just finished a movie called Into Temptation, starring Jeremy Sisto and Kristin Chenoweth.
chenoweth is the cutest little call girl ever, even if a tragic character. it's nice to see her do some serious drama. enjoyed the movie. a quiet sort of drama about one person trying to help/save a stranger. the soundtrack killed me. heavy melodramatic sax that made the film sound like a cheap detective noir. it needs to be scratched entirely from the film. and i dont understand the title. it doesn't fit with the film, as no one truly gives into any temptation. i guess the writer/director thought it evoked scandal and melodrama and would pique more interest.


and randomly, there's plaid duct tape now.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3501714&l=33b17814e7&id=551046127

it's rather sad that i'm not halfway into my weekend and i'm already looking forward to next weekend. i need to just relax and enjoy the time now doing things i want to be doing.

i just gave myself some bangs of some sort. i haven't had a haircut since July of last year. i'm thinking about getting one soon. perhaps i shouldn't have cut these bangs and left it up all to a stylist. but knowing me, i won't go see one. i should trim the rest of my hair next time i wash my hair.

currently listening to their second album "Move Along." they're a pop rock band that i happen to like. not my fave, but they have some good songs and definitely do fill in a niche in my musical library. they seemed to suit the mood right now while i'm making dinner.

within a week of halloween, i finally came up with a costume. it was an AWESOME costume. very excited about it, even if i didnt haven't anywhere to wear it. friends ended up throwing a party on All Hallow's Eve's Eve.

i was Carmen Sandiego. my costume was a hit, i'm proud to say. everyone got a kick out of it. so cheers for the greatest thief in the world. she's pretty good if she can carryout her thievery in a bright red trench coat and fedora. conspicious much? anyway. glad to have a killer costume this year. wonder what i'll be next year.

on All Hallow's Eve, i went to Julia and Mike's house to help their 13yr old daughter pass out candy while they took the younger daughters out trick-or-treating. it was rather sad to realize that carmen sandiego was before the 13yr old girl's time. she didnt know who i was. and she didn't know who carmen sandiego was. sad sad sad.

anyway look at the pics from the party.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=132958&id=551046127&l=c01f79adfa

Armageddon. i've said my share of crap about this movie. but i had no right to say that stuff as i've never seen the entire movie. until tonight that is. finally got around to watching it tonight. and it's very flashy and full of explosions and destruction. but that's what you expect with michael bay, and that's why you go see his movies, i've learned. there were some good human moments, and i was quite impressed that mr. bay was able to capture them as well as he did. but he still doesn't quite have the emmerich (Independence Day, Day After Tomorrow) touch when it comes to human drama. the movie was too long at 2.5hrs. it carried on very quickly for the most part, then lost momentum toward the end. too much melodrama dragging out the inevitable it was excessive and tried my patience.

still entertaining watch overall. definitely worth the watch.

Happy Malia New Year!

i will have completed my 30th trip around the sun today! i was born in honolulu, hawaii at 4.41 in the afternoon. it was a thursday. so if we want to countdown the exact minute hawaii time, i should come to the end of the 30th lap at 7.41 PHX time. so i've still got time.

i wish i had a picture of myself as an infant to post. sadly, i do not.

i'm having some ice cream today. so if you're reading this, go out and get some ice cream and celebrate with me.

it's the MP30 tomorrow, and i've been prepping for several weeks now. my Malia New Years project is pretty much a wrap. i sent them off yesterday. i've still go a couple more to send, but they'll get done.

i'm doing my part to save the USPS.

so many new year's cards...they won't fit through the slot.

had to split them up into three group to shove them in.



Orange sidenote: i have decided that Orange will be my power colour for the upcoming New Year. this idea spawned from my intense love affair with this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPcpc1ee-p0
and tori helped seal the deal with this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdTRCw4-DM4

i bought an orange shirt last weekend. i'm hoping to purchase a pair of orange knickers today.

i recently went to the clothing store Forever 21 to buy some shirts. today i was picking up the shopping bag to put away when i noticed something printed at the bottom of the bag.



i pulled out my little king jame's version bible, which was a gift from a friend many years ago, and looked up the verse.



i think this is the same verse that's printed on the bottom of the cups and wrappers at In & Out Burger. i think it's neat. a nice way of spreading the word of your God without shoving it one's face.

i wish there were more little hidden messages like this for me to find.

a dream i had 2009.08.26
apologies for being so long!

an anecdote?
i'm making some pasta for dinner with Emerleen and Jerry. when it's down, we sit down to eat and find it's not as delicious as we expected. i offer leftover curry to great excitement.
( the main feature )

and that's where the dream pretty much ends. but it's very cool how that worked out, ne? my coworker wants to read it in a book or see it as a movie. she kept asking what happens next, like it was just a story. but this is all my brain gave me. still i think it's a fantastic dream. lilly, want to flesh it out into a story?

this past week, it seems jesse mccartney kept popping up in my world. i wonder if he was stalking me. he was in a movie i watched via netflix at the start of the week. i think a jesse mccartney video was recommended to me on youtube soon after that. and the pop radio station played a song of his this week. i've been listening to that radio station for the past few weeks (10 hr stretches) at work, and they hadn't played any of his stuff until this week. coincidence, na. last night, i finally looked up some of his recent videos/songs on youtube and listened to them. i liked them. some songs more than others, but i thought maybe i'd see if bestbuy had his latest cd.

this morning i went out and finished up my errands, including buying a shirt for the hen party tomorrow. bestbuy was in the vicinity, so i sat down in the food court to deliberate on whether or not to head to bestbuy to see if they had the cd. i sent nathan a text telling him about the shirt and my current dilemma. and what do the speakers start playing? but one of jesse mccartney's current songs. i took that as an omen that i should buy the cd. who am i to argue with the fates?

the lady at the register was checking out the cd as she rang it up. and if she asked me about it, i had my lie ready: "it's a gift for a friend." so i've got it. yes, i'm a bit embarrassed by it. but i'm listening to it. it's decent. there are some songs i dont care for, and some are kinda radio-friendly boring. but i do like a few of them. and i'm sure a few more will grow on me.

i think i've developed something like a crush on this kid. i think he's talented. his videos show his face clearly, (as opposed to movie with the emo haircut he had), and i'm kinda sad to say i didn't find his face that cute or good-looking. but i suppose it's okay. a good many of my crushes aren't based on looks.

every so often, i google my name to see what's out there that really is me. i just found out my masters thesis advisor got our work published in Chemosphere, a chemistry journal. i am published. i suppose that is something of an accomplishment. yay me!
http://tinyurl.com/m8lc8c

for the past couple weeks, i've had my itunes library on random and have been letting dita play dj. last night she's decided we needed more tori in our lives. she just finished playing Mother. i heart that song very much.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPN6MvfJhaU
and i hopped on youtube and a new Seamo PV called Mother was recommended for me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv9eyjamLt0

now i miss my mom. i think i'll call her today.

last month's bill was $136.82. that was when nathan and the pup were home while i was at work. and our thermostat was set around 80F. $30.18 was an establishment fee. so the actual electric bill came to $106.64 for 32 days of use.

for the past month, i've been turning the AC off while i'm at work. so 4 days/wk, the AC is off for 12hrs. that's essentially 2 days of no AC each week. and my thermostat is always above 80F, usually just under 85F. i thought with these energy saving actions, my next electric bill will definitely be under $100.

absolutely not! it's $105.47!! and for 31 days of use! i'm sure i would have exceeded last month's bill if i was charged for an extra day of use. the hell?! >____<'

current month daily averages:
kWh used - 26
cost - #3.40
temperature - 96.2F

last month daily averages:
kWh used - 25
cost - #3.33
temperature - 95.3F

i've suceeded in using more kWh by trying to use less. how the hell does this happen?? next month's bill better be under $100, since it'll no longer be on the (higher) summer peak pricing that this and last months were on. i hate bills.

this is me, except i'm even less interesting.
http://xkcd.com/621/

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/is-star-wars-appropriate-for-little-kids-496562/

so this is about whether parents should let their little 3-4yr tykes watch Star Wars. i'm not going to discuss this, and i have a far more immature reason for this entry.

the writer of the article at one point talks about some of the more adult conflicts in the movie that younger children would not understand or rationalize. and s/he writes:
Because it's not geared towards little kids, it's hard for them to make sense of it. Not just plot turns involving the defense of Aldreon, but the adult "conflict, tension and aggression."

yahoo users, of course, have left their two cents on how Star Wars is not inappropriate for their little ones...blah blah blah. one little user self-dubbed as "jedidrummerswife" felt the need to correct the writer's spelling of "Aldreon"
Posted by jedidrummerswife Thu Aug 6, 2009 7:02am PDT
They spelled Alderon wrong. If you're going to critique a movie, get the names straight.



i may be wrong here, but i'm assuming they are both referring to the home planet of Princess Leia. and that is that case, i'm absolutely certain it's spelled Alderaan.

so i smirk to myself and think of ms. jedidrummerswife's comment, repeating it back to her: YOU spelled Alderaan wrong. If you're going to critique the spelling, you sure as hell better get your spelling straight.

this weekend, i've been celebrating several events:
1. 2nd anniversary of my arrival to AZ
2. 1 month on my own in AZ
3. 1 month left as a twenty-something

Ways i'm celebrating
1. have pie
2. make myself a good dinner

thanks to a Pushing Daisies marathon two weeks ago, i've been wanting pie. that craving finally came to an end thursday night. it was a delicious lattice apple pie from the grocery store. i've already eaten half of it. jummy to the max.

tonight, i decided to try and make a nice dinner for myself. not a hamburger helper or some frozen dinner. so i made a chicken zucchini tomato pasta meal. i found a recipe in the paper this week and copied it into my journal. i didnt follow it exactly and made changes to fit what i liked and had available. i will say i didnt take my substitutions and alterations to White Queen levels, where ketchup subs in for tomatoes.

while cooking the zucchini and chicken up in the skillet, the oil was popping and crackling. i dont like that. i'm afraid it'll pop into my eye. to remedy this, i pulled out a pair of safety glasses and slipped them on for the cooking process. and after last weeks chemical-splash-in-the-face incident, i'm even more cautious about my eyes. so chemist malia entered the kitchen tonight with some PPE (personal protection equipment).



i think my dinner came out rather well. next time i will try to season the chicken a bit more prior to cooking. it was still a bit bland. but the zucchini was pretty tasty. here's my final meal. oishisou, ne?

and so 29 days later...i will have made it around the sun another go.




just realized i never did write up a proper review on Wicked. i'm a bum.

i saw Wicked last night at the ASU Gammage theatre. here are initial thoughts and reactions. they're very heavy on the actors and songs. jotted them down when i got home.



wicked. initial thoughts and reactions.

wicked witch of the east. nessarose, boq and elphie trio. not featured in on the soundtrack but remains a powerful song featuring the two sisters and munchkin boy. nessa goes into a reprise of "we deserve each other" while elphaba is frantically chanting trying to save boq. it's very well balanced and was well sung by amanda rose, donna vivino and ben liebert.

richard h. blake. our fiyero. i'm familiar with his role of Warner Huntington the Third from Legally Blonde the Musical. but he really sold fiyero to me. even still, i could not help but see some Warner come through from time to time. i was just waiting for fiyero to bust out into "Serious! Less of a Glinda, more of an Elphie!"

katie rose clarke. as a chenoweth fangirl i had it in my head that this girl would not live up to my glinda and i should be nice to this glinda. i'm happy to say, it was no chore. clarke was remarkable. there were some similarities between her and chenoweth's portrayal, but i can't infer anything from that as i've not seen any other actresses handle glinda. in any case, clarke gave a proper glinda to the audience with all the froufrou gestures and blonde comedy.

donna vivino. elphaba. her voice could be very strong and at times during script or song, she'd go off into a higher pitch range, where as menzel on the sdtk, opted to stay in a lower pitch range where there was more control. it was almost as if to show elphaba's frustration and perhaps a momentary lapse of control. i found it endearing. she took far more liberties with her vocal interpretation of elphaba, and i appreciated that. in particular at the end of "As Long As You're Mine" the way she said "wicked" was much playful than menzel's apologetic tone. as nathan re-interpretted it, "i'm gonna get 'wicked' on that ass!"

clarke and vivino. voices meshed pretty well. neither outshone the other. one thing that i noticed and probably irked me was the their duet in "For Good." i felt they rushed though or cut short many of the notes. as this was elphaba and glinda final goodbye, i felt there should have been more lingering notes and phrases. but that's just me. it's my favourite song of the musical, so i have very high expectations for it. but i still teared up at that scene.

just got back from Wicked! HOLY SHOES! amazing show. i want to see it again. currently try to jot down thoughts before i forget. will try to post them soon.

go see this show if you can!