Ha-waya

ALOHA!!!! I had planned on bogging more during our trip but apparently they don't believe in free wi-fi here and I'm too busy paying $20 for a goddam salad. Seriously. We finally broke down and paid for an hour so here ya go. This trip has been AWESOME with a capital kick-ass and I will give you the full-on recap blog when I get home but I wanted to post a few pics. We leave tomorrow :( but quite frankly I miss my puppies and will kinda glad to be home. We are currently on the Big Island, which is just covered in lava fields and we've had some amazing snorkeling. In fact, we are getting up at 6am tomorrow to go to a local snorkeling spot one more time before we go home. The hotels have been awesome and we spent the entire day today on site. My sister, Jeff and I found our inner 7 year old and spent some time today on the waterslide. WOO HOO!!! Yesterday we did snuba, which is when you dive with a shared tank, and last night we ventured up the volcano to the International Astronomy Center, which was the absolute highlight of the trip for me. It was freezing and the drive there was treacherous but when we got there (9500ft. above sea level), the sun set and we saw more stars than I've ever seen. Nothing I can say will describe how awesome and powerful it was. I literally stood there looking up and cried my eyes out. It was just amazing and I'm an astronomy nerd and it just moved me to pieces. Okay, enough. I need to go change for dinner so here's a few pics to hold you over:

My sister and I at Waimea Falls

Jeff took this after he hiked up some mountain.

I'll post more stuff when we get home. It'll be great.

MAHALO!

Lost Recap

Okay, this might have been one of the best episodes EVER. I meant to post this yesterday but I'm unreliable so you get it today. Not to rub it in or anything, but we're going to the island where they film most of Lost. We MIGHT re-enact some scenes while we're there and if we do, I'll make sure we post some pics because it would be a crime not to and I'm no criminal.
Let's start....

- So, we knew the 6 got off the island but how cool was it when they first saw their families? Imagine thinking someone is dead and then they're not. The only thing that really made me uneasy about the whole thing was that they seemed to really go out of their way to make it all tidy and happy ever after, which we know just doesn't happen. I was glad to see the numbers come back into play during the scene with Cheech and the car. I read several seasons ago that they had not planned on making the numbers turn out to be anything and I hope they've reconsidered because it adds a nice element of creepy fun. I also liked that Hurley's parent's would throw him an island-themed party and I especially liked Sayid remarking on the same thing and Hurley being like "she just doesn't get it, you know." Yes Hurley, we know.

- Jack and Kate go in search of the chopper and come upon Miles, Sawyer and Aaron sans Claire. I liked the googly eyes Sawyer gave Kate when he saw her, although I was never a fan of that pairing. I'm partial to Jack, even though he is a controlling pill-popper and would probably be a nightmare to be with. Well, Kate takes Aaron and Miles back to the beach to get the hell outta there while Jack, Sawyer and their manliness take off in search of Jimmy Buffet. When they get back, they see Sayid has arrives from the freighter and Kate tells him where Jack and Sawyer have gone so she hands of Aaron to Sun and she and Sayid go after them.

-Meanwhile, nerd scientist has been ferrying people to the freighter. I think it's funny that they show them rescuing extras. Hey person with no name and no storyline, you're free! Sun and Jin are on the first run and we see a glimpse of the future. Sun is obviously one of the 6 and Jin is not. We know this. What we find is that Sun has decided to assert herself and buys controlling stock in her nasty father's company, which I am 99% sure is some subsidiary of Widmore Industries, of course. The look on her evil father's face when he realizes that he has to answer to A WOMAN is delicious. I've gotten a bit feminist-like in my old age and this stuff makes me smile. Interestingly, she tells him that two people are responsible for Jin's death and he is one of them for putting them on the flight to begin with. Now, I don't think Jin is dead, but I'm still intrigued as to who the other person is that she refers to. Maybe Charles, maybe Ben, maybe Jacob. Anyway, when they make it to the freighter, they see Michael and are understandably shocked and probably pissed off. We soon find out that the engines are working so the freighter can go to the island to pick them all up but then they see that there is some kind of interference which I guess means they can't stay on the bearing 305 or whatevr. What the hell is transmitting? Is it on the freighter? Could the losties themselves be causing the interference from some kind of island radiation? hmmm.... Oh, we also find out that the thingy that main army dude strapped to his arm last week? Yeah, it's a detonator and the explosives are all neatly stacked around the freighter engine just waiting for him to blow them all to bits.

- Kate and Sayid are making their way through the jungle and they hear a noise, which turns out to be Richard. They threaten to shoot him until they realize that they are surrounded by his people. So, where have they been all this time? Do they know what's happening? Are they really operating independently of Ben? Are they going to help?

- Jack and Sawyer find Jimmy Buffet handcuffed to the chopper and help to free him. He tells them that the army dudes have gone off to "the greenhouse" to find Ben and Sawyer asks what will happen to the people with him and he basically says they're dead meat. Sawyer finds his feelings and tells them that Hurley is with them and so off they go to try and save him.

-Meanwhile, Ben, John and Hurley are heading to the Orchid. Ben signals to someone (Jacob? Richard?) high in the mountains and they take off. When they get there, the army dudes are already there and Ben decides to make a bold move. He knows that they have to move the island but you have to do that somewhere inside the Orchid, which is surrounded. Ben instructs John to go in through the side door while he distracts them. He hands John the thingy that he has had in every episode that shows him time-jump. I said before that that thing is VERY IMPORTANT and this confirms it. They need that thing to do whatever they need to do. Maybe that's what you need to actually see or talk to Jacob. Anyway, Ben comes out of hiding and walks right up to the Orchid and gives himself up to the army dude, who in turn knocks him out cold.

- We got some Jack flash-forwards and this time he's speaking at his dad's funeral. After, a woman comes up to him and tells him that she is the reason his dad was in Sydney because she had a child with him and then she tells him about how her daughter was on the same flight and her name was Claire, which TOTALLY freaks him out and us since we still don't know what happened to her and I assume he cannot tell her that he knew Claire and obviously she can't know that Aaron is her grandson and not Kate's son and Jack could do nothing but explode inside. On a related note, my sister just re-watched the episode from season one when Claire is remembering her kidnapping by Ethan and in a scene in the medical hatch, we see a shadowy figure through the window and upon further inspection and a pause on the HD, IT IS CHRISTIAN. This was way back when so obviously he plays a MUCH larger role in all this than we have been led to think or have even noticed. I believe that over the next season we will start to get the missing pieces that connect Christian Shepard to Dharma, Widmore, Ben and the whole freaky thing.

Wow. So the finale will have to show them up to the point they are on the cargo plane going home, right? Will we get to see them "move the island?" Is the moving of the island the reason that Jack can never go back and find it? Remember in the scene with Kate at the airport when he says that he gets on a flight every week hoping it crashes again? Do they have to make a choice to go or stay and then once they leave, there's no finding them again? AAARRRRGGGHH.
Answers, Lost people, PLEASE give us something to gnaw on until January, mmkay?

Aloha

We are dangerously close to leaving for our Hawaiian vacation. I am so freaking excited. EEEEEEE!!!!! I thought I'd post some pics of the resort we're staying at in Kona.













It's gonna be pretty fun. We're bringing the laptop so I'm going to try to post pics and stuff during the trip. TECHNOLOGY!

What's next, Ben on Blossom?

Oh my god. I was just watching the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (DON'T JUDGE) and they were in a courtroom and there was an ex-con who was trying to reform himself and guess who the ex-con was?? TOM FROM LOST. Yes, big gay Tom. The weird part is that this episode was from probably 16-17 years ago and he looked exactly the same. He has a strangely large and womanly body and his black acid washed jeans did him no favors.

Fight Club

Well, this was quite a weekend. As you know from his very sweet post, I finally graduated on Saturday. The ceremony was long and boring but I was really proud to walk in it and thanks to LM, Liz, Gwen, my hubs and family for enduring the boredom to support me. It really meant a lot and thanks for your awesome gifts, especially to the world's greatest husband who bought me my very first laptop.

On Sunday, my little sister graduated from high school so it was a double boring ceremony weekend. Her ceremony was a little more interesting at the end because my sister and I almost got in a fight. Well, we WANTED to get in a fight but it didn't work out. See, my dad lives in the same nice cushy suburb that I grew up in and my sister went to my old high school. It's your stereotypical big suburban high school but the area has grown tremendously since I lived there 15 years ago and is now like a super mega suburb filled with McMansions and gigantic cars and shopping centers everywhere you turn. Now, I don't mean to hate on the burbs. I can see the appeal to some people, in fact I have several close friends who live out there and hell, I grew up there, but I just can't get on board with it. That's not to say that I just love my weird-ass city neighbors, but the level of pretension here is significantly lower. I encountered some of the rudest individuals I have ever met at that graduation. If it wasn't someone walking into a picture, or at one point, just STANDING in our picture having a cell phone conversation and not even bothering to say excuse me upon this realization, it was someone pushing or complaining or LOUDLY talking on their cellphone or whatever. The ultimate, however, came right after the ceremony ended. Before they read the names, the man asked that we hold applause until they had finished reading all 500 names so that each student may hear their name. Now, I think this is a dumb rule. This is a big day for them and their families and not letting them show it just so they can shave off 15 minutes just doesn't seem fair. I apparently, was not alone in thinking this way. After they read the first few names, you soon started hearing a random "WOO" or "YEAH" after some of the names. It was VERY BRIEF and quite frankly made the whole thing a lot more interesting than just hearing the names drone on and on. I leaned over to my sister and said "we're gonna woo-hoo, right?" and she's like "um, yeah" so we informed my dad who smiled. When they called Jesica's name, we went "WOO" and my stepmom clapped TWICE. That was it, it lasted less than a second and the next name was heard by everyone. Well, by the time they got to name 350, the crowd was getting restless and some of the cheers were louder and longer than they needed to be but whatevr. Who know, this may have been the first person in their family to graduate so let them be proud. Anyway, the thing finally ended and as we were standing there waititng to exit our row, this woman who had been sitting behind us suddenly came up to my stepmom and grabbed her arm. I was standing next to them but it was loud and I kind of just thought they maybe knew each other or something and all I could make out over the crowd noise was the words "clapping" and "dignity" and my stepmom responding with a "thank you." My stepmom leaned over to me and said "what a bitch" and I was like "what did she say?" She had grabbed my stepmom's arm and said "I would just like to say that your excessive clapping really took away from the dignity of the students and the ceremony." My stepmom was so stunned by her bitchery that all she could respond with was "thank you." My sister and I immediately got our bitch-face on and scanned the crowd for her but all that we got in was my sister mouthing some choice words to her, which WE KNOW she saw because they abruptly left after. I could not believe that someone would be such a pill as to go up to someone and scold them like a little kid. This woman appeared to have a 60 foot pole shoved up her ass to begin with, so we shouldn't have been surprised. My dad said that every time someone clapped or whatevr, he could hear her behind us tsk-tsking about how no one can follow rules these days. He said that if the guy had told us to sit on our hands, you better believe she would have. Stupid rule-following be-yotch. Here's a messsage for you:

Jesus lady, CHILL. It's not a big deal and you probably spent so much time worrying about what everyone around you was doing wrong that you didn't even enjoy your own child's graduation, although from the looks of you, it doesn't appear that you enjoy ANYTHING, which I'm sure will have nothing to do with your child fleeing your home at the first chance so they can go and LIVE their lives without your oppression.

Too harsh? Nah. We spent the rest of the evening asking my stepmom to please give us our dignity back. She refused.

Oh, and another thing. What's the deal with teenage girls wearing clothes that barely cover their buttcheeks? Seriously. We say MANY 17-18 year old girls wearing dresses that were so short they could have had a drive-by pap smear. And their parents LET THEM. One girl's dress was so short that you could literally see her entire lady area when she bent down to fix her shoe. Why are they allowed out like this? Am I just a total prude? I wore some crazy stuff in my day but I never had my ass falling out of anything. Hey ladies, I'm 99% sure that the "dresses" you had on were in fact just shirts, in which case, WEAR SOME GODDAMN PANTS.

Amy's Big Day!!

A rare Jeff post here.

Today is the day that Amy is graduating and I just wanted to say how proud I am of her.
There has been a lot of crazy things that have happened in our lives in the past few years and
and all along Amy has had a lot of fun, made some friends, and excelled in school.
She managed all A's except for 1 B in a class for Interior Design, that's right, all A's in her Graphic Design program, and everything else.

Good job baby! Congratulations on graduating and on your internship!

Love,
Hubby

rosebud

So I watched "Citizen Kane" this morning. The dog was up infuriatingly early and by the time I let her out and dispensed her meds, I was pretty much awake so I made some coffee and went back to "lounge." I don't "lounge" much because I tend to feel guilty for doing nothing. Anyway, I went in to "lounge" and I couldn't find anything to watch. For some reason, the programming at 7am is pretty dismal and my choices were The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, several crappy decorating shows, a Hip Hop Abs infomercial and various news programming. The news is just too depressing these days so I was just about to click on The Fresh Prince (HELL YEAH I WAS) and I saw that The French Connection was just starting. This was one of those movies that I probably should have seen but I haven't and didn't really care to, but I thought I'd give it a go. I lasted about 10 minutes. I went back to search for The Fresh Prince and I saw Citizen Kane had also started. I saw it in high school and I didn't really get the hype so I decided to expand my brain and watch some of it. I ended up watching the whole freaking thing. Not because I think it's the greatest movie ever made but because between the freaky camera work, the amazing clothes and the 1940's dialogue, I just could not pull away. Seriously, why the hell did people in the 40's talk like that? It's not even an accent from anywhere. It's all up and down and really fast and I think it's awesome. The movie itself just doesn't do it for me and I think I remember it being reeeeeeally long and it didn't seem that long today. Maybe it's like when you're a kid and stuff looks really big and then you're grown and it's all normal sized.

Anyway, that's what I did. Then I watched Growing Pains. I need a life.

people are watching me

Okay, I need to stop watching goddamn Lost because it is turning me into a paranoid conspiracy theorist. I had to venture out today to get an oil change and I was waiting to get on the highway and took note of the car in front of me. It was an Infiniti G35 or whatever and the passengers were two men with business shirts on. I know, it's riveting but stay with me. I went and got the oil change ( along with a heads-up about a freaking NAIL in my tire, thankyouverymuch) and I went to Lowes to get grout. When I was getting off the highway to come home, I happened to notice the car in front of me. It was an Infiniti G35. Upon futher inspection, I saw that it was the SAME one from before and still contained two men in business shirts. What does this mean, you ask? That is the same question I asked myself as I waited for the dang light to change and I concluded that it means absolutely nothing. It's a random coincidence. BUT IT'S STILL WEIRD.

On a related note, just to further demonstrate my paranoia, the other day I got an email from DHL saying that a package had been sent to me from someone called E. Reynolds. I don't know any E. Reynolds and the prospect of a package from that person was alarming. Jeff pointed out that perhaps it was a graduation present but I reminded him that I do not know any E. Reynolds so why would a random person send me a package via DHL?! I tried to track it but nothing came up which just made it worse. I figured that I would get a big box with a head in it or some shit. Great. That's just what I need. A bloody head. Anyway, I freaked out on it a bit and then forgot about it until Jeff called me yesterday. This was the convo:

Jeff: Hey remember the mysterious DHL package you were worried about? You know, the head you are supposedly getting in the mail?

me: Yes, I am aware of this.

Jeff: Well, your sister tracked down the package.

me: "gasp" REALLY?! Who the hell sent it?

Jeff: Well, your sister said the info was "TJ Low Body" and it IS from an E. Reynolds.

me: WHAT THE HELL?! A body?

Jeff: Um yeah, remember the Turbo Jam Lower Body workout DVD you bought on Amazon Marketplace the other day? Yeah hon, you do the math.

me: "silent pause" I guess that means there's no severed head, huh?

And he stays married to me. That's the real lesson here. Not that I'm paranoid over receiving severed heads in the mail, it's that he understands this about me and still loves me.

I'm still keepin' my eye on that Infiniti, though.

Random Stuff

So I didn't really mention this earlier, but I had a job interview on Monday. It is for a company that designs mylar balloons and, as I learned in the interview, plush animals and gift boxes. The lady I interviewed with is one of my old Creative.comm clients from school. It's by no means a sure thing as they are still unsure as to what direction they want to go in regards to a new hire, but I figured the interview experience would be valuable since I realized that I really haven't been on that many job interviews. And by that many, I mean 4. Overall it was a totally different experience than my internship interview. She didn't rip into my stuff the way they did and the few negative things she had to say weren't earth shattering and there wasn't anyone being rude like I experienced before. If it does pan out, it probably isn't something that will happen until later in the summer, which actually works out better for me. She also mentioned that they sometimes hire freelance for specific projects and I made it known that I would definitely be on board for something like that. I hope to hear back either way after we get back from our trip, which is drawing closer and closer. My sister is starting to panic about the flight, which is not unexpected, she is a terrible flyer, but I explained that the odds of us ALL being in a plane crash are way low and that is we crashed Lost-style, at least we'd be together to form an alliance. None of this made her feel better and I don't know why. Maybe a valium will. Or three.

Anyhoo, speaking of Lost, we decided to watch the pilot episode over the weekend. I have to confess that even though I am obsessed with Lost, I had never seen the first episode. Well, watching it now was VERY interesting and we noticed a few things. First off, when Jack runs out of the jungle to the wreckage at the very beginning, he runs on to a quiet beach with nothing disturbed and then suddenly he turns and the wreckage IS RIGHT THERE. Now I don't know if that was just some kind of new fangled filming technique but it made it seem very suspect. We also noticed that from the very start, Jack and Kate were drawn together. Maybe it was just their way of introducing the characters, but knowing what we know now, it seems like WAY more. We also saw Charlie writing the word "fate" on his knuckles during all the pandemonium, which raised both our eyebrows. We're going to continue to watch the first season, perhaps on the plane ride (they already crashed so it's okay) and then we're going to watch the WHOLE SERIES over and I'm sure we'll see things that now make a lot more sense. I'll try to post any clues we find that may have been overlooked before. Seeing as we have like 2 more episodes and then nothing until January, YOU'RE WELCOME.

On a side note to LM: No, I don't think Claire's dead, nor did I ever. I'm not sure what's going on but I don't think it's that simple. We've seen every person die that has died and for her to simply walk off and be dead just doesn't compute. I think something VERY weird is going on with her but I just don't think it's that. However, I have no idea what the hell's bells is going on so I'm probably wrong.

No, thank YOU for being a friend

I am currently living a life of leisure until my internship starts in June, so I've decided to use my time wisely and catch up on my TV watching. For instance, this morning, I was treated to a rousing half-hour of The Golden Girls on Lifetime. Ah yes, Lifetime, television for people with low or no entertainment standards. During this episode, Rose began dating a doctor but wouldn't bring him home to meet Blanche and Dorothy. On a side note, Sophia was off visiting her son Phil and attending her grandson's graduation from dog grooming school so we were not treated to her sarcasm quite as much as I would have liked. Well, we found out why Rose was hiding her beau when Blanche took it upon herself to invite him to dinner and we found out he was a MIDGET. Rose thought he wanted to marry her and there was a whole dream sequence with celebrity psychic Jeanne Dixon, who I remember from reading my granny's tabloids when I was young. Not only was the guy a midget (no offence to midgets, it was just the storyline), but he was a Jewish midget, which was the reason he broke up with Rose by the end of the episode since she is not Jewish. In fact, Rose probably never saw a Jewish person during her life in St. Olaf. Anyway, our lesson today was to be mindful of judging those around us because we never know if they in turn are judging us. Okay, it probably wasn't that deep but whatevs. More importantly though, are the outfits. Now I remember watching The Golden Girls in PRIMETIME, along with Empty Nest and yet I don't recall being quite this mesmerized by the attire. In one scene, Dorothy, and can I just say that Bea Arthur is a comedy genius and I totally mean that, was wearing what was basically a button down oxford-style shirt that went all the way down to her ankles. I had hoped it was a nightgown at first but she had on full jewelry. In another scene, her sweater was so long that it looked as though her legs were about 3 feet long and her torso was 6 feet tall. She is a tall woman to begin with and these outfits make her look like one of those stilt people from the circus, but in a more Boca Raton kind of way. These outfits are effing amazing. The sheer number of rayon pantsuits in one room at one time is a staggering treat for the eyes. I fondly remember my own ridiculously big sweater. It was powder blue and came down PAST my knees (I'm short , people) and I got it at Express when it was all neon and loud prints and I wore it until it pilled. That with some stirrup pants and a jaunty scarf and I was ready for anything.

After the Golden Girls, I switched over to WE, which is like Lifetime's slower, younger sister, to partake in an hour of Kate & Allie. I love me some Jane Curtain and Susan Saint James and who doesn't want to spend time with two sassy divorcees and their cute and precocious kids? I also watched this show in primetime, I believe it might have been with Family Ties, and I remember thinking how cool it would have been to live in the house with all of them. That and the awesome feathered hair the daughters wore made me tune in every week. Listening to them squawk about their ex-husbands made me feel right at home. Ah yes, the 80's. Thank you lesser basic cable stations, for bringing me back to my childhood this morning.

I gotta go now, Little House is on.

UPDATE: Well, this is just serendipity. I JUST saw that today is the lovely Bea Arthur's 85th birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOROTHY ZBORNAK!

The End

So I'm done. Finished. I turned in my final assignment and that's it, folks. I am not a student anymore, which I have officially indicated if you look to your left. All that's left is the graduation ceremony in a week. My teacher today is one of the people I'll be working with at my internship and he was acting very oddly. Hmmm. I mentioned that I would see him in a couple weeks and he just smiled oddly and said "a couple weeks, huh?" and then told me to have fun in Hawaii. Now, as most anyone that knows me will tell you, along with many of my other annoying quirks, I tend to over think stuff and read into things that perhaps mean nothing more than their surface appearance. That being said, I'm going to try to not figure out whether he really was acting strangely and just get on with business as usual. I'm hoping to start my internship the first week of June and will spend the next week trying to find freelance work (shameless plug here) so if anyone needs anything graphically or cake-like, I'm here for you.

Lost Recap

Yay! A Lost recap that isn't a week old. GO ME! Enough celebrating. The important thing is that I had to watch the last 20 minutes from the EDGE OF MY FREAKING COUCH because it was so mind-blowing. I audibly gasped many, many times and I CANNOT wait until next week. With so much to discuss, where do I even start? I'm gonna break it down but I'm warning you, grab a drink and maybe some food because this sucker is gonna be LOOOOONG. Come on then..........

-Let's talk about John Locke, shall we? So his mommy was a teen hobag who got knocked up by a MUCH older man, at least according to her 1940's stern look of a mother, and gave him up. While the very caring grandmother lights up in the hospital room while casually asking about adopting him out, we see a man watching. On further inspection, it's FREAKING RICHARD. Next, we see him in a home with siblings, presumably his adopted home, and he gets another visit from the eternally youthful and slightly creepy Richard. He is going to "test" John for a special school (AKA Dharma) and lays a bunch of objects out and asks John which ones are his. He picks a vial of sand (?), a compass and a scary looking knife. When he chooses the knife, Richard tried to get him to not take it but John insists it's his and Richard gets mad, tells him he isn't ready and splits. WTF?! I'm very glad we saw this but I think we could have used just a teeny bit more context. What is the significance of the objects? Why is the knife bad and what does it symbolize, if anything? Did Ben get this same test and that's how he came to the island? We have to assume yes, since he referenced it later, referring to himself as being "chosen." Fast forward again and we see John as a teenager, a nerdy one at that, and he is being told that he can't change who he is which apparently is a mathlete or something, which isn't what he wants to be but it is what fate has planned for him. This was a pivotal scene. Fate has been a long-running theme in this show and this really confirms to me that this will turn out to be a major part of this whole convoluted story. Humans have longed to believe that we can do anything we put our minds to but what if that isn't true and we are unable to change our predetermined fate. It's kind of bleak, no? What would happen if we KNEW our fates before we lived them out? How would that change humanity? I think it would totally destroy humanity because we would have no reason to strive for anything and we would probably just lie down and take it. Or is it better that we spend our lives in a giant hamster wheel running and running to try and do something that we are not destined to do and therefore will never succeed in doing? Should we feel failure in what we cannot accomplaish or should we just accept it as something we simply are not meant to do and move on? "Le sigh" This show is making me depressed. Okay, forward again and we see John after his "accident" and the creepy man from the airline is now his orderly and he tells him to go on his walk-about, which is how he got on the plane in the first place, which, as he said it would do, has changed him. WHAT? I can't even process this part. Who is this man? A prophet? Part of Dharma? Seal?

- Back on the island we have two things happening, crazy shit's going down on the freighter and John, Ben and Hurley are looking for Jacob's cabin. Let's tackle the former. The chopper lands with the army dudes, including one that had been mangled by the smoke monster and the Jimmy Buffet pilot. Main army dude is PISSED that someone ratted him out to Ben, which further confirms that Ben holds some MAJOR power and this guy is scared. He accuses the captain and then figured out it's Michael, who is chained up in a room. Army dude bursts in, confronts him, breaks his leg (ouch) and Michael fesses up. He can't kill him because he has to fix the engines that he broke and we know that Michael can't die anyway so GO MICHAEL. The captain realizes that this is all going nutso and wants out but the army dude isn't having it. He demands that Jimmy Buffet fly him back to the island along with enough guns and ammo to kill EVERYONE and EVERYTHING. Sayid realizes what's going on and decides to go and try to warn them. Desmond stays behind because he's stupid and thinks Penny is coming (doubtful, dude) so Sayid takes the wee boat and heads off. Meanwhile, one of the guys mentions that the Losties found the doctor's body washed up on shore with his throat slit. He says this TO THE DOCTOR, who is clearly still alive, which means that the freighter is in a time that is behind the island, right? Well soon enough the throat IS cut and off he goes. The captain tries to stop the chopper, he gets shot and then they're off to go kill the survivors.

-Back to Ben, Hurley and John. After wandering around, they make camp and John is awakened to find a man named Horace, who is chopping down trees to "build a house." I am 97% sure we met Horace during Ben's flashback when he first came to the island. Either way, the dude's been dead for 12 years and in the most bizarre scene so far, is on a continuous loop of chopping down the same tree. In between, he gives John a message that to find Jacob, he has to find him. John takes them to the mass grave and finds Horace's old, dead body and finds a blueprint in his uniform. It's the blueprint of the cabin. This man was BUILDING JACOB'S CABIN. Mind freak. Anyway, Ben has now realized that John has taken "power" and he seems kind of defeated and bummed out. I feel ya, dude. Anyway, they find the cabin and Ben and Hurley send John in alone. Okay people, this whole part freaked me the hell out. He goes in the creepy cabin and we see a man sitting there in the dark. John asks if he is Jacob, he says no but he will speak on his behalf and when John asks who he is, we see it's.........Christian, AKA Daddy Shepard. WHAT?! Wait, it gets better. We also see CLAIRE sitting there with him. This was when I had to stand up because i was not believing what I was seeing. Claire looked so content and happy and I'm still not sure what the bloody hell is going on with this situation. Is she dead? Did Christian bring her over to some other dimension because he sure as hell is dead or IS HE? Maybe he had been on this island and can't die either. Eeek. John starts asking questions and Christian is all "we don't have time for his, ask the question that matters" so John asks him how to save the island. Not, how to I keep all my friends from getting blown to bits, but how do I save the ISLAND. Woah. When he emerges, Ben asks what they told him to do and he said they told him to MOVE THE ISLAND. Of course, why wouldn't they. WHA-HAHT? Okay, now obviously at this point we've all picked up on the heavy religious undertones in this show, with redemption being a major player along with eternal life and fate. I've asked it before and it's been debated over and over on every Lost message board, but I have to ask again, is Jacob god? They sure want us to think that, no?

-Finally we have a brief moment with our peeps and they see the chopper fly in, thinking Hooray, we're rescued, and Jimmy Buffet drops a backpack with a satellite phone it. Jacks gets it and thinks that they are supposed to follow the signal. Are they? I think the pilot is a good guy so I have to believe he's got a plan but this is just so goddamn exciting now so kudos to you, Lost makers. I know it's complicated but it does reward you for paying attention and I love a puzzle so this is just amazing. They'd better not eff it up in the end. If they pull a Newhart and make this a dream, HEADS WILL ROLL, PEOPLE.

Whew. I think I have a callus on my finger from all this typing and my brain from all this thinking. Next week we get to see the Oceanic 6 leave the island and all I know is that there had better be some answers to something. OR ELSE. What do you guys think?

Look, I learned something!

Well, as of about 10:30am tomorrow, I will officially be done with school. I can stop saying "I'm a student" and say "I'm a graphic designer." That's really weird and awesome. I had my final reviews on Tuesday and two final critiques yesterday. All that's left is for me to turn in my last assignment tomorrow morning. During my portfolio review with Evann, she asked me how my experience was and I told her that it was awesome and it was. I would have never gone to art school when I was younger because that was only for cool people and I was not that. I also told her that going to college at 28 was a very daunting task but I felt like I got more out of it than I would have had I been 10 years younger. Interestingly it was LM's mom and Jeff that really got me to go. When we were at LM's gradution for her Master's degree (smarty), her mom asked me if I was ever going to go to college and I was all "it'll take forever and I'm too old" and she was all "well, the time's going to pass anyway so wouldn't you rather just do it and have something to show for it in the end?" and how can you argue with that wise logic? I looked at her and a light went on in me brain and I mentioned it to Jeff and he was totally all over it. He helped me get started and has encouraged me every single minute.

Interior design school was pretty fun and I met a few people that I will probably be friends with for evah (I'm talkin to you SJP) but I don't think I really fit in until I switched to graphic design. It was a risky move that many people were not so sure of since I decided to do it just as my granny was dying and I wasn't really in my right mind, but I knew deep down that I had to do it even though it scared the shit out of me. I don't think I would have been nearly as successful had I stayed.

I wasn't much of a student in high school because I was the fat girl and hated school until my senior year and when I had a full-time job fall in my lap right before I graduated, I took that instead of going to college. I probably should have gone straight away but I really had no idea what I wanted to do and I wasn't really aware of how different college was from high school and only saw 4 more years of torture so I took the job. I figured I would go later but it took a whopping 10 years before I got the nuts to go. During that time I was a receptionist, a pizza delivery driver, a receptionist again (VERY bad experience), a travel agent, a house painter, a billing agent in a big corporate machine and an art supply salesperson. Now I can say I'm a graphic designer and be proud of the work I put in. I also feel like this all DID happen the way it was supposed to because had I gone right after high school, I never would have been a pizza delivery driver, which is where I met Rob who was friends with this skinny guy named Jeff and this cool girl named LM, who in turn introduced me to MANY of my current friends.

I also met friends in this field, albeit WAY younger than me, but awesome people just the same. So to Liliya, Tiffany, Stormy and Johnny Virus I say thank you guys for taking me in and making me feel like I belonged somewhere. I wouldn't have made it through these last few semesters without you guys and I wish you all the best. I hope our paths cross again.

Mahalo

So yesterday I was in class and my phone rang and it was my brother in law Jeff. Yes folks, my sister and I both married men named Jeff. We'll refer to him as Brother from here on out because that's what I call him and I don't' want to have to clarify every time I mention him. Anyway, Brother called me from the airport, a place he is so very familiar with because of his job, and this was our conversation:

me: Hello

brother: Hey sister, guess what?

me: What?

brother: I'm at the airport and I just saw a guy I know with his family dressed in tropical clothes and I asked where they were going and he said Hawaii and then I realized we're leaving in 2 WEEKS. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? WE'RE GOING TO HAWAII IN TWO WEEKS! That is so dope.

me: I know, that's awesome!

**silence**

me: um brother, are you still there?

brother: Yeah. That's all, I just wanted to say that.

me: okay, bye.

God love him. If I were smart enough to figure out how to have one of those countdown clock things on this blog I would have one and then we could all share in my Countdown To Paradise glory. Sadly, I'm not that smart.

Lost Recap

This is WAY late but I finally watched Lost last night. It's my final week of school and I have been buried in crap so that's my excuse. Let's roll.....

-Yowza. Where do I start? So Jack's a sickey and his appendix is gonna burst and Juliette has to do beachside surgery. She sends Jin, Sun, the scientist and the redhead to the medical station for supplies. When they got there, Sun and Jin had an exchange about the other two in Korean, and I noticed the redhead look at them and I turned to Jeff and said "she understand them. WHY?" Sure enough, Jin confronts her and demands that they take Sun off the island and threatens to break the scientist's fingers one by one if she doesn't. First off, GO JIN! He's such a silent dude and it's nice to see him grow a pair and tell her what's what. Second, I think she understands why Sun needs to leave and knows what will happen if she doesn't and I want to know how she knows this.

-Jack demands he be awake to walk Juliette through the surgery and wants Kate there to hold the mirror. Um, what the HELL you control freak? Hey Lost people, I was eating dinner and did NOT want to see you slice into Jack's abdomen so thanks for that. Kate freaks out and Bernard knocks Jack out when Juliette goes in with the stretcher thing, which thank god he did because I could barely watch at that point. OUCH. All the while, we are treated to a flash-forward and Jack and Kate and Aaron are living together in a nice McMansion like a happy little family until Jack goes to visit Hurely. He is convinced that they are all dead and never got off the island, which is why Jack is happy. He's in heaven and I can only guess that Hurley thinks he is in hell (himself, not Jack). He also told him that Charlie visited and is basically pissed that Jack is raising Aaron, which is kind of weird because Charlie wasn't the father to begin with so what business is it of his. This whole thing, coupled with a ghostly visit from Daddy Shephard drives Jack to drink, propose to Kate and then accuse her of having an affair or lying or something. Essentially, he began to turn into his own father who he hates. That was very interesting to me. Sad and interesting.

-During all this, Sawyer, Claire, Aaron and Miles are trekking through the jungle to to get back to the beach. Miles gets some sort of island-style ESP and finds the bodies of both Rousseau and poor Carl. Sawyer and Claire freak out (naturally) and then we see the Jimmy Buffet pilot and the scary army dudes that shot Alex bust into the jungle. Our guys have to hide while the pilot distracts them away from the area. They trek on and while they're sleeping, Claire wakes up and sees Daddy Shephard in the jungle and goes to him. The next morning Sawyer tries to find her but finds only Aaron and now Claire is gone. GONE.

-Jack makes it through surgery, Juliette lets him know that she knows he loves Kate and not her and blah, blah, blah. I also thought that Rose's comment to Benard that people don't get sick on the island, they get well was something we have all thought but if that were really the case, how would anyone die? How would Ben have had the tumor? What about the mysterious "sickness" that we don't hear about anymore?

-The final part of the flash forward, which I am assuming takes place after the trial but before the funeral with the mystery casket, is drunk Jack confronting Kate about her whereabouts. Kate tells him to trust her and he's drunk like daddy and demands to know. Her answer is that she was "doing something for him." I first thought Ben and then when she said Sawyer, I was FLOORED. Jack went on about how Sawyer chose to stay on the island and how he is the one who saved Kate and that she needs to remember that. WAIT ONE MINUTE PEOPLE. WHAT THE HELL WAS SHE DOING FOR SAWYER AND HOW WOULD HE CONTACT HER FROM THE ISLAND TO DO SO? I theorized earlier that the rest of them (minus the 6) were indeed still on the island, even though we saw Jin's tombstone and that they are all presumed dead. I wonder if they were promised eternal life if they stayed. I've also heard about the whole time-loop theory or whatever and here's my lowbrow take on it. There is a theory called the string theory or something that Einstein came up with and from what I can figure out with my non-science brain is that he theorized that the same "reality" can exist in different forms in different times. I take this to mean that one person can exist on different planes or dimensions or whatever and each of those realities is different than the others but none of them are aware of the others. I could be totally bastardizing this but I watched a PBS show on it and as hard as it is for me to understand, I'm fascinated by it. If this is the case, than perhaps Ben has figured out a way to consciously exist in those different dimensions and control them, thus the time jumping. Maybe he's actually jumping realities and the island has given him this ability.

Good lord. They need to have a waring label on this show that you should have a PhD before you attempt to watch. Thoughts anyone?

Cinco de Fart-O

My friend Gwen of www.everythingilikecausescancer.blogspot.com had a Cinco de Mayo party last Saturday night. It was technically a Tres de Mayo party but we don't like technicalities so we'll act as though it was the 5th. Anyway, at some point in the night there were a bunch of us crammed in her kitchen, partly because it was slightly chilly outside and we had all suddenly become temperature averse and partly because Liz had made a gigantic crockpot full of queso dip and there really isn't any reason to leave a big pot of cheese. Well, we were all talking and being silly and laughing at Liz's thick cheese dip and all of a sudden I got a whiff of something. Now I have a SUPER sensitive nose and I can pick up a scent like a dog and this was not something I wanted to smell as it was the distinct smell of fart. I immediately looked at Jeff, who is kind of known for dropping some ass bombs now and again but he'll usually excuse himself to pollute an uninhabited area rather than clear a room, and he looked at me and was like "IT WAS NOT ME" and by the look on his face, I believed him and for the record, it was NOT me either. We both peered around at everyone else, who were all still chattering away and I looked around the fridge at LM and she looked at me and was like "OH MY GOD, DO YOU SMELL THAT?" By this point, the cloud of funk had made it's way into the kitchen and we were all like "IT'S NOT ME" and trying to locate the origin of the stink cloud. Bear in mind this was a party revolving around MEXICAN food and we all know what that'll do to your insides so this was not a smell you wanted to stay in. Well, of the 8-9 people in the kitchen, NO ONE would fess up and there just wasn't anyone else around so SOMEONE did it. Most of the guys were like "if that were me, the paint would have peeled already" like their farts are SO POWERFUL that we wouldn't even be able to be in the same house after their release and I know it wasn't me, Liz or LM because we tend to not fart in public or at least in that close of quarters, so the farter continues to remain a mystery. Either way it was hilarious because the mystery farter had inadvertently started another conversation about peeing in the shower. I'll leave that for another post. I don't want to spoil your breakfast.

For the record, yes, we are still 6 and farting IS funny no matter what anyone says.

quit pressuring me WORLD

And the hits keep on comin':

Pisces 05/02/08

You don't have to sort anything out this weekend. You don't have to reach a decision. You don't have to make a commitment. You don't have to do a deal. You don't have to come to an understanding. You don't have to... but you may want to. Try not to want to. Most definitely be aware that you don't have to. Act only out of inspiration, never out of obligation. You have more time at your disposal than you know. If others are putting you under pressure, it is because it suits their purposes, not yours.

Does this mean I DON'T have to sort my laundry because that's gonna save me at least 43 seconds. THANK GOD. Keeding.....no seriously this is really creepy-accurate.

I need a big wallet for all my experience

Well, I accepted the internship. Partly because I do actually like the guy running the joint despite my differences with the other people, and partly because I'm scared I won't get one anywhere else. It's for a whopping zero dollars per hour, so if you see my driving my new Bentley soon, know I bought it with "experience." I keed, I keed....experience is priceless, right? Anyway, I don't know if it's the right thing to do but it's what I'm doing and I'm still going to pursue some other options (ahem, PAYING option), including my cake decorating (sorry, hon) so I guess we'll just have to see where this takes me. We met with Evann for our last group portfolio meeting and she said she would be giving some of us the names of people on the school's advisory board to talk to and get some portfolio feedback. One of them is my old creative.comm client, so I'm for sure calling her and I think she might have one other person for me to talk to.

On a positive note, this was my last regular week of school. Next week is finals and my a week from today, I'll be totally done with school. That is a very weird thing to think about because I've been going on and off (mostly on) for the last 5 years and it's been like a nice big safety net and now I have to go out and be a big girl all on my own. yeesh. Today is my last gym class so farewell to the creepy old guy with the knee brace who sits on the ab machine and watches the girls work out. How I will miss the creepy way you say "hey sweetie" when we walk by you and I'm sure you'll miss the daggers that shoot from my eyes in response.

Okay this is boring even me so enjoy your Friday.