joelinspain

joelinspain @ 2008-04-08T17:14:00

2008-04-09T00:16:39Z

The only thing those anti-drug commercials on TV make me think of is how much I miss doing drugs.

Every time one comes on with some sad little kid burning his diploma or building a marijuana cocoon I can only think: Where the hell are these kids getting their weed?! I'm only reminded of how much I am NOT doing drugs and how much I wish I were.

:::Sigh:::

Persepolis

2008-02-23T06:53:52Z

As far as the books go, I feel they are one of the finest examples of graphic literature I have or will ever read. As far as the movie goes, I personally believe it was an excellent adaptation of those books.

Standing alone, though, for one who has not had the opportunity to devour those totally unique and utterly magnetic texts, it drags in the way most movies adapted from books will, having to pick and choose moments from an expansive and beautiful collection to expand upon or extract all together.

I hasten to add that I absolutely adored this movie. The simple, evocative imagery coupled with honest emotion make it completely relatable, adorable, and powerful. But I can understand how one without a supreme connection to the basic comic form or to simple illustrations or to deep thoughts having to do with revolution, death and war might feel less inclined to enjoy themselves during this film. My father is an educated man, but he fell asleep. Long animated films which are trying to express something more than bang bang goes the gun do not interest him. This is not a folly, but a simple difference in taste. He spends his days reading about children addicted to heroine and fielding phone calls from parents driven insane by narcotic use. I see no reason for him to go to movies to 'experience life's darker side', as this movie at times achieves beautifully.

There were, however. times when the movie shied away from stronger points it might have made about culture shock or depression. Perhaps I read too strongly into the text, but there were moments that I feel the movie glossed over to make it more acceptable for a movie-watching audience, as opposed to the more learned individual that would take the time and effort to mentally play the beautiful composition itself with talent and expertise. If you know Zadie Smith, you'll understand that last sentence.

All in all, I recommend definitely both versions, whether or not they lie in your general field of "taste." The books because they are perfect, fascinating, and completely cohesive (unlike this post!) and the movie because it contains in it an essence of that same beauty and magic that draws in the reader so completely to the novels. And it has music!

I tried to shy away from any sort of spoiler in this post, but the movie and books revolve around Marjane Satrapi's childhood during the Iranian revolution. In other, less exciting news, or more I supposeddepending on your outlook, I have finished Nobokov's Lolita. Possible review to come.

joelinspain @ 2008-01-30T16:52:00

2008-01-31T00:56:38Z

In order to be a godfather one must be confirmed in the Church. Since my brother has indicated that I am the first in line to baptize his unborn child, I am going to be confirmed in March. As such, I have to pick out a name to be confirmed under, so if anyone wants to help me pick out a name, here is a handy list of saints that you can choose from.

http://wordbytes.org/saints/names.htm

I'm leaning towards Ignatius (Confederacy of Dunces character) or Augustin (author of Running with Scissors)

I don't want to pick my own name because wont that just be a funny mix-up in heaven?

joelinspain @ 2007-12-25T21:53:00

2007-12-26T05:57:48Z

Tomorrow is:

8:00 AM       GRE

10:00 AM         A Year In Review

11:00 AM         Finish Packing for New York!

02:00 PM         Go shopping with Mom and Nena!

06:00 PM         Get dropped off at airport!

08:00 PM         Plane time to Vegas!

11:00 PM         Plane time to New York!

my adventures with Salvia

2007-12-18T07:51:58Z

My aunt went nuts this weekend. She had a nervous breakdown and since my mother is the most stable member of the family that wont immediately hang up on you, she is typically elected as the Champion of those-who-force-you-to-deal-with-their problems. I love my aunt, and I feel for her and her children, but I feel bad because my mom gets dumped on so much. I would like to help more, but it is not my place, and as much as I'd like to say 'relax, stay calm, we'll take care of you', I realize the best thing for everyone would be if someone said "You have children, you cannot crack this much." It was a difficult and awkward time this weekend, but you get through it how everyone does. Time continues without your help and the next thing you know it's tomorrow.

I tried not to spend so much time at home this weekend. I wanted my aunt to feel comfortable breaking down if she needed to and I felt that would be easier without some 23 year-old around pretending not to notice. So I spent a lot of time at Borders. I wouldn't say I'm an avid reader, no, but if I had to choose a title, I would call myself the proud conquerer of other worlds. I like to escape.

In books, I can read minds. I can predict events, I can witness dying stars and hear the last innocent crackle of a tree falling in the woods because I am there and not there to experience it. Books make sense, and when I read them... I make sense. I enter and know all. This is perhaps where my self-claimed "sense of adventure" comes from. I want to find new worlds and feel the way I do when I walk into a book. I'm typically a sure-why-not-er more often than I am a some-other-timer. I want to see what is out there for me to try, because essentially that's why I think I'm here.

Which leads us to today's adventure: Salvia divinorum. R-rating to follow. After I spend my morning driving my aunt around and taking her kids to wrestling practice, I built my own bong. It was endeared to me because it was my first attempt at such a task. Then I gently unfolded a blanket in the not-too-warm sunlight of my backyard in preparation. The sky was slashed with fine patches of angry-looking clouds. It was a pleasant day and my Asian neighbor was watering his plants. I knew because I could hear him. I packed the bowl and heard the door creak as I began to open my portal to another (legal) world.

I did not conquer this legal world. I was hoping for 10 minutes of fairyland jaunting and unicorn frolicking with lollipops and sunshine. I was expecting flashbacks, super powers, talking trees, or at the very least some groovy wavy lines in the grass. This is not what I got.

What I got... was sweaty. After a few hits, the bong exploded with mini-mushroom clouds of smoke. It looked like some smoking chalice from Harry Potter, only shaped like a home-made bong. Normally you would think, "Cool! Magical!"

I did not. I went ape-shit. I, probably paranoid that my neighbor would see me or hear me coughing, ran frantically to the other side of my backyard, roughly 20 feet away, with smoke erupting from my hand. I forget how to move, but I am moving somehow. Suddenly, I feel like I'm in a van and there are two ways I could go. I could drive down the length of my shadow, or I could drive down the road that was the grass next to my shadow. I also could sense Princess Peach was somehow involved. My midriff feels like it is being sunburnt only I'm wearing sweatpants and a sweater and it's chilly.

Somehow I think I managed to keep smoking, I think, and flipped out some more. I run around my backyard for a little while, before sprinting through my house panicking. I don't really know what I was running from, probably my plant-watering 80-year-old Asian neighbor. There is no "linear" where I am. I walk and I'm crooked and light doesn't come down and legs don't bend forward. Suddenly, for no reason whatsoever, I had a thought: I had to destroy my bong.

Why? Who knows. It felt like my poor Arrowhead water bottle was some demon artifact that had to be disposed of. I ripped it apart with my bare hands. I crush it and run outside to the front lawn to the dumpsters laughing like a madman because I was victorious. Who knows what I looked like to people if they were around, but at least they can't judge me for being wasteful. I recycled that bong.

I also drank the bong water. It all felt like a dream. When I thought I was coming to, I realized 10 more minutes had passed and I was still going around my house in circles. I checked three times to make sure that the water bottle was in the trash can to remind myself this actually happened. I stopped knowing what was real, and I was so, so, so fucking paranoid. And sweaty, don't forget about all of that sweat. I did not conquer that world. That world came in on a wave of smoke and smothered me in white caps. That world kicked my ass.

The only side-effect was my basic math skills stopped existing for a few hours. Seven times four? Huh? The X-plane is... the flat one? Needless to say, it made studying for the GRE that much more difficult. Weed doesn't even make me forget how to multiply, and that is the drug that is illegal. Salvia is legal and it made me flip.the.fuck.out. Weed just makes me want cheetos filled with sunshine and giggles and anime. Salvia warped emotion, time, and reality. It'll be a while before I try that again. I want to experience it when I'm in a happier mood and maybe during twilight in a field of grass. But, knowing me, I'll probably just try again tomorrow and wake up naked in the park in the rain. ....and I really don't have a problem with that.

Happy Holidays

joelinspain @ 2007-12-16T21:25:00

2007-12-17T05:33:50Z

Took my final on Friday! Hurray, my last undergraduate test. I still feel like UCLA bureaucracy stole my graduation from me, but whatever. I did it finally. The exam was surprisingly challenging. Also very, very poorly made. It was the kind of test that you could read through the questions and find answers on different questions.

Then came Friday. It was ol Greggers b-day so I called to see what the happy-haps was. We ended up rolling out to Moose's goodbye party. I still can't believe I said goodbye to here, she's one of my best friends. But I'll see her in New York! So it's all good. After that... =(

Today I bought 10 books from Borders. Overpriced? Yes. But.. I couldn't say no. They are like crack. Except my REAL problem is... I will go out and buy 10 books, then end up finding another random book on some random errand and read that one instead. Okay that's as good as it gets for this update.

hace mucho

2007-12-14T07:37:55Z

It's been a long time since I've posted on this thing. I recently began filling out that year-in-review survey I stole from Greg awhile back, and realized that this journal actually does help me remember, at least, those little things in life. And hey, those lil guys count.

Here are a few random updates:

I've been studying for the GRE for the past month and have actually enjoyed becoming reacquainted with Math. I dumped that ho pretty harshly years ago, but now that we're back together, I remember all the things I liked about the bitch. She's like an old lover, with long, smooth division and full supple primes. She challenges me, and I like it.

I am finally finishing that last class that I shouldn't have had to take. Tomorrow is my exam, and I'm positive it will be relatively easy. Goodbye Philosophy, you were, at least, somewhat informative. There were several things I learned that I didn't know already, so congratulations community college, you aren't a complete and utter waste of time.

As far as Christmas is concerned, I have all my presents picked out. I bought my brother his first Christmas tree. It's plastic, 4-feet tall, and has lights attached. It fits perfectly in their little condo, so props to me. We're all allergic so it's not like I could get them a real tree if I wanted to. I bought my new sister a pair of Peridot (her birthstone) earrings. My actual sister I bought the Wayne's World 2 soundtrack, which is completely appropriate if you know our relationship at all, and a face hygiene kit from Origins. For my mother, a rather stunning pair of amber earrings. Amber is my favorite stone, by the way. Holds an electric charge, and the only "stone" made from something that was once alive, as opposed to the rocky tumultuous innards of the Earth. .... shut up me, you're doing it again. Dad gets some tools.

I leave for New York the day after Christmas! Hazzah! A taste of freedom is nigh. Very, very cold freedom. Though I suppose Jean Paul Sartre would argue that all freedom has a little bit of cold attached to it. Thanks Moorpark College, but that one I knew. I'll be staying with Sophia, a dear friend, and will be adventuring for a good 10 days. My twin informs me I'll love the place, so I'm inclined to believe that I wont want to leave. Hey, if Passions decides they need yet another long-lost descendant of Luiz Lopez Fitzgerald and Cheridan Crane, maybe I'll just happen to walk by during the casting call and land myself a job out there.

What I do know, is that when I return to Oxnard after my journey, is that I will have no GRE to study for. I will have no Philosophy class, and I will have no more excuses to be bumming around. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike sitting on my ass all day watching movies and playing with my dog in the sun, but it's not like I don't want to be working. Jayne Cobbe would say that those who can't find work aren't looking hard enough. Buh-zing Firefly reference. I've had a job (usually 2, a few times 3) since I was 16. It's not the money I want. It's not the greens burning a hole in my wallet... its the gas in my car. It's the plane tickets I could buy, hostel stays, Belgian waffles, Korean BBQ, etc. It's the warm side of the freedom that I miss. The money is just what pays for that, and that's the part that's cold.

Who am I kidding though? We all want the dolla dolla bills ya'll. If I had a magic card that paid for all of my gas, I would road trip all over the US in a heartbeat and eat McDonald's until I ran out of money. These are unorganized thoughts, but that's what you're here for journal. Thanks for listenin' LJ, until next time.

joelinspain @ 2007-11-06T21:36:00

2007-11-07T05:38:31Z

Denzel... stay out of my Shakespeare.

joelinspain @ 2007-10-22T17:35:00

2007-10-23T00:44:39Z

Life at home is boring. You'd think I'd post here more, but nope!

I am considering moving to New York with Athenna, but I don't have enough money just yet to handle that. I am also considering moving up north to San Francisco, but that too requires more money than I have. Wilde would say that anyone who lives within their means lacks imagination.

I suppose I am not very imaginative.

Tomorrow I think I am going to go to a temp agency, just to find work to do here to make money. I still have my job at the Publishing company, but its so part time and so far away that I break even with money spent on food and gas. I'm clinging to that job though, because they are going to publish a kids book of mine, which, hello, can only help me get a job at other publishing companies, and maybe even get into graduate school. My boss is dragging her heels though. This is her busy time of the year so she doesn't know when she'll be able to stick that into the line up. Hopefully soon. Its a tiny, tiny company though, so don't get excited people.

I applied to a job in Berkeley that starts in January and lasts until April at a really cool magazine. I don't know when Athenna wants to move to New York, but hopefully it would be after that job ends. I also really hope I get that job. I'm also considering working as an executive team leader for Target because hey, its not like there are publishing companies here so I might as well work somewhere. I have a friend that works there who can hook me up so that might be an option. I think I'd have to stick it out there until at least February though, so hopefully I find out about that Berkeley job soon so I know to pursue it or not. I guess I could always quit though.

Quite the boring post, wasn't it?

Thank god I've got the GRE to study for or else I'd be going nuts.

joelinspain @ 2007-09-12T03:50:00

2007-09-12T10:50:40Z

Will Hadikusumo is the shit.

Mostly because I showed up to work drunk, and he just let me pass out for like 2 hours.

joelinspain @ 2007-09-10T19:31:00

2007-09-11T02:31:22Z

http://shop.uclastore.com/category/apparel/sweatshirts.do

I've hit the internet! Although, not the greatest picture of me.

joelinspain @ 2007-09-05T09:51:00

2007-09-05T16:53:17Z

Got tired of waiting for everyone to decide to buy their tickets to New York so I just bought mine today. I had no problems stomping around Europe by my lonesome, so why should I have problems in a place where I already speak the language and have the right currency?

Cool Birthday, here I come.

joelinspain @ 2007-09-03T19:44:00

2007-09-04T02:45:02Z

Well, I tried reformatting my old computer, and now it wont connect to the internet.

Fucking computers.

Fucking have no money.

joelinspain @ 2007-08-28T11:29:00

2007-08-28T18:30:29Z

I got a $420 paycheck today. Dead even.

Is that you God? Trying to tell me to buy something?

decisions.

2007-08-28T17:08:48Z

My boss wants to keep me on staff for the moment.

I've pretty much decided I want to move home so I can save money to move somewhere else, though.

I really do like my job here, but I gotta get out of this city for a little while.

I've decided to move home, and work here 2 days out of the week until I find a job in Ventura, so that I can have something to do, have some money in the meantime, publish my children's book (she loved my story), and help out my boss.

This means I'll be here on Mondays and Tuesdays of each week! Who wants me on their couch Monday night?

joelinspain @ 2007-08-27T02:48:00

2007-08-27T10:04:36Z

I feel like I've been in this chapter for far, far too long, and I can't remember why I'm still here. I am desperately hoping that my book job gives me shitty hours, and bad pay, so that I can easily say "No thanks, I'm moving home." I hope that they publish my children's book, though. I don't want the decision to be difficult. Maybe I'm just making it difficult.

One day, I want to write something like this, and maybe I should just spend the next year trying:

"No fictions, no myths, no lies, no tangled webs - this is how Irie imagined her homeland. Because homeland is one of the magical fantasy words like unicorn and soul and infinity that have now passed into the language. And the particular magic of homeland, its particular spell over Irie, was that it sounded like a beginning. The beginningest of beginnings. Like the first morning of Eden and the day after apocalypse. A blank page." - Zadie Smith

joelinspain @ 2007-08-23T13:04:00

2007-08-23T20:09:55Z

So I think my phone is broken again. I can only make outgoing calls... sometimes... and then when it wont go through I have to turn it off and on in order to get it up and running like normal. When it is like that I can't receive any calls or texts either.

Also, I scuffed a guy's car this morning on the way to work. I left a black smudge on his white bumper. I asked him to check how much it would cost and hopefully we'd be able to work it outside of the insurance companies. I didn't see a dent, but there was definitely black crud on the back. Hopefully he just buffs it out on his own. Hopefully he doesn't call his insurance company. Lots of hoping there. Me no want high insurance. On the hopeful side, it should really only come out to maybe a couple hundred, if he doesn't try and dig deeper.

So there goes maybe 300 bucks, hopefully

Which essentially means goodbye to that new laptop I was trying to save for, and if he digs deeper, there goes any hope of getting a new phone. Blah, money sucks. I need a job. Oh wait, I have 2, and they both don't pay enough.

joelinspain @ 2007-08-21T12:21:00

2007-08-21T19:22:19Z

A time when everything in your life is decided by the question, "Will this look good on my resume?"

hm.

2007-08-21T17:25:30Z

Well, my book company asked me write a book for them. They said any age group, just go for it!

Pleasing!

I am excited.

Also, they said that if my heart was in publishing, there would be a place for me at the office next year.

Amazing!

Except that all of my friends already have their living situations figured out next year. And I was kind of prepared to move home.

Maybe I'll commute and just sleep on my friends' couches during the week.

joelinspain @ 2007-08-19T13:56:00

2007-08-19T20:54:47Z

at work wasting my life watching as the world turns on youtube.

joelinspain @ 2007-08-16T18:58:00

2007-08-17T01:59:34Z

Feel free to pick up the latest Bearwear catalogue and fondle yourself. Don't worry, I wont judge you, I would if I could too.

Ya know, if it weren't all creepy.

joelinspain @ 2007-08-13T06:36:00

2007-08-13T13:40:38Z

Recently, I found myself sickeningly and embarassingly obsessed with the television program known as Firefly.

Now, I had seen the show before, and I had known I liked it, but somehow, and I don't even know how, I have become grossly enamored with it just in the passed few days. I'm at the point where I can quote things and officially consider myself both a "flan" and a Browncoat.

If you have never seen it before, I highly, highly recommend it. If you have internet access and Divx, the entire series can be found at stage6.com. If you use veoh, its all there too. Its an exceptional show that got cut off its first season, but has such an amazing fanbase that Universal picked it up and made a movie out of it. If the collectors edition sales of Serenity go well (mines pre-ordered), they might make another movie, or bring it back. All of which sound more than amazing to me.

Feel free to buy the first episode off of itunes, I'll reimburse you. (I would too.)

joelinspain @ 2007-08-09T19:10:00

2007-08-10T02:11:35Z

Just bought the DVD box set of Firefly.

I am such a nerd.

and I love it.

also, check out Nathan Fillion's Myspace page. Say what you want about the man, but god damn he is hilarious.

joelinspain @ 2007-08-07T10:34:00

2007-08-07T17:37:05Z

Well, my boss is on vacation still, and the person who would be my superior walked over to my desk and said "I don't care what you do, as long as you finish what Katie left for you." Well, Katie, my boss, didn't really leave me clear directions on what to do while she was away, so I guess its a Perez Hilton week at work. And now her and the accountant are watching Friends in the other room.

I wanna work here forever.

joelinspain @ 2007-08-06T12:34:00

2007-08-06T19:32:57Z

If you look up the name Elizabeth on Wikipedia, you'll find that the name Buffy is actually a nickname for the name Elizabeth.

Surprising!