Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da, I love my life

First, some link dumps:

The ideal casting of Avatar: The Last Airbender

See the effects of this generation's possessing mp3 players and iPods: a hearing test.

A comic describing the typical college student, newly graduated.

An neat-o retro dress I wish I could try on

This is a clearly biased source, but Arizona School Demands Black, Latino Students' Faces on Mural be Changed to White. Oh, Arizona, you're regressing. What was that thing called? Oh, yeah... The Civil Rights Movement!

And on a related note, what if the Winchester brothers were POC(people of color) and happened to have a case in Arizona?

Avatar: The Last Airbender not only was full of race fail and a terrible movie, but had a douchebag of a director who completely misses the whole point of the Race Fail activism.

More reasons why Twilight is made of fail, as if there weren't already enough. More also in the comments.

History shows homosexuality is not a product of these modern times.


She proves that the Governator shouldn't have pulled funding on education:



The Newsies dance to Bad Romance:



Super Junior promoting their country for the World Cup! And if this video shows the average, Korean people are gorgeous.



When watching this, I actually want a puppy just like this one!



I guess Dodge doesn't sell cars in Britain.



Would you slide if you saw this on you commute?




Music made by tools:



Perfect for those GIANT parking lots. Careful with the eggs though. And keep your eyes peeled around 1:25. ;)



Optical illusions are marvelous!



For the gamers out there, Mario made classy:



We all just need a little bit of love:

This Open Letter to Conservatives includes many links and actions I've seen true to many Republicans in the news.

Now I'm wondering, will any conservative blogger retaliate with a similar list to their political opponents?

Read a few particulars on the newly passed health bill and as a new-grad very unsure about her chances of getting a good job with benefits, I'm extremely relieved about the raising of the dependent children's age from 18 to 27. Hopefully, by 25, I'll be settled enough to not need it.

My current angst, now that I know I'll have no problems finishing my dual English and Design-visual communication Bachelors, is WHAT AM I GOING TO DO AFTER? The majority of the verbal freaking out and physical panic has receded to a deep-seated dread and uncertainty: what if my decision turns out to be the WRONG ONE? As such, I've been bothering all my relatives, professors, friends, people who I end up talking to in line at grocery stores for advice, opinions, and their personal experiences post-college.

I have two major routes to choose from: should I teach English abroad for a year, or move back home and look for work as a graphic designer? Note that I'll be doing the latter no matter when--teaching abroad will only be a year.

See, the issue at hand is that I did not realize that there was an Education minor until too late to actually take it and my grades aren't pure enough to enter grad school for the Master's in it. Also, illogical children baffle me for all their cuteness and I had no illusions about myself as a teenager, so a teacher for life I am not.

Why, you might ask, would I consider teaching abroad then?

It'll only be a year, including a 6 week summer break, and I'm torn between South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, China and Hong Kong. I'm wondering if my inability to interact with children extends to ALL of them and if cultural backgrounds really make any difference.

I've also never been outside of the States, and a week-long vacation isn't the kind of experience I'm yearning for. I want to experience another country in all its aspects, which means interacting with people beyond the level of a tourist asking for help, and I want to be able to take as long as I'd like. I want to experience life as how a native of the country might, which means a job and all the little things about daily life that no one truly pays attention to until they undergo it themselves.

Teaching will not be my life's vocation, so in my free time, I'll still be working on my portfolio, maybe try to freelance work overseas, or see if the language barrier will be an immovable obstacle for design work in which ever country I end up. Of course, no matter where I am, I always observe color, form, and function. If I go to Seoul or Taiwan, I would go with a designer's perspective of the environment. What influence might a foreign culture's design work have on my own?

Or would it be better to immediately begin job searching for designer positions after school, when my connections with professors and friends are still fresh? Especially as I'm not the most social creature?

Teaching abroad means another year of job security as I'll be applying through Teach Away Inc, with estimated salaries of approximately 2k a month. In this economy, that's a truly lovely thing. But after that year, will the job scarcity have improved any? Or would I just be an out-of-touch graduate competing with recent design students just as desperate for work? Would my foreign experience count for anything?

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If I DON'T teach abroad, I'll be moving back home and looking for design work in the Bay Area. Or else, since my mother has not stopped urging me, attending a master's program of some sort for graphic design. If I apply and am accepted.

I'm twenty-one, and I don't feel like an adult at all. Ninety percent of my life has consisted of schooling and I've never been independent from my family. Would teaching for a year in another country be away for me to grow up? Should I force myself out of my comfort zone... For a whole year?

Time spent on campus: 8 am to 9 pm.

Food eaten: three hard candies, a cinnamon-raisin bagel with pesto cream cheese, and six stale gummi bears.

Still to do: study for history midterm, grade several papers

My sister, my dad, and I paused in watching Casino Royale just in time to catch the 20 seconds before the ball drop.

So this year, I resolve to

1. Finish at least ONE of the what seems like several hundred little pieces of original fiction I've started in the past year.

2. Get my sleeping habits back on track.

3. Get an internship.

4. Raise my GPA past 3.0

Of course, these aren't in order of priority. XD

'Twas a good and bad Christmas. It was great to see the family again, and little cousin A's cuter than ever! The food was great, especially my Aunt L's mocha mousse and lemon cupcakes. We spent a lot of time with family pictures in front of the tree, and hopefully, I'll look good for once. Presents were, of course, wonderful. I got some money, chocolate, crackers, headphones, a candle, a Puma messenger bag, and a B&N gift card.

The downside was the headache that reappeared half-way through the celebrations and when cousin A discovered the toy drum Aunt L had gotten her.

Tomorrow, we head to LA.

I celebrate Christmas Eve with my father's relatives, so my uncle and aunt and cousins. This year, cousin K spent the holiday with S, his long-time, very awesome girlfriend. B, however, was there and conversation was interesting, jumping from B's nightmare of a suitemate to toilets in China and Vietnam. Random, but combined with the great food, I'd say this Christmas Eve was another success.

I'd also played some more Guitar Hero while visiting and I must say, I'm getting better! XD The terrible thing is that even now, as I listen to Christmas music on the radio, I keep on imagining the game. XDDD It really is addicting.

So snahjerblah is preparing her snickerdoodle for Chem 2a next quarter. As such, their conversations nowadays involve many chem references.

"So, if you were on the dating scene, what you rather be? A proton, electron, or neutron?"

*dies*

1. Starbuck's Pumpkin spice latte does NOT taste anything at all like pumpkin. Not even pumpkin's distant cousin.

2. When toasting a Starbuck's pumpkin scone, do NOT put it on the toasting rack without aluminium foil. The icing WILL melt and while the blue flames are very nice to look at, setting off the fire alarm is NOT fun and cleaning the convenience oven will take chemical aide.

3. Do NOT attempt to open the bus doors with one foot while juggling a bag full of textbooks in one hand and a cup full of hot coffee in the other. You WILL slip and only pure luck and a good pair of shoes will keep you from a painful and embarrassing fall.

That is all.

I'm working every day this week except Tuesday, and already my feet are sore. It's a terrible irony that I wake at noon for school and 6:30 am for work. XD

Today, a man ordered 120 double cheeseburgers and 50 small fries. Apparently, he had 60 men working on a project near our location. It took us almost an hour to get all the food out! Plus, it was way busier than usual.

I do not look forward to the rest of this week despite the meager money I'll make. My hair's all icky and it's so cold in the morning!

Argh, argh, argh; what was I thinking?

Oh, yeah. Money. XDDD