Alice in Hyrule

i have just found the most amazing books in history. they are coloring textbooks. specifically, the human brain coloring book. it is INCREDIBLE! what i find bizarre is how these books are not the norm. it’s probably because the idea of a coloring book is childish, but since we know that memory is enhanced by associations, isn’t it only natural that we would want our textbooks to have an interactive format???? gersh!

oh, and the reason i am reading up on the brain is because my clinicals will be in a neurobiofeedback clinic. generally, in normal therapy, we can only assume that progress has been made. with neurofeedback, we have a tangible record of where we began and the current position. i am super excited about it and want to learn as much as i can on the topic.

….and i can’t believe that harry potter vi has been postponed for release until next year.  that’s bollix.

I GOT AN INTERNSHIP! HALLELUJAH! FINALMENTE!

the only problem is that i have to go out of state to do it. i’ll be away from home for 15 weeks. but, after i’m done, i will then have a world of opportunity ahead of me. just need to tough it out.

i’ve noticed something very adaptive in my decision making. whenever things don’t go as planned, i might get nervous at the prospect of doing it another way, but soon i am off raving about all the positive possibilities that the new scenario may bring. internship=case in point. i didn’t want to go out of state, but there are so many good things that can come of it. another time=when i was in high school, i applied for an exchange program to france. i wasn’t placed in a family there, but a family in italy wanted me. for the first 3 minutes i was like “i don’t speak italian!” “*whine* but i want to go to france!”…and then i switched over to all the cool things i could do there. i could eat tons of pasta. i could see the leaning tower of pisa (which i did!). i could meet guys in the mafia and ride in a gondola.

i love the fact that i don’t dwell on the negative of the future but that i see it for it’s possibilities rather than what i feel is unfair.

*phew* wow, that was a nuts trip.

someday i will get some pretty pictures from etsy. the following artists are amazing:

for nursery art:

uh, happy anniversary darling christopher!…last saturday…

walking to get breaking dawn at midnight 8/2:

random portland pictures:

crosswalk paint is such a pretty green!

baby doll on the roof

i got some tarot cards for my birthday and i’ve been playing around with them a lot lately. (working part time will do that to a girl) i was recently looking up some fun spreads to try out and came across this one. now, i don’t take tarot too seriously. actually, i’m the type of person that will ask the same question and do as many spreads as it takes to get the answer i want so it worries me that presidents might be chosen this way. gersh.

recent bands i’ve been devouring:

someone still loves you boris yeltson (best track=think i want to die)

harry and the potters (*lol*)

delerium (who will be in portland sept 12!)

midlake (best track=roscoe)

imogen heap (best track=speeding cars)

camera obscura (all good tracks!)

bic runga (again, all good tracks)

i just finished final fantasy x. wooh. took me about 80 hours. crazy. i didn’t even have all the celestial weapons. the ending wasn’t so hard as it was long. you had like, 3 big bosses and then all your aeons to get rid of by your own hand. there was no saving in between and no time to heal between battles. you just had to roll with it.

leonard has final fantasy x-2. i’m toying with the idea of going over to pick it up right now, but i have hoarded the ps3 for too long today. i think i’ll give christopher a shot and start on my long awaited book that i finally got via interlibrary loan. i have been wanting to read the forbidden game trilogy for about a year now! the wait paid off because i was able to get an edition that had all 3 books in one.

finished breaking dawn (the third longest book i now own…the two others being harry potter v and essential psychopathology and it’s treatment…kind of a strange yin yang there, i know). However, i will say very little about it because i have a strict promise with myself that i do not talk about books until at least a month after they are published. that way, people that are dying to read them (ie harry potter) will have already read them so i don’t risk offending anyone or spoiling the surprise for the truly dedicated. if it takes you more than a month, you probably don’t care enough to have your heart broken if you hear something that spoils it for you.

having said that: breaking dawn is nuts. things happen that you think might, but they don’t. it sped up my heart as well as broke it. i actually cried in 3 spots. nuts man. nuts.

and that’s all till those of you that i know read this and are also getting through the book (sarah v., lauren p., kyle s., ruthie m., andrea k., jessica s., leah d….etc) have completed it. (let me know when you do because i want to freak out with you as well as share some theories…)

also in books, belly laughs is a really quick, hilarious read for anyone thinking about pregnancy, which i am…THINKING NOT DOING!……………………………….yet…………………………….tee hee
it had me laughing out loud which doesn’t happen with many books. not very informative, but jenny mccarthy has a way with words.

in other news: christopher and i have been sick since flugtag on saturday. i swear to you that i now know that the phrase “puking your guts out” is VERY literal. i thought my intestines were going to come up through my mouth. poor christopher had it worse though. i have no idea what set it off. my guess would be undercooked chinese food, but i didn’t have any. is food poisoning contagious? *shrug* anyway, we’re almost recovered.

on the topic of internship: PRAY FOR ME EVERYONE IN THE WORLD! i cannot find an internship to save my life. “have you applied everywhere you can?” you may be asking. my response: yes. i have. i lost count at 31 facilities. basically the main problems are 1, funding has been cut by the government for mental health *grr*, 2, positions are for a whole year (mine is only 15 weeks), and 3, facilities only want to deal with particular schools.

the most frustrating part though, is this: a good portion of the places that have rejected me want me to contact them as soon as i complete my degree!  what??  i was stunned and flattered by the first few, but each time it happens now i just have to grit my teeth through thanking them kindly.  they want me for a job after i get my degree, but i can’t get my degree until they give me a job!!!  freakin catch 22 out the arse here people!

well, the good thing is that at least i know there are plenty of jobs that i could get as soon as i pass over this mountain.

i have a couple places that i am really pressing hard for, but worst comes to worst, i’ll just get a part time job/volunteer for fall and finish my degree in the spring. totally sucks to do it that way, especially when i worked so hard to be ahead of the game!

poodle (well scottie dog) skirt costume (with full tuille skirt beneath):

last but not least: birthday pictures. not many, but some.

yuna melinda and “the boy who decided that a candy necklace and dora the explorer party hat was a costume”

matador leah

band fag tyler (literally)

matador leah and sailor hallie getting pwned (BY ME) at star wars trivial pursuit

matador leah, sailor hallie, “ceiling” fan leonard, “creepy uncle” matthew playing pop5

creepy uncle matthew and bathing beauty ellie

drawing on my balloons!

see?!?!

good thing sailor hallie brought me more!

that way bathing beauty ellie would having something to drag around to us all night…and i do mean ALL NIGHT. someone that will remained unnamed (HINT: CHRISTOPHER) decided that it would be ok to give a 2 1/2 year old a jumbo sized candy necklace to play with. one would hardly think that he should be surprised as said child was LITERALLY bouncing off the furniture till midnight when she crrrraaaashhhhed on the floor…but he was. “look! there she goes again jumping from the couch to the chair!” he would declare with utter shock every few minutes…gee…i wonder why?
playing smash brothers

pop 5 again

so i’ve given up charting my basal body temp. i just don’t think it’s going to work for me. even though i had a good thermometer, wake up faithfully at the same time every morning, and followed the guidelines of checking and charting before doing anything else (even shutting off the alarm), the data was not consistent.

i think what happens is that some nights i have slept with covers and others not. some nights i wear shorts/tank top, others pants/tee shirt. my temperature is not track able because of these extraneous variables. i am sure that i could control for them, but i cannot control the weather. some nights it is window open for a fresh brisk breeze, others it is a bit too chilly.

so that ovulation plan is going the way of the dodo. i think we will just buy an ovulation kit when we start to try for kids. kinda sucks because this could have been an inexpensive way to chart my fertility for several months before hand. ah well, thems the breaks, eh?