurting someone is exactly that. Guns aren't something you play with. Bullets do damage, that's what they're intended to do. Don't shoot someone unless you plan to kill them..... and if you do, maybe you should have a good fucking reason. I'm glad the kid is getting charged as an adult though. 17 is old enough to know better. Now another kid will grow up without knowing his father.

Also, Erie cops are worthless. The video isn't loading anymore, but one of the first people there was this old, black guy who they interviewed on this news. He spoke with Steve while he was laying on the ground bleeding. He saw the gun and saw that he had been shot and called 911; 911 had already been called. He then saw a police cruiser driving past, he flagged the officer down and told him that there was a man who had been shot, who was laying in the snow bleeding..... the officer told him he couldn't stop. It might not have made a difference, but the fact of the matter is... isn't that what cops are supposed to do? Stop when something bad happens. He didn't need to go chasing after the shooter or anything. He could have simply stopped and offered aid to someone who was dying. But no, Erie police don't seem to do that. Perhaps the neighborhood was too bad for the officer to want to get out of his vehicle.... such bullshit.

Sherlock Holmes

Iron Man + Sherlock Holmes = YUM.

I only really say that because Iron Man was when I first really noticed Robert Downey Jr. And after reading about his sordid past I understand why. Now I absolutely love him. I don't usually both with celebrities, but if I had to pick my favorite actors/actresses he would be among them. (I avoid saying that I would pick him for my 1 favorite b/c I avoid those sort of choices all together.)

The movie was pretty awesome. I always adore anything set in that time frame. Although I like knowing that there will be a sequel, I do kind of get annoyed when the ignore ending the movie by replacing an ending with a cliffhanger that leaves you waiting for the sequel. I would rather have resolution, and then a bit of a hint of "maybe". It was brilliant regardless.

Plus, now that I have Robert Downey Jr mentally pictured as Sherlock Holmes, I might be able to finally read the books. :)

I eagerly awaited the sequel, along with Iron Man 2, of course.

OCD: Oranges

If I'm eating oranges or bananas I cannot eat the stringy part underneath the peel. You know the part I'm talking about. And, now that I'm talking about it, I wonder if that part has a name.... I'm sure it must. Anyway, I can't eat the creepy, stringy, white stuff.... on the fruit! gah. It drives me insane. Though I have gotten better. I used to be alot worse with oranges. You know how they are segmented into smaller pieces that are each incased in a thin membrane/skin? Yeah.... I used to be so bad that I would painstakingly peel all of that off too, and only eat the individual citrus beads. I think time constraints finally rid me of that habit though, it made it nearly impossible to eat an orange in under 45 minutes. And I quite like oranges. Also, citrus beads? I'm sure there must be a more appropriate word for those, but I'm too tired right now to realize what it is.

Ado.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot....

it's New Years. woop-dee-fucking-doo. Oh well, I don't really make new years resolutions. I just reiterate the things I'm always telling myself I need to get done.

I still want to lose weight. I have trouble getting in the mode of eating better, but once I start I can usually stick with it for a month or so, before it gets tough. It's hard to eat right when the boyfriend always wants me to cook dinner, but I'm just going to be straight about it. If he wants stuff to eat that I think is bad for me, then I will cook it for him and not myself. No big deal there.

I've got less hours at work now that the holidays are done. This helps ALOT. It gives me some extra time to think about myself, exercise and when I'm not in a hurry on my lunch break there will be no excuse to eat fast food!

Ok, new years may be dumb, but I think I'm pretty excited about this. :)

Big Brother is after the crazy drivers

Also, the Looking Good and Not Being Douchebags.... does NOT apply to driving. When driving here people just kind of go and expect you to make way for them. Drivers are just as dumb as anywhere else in the nation, but they drive significantly faster while being so dumb.

There are cameras at nearly all major intersections and many speed limit signs note that speed is "Regulated by Radar", but I haven't seen any proof of that so far. People do behave themselves at the intersections though, those cameras are unforgiving and I've already had a run-in with them myself.

People seem to speed a lot more on the freeways than on the streets, which is pretty typical. But one thing that I find nice is the speed limit on most major streets. Unless you are on a small, residential street the speed limit tends to be 40 or 45. This is pretty good in my opinion, considering I normally drove around that speed on roads that I wasn't supposed to. I know 38th street in Erie was just bullshit. The speed limit was 25mph almost the whole way across it because there were houses on at least one side, most of the time. But the fact of the matter is that it is a major street and the speed limit just didn't make sense. It was also rarely abided by. 

We've come a long way since the gold rush....

Alot of things in California are strange to those of us who are not natives, though I find it equally strange that I've only been here under 2 months and I'm already beginning to overlook things that previously stood out to me.

Dentists. Just driving along the main stretches of road here I see tons and tons of dentists/dental offices/orthodontists, etc. This leads to believe one of two things (and possibly a combination of both): 1) people in California have terrible teeth, or 2) people in California are obsessed with their appearance and dentists stand to profit off of this. It could be that people here are both obsessed with appearance AND have bad teeth, but I haven't really seen strong proof toward either theory.

To tell you the truth, people here seem to much nicer and far more genuine than people I have encountered in other parts of the country. Maybe different areas of California fit into the artificial stereotype, but from what I've seen of San Diegans, so far, they maybe care about their appearance, but they don't do so to a fault. They have found some happy medium here.... Looking Good and Not Being Douchebags 101.

Another thing that I see a lot as I drive around are yogurt shops. I don't think I've ever seen a yogurt shop before....ever. So it strikes me as odd. There are tons of them here; from little privately owned, rinky-dink ones, to shiny, evidently franchise ones that have self-dispensing machines that charge by weight. I haven't actually gone to any of them yet, but it's on my "Things That Seem Interesting" list. Although I think I'll hit up one of the smaller ones..... the big chain ones seem to charge a ton.