a black and white collage of a chemical emotion

celestedeloeste — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:18:22 GMT

You guys! It's the last day of the year!

A crazy amount of stuff has happened and I'll probably take time to reflect on that later, and probably more on my own time so that I'm not rehashing it all here.

Anyway, I have errands later, then the hockey game. It's a really good thing that I'm getting out tonight, because I really just need to get away from the Brazil crap for a while.

Now I have a better picture of how things work, but the major issue (time) is still the major obstacle. So now I'm looking into maybe going to Chicago for a day or two to try to handle it in person. It might cost a bit, but after all the shipping and service fees I might just end up even. So... any good hostels in downtown Chicago somewhere between the Consulate (401 North Michigan Ave.) and the Greyhound station? The only times I've been to Chicago I've been with family so I haven't dealt with accommodations or transportation, so this could be a fun new experience.* ETA : OR. I can use Megabus and overnight so that I'm there early in the morning, then that night return? Plus if I do it this way, it's only like $50. Hmm.

Additionally, the travel agent my mom uses is out of her office until next Monday, so I can't work on some of the paperwork with her. So basically, a break really is called for.

Now I'm going to go try to think good thoughts (like how I only have two more days of work!) and watch a movie or something.

I hope everyone has a great New Year's Eve!

* : The sarcasm here isn't because I have anything against Chicago, but rather the visa process which NEVER ENDS.

celestedeloeste — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:42:10 GMT

I'm better now, I think. At least I'm not freaking out quite as much.

I have my immunization appointment, and I went in to the county building and got another state ID (I forgot to mention in the last post that I lost mine whoknowswhere). I've also been contacting the different agencies about the visa issue and there's actually some good news - I get an extra five days because it's only necessary that you have to enter the country before it expires, not leave.

So now the major freak out point is money. Because the future expenses keep adding up and I'm pretty sure I have enough in my checking account to cover it as long as there are no emergencies. But I'll have hardly anything when I'm done. It's actually really frightening.

Though it is making me even more determined to try to do the Korea thing. I'm about 95% certain now that, if they accept me, that's what I want to do next.

Maybe I'll feel a bit better tomorrow. Work (three more days!), then stopping at the mall (where I will not be buying anything, but I do have a B&N exchange and giftcard), a stop at a bank to see if I can finally get all my Euros exchanged, and then getting to see my camp friend and her friends! Not too bad, actually.

through the unknown blackholes

celestedeloeste — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:03:23 GMT

My mind is doing that stupid thing where it goes a mile a minute and I can't stop obsessing over what needs to be done and how little time I have to do it and what am I going to do and what if it fails.

I still needs vaccinations, I still don't know what I'm going to do about the Brazil visa, I still don't know where all I'm going to go. I need to go to the dentist and I want to try to donate blood before I leave (which in itself is always this terrible ordeal for me and has only successfully happened one time).

I did get a few things accomplished today - thank-you notes from Christmas, cleaning my room, calling for vaccination information (even though they replied too late for me to set up an appointment).

OMG how am I going to pay for South America? The flights are so much more expensive than I remembered, and I don't have enough time to only take buses.

I know I need to relax, but I only have a month left. Which seems like so much, but if I don't start getting this done I'm so screwed and I could be stuck on another continent and all my friends will have already come to the MN for camp and there will be no one to bail me out. :(

PLUS LJ is being dumb and not loading and everything is just mildly aggravating today.

celestedeloeste — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:46:27 GMT

First off, YAY FOOTBALL. Barely, barely the Vikings were able to win, becoming division champions and making it to post-season. Sure, they won't make it much farther, but it's nice to win every once in a while.

Other than the terrifying last few minutes of that game, I had a nice day visiting with my grandmother. After all her health scares in the last couple of years it looks like she's doing pretty well.

I got part of my Christmas present from my dad - a South America travel guide, and an intro to the Korean language. It's a little silly, but it's nice because it's his way of showing his support for all my little adventures. My mother is kind of the opposite in that way - she accepts them, and does what she can to help when I'm here, but she's never overly enthusiastic about it. Either way I'm extremely lucky, but it's interesting to see how they are (once again) very different.

FOUR MORE DAYS OF WORK!

christmas

celestedeloeste — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 00:54:15 GMT

Christmas was good. Way too much food and too many presents, but everyone was happy and laughing. :)

Tomorrow I have to start work at 2:00 a.m. and I am not happy about this. I just have to remember that after that shift I'll only have five more days. I can do this, even though it will be painful.

christmas eve

celestedeloeste — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 05:23:16 GMT

Wow it's late. Today we drove in to SLP to my (old?) church for the afternoon/kids service. Which is kind of weird, because even though the building, decorations, and even costumes haven't changed in my lifetime, I didn't recognize 90% of the people there. There are so many memories there, but it was just wrong.

Then it was dinner with my mom's cousins and their kids at my aunt's house. Most of my close family was not there, but it was kind of nice meeting up with my second cousins, most of whom I haven't seen since I was about six years old. That was definitely interesting.

I still can't believe that it's Christmas Eve. Time has gone by really fast.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful day tomorrow (or had one today, or whenever people plan on doing most of their celebrating)!

celestedeloeste — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:25:08 GMT

Some best songs of the 80s is on VH1 right now, and I've forgotten just how scary Steven Tyler's mouth is. Seriously though. I used to actually have nightmares about his mouth.

Do they still have the Storytellers program? I haven't seen ads for that in forever, so maybe not. I never actually watched that show, but I still love the SNL version of Neil Diamond's Storytellers. I hate that the only versions of that online are from the 25th anniversary.

And that's all I've got, so I guess it's back to Merlin.

everywhere is somewhere and nowhere is near

celestedeloeste — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:47:12 GMT

Don't you hate it when you want something to be over so badly, just so that you can say you've completed it, but at the same time you don't want it to end?

I finally finished that series - fifty episodes in like a week or something ridiculous like that. And while I rushed through it because I wanted to know what was next and how it ended, I always am sad when it ends. Partly because I can't follow the characters anymore, partly because it gave me something to watch and think about for a while.

Though now I have time for Merlin, right pleiades? :)

Having a show I'm not crying over will be a nice change of pace I think.

celestedeloeste — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 01:57:44 GMT

I just don't know about anything anymore. No, that's not true. More like I just can't think about anything right now.

Some combination of too much television, no real life activities that are actually challenging and interesting... I don't know.

And now Firefox isn't working at all, and I don't like IE and don't have the patience to get anything else and I'm trying to watch a show online and it's streaming sooooo slowly.

Everything is just really depressing right now.

celestedeloeste — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 04:03:40 GMT

Wait - when did it get to be 10:00?

Anyway... the U of M's Men's Basketball this year is good. Or at least, they are right now. It's still early.

And with everything from yesterday, I forgot my good news: only two more weeks of work! Of course I'm going to miss the money part of it, but January 3rd is the last day I'll have to get up at 3:15! Then I'll have a few weeks to spend in Minneapolis and getting everything together before I leave.

The other stuff from yesterday is still pretty horrible and won't be better for a long time. :(

celestedeloeste — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:03:25 GMT

I got so distracted by what I was watching last night that I forgot to post. Not that I had anything interesting to say, but still. :(

Did you know that there are s'mores chips at Target? Would you ever try them? Like, s'mores flavored tortilla chips. I feel like it would be gross, but at the same time I'm intrigued.

I just finished watching the first series (30 episodes) of a show. It was adorable. Now I'm off to see an episode of Merlin before I start on the second series.

celestedeloeste — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:22:35 GMT

UGH I want to scream in frustration at the Brazilian Consulate Visa people. After wading through all of the CRAP on your site, I carefully detail for you the issue I have. You respond to my email - five days later - with a copy/pasted paragraph that I'VE READ TWENTY TIMES ON ALREADY ON YOUR SITE AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MY ISSUE.

Thank you so much. I even purposely didn't contact the primary Consulate because I assume they would be busier and I didn't want to bother them if one of the smaller, regional offices could help me.

Visas are so ridiculous. Seriously.

But in happier news, I'm obsessed with this show.

celestedeloeste — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:25:13 GMT

I finished another Japanese series today. I'm pretty sure I like them, because they are so complicated and have good characters, but at the same time they can be so frustrating because of all of the repressed emotions and the fact that they always make me cry. Hmm.

I also started watching Merlin, mostly because pleiades wouldn't stop bothering me about it. It's okay so far - decent enough that I want to know what happens.

And because I can only stream so much of Merlin at once, I've also started on It Started With A Kiss. Which should last almost forever, since there are 30 episodes in the first series alone. :/

but i don't say a lot of things

celestedeloeste — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 23:33:12 GMT

You know what I love? Not Britney's 'Womanizer,' no. BUT. There's the one line - "I got your crazy" (I don't know, maybe the grammatically, um, "better" 've is in there, I just never hear it). It's just... I've heard it before, but in the context of her and just everything it makes me laugh.

Hey look! It's a Lily Allen cover of just that song!

And now I'm going to go back to being over-emotional about fictional characters.

with the perfect life, where you never die, you just press rewind

celestedeloeste — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:03:54 GMT

The only real news of the day is that the South America trip with my mom is now definitely booked, so now starts the task of trying to figure out what to do about the visa to Brazil (especially since there's a 90-day limit on them from the day they're issued, and I'll kind of not be around here for them to be messing around with my passport). But it's worth it, right?

I don't know if I want to be going back to Costa Rica, even though I have the opportunity to do it. Mostly because the friends I would want to visit will already be in the U.S. by that time, and I don't think I can face the whole thing again without moral support. It's just easier to go to new places that don't have any memories when you're alone.

So that leaves about a week to mess around with, and I have to get from Peru to Honduras during that time. Any thoughts/ideas?

a musical is the same as as a burlap sack - i would not want to be in either

celestedeloeste — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:35:40 GMT

Um... severe weather warning? WOW it's sad when that's the only real highlight of the day.

I've got nothing.

So here's a funny song. I have the actual track if anyone is interested, but it's semi-long and I think I'm going to bed now.

sunday sunday sunday (no wait - that's supposed to be 'monday,' isn't it?)

celestedeloeste — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:58:29 GMT

The Vikings won today, even if it was just barely. The "easy win" games always scare me, since those are the ones MN always loses.

So... anyone know anything about Korea?

My mom is making pasta and right at this moment the sauce smells like vomit. Ew.

I feel like every day I spend here I become more and more boring. All I do is unpack boxes and mainline television shows. :(

aumentan los latidos de mi corazón

celestedeloeste — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 21:26:56 GMT

OMG.

I'm watching a show set in Taiwan, and they're in a mall. And I hear this familiar tune, and I can't figure out what it is.

THEY ARE PLAYING A JUANES SONG. In a mall. In Taiwan.

And this has been the highlight of my day.

and there is sweetness in the laughter of all the stars

celestedeloeste — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:56:47 GMT

Truck was almost as big as yesterday, and I'm tired. One more morning and I'll get a day of rest.

Got my four shirts from the Threadless sale today. They are pretty, and I got them all for less than what it usually costs to get two.

I can't work the poll from yesterday. It's kind of pathetic, but every time I go to read the results it just does the little hourglass thing until I finally give up and close the tab. :(

So, if any of you who ended up filling the poll, if you want to back to the post and make a comment I would be really grateful!

OH! And m3p3 is back again! If you love music and you've never done it before, you should definitely sign up. Same for those of you who have done it before!

sound advice, great advice

celestedeloeste — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:59:10 GMT

Work today was kind of horrible today because every Thursday I'm there the "no truck" day becomes "no wait let's just have a truck" day. So we're already a bit understaffed for that, and then today of course we have to have the biggest truck I've ever had to work. Normally we're finished by 5:30 at the latest, but it took us until almost 7 this morning. Not fun.

BUT. I got my journal! Back in college I went on this crazy little art spree my last fall semester, so I went and found my art bag in the garage. I'm actually surprised at all of the stuff I had - acrylic paint, fingerpaint, calligraphy ink and pens, colored pencils, charcoal, pencils, soft pastels, construction paper, plus all sorts of accessories. It's like Christmas. Only now I feel pressure because things are permanent and what if I mess up? It's mostly ridiculous, because I'm the only one who will see the mistakes, but still.

So now I guess I'm just stuck looking for inspiration enough to fill up 100 pages. Help?

View Poll: favorite quotes

and all i've learned is overturned

celestedeloeste — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:04:48 GMT

So I have this thing about Pride & Prejudice, and have committed myself to seeing it in all its incarnations. Well. I watched the 2003 version today. It was... interesting. While there were some amusing plotlines, I didn't figure out that it was all about Mormons until I was a good fifteen minutes in (really, the "Latter-day comedy" part of the official title should have tipped me off but surprisingly didn't). And there was no Bennet family per se. Annnnnd they were in Utah. Obviously it was no '95 mini, but eh.

Speaking of, I also watched Mamma Mia for the first time. How is that Colin Firth can seem so uptight in that special British way and still whenever he is on screen I'm just smitten? I love you, Colin Firth. You and your unexpectedly high singing voice (which still has the accent!). And cheesy musicals... well, hm. Usually I'm down with that, but Meryl Streep made me really uncomfortable with her flailing. :/ Overall though, I love the songs, just not all the voices (though I really liked the arrangement of 'Chiquitita').

Basically, today I'm boring. So have a song: The Action Design - Could, Not Should, which has been in my head all day. :)

No excuse me while I go listen to The Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber, because ever since yesterday I've had this weird urge to listen and reminisce. Seriously, no clue where it came from.

but you needed proof

celestedeloeste — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:58:30 GMT

In exactly two months from today, I will arrive in Cordoba. I can't believe it. I don't know if I ever even mentioned it on here, but the Argentina tickets are all bought and paid for. Today I finally wrote to the volunteer people with my flight itinerary, so that's all set.

Also, the tour with my mom, though that has yet to be totally confirmed, is on. We're going to start in Rio de Janeiro, then go to Iguazu, Buenos Aires (with a day trip to Uruguay), Santiago, then to Peru. Soooooo excited about this. My mom will leave me in Peru, and I'll probably go to CR to meet friends, then take the bus through Nicaragua and Honduras. My dad and his wife are planning to meet me for a few days on the island of Utila (near Roatan, part of Honduras). And then home from there. So that will be 2.5 months in Argentina followed by five weeks of trekking around.

Anyway, random link I wanted to get rid of:

Dr. Whobah - It's Boohbah set to the Dr. Who theme music. Don't even ask how I found it, I don't even know.

I enjoy days off of work, but they go really slow and there's generally less input and therefore less to think about. I don't know. I just want my moleskine to get here.

it's already december

celestedeloeste — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:15:25 GMT

Not a ton is going on (besides work and family stuff, which is usually too much/too boring to explain here), but I've been really bad about posting to LJ (even though I'm on pretty much the entire day). So my mini-challenge to myself is to post once a day throughout December. Even if it's just a link or song, just post.

At the same time, hopefully I'll start working on an art journal. I finally just ordered a moleskine journal and it should be here in a few days. It's going to be challenging (or more than), but it's something that can maybe help me organize some of the stuff that's floating around in my head.

In my last post I was all excited about maybe doing English teaching in Korea. I spent that entire night bookmarking relevant information to read over, but by the next morning I was already wavering.

Here's what it comes down to: am I willing to give up something I love for a long-term (for me) commitment in a place I know nothing about? Am I just enamored with the idea of making some money and being able to say that it's one more wacky thing I've done?

I've been trying to sort out my thoughts on that but it's just such a jumbled mess.

Ugh. I overuse commas and parentheses. :(

lots of little things

celestedeloeste — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:55:01 GMT

I want to talk about some of this in more detail, but I've already crashed for the night so I'll just stick to the bullet points for now.

- Concerts - Some were great (Matt Nathanson), some weren't so much (Mraz, but this is mostly because of the venue).

- Argentina/South America - Is on for sure. I have my first ticket to leave on January 31, arriving early morning of February 2. I'll have a LOT of layover time, but I'll need it with stops in NYC and Panama. We're moving forward with the plans with the parents as well, and even though I'll be going around for five weeks, I'll really only have about a week and a half of that by myself.

- Last weekend was my dad's side of the family's Thanksgiving/Christmas all-in-one. The California family was flown in as a present to my grandma, so we all got to see the triplets and I wish I had taken pictures.

- Work is work. It's really not so bad, considering.

- Last night I was up throwing up in the bathroom until almost midnight. Now I'm really tired, and I think it was just a food poisoning thing, so hopefully one more day and I'll stop feeling the effects.

- Television - I watched the JDrama Hana-Kimi and fell in love with it. I'm now trying to go through the Taiwanese version. It's not quite as good, but still pretty entertaining. There are a lot of shows I want to talk about, but I'll save that for later.

- Korea - Does anyone know anything about Korea? Right now I think I'm leaning towards doing teaching there after summer. It would be totally new and different, but I feel like I still have quite a bit of research to do on it before I commit to even saying it's my next project.

That's all I can do right now. I need to start making better updates a bit more often, I think.

no more stupid campaign commercials!

celestedeloeste — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:07:28 GMT

Um, OMG FINALLY ELECTION DAY.

I'm so glad Maury is celebrating the day with a special patriotic-themed 'Man or Woman?' episode. Haha.

I've been going to bed at about 6 or 7 every night. I don't like it. It's unnatural. But we'll see how that goes tonight. I think it's worth a crappy few hours in the morning to stay up for the results.

I don't get to vote until after 4, when my mom gets done with work.

The Senate race here is awesome too, because it's Al Franken! He's from my home town! It's been a nasty race though, so it'll be nice when it's done.

This is too nerve-wracking.

As the Latinos say, Obamanos! :)

ETA: Also, it's been about 70* for the last two days. It's so messed up, but at least I haven't been freezing when walking home from work. Craziness.

ETA 2: AND. Hurray for post-Halloween candy sales. I'm going to spend the afternoon stuffing myself with 50% off Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Fish.

ETA 3: One more! Daily Show/Colbert Report all day? It's usually only on from 9-10, but this is the third hour in a row! And we get the special tonight! :)

(I'm really finished this time.)