Day 244

I didn’t do much of anything today except read. My stomach’s been bothering me. I think I’ve been eating too many vegetables.

I watched something on Discovery Health Channel about a man in Mexico who weighed over 1,000 pounds. He got that way from eating all the wrong foods and when he could take care of himself because he was bed bound, his mother stuffed him with food that helped him pack on the pounds.

He lost around 400 pounds on a special diet called the Zone. His other option was to do that stomach surgery. He turned down the offer to get the surgery.

I don’t have much to blog about today. I got my final grade for the class I finished last week. I should be excited about this but I guess my grades have been so good, there’s no reason to get excited over an A. Four more classes left. I will be done in February. I can’t wait.

I’m developing a rash on my inner elbows. I noticed my skin in those to areas becoming really hot and then itchy. Now I have redness and a little pain. If it gets worse, I’ll be going to the doctor. I’ll try some tea tree oil. That helped wonders on my leg.

Day 243

I started my day off very early (after 1 am) by going to Winco’s to do some shopping for this Korean dish I’ve been craving for 3 years. I ended up having to go to several different grocery stores before I found Rice Wine, a required ingredient for Tak Kalbi. I’m assuming the alcohol content is for killing whatever bacteria grows on chicken. In Korea, the dish is cooked at your table. The raw chicken is placed on top of the veggies. You can read more about the dish and see pictures at My Korean Kitchen. (I didn’t think to take pictures of my finished product).

Anyway. The meal came out pretty good considering I never made it before and I had to substitute some of the ingredients. I don’t like the oval rice cakes because they would stick to the wok. I think next time I make the dish I will try to find some cylinder shaped rice cakes like I enjoyed in Tak Kalbi when I ate the dish in Korea. I’ll also cut the potatoes smaller and put them in first because they weren’t as soft as I would have liked.

Other than all that I’m satisfied. I will definitely try this dish again once I’m finished with school.

Well, I better get to bed.

Day 242

I have to constantly remember to save, save, save, just in case the computer decides to do something crazy. The only drawback about Apple computer they don't operate well in heat. When we got our first heat wave, my laptop went bonkers and nothing would work right until I shut it down and moved to a cooler location.

I'm having the same problem tonight. I should turn on the air condition. It's after 8 p.m.

Well, I'm off to do some late night grocery shopping. I like going places after dark because of the heat.

Day 241

I had a blast today. I went to the Bowers Museum in Orange County to see the Terra Cotta Warriors with a friend. The exhibit wasn't what I thought it was going to be but it was better than looking at the warriors in a book. I got some cool souvenirs. I got a a jigsaw book of the Eternal Army. I was going to buy a picture book but I thought the jigsaw book had better pictures and illustrations. Plus, the jigsaw book has four gorgeous jigsaw puzzles and it was $1 cheaper.

We had to listen to audio handsets to get the history behind some of the artifacts. I had the audio handset up to my ear and I was listening to the music and really getting into what the narrator on the handset was saying when I felt someone's hand on my shoulder. When I turned to look, for a second, I thought one of those terra cotta statues had come back to life and was coming to take me to the after life.

It was a man dressed as a terra cotta warrior. I had seen him when I first arrived at the museum and thought nothing of it.

Before leaving, I took a picture with a man dressed up like a terra cotta warrior.

My friend and I had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. I had a cornish hen and egg noodle soup. It was good. I thought Vietnamese food was going to be really sweet but the soup was very flavorful and very unsweet.

After lunch we spent a hour looking for a Korean supermarket. We eventually found one and I now have oval rice cakes for Tak Kalbi. I didn't get all the ingredients because I hadn't planned on grocery shopping but since we were down there anyway we checked out the grocery story. I learned one value fact about myself. I'm terrible at parking. Ha!

I'm so tired. I'm going to post some pictures but it will have to wait another day.

Day 240

I am completely stumped as to who Joe Biden is. I’ve never heard of him before and yet he is running as Obama’s VP.

I guess I’ll be doing some research. I don’t know who McCain has picked for his running mate. I’m sure I can find that answer on the Internet. However, I’m just not that interested in what’s going on with either presidential candidate.

I don’t have much time before bed. I’ve been trying to figure out how to post my blog from my iMac. I can’t figure it out. I’m still using my laptop. You’d think I’d be able to work on a file if it’s saved on at Mobile Me. I’m going to have to call tech support.

I really don’t have much to say. I’m tired and I want to go to bed. I have an exciting day tomorrow. I’m going to see the Terra Cotta Army in Orange County. I will definitely take lots of pictures.

Day 239

So, there wasn’t anything wrong with Mobile Me. It works fine. It’s some of the features in iWeb that made my blog look like crap.

Okay. I’m done talking about that.

I don’t know what I want to blog about. I actually just want to go to bed.

My mouth is a little sore from the filling I had put in. It took forever for me to get the feeling back on the left side of my face. I should have taken a picture of me smiling. It looked like I had had a stroke or something.

I did manage to find the pilot script for Pushing Daisies and a script for Grey’s Anatomy.

I really hate !E Hollywood True Story. Tonight’s episode was about Pink. Her story is classic young rebel with a goal to become famous. Dysfunctional family. Drug abuser. High-school drop out. Blah, blah, blah.

Wow. I’m absolutely speechless today. I think it’s fatigue getting to me. I’ve probably gotten around 24 hours of sleep in the past four days because I’ve been staying up late and surfing the net. Darn Internet. I should probably go see a movie tomorrow.

Day 238

So I went to the Apple store at the Glendale Galleria to see if I could get some help with my Web site. He only new the basics of iWeb but he did set me up with a 1 to 1 Concierge appointment with someone who knows a little more about using iWeb. That’s actually really good customer service. I like it when they continue to find someone with the knowledge to help be rather than shrugging their shoulders and telling me:

Sorry. You’re sh!t out of luck! Best of luck with your future endeavors!

I have a theory. My issue may have something to do with me duplicating the entry template from previous post. I’m not sure if this is the case. It shouldn’t be the case. Why have a duplicate feature if all it does is cause problems? That doesn’t make much sense to me.

Or it could have something to do with the Internet connection. My connection is so dastardly slow. Urgh!!!If I was religious, I’d pray for a faster connection. DSL is almost like dial-up only without that dial tone and the scrambling sound and screech. Did I recall that right?

Anyway, I saw one of those Smart Cars. It was a hideous red color (all red cars are hideous). I could fit two cars in just one parking spot. It is only big enough to fit to people (of course) but I thought is was so cute despite the red.

I also saw several Mustangs with stripes. I don’t know what it is about Mustangs (retro, that is) and the strips but if I had a penis I would totally get a woody every time my eyes would grace the beauty that is the Mustang (retro ones with stripes).

I missed my dental appointment. I had asked for a Monday appointment but the receptionist or whatever you call them, asked me if Wednesday would be okay. I said sure though I would prefer to get it done early in the week. But my little card thing with the appointment time and date on it said Wednesday. So, sometime between last Monday and today my appointment got moved. So I have to go in tomorrow afternoon to get stuck (with a syringe) by a hot dentist. I hope he never sees my blog.

My agenda for tomorrow is to finish up some resumes (I know I keep talking about it) and do some searching for scripts and medical mysteries.

Okay, so my internet connection is so fricken slow, I don’t think I will be able to make my daily blogging quota. Plus, I’m dang tired. I got less than 4 hours sleep before I drove to Glendale for help I didn’t really get.

Day 237

My mother loves to read books and watch television programs on slavery and Jim Crow. She even decorates her home with pictures of slaves happily picking cotton and has a print of Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad by Paul Collins. If you’re familiar with the painting, just know it’s not exactly my style when it comes to decor.

She called me an Uncle Tom because I don’t like to watch programs like the ones I mentioned. I get depressed after watching those programs. There are too many of them, in my opinion, and not enough programs focusing on black folk’s accomplishments. But I digress.

In my Voices in Cinema class during my undergraduate years at UCSB, we had to listen to this jazz song (by either Billie Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald, I can’t remember) that was about how the woman’s lover left her. The woman’s lover was a lousy human being. He used her, he cheated on her, he lied to her. It was a pretty sad song. I wish I could remember the name of it and who actually sang it. Anyways, this British foreign exchange student said the singer of the song was “clinging to her oppression” and it was like a light bulb went off in my head.

Clinging to oppression. It’s a very accurate way to describe it. The lady’s lover was a loser and yet the woman felt like she couldn’t go on living without him! WTF??

Sort of reminds me of a conversation I had with one of my Army buddies about slavery reparations. I wouldn’t want the money; she insisted on getting it. Then she went into a tirade about how she deserved that money even though she was never a slave and how she was never going to get over it (slavery).

My mother accused me of wanting to erase history. That’s not my intent by refusing to watch such programing. Have you ever seen that movie 28 Days Later? Well, the movie opens with a bunch of chimpanzees strapped to chairs and watching countless days of television with war, violence, and death. Eventually the chimps become “infected” with rage. A bunch of animal rights activists break in to the laboratory to free the chimps and the activists become infected with rage. The “rage” infected anyone who came in physical contact with an infected person.

I personally try to limit myself on the cling-to-your-oppression programing, literature, and art for this very reason. I don’t want to “infect” myself with oppression. I refuse to hijack that period in history, forge an identity from it and use it as an excuse for all my life’s failures.

Day 236

I didn’t finish my paper as expected. I just have no motivation for getting the paper done and finished and turned in.

I’m been fiddling around with my what I am hoping to be my new website but after publishing it, it looks like sh!t. My pictures don’t show up and everything on my web pages are out of place. I don’t even wan to go into the fact that you can’t even read any of my blog’s posts. I can’t figure out what’s wrong with it so I will have to call customer support. So much for easier and faster blogging. I could be a combination of my Internet connection but I think it has more to do with .Mac and Mobile Me. My computer is supposed to update to Mobile Me but hasn’t.

Oh, well. If you want to check out my blog here’s the URL: web.me.com/shavonne77

I just wanted to get my blogging quota for today. I will blog some more tomorrow. Hopefully I will be able to finish my paper by noonish so I can spend the rest of the day trying to figure this out.

Day 235

I had a lunch today to celebrate my rebirth. I stuffed myself silly with pancakes. I’m going to have to workout for many, many hours to work off all those carbs.

The good news is, I finally got my new computer. I was supposed to pick it up at FedEx but they delivered it to the house. I was happy about that because I had no desire to carry the box to my car. I wish I had a picture to show how far I would have had to walk from the entrance to FedEx and my car but it was too far to have to carry without a dolly.

I will be spending most of my day tomorrow writing my paper for my class. I want to be done by close of business so I can relax and give my eyes a rest from all the reading I have to do for school. I plan to spend Sunday surfing the net for some scripts to read and conducting research. I completely forgot to ask a friend of a friend about his experience as an EMT. But there’s always my medical dictionary. I can flip through it and pick something at random.

I need to stop biting my nails.