Sunday, December 30, 2007

i found love on the internet.

no. i havent signed up for eharmony.com or anything. my family got a new dog! we looked at the dogs at the riverside humane society website.
i really liked the idea of hannah, the beagel/dachshund mix (a doxel if you are into designer dogs). she was so cute!

so last saturday we went to the shelter and checked out all the dogs. hannah was the best one there. while all the other dogs were barking and yipping she just looked at us. it was a beautiful thing.
so we adopted her.
hannah weinstein. it has a nice ring to it. abby commented that its verry jewish sounding and works well with my own name. im really not a fan of people names for dogs. but tonight my friend amy said that it makes the dogs more a member of the family. i guess she is right.

hannah was like the best christmas present ever. (although five seasons of degrassi on dvd will be way sweet to watch.) (and a grow santa, itunes giftcard, money, and nail polish are sweet too.)

this christmas was different but nice.
but honestly im glad its over. im not being sac religious. i dont need a over comercialized holiday to remember the reason for the season, jesus. seriously though, christmas was low key this year. but nice. i was nice to just spend the day at home with family. i missed seeing people but its all good.

(there really is alot more i have wated to blog about. but i have been waiting to take some cute pics of hannah. i finnaly decided to just go ahead and post a blog. but expect another one shortly)
(abby, janai, jillian, krisitn (i put you guys in alhabetical order) but seriously, i leave you alone for two weeks and you abandon your blogs.)

Friday, December 21, 2007

geography.

i am really terrible at geography.
i was just looking at my google analytics map and i couldnt figure out which states were which untill i scrolled over them.

ohio. who knew it was so far east? i surely had no idea. i would picture ohio by wyoming and nebraska.

its not like i cheated my way through geography or anything. i just never had to learn that stuff. partly due to taking summer school history all throughout high school.
but ill blame it on all the standardized tests i had to take.


i can name all fitty states in alphabetical order, so i have that going for me. alabama, alaska, arizona, arkansa, caliornia, colorado, connecticut....
and im alright when it comes to world geography.
just dont ask me where minnesota is.

sleeping schedule.

i am really terrible at sleeping.
it is almost impossible for me to keep a routine when it comes to my sleeping.

lets recap.
wednesday i woke up at about 3:30pm
thursday morning i went to bed at 5am
thursdy afternoon i woke up around 1 pm
thursday night i fell asleep on the couch at 11:30pm
i woke up about 3am and move into the bedroom to try to fall asleep. now i find myself on the internet an hour later.

so to fall asleep i need 2 things: noise and a horizontal position.
the horizontal position can be almost anywhere: couch, bed, car seat that is reclined, the floor...
the noise is usually the tv or my ipod.

on my ipod i listen to podcasts. i listen to about 1 and 1/2 church sermons a night. the next night i re-listen to the one a fell asleep to the previous night.
podcasts i am subscribed to:

  1. cal baptist chapel- we normally have good chapel speakers and i listen to all the services i miss. (listen to dr david platt series, and francis chan)
  2. cornerstone simi- i love francis chan. this is his church. the grace series is good. but basically all the series are good.
  3. the grove- sometimes i wake up early and go to the 9 service but for the times that i just go to the junior high service at 10:45 i will podcast the sermons. so i can stay connected to the church community. i also have all of travis's stuff saved. because i love that guy.
  4. living truth:examining the mormon church- i subscribed to this podcast in preparation for my trip to utah last year.
  5. mars hill bible church- rob bell. nuff said.
  6. the porch church- a while back i downloaded all the old sermons from the porch (rip). i have been working my way through those teachings.
  7. the rock church- a church in utah. tagline "for people interested in god, but not religion.
  8. rock harbor- after reading "jesus of seburbia" i subscribed to mike erre's church.
  9. sandals- they always have really interesting and relevant series. i go to the 7pm service about 40% percent of my sundays. and then i podcst the ones i miss.
  10. the stirring- once dan announced his departure i subscribed to the stirring. i wanted to make sure he wasnt joining a cult. this church comunity checks out, they are pretty solid
so there you have it. that is how i fall asleep each night. right now i have 108 new podcasts.
but im always looking for new stuff to listen to.

so does anyone have anything i should add to my list?

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

school update.

so i know i said no more school realated posts after finals.
but i got my grades. a, b, c, c.
which is better that i did last semester.
but still not great.
i tend to do better in the classes im excited about and i am super excited about the classes i will be taking:

  1. young adult lit- im thinking i will have to read sisterhood of the traveling pants, and gossip girl books. right?
  2. current trends in youth ministry- christian studies class about summer camp and youth group.
  3. film as art/film as culture- movie dates with my class twice a week.
  4. graphic design- i dont remember the title of this course. but its with pardee again. so that will be fun.
  5. photojournalism- i was going to take art and the bible. but that class was canceled. so last night i had the hardest time finding a class to replace it. but i am excited about this one.
  6. aesthetics in the classroom- im hoping this education class will be about teaching art. but i could also be about making pretty bulletin boards.

in other news. i was planning on taking an online class at rcc. but there are zero classes left. i mean there are classes but none of them would benefit me. at all.

time to get ready for junior high.

locks of love.

i have long hair. and i love it.

donating my hair to locks of love (provides wigs to children with hair loss who cant afford them) has always been something that i at the back of my mind. i figured by posting a blog about it i actually have to do it now.

10 inches is the minimum length for donating. but that produces a shorter wig. most little girls who get the wigs ask for long hair.

so im trying to decided if i should cut my hair now, or let it grow longer before i cut it off.

the shortest i have ever had my hair was freshman year of high school. it was above the shoulder in a cute layered look. but when i first got my hair cut i cried.
i cried, over hair.
how vain of me. i mean some people dont even have hair. like my dad. seriously.

crying over hair is entirely acceptable in girl world. like i bet the average female has cried over her hair.
looking back i think thats a waste of tears. there are much bigger things to cry over, for sure.

so in conclusion, expect a hair update some day. because i plan on cutting off my hair and donating it.

and for all my fans out there: dont worry. it will grow back.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

no more school posts.

im home for the holidays.
and so far break has been action packed.

thursday night (or friday morning)- midnight showing of I AM LEGEND with jackie (who needs a blog) and drew. awesome movie. lots of bob marley.

in the movie will has a dog named samantha. its the sweetest thing ever. it makes me really miss blazer, my dead dog.he was so sweet. and gentle. and crazy.
i want a new puppy so badly. but this is a major tangent... back to my break update.

friday i had to leave my cottage and come home.
i went to the graduation ceremony at harvest.
i had the worst seats possible. second floor. far right. back row.
but i did have seats. so thats a plus. because lots of people were standing in the back.

this was my view.
i dont understand the two ball point pens in this girls hair. are they there for form or function?

kimie graduated! and then i went to her house for fun and family time.
then saturday went to north hollywood with dad to visit the grandparents. it was nice.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

weird day so far.

so i woke up this morning to holly printing something on my computer. it was just weird. i was so confused. like i totally dont care that she used my printer it was just weird to wake up to that.

and then i fell back asleep and cindy came into my room. i have no idea what she was doing. i feel like she just opened the door and looked at me.

then i fell back asleep.

and i woke up and my clock alarm said 1:10. i started crying. and freaking out. my anthropology final was from 11-1. i walked over to holly and monica's room and told them i had slept through my final. they were sympathetic and asked what time it was. i said it was from 11-1.

then holly said, "rachel, its only 10:15"
i was so confused. my clock clearly said 1:13 at this point.

so i put on clothes. did a little last minute review. and went to take my test.

i think i did pretty good. but now starts the waiting process.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

graphic design final.

i woke up and went to class.
pardee had written on the board:
"good graphic design is _____ "

and we were instructed to email him our answers.
this is what i submitted:


good graphic design is a teacher who says on the first day of class "there will be no final"

or good graphic design is a student who raps her final:

on this stage i will not preform
this, but my projects always had good type form
good use of space contributes to the layout
continuity is important or else people will stay out
of the restaurant i did design
but its all good, i did just fine

i always thought adobe was mexican clay
but now with illustrator i can play
i alwasy thought adobe was mexican clay
but now with photoshop i can play


you talked about good use of the grid
but now its time to put a lid
on this class
i hope i pass
i think i win. and i think i deserve an a.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

finals.

i can not believe that finals are here.
its crazy how fast time goes. crazy.

so its really weird staying in riverside over the breaks while all my cbu friends scatter across the country.

in the next few weeks there are going to be a ton of movies comming out that i really want to see

  1. sweeney todd
  2. atonement
  3. juno
  4. alvin and the chipmunks
  5. the kite runner
  6. walk hard
and then there are the movies that are already out that i want to see
  1. golden compass
  2. august rush (again)
  3. enchanted
  4. fred clause
  5. bee movie
the crazy thing is if i saw all thoes movies and paid the student price of $9.50 i would be spending $104.50!!!!!!

and even buying tickets from cbu at $6 a show im still spending $66!!!!!!
thats alot of money. dang.
but realistically i am not going to actually see all these movies.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

weekend update.

4:00, friday was the start of an excellent weekend.
team ootah got together for night filled with talking, christmas light looking, std-ing, and catch phrase-ing.

i went back to the mission inn. for the third time this season.

i think this is an awkward picture. but it makes me laugh.
seriously. we hung out for eight hours and were laughing most of the time.
the only negative thing about that night was that the women were dominated at catch phrase.

then saturday night i had a hannakuh party at my house. the nice thing about not living at home is i get to invite people over, but i dont have to help out with the preparation, or the cleaning afterward.
:]
(just kidding mom, i totally would have helped if i knew you needed me.)

but it was pretty cool. my mom made a good dinner. and we played games.
good times.
again, alot of laughing. mostly due to my favorite game in the world, quelf. janai and i did alright as queen spatula. but we didnt win.


"one syllable words that start with 'W'"
mrs pickle feather- "water"

a quick shout out to cindy and julia who won as the Super Ninja Monkey. they had to constantly sit on their hands while always holding something in their left hand while acting as the bartenders for everyone else. that takes skill.

Friday, December 7, 2007

lunch time.

this mobile blogging thing is cool. and convenient.

today at lunch i crafted this creature.
its an owl.

so at this point i am a real artist.

speaking of owls go listen to owl city. super up beat. and positive. and christian.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

christmas shopping.

i am all done with my shopping.
amazon.com made it pretty easy.
one click shopping.
free shipping.
if you are a member of my immediate family you can expect a gift from me.

sadly, if you are anyone but my immediate family you are not getting jack. you are not getting jill either.

which moves me to my next point.
please don't get me anything. i have enough stuff already. i don't need anything more. if in your head your thinking, "but rachel you are so cool. and awesome. and pretty. i just must get you something."
...just resist the urge. don't.

if you already got me something take it back and donate the money to some charity. or give the gift to someone who needs it more.

seriously, please don't get me anything. lets just prevent any awkward moments now.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

european awesomeness.

so lately it has really started to bother me that europe has such cool stuff that is just not available in united states of america.

like different clothing companies will not ship here. or its a million dollars in taxes and shipping and handling fees.

another thing. why is there a separate euro itunes store? why cant we all just share everything.

ill leave you with this. a site i found called Fashion Sweats.
fashion? i think not.


one last thing. the word sweat. i always have to stop and think about it. do i really mean to say sweet?
english is silly.
thank you england.

Monday, December 3, 2007

im a failed musician.


i have no musical talent. i can not sing. i can not dance. i can not play instruments.
but i have tried.

in elementary school i played the violin, the cello, and the flute.
i was also involved in musical theater. aunt in guys and dolls (part of the uncle was changed for me). and the narrator in into the woods. just a villager in fiddler on the roof.

sometimes i miss it all alot. i think that if i had just stuck with the cello i would have been amazing.

so this weekend i saw august rush.
it was so good. if your into the sappy sort of love story that has a happy ending and lots of coincidences.
it was bad if your name is janai and you have no heart. (i was crying throughout the movie while janai sat there and rolled her eyes)

and now im into this weird cello rock sort of music.
apocalyptica, murder by death, and rasputina

Sunday, December 2, 2007

luck of the irish.


this week i had two major projects due.

in my lit class i had to present my final paper. you might remember i was up late procrastinating.
well the presentation was all good. most people seemed to be genuinely interested. because after about a million speeches about downs syndrome, autism, no child left behind, the importance of pe, welding, and classical music who wouldnt want to hear about graffiti.
honestly tho, some of the topics were interesting.

but i HATE when people read off the power point. ughh! seriously. there is no need to read straight off the screen to a class of university students.

so my most embarrassing moment is...
we have to evaluate each person who gives a speach and there is this boy in my class and he is from ireland and he is on the soccer team (run on sentence much?). his topic was the importance of welding. but every time he said welding it was actually weldin' and it was so adorable. so my evaluation of him totally said "his irish accent is so cute"

and i turned that in to my teacher. what was i thinking?