California English

It's been ridiculously warm the past couple of days and by warm I mean 60 degrees. I'm looking at you, Global Warming. If I don't see some big fat white snowflakes grace my front lawn within the next couple of weeks, I'm packing my bags and moving to Canada. As it is 2012... I thought I'd share with you my New Years Resolutions.
1. Stick to commitments
2. Learn effective small talk
3. Get into college
4. Stop buying clothes I don't need
5. Become better at maintaining friendships
6. Get my license
7. Spend less time on the internet (threw this one in just for laughs)
8. Read more books
9. Improve self confidence
10. Do well on the SAT's

I tried to make them as achievable and realistic as possible which is why you'll notice that "EXERCISE!!", "EAT HEALTHY!!", and "BECOME A NICER PERSON!!" aren't on the list.

I'm a terrible person. Correction, I am a terrible *klutz of a person. I dropped my beautiful iPhone and now it has a huge crack in the screen. It was like a dramatic scene from a movie. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my phone slowly falling off the counter. I slid on the floor in a heroic attempt to save it, but it was too late. I suppose I'll have to go to the Apple store and have them replace the screen because I don't have it insured. I foolishly remember thinking "Insurance? BAH. I'll take such good care of my phone, I won't need that. Insurance is for clumsy a-holes who can't take proper care of a phone. I'M ABOVE THOSE PEOPLE." You know what they say about karma...

I made another playlist, which this time am quite proud of. It sounds best if you put the songs in that particular order. Whenever I hear these songs I feel motivated... to get up and actually do something (which is pretty uncharacteristic). I compiled my most bop-worthy and upbeat songs in my library so hopefully they'll have a similar effect on you. Happy bopping.

H U M M I N G B I R D

Once you've met someone you never really forget them

Alas, my winter break has finally come to an end. It was short, bittersweet, and reminiscent of my vacation last year in which my family drove twenty-two hours straight into Florida. For some reason I'm stuck in this pessimistic mindset of thinking that "it was better last year." Even though come Christmas time I always wind up doing the same thing. This break like most went by way too fast. It's the same awful feeling you get after you finish a really good book. At first there's that feeling of accomplishment, but then you realize that the book's over and you're not sure what to do with your life. For those who repel any form of reading, I suppose you could equate the feeling to finishing a movie, or tv series... You catch my drift. Though I was presented with a vast array of opportunities, I decided to take the route of doing as little as humanly possible.

Going to New York with my father was probably the most climactic thing to have happened. I basically spent too much money and got hit on by the creepy subway dwellers. You know, the usual. While walking in Soho these two women passed me and quite loudly made the remark of "What exactly is she wearing?" Perhaps if I had been in Idaho I would have taken some offense, but for someone to question another's clothing choice in New York City? That's a compliment.

Sometime after returning from the city... I came down with a terrible cold. Instead of lying in bed and feeling sorry for myself (my favorite pastime), I went to the Gym. Haha. You Leah, are Hilarious with a capital H. No seriously, my mother signed my entire family up for a Gym membership and I being the wonderful daughter I am agreed to go with her. I'm not trying to sell myself as some intense body-builder. I just go for the Pilates classes. It's not too painful of an experience... After all I am the youngest member in the room by about forty years. If that's not a motivator, I don't know what is. Other than that, I actually have been lying in my bed and drowning in my own misery. I lied earlier, but on top of that I went on a bit of a Hayao Miyazaki binge and watched Spirited Away for what seems like the hundredth time. I strongly advise that if you have any time before school starts to watch this movie and in the holiday spirit I'll even provide you with the links.

D U B B E D
S U B B E D

Dead Hearts

I keep forgetting that I don't live on a sprawling estate of 100+ acres and that I'm not entitled to have the woods as my private photo studio. Today, a group of elderly women stopped and asked my mother (who was sitting in her car on the outskirts of the forest) what I was doing. Their conversation went down like this:

"Oh my, isn't that young girl freezing? Do you know what's going on? Is this going to be in a movie?"
Not exactly. She's just taking pictures.
"Really? Of what?"
Herself.
"Oh... I see. Is it for a class?"
No. Just for her.
"That's very interesting. I think you should tell her to put on a sweater."
I'll be sure to do that.

End scene.

And now you know where I get my enviable social skills. While I'm flattered that the women thought that I was some kind of local movie star... I have to bare in mind that they were at least seventy years old and with my luck they probably thought that I was shooting a scene from "The Blair Witch Project." There were presumably a lot of awkward pauses and uncomfortable glances shared between both parties so it was probably fortunate that I wasn't there. Oh the life of an artist. So tortured. So misunderstood.

Over the course of the year, I've accumulated a lot of runs in my tights. Virtually ever single pair of stockings I own contain at least one hole. I've been dubbed the Asian Taylor Momsen of Pennsylvania and we're not talking Cindy Lou Who.

The past two days I've been lying in my bed doing absolutely nothing. I try to get up and leave, but my bed's all like ""No one's ever gonna love you more than I do. STAY WITH ME, I'LL PROVIDE YOU WITH WARMTH AND COMFORT" and so I'm compelled to climb back in. It's a vicious cycle. Though this time I had an excuse. After school on Monday the doctor diagnosed me with having a kidney stone. Instead of doing anything productive, i.e start my English essay... I made my Christmas list.

1. Starry Night Knee-Socks
2. Heavy Rain
3. Instax-Mini
4. Dreamy Focus Lens
5. Peter Pan Collar Necklace
6. Bambi Sweater
7. Studded Heart Bag
8. Bunny Ring
9. Double Bird Ring
10. PS3
11. Missed Connections

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

Golden Baby

I'm going to save you all the arbitrary details and cut right to the chase. In short, my life has been taken over by the monstrosity known as every high schooler's worst nightmare, the SAT. Normally I'm not one to stress over tests because school has shown me that "winging it" is not only an art form, but a way of life. Unfortunately though, as I need a 2100 to get accepted into essentially any college I'd want to apply to... I'm going to have to reacquaint myself with the two subjects that I've grown to hate. Meet Algebra and Grammar. So for the next month I'll be taking up permanent residency at my local library and eating nothing but nutrigrain bars and green tea. The only good that's come out of this pre-college anxiety is that I think I finally know what I want to do with my life. I'm planning on majoring in Public Relations and taking up either Journalism or Marketing as my minor.

If we were playing word association games just by looking at these pictures, the two words that come to mind would be 1. gypsy 2. skank. That's completely okay. I take your comments in stride. The skirt was only seven dollars at goodwill. When presented with a price that contains only one value place, I'm sold. Apart from my goodwill hauls, my wallet's been taking quite a beating. I finally convinced my parents to take the perilous trek up to the mall, so I could do my last minute Christmas shopping. I believe that after today Mariah Carey's voice has been permanently embedded into my brain from having listened to "All I want for Christmas" for what seems to be the 100th time today... Other than that, the mall wasn't too unbearable.