Mates of State

Jason and Kori.















They're Mates of State.
They're Married.
They have two adorable daughters.
They're Musicians.
And in my opinion, they're awesome.

I [or rather a really cool (ex)boyfriend of mine] discovered them about a year and a half ago.
And for some reason, I find them extremely interesting.
Their music puts me in a fantastic mood. And the idea of a husband and wife making music and a family together gives me the warm and fuzzies.

perhaps they're not your style (although their older stuff sounds much different than their new stuff), but try to tell me this doesn't make you smile. or tap your foot. or jump up and down uncontrollably singing every single word:




In my opinion, it's the best of both worlds.
and I sort of envy their life...just a bit.

"Damn Ye' it'd be stupid to diss you, even your superficial raps is SUPERoffical!"

Last Tuesday Kanye West's new album "My Dark Twisted Fantasy" came out. I immediatly ran (not literally, I drove) to the Target to get my copy. Best album I've bought this year (okay... Beach House Teen Dream comes to a tie).

I'm supposed to think Kanye West is an asshole, that he's rude, that he is an arrogant load of crap. Well, maybe on opposite day.

Seems like in the past years everyone has had a jab at my dear Kanye:

And he certainly has been controversial:

Doesn't matter to me.

Through all this I've stuck by Kanye's side. Why? Because I've always known he was an asshole and I love him for it. He's real, he's himself. I respect it. His arrogance actually helped me a lot when I was in high school being a huge loser nerd. I would listen to his CDs everyday on my way to school and his lyrics made me feel cocky and awesome. (In reality I was still a huge dork but at least my self confidence was improved).

Aside from pretty much being a self help book for me, Kanye is my favorite living rapper. I love his music because I can relate to it. I don't really connect when rappers are rhyming about killing people or dealing drugs. However, Kanye West doesn't rap about either of those things. Most of his songs are about the hardships of college (ugh I know right?) or issues in relationships.

Some have dissed not only his personality, but his more recent music productions, namely "808s and Heartbreak." Although I appreciate the earlier Kanye tracks the most, I will say that I love an artist who isn't afraid to try new things.

The grass is greener on the other-side, seriously join the Kanye team. If not, at least watch his newest video (warning really sexy phoenix/ridiculous dialogues).

Handle With Care (A Melodramatic Ode to My Broken Laptop)

I'm coming to you this evening from my room mate's laptop. Why? Because my own two-thousand dollar Macbook pro is incapacitated, the victim of a freak occurrence on highway 69.

It was shot 4 times in a drive-by incident

Actually, I found that with a quick Google image search. The truth, while drastically less interesting, was no less tragic. It went a little more like this.

Regardless, my life has reached a crux of desperation. Everything I once took for granted is gone. My world has been reduced to neolithic solitude. My only companion is my ipod, but still... the dwindling battery life works like a death clock, counting down to his demise and my moment of complete isolation. In this state of being, I can only bring myself to listen to one song anyway.

So here we stand, my Ipod and I, sharing our final moments together before it dies and I can't bring it back. I try to look back, to see where it all went wrong, and I can only come to one thing. I was always too careless, not just with my Macbook but with every electronic device I'd ever had.

My phone had been dropped, crushed, beaten, thrown, smashed, soaked, and lost so many times that one day, it just decided to stop working. I always hated it for that, but I guess I was too harsh. I went through a couple PS2s in my youth, always blaming it on faulty design. At some point, though. It's just not a coincidence anymore.

I never realized how much of my world was crammed into my Mac until the day it was gone. All of my writing, all of my music, lost in a digital purgatory that I can't even hope to understand. Not to mention my schoolwork. I will say that I owe my college education to Dropbox.

Ah, my dear iPod. Parting is such sweet sorrow. Technology seems like such a wonderful thing until you're forced to be without it. Then, you realize that living your life dependent on electronics and virtual entertainment is foolish and fragile, especially considering the likelihood of something going wrong. I'm nothing without my technology that I've taken so much for granted. It came into my life as a messiah but left it like a crutch. Somewhere along the way, I forgot who I was... maybe Carr has been right all along.

As much as I feel lost and unconnected, a part of me feels free. As I stood there with my iPod in his final minutes, I noticed so many beautiful things in ways I hadn't before.

It's a beautiful world we live in, why do we choose technology over it? Why do we gather in the millions to watch cats use poor grammar or some idiot looking at a rainbow? We should go out and find our own double rainbow. Maybe we'd see that he's not as crazy as we thought.

Alas...

Good-night, sweet prince; And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Black Friday

I love good deals and I can't stand cheaters.

I love deals so much I was willing to wake up early the day after Thanksgiving.

Early as in before decent people are out of bed.

3:15 a.m.

And when I opened my eyes I wanted to cry.

But I needed to buy Christmas presents and I don’t have any money.

So at 3:45 a.m. I was standing in line at Sears with my mom, aunt, and younger sister.

Freezing to death.

Thinking my boyfriend better get me something good for Christmas because I am about to become an ice block so he can get a set of ratcheting wrenches.

To make matters worse…freaking line cutters.

Those rats that wait until the doors are about to be unlocked then get out of their cars and try to sneakily merge into the front of the line.

And down the whole line you hear people cursing them.

Including me.

Because I got up early, I’m cold, and I believe in the fairness of first come first served.

However, I didn’t physically harm them. I controlled myself.

And as I was searching the floor for the items on my ripped out page of the Sears ad I was frustrated at the organizational strategy used by the sales team.

So I went running around like a crazy person looking for ½ inch drive impact sockets.

I finally found them, but of course since they are expensive, they were locked.

Where is a sales person in the middle of a Christmas shopper stampede?

Hiding somewhere safe and not wanting to unlock impact sockets.

Leaving my mother to guard the find I went running about looking for an unsuspecting employee.

And as I was bringing one back some lady decides to cut me off and pretend she’s my mother trying to get the sockets first.

Oh no.

First come, first served.

Please keep in mind it’s 4 a.m., I’m hungry, I’m cold, and I’ve spent the last ten minutes searching for a key holder.

Yeah, I made her wait her turn.

Because I found it first,

I needed those sockets too,

And I waited for a good deal so I could buy them.

She should’ve run faster or searched harder because she got the leftovers.

Holy Batman, Batman...

via

Yeah, you needed to see this...

NERDS!

Story of my life. Actually, the real story of my life is that I've watched two Star Wars movies and one movie explicitly about Star Wars (for-die-hards-only Fanboys) over the last two days. Right now I'm on Attack of the Clones, otherwise known as the worst Star Wars movie (I'm open for debate, and also open to crush your arguments like Palpatine crushed the Republic).

This is good Star Wars:



This is not:



"Killing...younglings!!"

Even the talented Ewan Macgregor cannot polish the turd that is the dialogue from Episode III: Revenge of George Lucas.

I hate watching my childhood memories of my favorite fictional universe be crushed into tiny, Midichlorian-sized pieces, and then CGI'ed into stupid oblivion. I remember watching the Episode IV: A New Hope (the "first" Star Wars movie released in '77) and thinking "Damn, Tatooine is full of goddamn sand!". Now, I'm not entirely sure that Hayden Christensen, a.k.a. Mannequin Skywalker is a real person:

They don't make 'em like they used to.

Cats (please lol).

I am a woman. I love my cat.
Translation: I am a crazy cat lady.

Don't console me. I've come to terms with it.

Luckily, there's a place for people who like cats. A sanctuary.

It's called the internet.

I mean, seriously. Look how cute this is.

Reality Check: It's Just A Movie

I'm that girl. That girl that makes scary movies scarier because I look behind me or perhaps mutter "What was that?" during the movie. I'm that girl that screams at the top of my lungs in the theater or jumps at the same part in a movie I've seen a hundred times. And although I know I'm going to regret it once I go to bed the following night, I sometimes enjoy getting scared and I'm not sure why? It's one of my vices.


When I was younger, I used to check under my bed and in my closet before going to bed. In retrospect, I feel like this wasn't all that wimpy though. At least I tried to face my fear by making sure nothing was there instead of cowering in my bed right? Now a days, as a young adult, I still have nightmares and occasionally keep my desk lamp on after I watch a really scary movie and I'm not ashamed about it. Congrats movie makers you got me! With age I've also gotten wiser and know when to just say no to certain scary movies that are just not worth it. My most recent movie I had to vow I wouldn't see: Paranormal Activity 2.


Who in their right mind could watch this and sleep peacefully? I mean there are real reports of things like this actually happening. its absolutely terrifying!


I know its a little childish to get so scared when it's just a movie. However, I blame my overactive imagination and the fact that I've seen way too many scary movies. Of all the scary movies I've seen, the Scream series is my favorite. I think the reason I like them so much is that you have to figure out who the killer(s) are. One of the characters I can sometimes identify with is Jamie Kennedy's character in scream. The nerd who takes scary movies way to seriously. He has a set of rules on how to survive a scary movie and sometimes when I get scared I jokingly quote him to whomever I'm with.



Even with these "rules" to survive a scary movie. I still get scared and I think I always will because, against my better judgment, I'll continue to watch scary movies. There may come a day when I realize it is just a movie, but until then I'll sleep with my light on.

I have a confession to make.

I’m a terrible Catholic, I question church doctrine, and I disagree with the Pope.

And I absolutely despise going to Confession.

I don’t feel like I should tell all of my sins, every bad thing I have done, to a man who may or may not be morally sound.

I try hard to go to Confession on a regular basis (that’s not really true).

The last time I went to Confession, well I couldn’t remember the last time, so I went over the weekend.

On the car ride over to the church I tried hard to think of all of the things I had done wrong in the four plus years since I had been to Confession…and Church.

I came up with a few. I repeated them over and over in my head because I knew what would happen as soon as I went in the church.

And it did.

I forgot every bad thing I had ever done as soon as I went into the confessional.

The priest started talking, he asked me to begin, and I went blank.

Eraser on the Chalkboard, everything went out of my head, except that niggling little thought that maybe, just maybe, this priest was not a good one.

Panicking, sweating, and sick to my stomach I started talking about something completely random and I can’t even remember what I said.

So I stopped expecting the priest to continue with his business.

But he didn’t and I waited for a few seconds in an awkward silence.

When he didn’t say anything I started to think I should say I was done.

Instead I started talking about something else. And stopped again.

This time I waited and finally he gave me penance and asked for my Act of Contrition.

So I forgot the prayer, had to pause and remember, and then recited a partial prayer that I may have made up.

When I went back to my pew I felt the eyes of the waiting confessors on me and put my head down searching for the bible the priest said would be there.

There wasn’t one, just the songbook.

So I left. Went home.

Thought to myself, I am a terrible Catholic. I can’t even go to Confession and do what I’m supposed to do. I can’t listen to a priest tell me all of the sins I have committed when I already know them. And I absolutely can’t stand thinking the man behind the screen is a child-molester masquerading as a man of God.

I am a terrible Catholic and I can’t decide whether or not I care.

A look at Jonathan Safran Foer's new book Tree of Codes

via

Just One Addict Helping Out Another

I was a hold out. I couldn't imagine having my PDA and cell phone together in one device. Really? How inconvenient is that? I waited. And waited. And while I waited, smart phones got better, and cooler, and then the iPhone came out.

Finally, I got one.

Now I'm addicted.

It turns out it's not so hard to make a phone call after all--although it is a tad more clunky than the tiny streamlined folding phone I had previously--in fact, it's very easy to use and even has a built in speaker phone, bluetooth capability for wireless headset use, or jack to use with the plug-in headset that comes with it.

I don't really use the iPod feature much (iTunes), I don't want to run the battery down. I rarely use the regular iPod Nano I have, unless I want to listen to an audio book or something.

At current count I have something like 228 Applications (called Apps) on my iPhone. Most of them were free. I paid 99 cents for maybe a half dozen or fewer of them. I don't really use them all. Actually, I don't use most of them. I guess I'm addicted to downloading apps I think are cool and might be helpful. Sometimes I download several different "brands" of the same kind of app, since I don't know which one I'll like best before I try them all out. iTunes is an app, so is Calender, and iMovie... Netflix has an app. Basically everything you do on the phone, has an app to do it with.

So here is what I mostly do with my phone (I mean besides make and get phone calls):

I get up in the morning and check the weather so I'll know how to dress for the day.

Then I check my email. 

I almost never check my email on the computer, unless I need to open a file or especially if I need to download a file. It's just so much quicker and easier to do it on my phone. And I can do it from anywhere at any time (for example, when I'm waiting in line). So I do this several times a day, especially since it's important to stay up to date with what my professors may be sending me.

During my day I text message a friend about one of the assignments, or about getting together for coffee or lunch, or to say happy birthday... or...

I often click on the Calender app to see if I have any appointments, and because I have typed all my assignments into it so I'll always have them with me. 

Now there's another really cool app called Blackboard Learn. It lets me type in my school and user data, and I can go straight to Blackboard and access (read only) my syllabuses, reading handouts, grades, messages (the ones that aren't sent via email by profs and other students), and all the other essential data for every class I'm enrolled in that uses BB. How cool is that? (Sorry, I don't have a pic of that one.)

I have the DropBox app, and some others like it, so I can carry homework files with me, and even open them and read them. I have a bunch of eBook readers, I can search for books by typing in the title, author, ISBN number, or by scanning the bar code and get a list of new and used books for sell by price and dealer (particularly helpful when locating textbooks). Oh, and I have a lot of free eBooks too.

If you want to pay $15 per month, you can have a service on your phone (the app is free) that locates you when you go on a date, or walk the dog, or whatever. It will even call you periodically, if you set that up. If you don't answer your phone, or say the agreed upon thing, it will call the police and your parents (or whoever you have designated) and give them the last known location of your cell phone (you). It seems like an awesome security service for these times.

So I also have apps to keep track of my weight, my meals, my exercise... I have recipe apps, (even one for fixing a six-course thanksgiving dinner), grocery shopping apps, ringtone making apps, mahjong game apps, feng shui my environment apps... I have apps to fix photographs (somewhat), and apps to take photographs, and apps to share photographs on twitter and facebook and...

I love to snap shots of things:  Funny signs I see, my dogs, whatever. I love to share them with my friends. 

My dog is wearing her Invisible Fence collar.

So of course, I have the Facebook app (I think that was the first one I downloaded), and I have Twitter, and I have blogging apps too--doable, but not fun for more than short sentences on the iPhone keyboard.

Sometimes I want to check my math when I'm subtracting an expenditure in my checkbook, or I want to know how much of a tip to leave, or I need to split a lunch bill three ways and I'm too foggy to do it in my head quickly. There's an app for that:

There's a lot of times when I need to look something up on the web, maybe google something quickly. Once I Googled a needed word definition during an English Literature class small group discussion. Using my phone was so much faster and easier than dragging out the ole laptop, waiting for it to boot up, waiting for the browser to boot, then navigating to Google, then...

I don't have stocks anymore, but if I did this app would come in handy. It came on my phone. I can tell how things are going economically each day just by looking at the markets. Okay, well sort of. 

I use this app a lot. Whenever I need to jot down someone's name or number and I don't want to put it in my phone book just yet. Or there's something cool for sale that I want to consider. I keep a lot of "Stuff" notes in here, and a few ideas too.

 If I had those special computerized Nike running shoes that went with this app, this would be cool. Of course, it would help if I ran. (I wonder if you could use it for a walking program?) This app came with my phone too.

Oh, I get a lot of use out of this one:  Google Maps. I also have apps that tell me where the nearest restaurants, gas stations, hair stylists, etc. are. I have flight and hotel and hostel apps (never use - except once I used the flight app to find out my mother-in-law's flight was delayed twice, then they lost her--not her luggage, HER). I even have an app that will tell me where I parked my car (one I am liking better and better as time passes).

Sometimes I just want to record a quick note, especially in the car, and especially when I have a creative thought or idea I don't want to lose. This came with my phone. I have another one too, free, that promises I can record a class lecture with it. I've not tried it yet. It might be worth it to experiment though, you never know when you might actually need it.

I could watch a NETFLIX movie from my phone if I wanted to run the battery down. What would be the point? The screen is so small. If I wanted to do that I'd rather do it from my laptop. But the point is I COULD, there's an app for that. That's just so awesome to me!

The new iPhone4 has even cooler features: Face2Face (F2F) video phone conferencing (and you can Skype from your phone), iMovie... 

So yeah, unlike my iPod before it, or my PDA of previous years (which I dearly loved) - I've become addicted to my iPhone. It's a major technology vice of mine. 

On the other hand, look how helpful it is - ESPECIALLY FOR A STUDENT. I carry ONE SMALL DEVICE, where otherwise I would have to carry (at least): a calculator, a date book (or PDA), an eBook Reader, a cell phone, a voice recorder, a memo pad, a flash drive, a recipe book, a meals log book, an exercise log book, a diet log book, a meal planner book, a grocery list planner pad, a laptop computer....

So if you can see where I'm going with this: you might want to have your parents and grandparents (maybe even your uncles and aunts...siblings, and cousins too) peruse this blog post prior to Christmas and Chanukah this year... I'm just sayin'.

Would you like to play a game?

The little things in life are so much more enjoyable when you’re procrastinating.

I have just summed up my life in the above sentence. You can probably relate seeing as how you’re reading a blog about vices.

That’s right. I know you. I’m one of you.

You like to put off assignments until the very last minute because other things are just so much more enjoyable to do. Facebook, YouTube, Netflix, StumbleUpon, anything that will keep you from typing up that paper that’s due in eight hours.

Oh wait, that was seven hours ago. FOCUS!

Whenever I’m bored with nothing to do, I’ll probably check the old Facebook to see what’s new while I open up a new tab to see if any of my YouTube subscriptions has updated. I usually have a brief session of the Internets when I want to waste time.

However…

When I find myself at a computer for an assignment, I’ll be on the Internets to waste time. I start reverting back to websites that I have not been on since my sophomore year of high school. I’m talking about online flash games. AddictingGames, Kongregate, and Newgrounds are all casual online gamer staples.

Unlike many such gamers, I’m not one to play the games on Facebook. Aside from getting pointless notifications, spam, and the inevitable lagging, I just don’t find the games very enjoyable. According this graph, there are many people that would disagree with my gaming taste.

If you want a taste of my taste, I have listed some of the standout games that I have played in recent memory in no particular order:

Infectonator: World Dominator
This game is all about creating the ultimate virus that causes those who become infected to become zombies. Its retro pixely graphics only make the game more enjoyable. Beware: this game is hard to stop playing.




Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe 3
It’s the third installment of the Guitar Hero-like series and it’s definitely harder than the first two. Be perseverant! Your frustrations will be worth the sweet victories in the end!



Afro-Ninja Escape Series
These 1st person games force you to strategically think outside of the box… and drive you to click on every single pixel on the screen. In all honesty, these games are interesting and fun. Once you beat one, you’ll find yourself starting another one.



Coma
This very nice looking game is one that will make you think about life. The graphics make me think of Tim Burton, and the story is pretty emotionally involved. You’ll want to play this one through just on curiosity alone.



Age of War 2
This follow-up to a simple strategic war game is an interesting one. It is your base against an enemy base in battles that evolve through the ages from cavemen to futuristic warfare.




These are just a few games that I have been sucked into thanks to my avoidance of work. If you liked these, tell your grades and your boss that I apologize for your future distractions.

By the way, the title was a Saw reference. I know, lame. Don't judge me.