dazed_girl

I'm now being followed by Genevieve Jackson (Randy Jackson's daughter, Michael Jackson's niece) on Twitter. :)

And I got This Is It on Blu-Ray too. Woo!

Ok my brother and his gf are starting to drive me a little nuts again. Kourtnei often feels this need to run the house. She and my brother have taken over the kitchen. They want to do all the cooking and take care of the dishes. They've axed me from my job of putting the dishes away and now want me instead to take care of cleaning the bathroom. I don't like this one bit. >:O Also they've come up with this weird rule that either you eat every single thing they cooked or you don't get to eat at all. WTF kind of rule is this? Who's running this house again? I swear sometimes I want to strangle her. >:O With L.O.V.E though of course. :P

But anyway my mom decided to write up a contract (because Kourtnei is not trying to look for another place to live at all) to be moved out of the house and find another place to live by July 31st. And I guess my mom is going to show her this contract on February 1st. It kind of talks about the burden my brother and she have been on our family. Together they've cost us a lot of money. Problem is she's got the two dogs and two cats and a hamster. So once again she'll have to find a place that will accommodate her animals because she won't part with them.

I don't mind her being here so much, except the dogs can be an issue sometimes and I do like dogs (I love our dog Luke), but sometimes it's just a pain to deal with them. And also I really really don't like that I always seem to have to fight for a TV around here. My brother and his gf are watching on the big TV all day, every day. Sometimes I might like to be able to watch TV in there. It was great last week because they were gone visiting a friend, and I loved that the TV was free to use.

Kourtnei works at the pet store, but that obviously doesn't give her much money. She pays rent, but there have been times where she instead used that money to buy expensive things, like a new laptop, instead of using it to pay rent. So she has taken advantage of our family in that way.

Well, I didn't want to turn this into a rant, but I can't say I'll really miss her when and if she moves out. But it probably won't matter because she'll probably be coming over here a lot again even if she does get a new place. It will probably be a long while before the two of them can live together, if at all. They definitely wouldn't be able to afford it now. My brother's still in college. He'd have to get a job first. I think their best chance would probably be to move out of state because it's so expensive here in California.

Thanksgiving was pretty nice actually, and the food was really good. My mom used rosemary on the turkey, which made it taste really good. And we played games, and made some funny jokes. I was reading while waiting for the food to be done and my dad was saying how I could take my book and read while waiting in line at Disneyland. Then he came up with an idea for an invention where a chair is attached to your pants, so if you're tired of waiting you can pull it out and sit down. He calls it the "Chair Ass." ROFL! And my mom came up with the best slogan for this invention: "You'll cherish your Chair Ass!" LOL. Yeah, so it was a pretty enjoyable and funny night. :P

I was without internet last night and most of today. I had nothing to do. :( I think we're having some kind of problem with our modem, which sucks because it's not that old.

So, I went to my cousin's wedding. It was ok. We went to my Aunt and Uncle's house first for dinner. I had lasagna, garlic bread, and lemonade. There were a hell of a lot of people there, most who I didn't know, but I had my sunglasses, which helped a lot in making me feel at ease. After we ate we just kind of sat around until we had to leave. Then there was a girl who had Down Syndrome that sat next to me. She started talking to me and asked me my name and said my dress was pretty. Then she was rocking and humming to herself, and I don't mind this at all. I'm no stranger to rocking or humming myself either. I have a soft spot for handicapped people. I used to help them when I was in elementary school. It was a time when I was a more caring person. Now it really is because of MJ that I want to be a more compassionate person because I remember when I was. I don't know what happened to change me. So, then there was a guy walking around taking photographs. The Down Syndrome girl then put her arm around my neck and we smiled at the camera. It was a nice moment. Her mom (or who think may have been her mom) kind of apologized about her for being so touchy feely, and I said "It's ok."

Then a little while after it was time to go to the wedding. It seemed like forever before the ceremony got started because of all the picture taking, setting up, ect. It was pretty simple, but pretty fancy too. Then we were taking pictures again afterward before going outside the church for cake. There were two different ones, chocolate with strawberries and white cake, but I just had chocolate. One of my cousins Chelsea was also handing out some mints and bottles with bubbles we could blow. There were also milk and white chocolate candies on the table, which I surely would have gobbled all up if I didn't walk away from the table. :) So, overall it was ok, but by this time I really wanted to get home and recharge. I still don't enjoy crowds.

So, I saw Monsters Vs. Aliens in 3D on IMAX the other day. We went to the new IMAX, which other than the really cushy comfy seats, was kind of disappointing. It's smaller than the one in Irvine, so I think I prefer that one. They didn't use the whole screen for the movie either. As for the movie itself, I felt kinda lukewarm about it. It wasn't as funny as I expected it to be and the plot was really weak. I think Stephen Colbert definitely needed a bigger part. That might have made the movie better for me than it was. And Seth Rogen was really funny, he steals the show really, but he didn't make the movie seem any less bland.

The 3D effects were nothing I really haven't seen before. I've noticed something about these 3D movies lately. Almost always they thrown in a gag in the beginning to show you "hey look this movie is in 3D!" and it just pops out at you. And then almost always after that, the 3D effects are all downplayed from there and really not utilized as much as it could be. I know they're using the 3D now days to give more of a depth to the picture, but shouldn't they carry that throughout the whole movie? There were scenes in Monsters vs. Aliens where it obviously looked flat and not in 3D. I think they really could take the 3D to the next level, but they're just not doing it.

The most recent movie I felt that most successfully used 3D was Beowulf. Now I saw that movie on IMAX 3D and it was amazing, and I think I know why. They made full use of IMAX's 3D system and that's why it looked as good as it did. Even though I did see Monsters Vs. Aliens on IMAX, did they make full use of the IMAX system? No, they didn't. I could tell they didn't because Beowulf looked so much better. Instead they use what's called Tru 3D. It's different, I know it is, and it's not as good. Like I said, they could take advantage of IMAX's system, but they don't. End of story. That's my rant.

Also, I think stop-motion animation mixed with 3D works really well, judging by how Coraline looked, but still could be better for the reasons stated above.

Hmmm, so my parents are going to a party which my aunt and uncle are having (Tom and Roberta), but I'm not going because I just don't care. They rob Grammy of her money, so I don't like them too much. Grammy is my uncle and dad's, and Aunt Jenny's mother. The party is for 3 things. My Aunt Roberta's birthday, Uncle Tom's retirement, and my cousin Kevin's (who isn't really my cousin because he was adopted)coming home from Iraq. He suffered a traumatic head injury I heard (only a matter of time that happened) but I heard it's more of a PTSD thing. I don't know. But like I said, I'm not going because I don't care. I know my mom is going to get flak from Aunt Jenny (who's going to be there as well) about my brother and I not going, but like she said, we're adults and she can't force us to do something we don't want to do. Still my dad is bugging me about it and I wish he'd stop. BTW I updated these people's information in my profile, in case you're interested in seeing how everyone relates to each other. They're under the "people who appear in my journal" part.

Instead I'm going to try to finish up A Game of Thrones. Boy is it ever intense here at the end.

So I found out my results of the writing proficiency exam and I passed! Horray! I'm now an official graduate. Those results came rather quick.

We're meeting with Grammy tonight for dinner. It's kind of a last meeting before she goes away on a cruise to Greece. My mom thinks she planned this just to rub it in our faces. :P Hell I wish I was going.

My mom was almost going to go with my dad on his business to trip to Washington D.C. in a couple weeks, but I think she decided not to. Hell I wish I was going.

*Sigh* I'd like to be on vacation right now. Anywhere but here.

We really ought to go on vacation somewhere big this summer. I mean I'm graduating and so is my brother, and he's going to be 18 three months from tommorrow. It would be a perfect opportunity. And heck if I think I'm going to get a job right after I graduate! I don't think that's going to happen.

It's a stepping stone in our lives. A really scary one. It very well could be that as soon as my brother turns 18, he may just decide to get hitched with his girlfriend, which I sincerely hope he does not. She just isn't right for him. I don't even want to think of the idea of them having kids and me becoming an aunt. No no no no no. I'm just not even going to go there. O_o

Ok I think I'll stop before I go too far.

Well I got everything I asked for on my list and then some. I think that is the first time that ever happened! Yes, I even got the Nintendo Wii. I wasn't sure if I was going to get it. My brother got the PS3 too! The Wii is so much fun and the PS3 has amazing graphics. Edit: Apparently the PS3 has broken down because it has a faulty hard drive. A common problem with the PS3, so now it has to be replaced. The Wii is starting to look really good now. :P I've played it a lot already and have had no problems. :) I started playing the Wii adventure game, Zack and Wiki. It's great. Wii Sports is awesome too. I suck as much on Wii tennis as I do in real life. LOL. I got a bunch of other games too, like for instance Crysis, which I didn't ask for and Bioshock which I did ask for. Whoo Hoo! Among other things that I didn't ask for I got were the Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader dvd game, a blanket, $50 from Grammy, Borders gift cards from Grammy and my mom, The Simpsons Movie from my brother's gf (we actually got two copies, so we have to take back one), and chocolate covered Macadamia nuts. In my stocking I got a Discover magazine, a lego set which I put together Christmas morning, and chocolate candy.

Christmas was great! :D I can genuinely say that for the first time in years.

Another thing: I grew up in a family of gamers, hence the reason why everyone gets video games for Christmas. I don't know if that's considered "normal" or not. I was pretty much born with technology in my lap. I think everyone in my family has a little hidden geekiness in them. My mom is even a gamer. She enjoys playing army games. I'd even say she's obsessed with them. How many moms out there are gamers? She's the only one I know. I think if she didn't have good social skills she might fall on the autism spectrum. She even has a stim thing she does in private. I think she's certainly on the very edge of NT. My dad might be too. I don't know how his social skills are. He doesn't really have any friends. He spends a lot of his free time flying his plane (which sometimes seems to be the only thing he cares about) or playing video games. I think he at least has mild social anxiety. He also seems to have issues with empathy, but I don't know if it's because he's just a guy or not. He's also very smart. I definitely think my brother is NT though. The only real trait he would have is knowing absolutely everything about cars. Except I think that's "normal" I think. He also has way better social skills than I do and he's five years younger than me.

I think one of these days I might have my mom take the Aspie test just to see what score she would get.

Apparently my brother's gf got me a Christmas present. She also got me a present for my birthday this year which was a gift certificate to Borders bookstore. Apparently she seems to be the only person aside from my mom who really knows me, and I don't even really like her.

I also made my family cards and put them under the tree. They include my usual dark humor. :)

I decided to take a break from the internet yesterday. I meant to get more reading done, but instead I decided to play Oblivion all day long. Now my shoulder muscle actually hurts from doing that. I wouldn't recommend playing on the computer all day. Actually I did get more reading in because I would read a paragraph from my book during the load screens. Yeah, I know crazy. I finished the Mages Guild quests and now I'm on to the Dark Brotherhood quests. The Dark Brotherhood is like a mafia/assassins type thing. It is so much fun. It will probably be my favorite of the quests. Plus I got this really awesome dagger. When I slash my enemies, they go flying in the air. How cool is that?

I got an email from Grammy this morning about a news article. Family happened to be in the news. Well actually, they aren't exactly family. One of the women going to a hair salon in the article I would say is my cousin, but she isn't really. She was adopted. But this was about her husband, her husband's friend, and her son. This is the article

http://www.pe.com/localnews/riverside/stories/PE_News_Local_B_lost12.3cd3c8d.html

Still kind of interesting to see them in the news.

On Sunday my mom wanted me to watch one of our dvds that I haven't seen before. So, I picked out Capricorn One. It's about these astronauts that get kidnapped before they were going to go on a mission to mars. They are taken to a place and are forced to fake the mars landing or their families would be in danger. It was very good. It had some good dialouge too. I quite liked this bit

Robert Caulfield: Look, when a reporter tells his assignment editor that he thinks he may be on to something that could be really big, the assignment editor is supposed to say: "You've got forty eight hours, kids, and you better come up with something good or it's going to be your neck!" That's what he's supposed to say, I saw it in a movie.

Walter Loughlin: You're not crazy, I'm crazy. I'm crazy for listening and I'm crazy for saying what I'm about to say. I'll give you twenty four hours to come up with something. Not forty eight. I saw the movie too, it was twenty four.

My favorite character had to have been Albain. He kept saying "pervert" and "smartass" lol. I thought it was well written. I also liked the cinematography in this. There was one scene where Robert's car is out of control, and the way that they film it makes you feel like you're in the car too. It's kind of scary actually. Great movie. I also wonder if they came up with the idea when people started thinking the moon landing was a hoax.