jack-o-radness

my pumpkin carving party was such a success. a+. a real winner. though i wished for brigid to be there, and for scotty mcD to be there too. but those of us who were there had a dope dope time, and our pumpkins look great. fantastic foods sloppy joe mix gets a unanimous thumbs up. i learned that making sugar cookies (with the pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter i did finally find at ralph's) is way more tough than i had expected (especially when lacking a rolling pin). the giants totally lost the world series, which sucked, even more so because they kept showing dusty baker's kid bawling his eyes out at the end. luckily, the simpsons cracked us all up and got us back into the spirit of things. only heather is fired.

last night, i couldn't sleep, and it sucked. i have this problem where i wake up from dreams super confused, which causes me to get super frustrated so i can't get back to sleep. add in a bit of nausea, and you've got one miserable laurel. thank goodness for the time difference to egypt (especially since the one person i know i can always call at 3 am and not worry about waking up didn't have the ringer on his phone turned on, so he didn't hear my calls) -- i love you bdawg!!

saturday consisted of sleeping in, watching the first half of the SC game, drumming, hearing the end of the game on the radio, buying 5 pumpkins at trader joe's, watching the giants lose miserably, trying to see gary jules yet again, only to find the show sold out, and seeing bowling for columbine instead (which ruled, btw).

and not sleeping. which means i am super ready for bed tonight (considering i spent my extra hour today watching the secret of nimh and hoping to all high hope that i wouldn't spuke). i actually really love the feel of 20-pound eyelids...

stalker prep

(this is for brigid - to make her smile)

today was a smilerific day. it rained - and even a tad bit less wussy than LA rain normally is. though it only lasted about 10 minutes (hopefully long enough to clean my car).

i worked from home this morning... i know you're wondering how it is possible for me to tutor elementary school kids from home, which didn't happen. they had some big halloween carnival today, so i looked up fun activities for my kids to do online. i'll tell you, it's much easier to find stupid flash games for kids to play than the old school dittos i loved so much as a kid.

after sorting beads for hours in my drumming class (i made my shekere last year and wan't about to start that whole process again), i came home and was invited by my roomies janean and molly to go out to dinner. we went to chinchin's on sunset. apparently i'm a big dork for living in LA for four years and never eating there, but it doesn't even compare to paradise. i mean, it's OK, but shoooooot.

afterwards, janean took us on a tour of the hollywood hills. oh yeah baby - my very own roommate showed me where brittany, jc and ice t live. ice t had some dope jack-o-lanters on his porch, and molly tried to convince me to steal one. it was tempting for sure, but the thought of ice t seeing me on some high tech surveillance device and rushing out to shoot my poor white heiny turned me away from the dare. as janean said, this one will go down in the books as an officially random night.

ryan sent me this, and although it's pretty silly, it made me laugh all sorts.

smhs revisited

i am always a day off. i thought it was the 23rd. things are flying by speedily times ten and then some. i just get back from home, then it's weekend again already.

the rest of my visit home went the same as before. back to san marin for more project stuff (which went real real well, by the way). the high school kids seemed pretty interested in talking to me, and I ran into more old teachers. i found out mr. zechlin went to ucla (and had all sorts of nicknames for me and my school), and that he is a friend of our new football coach, pete carroll. in fact mr pete went to redwood high. who knew? i did go to amoeba and bought too many new CDs as usual, but am so thrilled. mary lou lord, ben lee, dispatch, and another mirah CD. woohoo! i ate at high tech (twice!) and rented death to smoochy (brigid baby, oh how it made me think of you -- hurry home would you? i need you to be my roommate. i need you to be around to hang around with and bake cookies with and junk. shoooot...), and relaxed in the whole home frame of mind.

and then i got back to school...

and suddenly i had homework. this never happens. midterms one week and then stay-up-real-late homework. we PR students sometimes forget what that's all about. (though, one of my homework assignments was to write 750 words - no more, no less, no joke - about how madonna as a mother is a good role model.) it's crazy.

i'm done with all that now though. done being busy for a bit i hope.

our movie tonight sucked as usual. the emperor's club. lame. it looks like it's gonna be another dead poet's society which made me mad because i loved that movie so. but it's not. i don't even know what to say about it -- it's just a cheesy sappy piece of poo that makes you wonder what kevin kline was thinking. that's my super-non-expert opinion anyways.

this weekend is my big pumpkin carving party. i'm stoked. hopefully my friends are too and will show up and everything. if they don't, they're fired.

smhs, part 1

i'm home. well sort of - right now i'm in oakland. mike's asleep, so i figure i can kill a little time before i wake him up and make him go do something with me. i'm home this weekend to do that project about the novato school board. i flew in friday morning (and i forgot to leave my nifty leatherman keychain at home and they took it! which sucks), super early, and, after a shower at gma's house, went to san marin. it's so weird to walk around your old high school after lots of years. it's weirder still to see that most things haven't changed a bit, and the little things (like the fact that mr mcbroom no longer has a mustache) really stand out. friday wasn't really my turn - that was the day two school board members came in to talk to the class about the board and its role in the community. the kids had all sorts of real good questions for them, so hopefully the discussion on monday (the real meat of my project - oh i know you all love when i talk about meat) will be real lively.

yesterday was what i had been waiting for basically since the last time i was home. i sat around all day and did absolutely nothing. i watched movies, and the first half of the SC game. mike woke up and refused to partake in my pseudo-jockism, though it didn't so much matter since it was totally obvious by then that we were definitely gonna win. instead, i followed hints by brigid and took all sorts of quizzes. at first, i was a bit disturbed because i was getting the same results as she, but then my own personality came shining through. the results (minus the nifty graphics): the tick, rainbow brite, 5, a blonde (?!), brown, and 42%. oh, what a marvelous day.

briefly, stuff that happened last week:

* last sunday night's dinner was finally a success! there were a total of 7 people there (i DO have friends), and my shephard's pie was pretty yummy. as were the cookies. heather was super high and my ceiling chair fell down (thanks a lot andreas), but all in all, it was just dandy. there won't be a dinner tonight, but next sunday will be rad times ten with a BYOP pumpkin-carving contest and everything, so don't miss out!

* i actually had 2 midterms last week, both of which went pretty alright. my PR writing one was a bit tougher than i think it should have been, and the movie one was a bit easier than i expected, so i guess it all evened out. we watched a dope documentary after my movie midterm about the funk brothers, the band behind all the motown musicians. sadly, i can't remember the name of it right now, but it was pretty interesting for sure.

* i can't think of much else. i guess it's time to get up and do something while i'm home. watch out amoeba - here i come!

2002-10-12

first off - bdawg, i'm glad you finally put up your address. just know that i know it now, k?

it's been sort of cold - well, cool at least - in LA this week. i think it even rained once this week (or maybe it was last? i'm not sure now). of course, there were nights too that were so hot i couldn't sleep. you never really know around here.

my week was pretty uneventful except for a couple things:

* things are getting really exciting for my big pr project this semester. i'm going home next weekend to do the whole big thing. i've got school board members calling and emailing me, asking me what they can do to help out with my project and stuff. my professor is so excited. ronnie, my high school journalism teacher that i'm working with on the project is so excited. how can this project be anything less than awesome with so much excitement circling around it??

* on thursday night, i got to meet my uncle david to go to disney's california adventures for a special event for his microsoft conference. it was crazy - they shut down the pacific pier section of the park just for the conference folks, and then proceded to feed them all sorts of food (sadly, not much of a vegan selection - but what can you expect from disney?), serve LOTS of beer and wine (because, of course, it's good to get peole drunk before they ride on crazy roller coasters and stuff), and play all sorts of cheesy 70s and 80s music. and the computer geeks (sorry uncle david, but did you see how many mullets there were?!) just loved it. my uncle and i had lots of fun too - but we were disappointed that they didn't really open up that much of the park. only like 3 rides or something. it was also my cousin benjamin's bday, so i got to talk to him and his brother on the phone, which is fun too. OH! and to all those who have been wondering, i didn't miss anything special in my movie class - they watched brown sugar, which i have absolutely no interest in, and i heard that it sucked anyways. (and brigid, i prolly will take the class again next semester - nicole and heather maybe too - so, you should still too!)

* angel, my drumming professor, wants to hire me to work for paws as the "executive administrator" or some junk. basically, like an internship, i would type stuff up and work on grants and schedule things and just help take care of the office stuff of the organization, which i think will be a good experience for me. plus, if i'm working at the studio more, i can practice more too, which would be ohsogood, so woohoo. i'll take it.

* poo. i know there was something else i wanted to write about, but it is time to leave for the big sc vs. cal game, so hopefully i'll remember for later.

2002-10-06

my friends are all fired again. i made another fantabulous dinner tonight, and again, they all flaked. it was legitimate flakage (for the most part), but still. i want this to be good. at least ryan has no life either, so he's always there so i'm not totally alone. thanks ryan!

going backwards a bit now...

* today i finally got around to hanging up all my decorations and such. and, for reals, my room looks great. i'm quite pleased with the results. in fact, who cares if i have friends - i can just hang out in my rad times ten room alone and be happy. (really, my bitterness isn't that bad... it's just sort of fun to exaggerate i spose. i watched toy story 2 for the first time tonight, and it really is better than the first i think. i also whooped ryan in a scrabble game - as if anyone can beat the board game master. sheesh.

* on saturday, i did laundry and watched the football game (despite andreas' tauntings, i know my mom is proud of me). it was an exciting game... up until the end - overtime and all - which we won't talk about. at night, i ventured into westwood and attempted to see a movie, which didn't work. so we watched being john malcovich instead. malcovich, malcovich, malcovich. hehehe.

* after a long day of work friday, and a couple of fun percussion classes - i think i have finally almost got the segundo part on shekere! - i went to see mirah at a club called the smell in downtown. at first, we couldn't find the place and had to call and get directions in the end. we discovered that mirah wasn't playing until 11:30 (and it was only 10), so we went home and then back later. we missed the first band, but caught the end of the second group - shemo. for reals - that was their name - three uberdikes with shaved heads and flat mohawks and sad, sad faces and songs and everything. i wasn't too into their music, but they were awesome anyways, just because they were named shemo. hehehe. mirah was awesome. sadly, it was a pretty short set (or did it just seem that way?), but it was super hot, so it was also a relief to get out into the fresh air afterwards.

* on thursday, it finally happened - we saw a good movie (well, a movie i really liked) in my movie class. white oleander. good stuff. i even cried and everything. i'm all stoked to read the book now. but i have to finish ender's shadow first. my nifty tijuana half-a-hammock is hanging in my room now, which is perfect for reading in, so i should get there pretty quickly.

* on wednesday - i can't believe i'm actually able to remember so far back! - i saw bela fleck with robin and some her firends at ucla. i had dinner with kim and christine first, which was super nice, and the show was great too. it was my first time seeing them live, and i was pretty darn into it. except for futureman. his whole percussion-guitar thing was just no good. i want a drumset and real instruments, not electronic button-pushing. oh well.

* october is good so far. i'm getting pumped up for halloween already - i'm going to be jem, which is going to be sooooo incredibly outrageous (truly, truly, truly outrageous). and i'm going to carve a jack-o-lantern (at a scott-esque dinner party on a future sunday) and everything. i missed halloween last year while i was in ghana, so this year will have to be doubly good. which it will be. for sure.

** pssssst... if you're wondering where all the other words went, i moved them to a separate september page to save loading-up time, so go to the sidebar and check 'em out if you need to.**