This is me.... (Part II)

...living THE life. Just another Friday night, thinking about how not awesome my life is. And by "not awesome" I mean I'm not where I wanted to be/thought I would be. But oh well gonna take my fresh new blunt to the movies.

I'm cool. Definitely gonna have some stories for the kids....

This is me....

...living the life right now.

Mainly it's just been a loong day and it's doubling as a celebratory bowl since I know I aced BOTH of my tests in my accounting classes today.

Ah, to be living the life of a quasi-adult with no REAL job responsibilities. Trust me, it's not all it's cracked out to be BUT like I've always said it's important to keep it recreational (as I've always had).
Here's to better things to come in the future!! (I'm toasting you guys with that bottle of Cab, btw).

Only in America.

Now, before anybody tries to sass me about the post title, when I say "America" I mean the US. America just had a better ring to it.

To the point of the post:

The United States is the so-called "melting pot" and every now and then the proof of it slaps me in the face. Because honestly, where else but in the US can a Guatemalan-American share a fat blunt with her awesome Iraqi-immigrant co-worker?!? I ask you: WHERE?!?!

Probably not top many places, eh...? Well, that's exactly what happened last week. ALWAYS and ONLY after work, he and I hotbox a car and just chill and have nice chats. You might find it odd that we hang out like that because its no secret that's he's a married almost father of four (the last one is still in the oven). That fact makes many forget that he's only 29 so, when you throw that in, it's easier to understand why we get along so well. Anyhow, last week, I needed a ride home and he was kind enough to help a sista out (turns out he doesn't live all that far from me either) and we smoke a blunt on the way home. He's a super cool and chill guy and, as per usual, had me laughing the entire ride home. My favorite is when he talks about his friends/acquaintances because they're all "motherfucker assholes;" while that's not generally funny, the way it sounds with his Arabic accent is quite hilarious. Kinda stoked that I have a new smoking buddy (and a new friend in general) since I don't have many of those here in Sac that aren't by association with the fiancé.

Point of the story? Weed + American + Iraqi + hot boxing = only in America.

The Naughty Corner

This is probably one of the most random thoughts I've ever had in a long while, but you (and I mean me) have to enjoy the random thoughts and epiphanies I have at work. These thoughts have lead to us selecting our wedding date and other ideas and plans for it, as well as dinner ideas; not to mention they've lead to some creative, yet delicious sushi rolls.

Anyhow, I was thinking the other day how fiancé and I have a spot in the house which I have deemed "The F**k Corner." What is this aforementioned corner you say? Well, it's the place in the house where we always seem to bang (outside of the bedroom) and get all kinds of creative with. Now I won't identify where in our apartment the corner is in case any people who know me/come over to my place read this. We tend to be traditional for the most part, but, every now and then, we just don't make to the bed/bedroom floor and this tends to be our go to spot. We had a similar thing like this in our old place, but instead of a corner it was a more like a spot where fun times would go down.

Point of the story? This corner has resulted in many a good time in the short three months we've lived there and who knows the corner might be abandoned for a different spot in our little love nest. We definitely play a game of favorites...

Updates on Life: Lack of Internet Leads to a Lack of Posts

It's been about 6 months (I'm guessing) since I last showed signs of life on here. In that time span I've been working like a beast, going to school, moved out of one place and into another and not to mention planning a wedding as well. I think the biggest contribution to my lack of post is not having regular internet access since mid-October.

At my old place, when fiancé and I still had a roommate, our internet started acting up for no reason so we couldn't really use it. I had to go all the way to Starbucks to mooch their free interwebs and even then I only had time to do homework. Now in our new place, fiancé and I are too cheap to get internet- granted we both have smartphones so we're not completely cut off. I do have the mobile app for my blog, but I don't like using it since there "keyboard" on a phone is WAAAYYY too small. Anywhoo, I will now have regular internet access thanks to the local library being right across the street and they have Wi-Fi. PRAISE ALLAH AND ALL THOSE OTHER DEITIES!

Now, onto updates as to where I will be going from here on out:

1. I'm still in school so there rants about frustation, too much reading, figuring out what's next is to be expected.

2. I still plan on doing those book/movie reviews I talked about once upon a time and have lots of those planned so an onslaught of those should also be expected in the upcoming weeks.

3. I still love eating and cooking/baking anything I can so I expect to get more entries with recipes for things I've made or things I've eaten and found delightfully delicious.

4. As I've mentioned before, I'm planning a wedding so I'll post some sneak peeks to somethings. I've seen girls that post EVERYTHING about it on specialized wedding blogs, but I feel that takes away the surprise of it all (especially is all of your friends are reading those posts).

5. Life happens. That should be self-explanatory.

Lastly, the actual update part: Fiancé and I have our own place now and I love it. We can bone anywhere we want without worrying if our roommate is gonna walk in on us (except the couch- that shit is brand new and I'm not trying to defile it especially since I haven't gotten around to buying Scotch guard for it). I feel like I'm actually finally becoming a resident of the city I live in since I'm starting to know where stuff is - not just the basic things. I still miss home terribly but I do try to go back as often as I can. Braces fucking suck. I don't understand how all the kids in middle school had them. It especially sucks right now because I can't have beer. Pliny the Younger 2013 is happening though. Weight loss is happening and I'm excited about it; I have a wedding to look good for. Definitely been charging through the books, so I have lots of material to write about. Movies: I feel like I live at the theater so that's something to be excited about as well.

Well, that's it for now. Until next time...

Film Fanatic Friday: Gone with the Wind

I don't know if many of you have heard of it but, for the past year or so, the movie theater company Cinemark has been doing this seasonal special which they've dubbed the "Classic Movie Series." The premise is that they run a series of about 5 to 7 films, all considered classics, playing a different one every week until they've gone through their selected film list. I think the best part of it all is that the films are completely remastered. Not remastered in the way Disney remastered and inadvertently ended up bastardizing it's Blu-ray version of "Sleeping Beauty" (quick sidebar: I only know it's ruined because they were playing it in the Disney store at the mall a few years ago and the voices were completely different and it just looked WAY different; Now, back to the story), but remastered in the sense that they've restored the film to the glory of from when it was first released and it's clearer and the sound is immaculate.

Doesn't make any sense? Well, for example, during the summer the series during that time included the films: A Clockwork Orange, Cabaret, North by Northwest, Citizen Kane and Cool Hand Luke -- which I'm bummed I wasn't able to make -- amongst others. Now, this isn't the same as Fathom's "One Night Only" movie classic events, but something special the theater chain has decided to do and I find it an amazing idea! To go off topic for a little bit in relation to Fathom's movie classic events: My fiancé and I went to their 70th anniversary special screening of "Casablanca" -- a film that I'd always wanted to see but would always find it halfway through on the channel TCM (Turner Classic Movies). When I saw that they were advertising this in the theaters I told my other half that we had to go and I was surprised how on board he was with the idea. I should mention that we're both big movie buff and it's his goal in life to see as many film as he can on AFI's List of "100 Greatest Movies" List. I'm not as in a rush and that's mainly due to the fact that I've seen nearly half of the films on the list, which is about 12 more films that he has -- and Casablanca happens to be #3 on that list so he wasn't about to miss the opportunity to see it. Long story, we both loved it, it was unexpectedly funny, dramatic in all the right ways and just a wonderful testament to the brilliant film making of the past. Back to the film at hand...

Seeing Casablanca in theaters this past Spring is what made me yearn to go see "Gone With the Wind" when I saw that they were going to be playing in theaters for the classic series, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to go see this film that I quite thoroughly love but at the same time I don't and that's due to the film's main character, the infamous Scarlett O'Hara, not to mention that the film has a running time of nearly FOUR hours. While fiancé ended up not going due to attending a baseball playoff game, I went with one of my best friends and we had ourselves a little date night (as we often did in college).After buying our tickets, and finding our interpretation of the best seats in the huge theater, we sat back to enjoy a timeless classic.

Four hours later, I'd seriously just had my  mind blown. Seeing the film on the big screen was such an amazing experience. Like I told my mom the next day, seeing the movie every time after that night is going to be a such letdown. I think what I enjoyed the most was the viewing experience. They didn't skimp out on making sure we got to see it the way it was intended to be viewed. The opening overture, the intermission music and at the very end more music (kinda makes you wonder if all movies had opening overtures and closing numbers back in the day). It didn't seem like we sat there in the theater for four hours watching it.

One of the main differences this time is that I didn't utterly and completely hate Scarlet O'Hara at the end of it all. This go around, I finally put my psychology degree to work on the film without trying to. I kinda had some sympathy for her during this viewing. Every other time I couldn't understand why she was so selfish and  a raving bitch, but this time I felt no such hatred for her. I came to understand that she was so driven to be the best of the best mainly for the fact that she and her family really hit rock bottom during the Civil War and she was only trying to restore them to their pre-war glory and lead the very privileged life she once lead. I know a main focal point of the film is her obsession with Ashley Wilkes, after this viewing I felt some of outcome of the film's end wasn't entirely all of Scarlett's doing. She held onto Ashley (a reminder of all the good her life was before the Civil War) and he also lead her on heavily; he went on and on about being bound to his wife, Melanie. I think after many years of nothing but neutrality towards him, I like him a little bit less now. Rhett, I think his character only gets better and better for me every time. His passion for life always shines through, and each and every time I watch the movie  I only notice more how much he loves Scarlett and only wants her to say so. I think what breaks my heart every time is that the scene where Rhett returns from Paris with Bonnie and how you see how happy Scarlett is to have the both back but since he comes off a bit indifferent she doesn't say anything. So many missed opportunities there.

In the end, this movie is definitely one of my favorites and it'll probably be another three years or so until I see again (I mean, it is a 4 hour long movie which requires a whole day off to watch it comfortably).

Here's the trailer for any of you weirdos out there who have NEVER seen it.

Updates on Life: Oral Edition

If you recall from just a little over a month ago, I went to the dentist for the first time in over 3 years. Since that fateful July morning, I feel like I haven't been anywhere else besides their office. My mouth has gone through over a major overhaul -- especially in the past two weeks!

First, there was the deep cleaning of my gums with a laser. I guess after three years bacteria starts to build up in one's teeth pockets, and that led me to have some sort of periodontal disease. I was like, okay, lets nip this thing in the bud ASAP, so I made the appointment to have the more expensive procedure done to fully clean them out. On some random Tuesday or whatever day it was, I went in and did the right half. Now, that procedure is pretty quick and rather painless except when she was up in there scraping or whatever she was doing, one of my teeth was a little sensitive and she saw me wincing in a little bit of pain. At the end of the whole prodecure she asked me if it had hurt back there, and when I said yes she told me that I had a cavity back there. WAIT, DIDN'T THE DENTIST GUY TELL ME THAT I DIDN'T HAVE ANY CAVITIES?!??!! When I explained this to her in a more calm matter along with an inclusion of "I knew it" she said oh, that's not good. So, I had to make another appointment to come in on the following Wednesday to have that checked out. Fast forward to said day, and what do you know, there's a cavity back there -- on my wisdom tooth no less. It was nice that he apologized for the fuck up, but the bad news was that they don't patch up wisdom teeth, so both of them on my right side were gonna have to go (since I figured "hey, the ones on the left are cool, let's leave them be"). When I had the bright idea to ask how that would affect my braces going on that Friday, I was told that all four of my wisdom teeth were gonna have to come out so the rest of my teeth wouldn't shift all weird during my ortho treatment. I rescheduled with the orthodontist and my wisdom teeth were scheduled to be pulled the following Tuesday.

Now, this is when hell week for my mouth started.

That Tuesday, I came in all nice and relaxed ready for this to go down. I should mention that I opted to have local anesthesia done as I saw no reason to be put under mainly due to the fact that since all four of my wisdom teeth we fully grown out, they weren't going to have to dig any of them out. So, I'm sitting in the dental chair nervous with anticipation when the oral surgeon finally came in. After asking me some med questions he started jabbing me everywhere with the novocaine needles and after 2 quick minutes of this he was all like, "Okay, be back in 10 minutes to check on you" and off he went. After about 3 minutes, my mouth started to fill with drool -- as he had said it would -- and I felt the sensation on the lower half of my face begin to fade. At one point I was pretty much trembling from my anxiousness, not because I was scared or anything, but just because I wanted to get it over with.

Before I continue, I should also mention that I've never had a tooth pulled. So, I really didnt know how the the whole process of pulling teeth went; all of my  friends who had their wisdom teeth pulled had been put under so they really couldn't tell me what I should or shouldn't expect. He comes back after the 10 minutes he said he would, although it felt like much longer and he started touching me in and around the areas that were supposed to be numb and what do you know, I couldn't feel jack shit. After giving a couple final pokes and inserting needles in some last spots that probs weren't numb enough, he FINALLY got started. Now, boys and girls, if you've never had a tooth pulled, let me be straight with you: it's pretty barbaric. They seriously go in there with some special dental pliers and yank those suckers out. NOT A FAN. Granted, I couldn't feel a thing, but the noises and sounds weren't all that pleasant. I could just hear my teeth shattering through it all. And seriously guys, they were done in like 10 minutes.Quick and painless, so I was all for it.  Overall, it wasn't that bad of an experience. I just want to add that it was awkward due to the fact that the surgeon was trying to make conversation as he was pulling my teeth but I was only able to respond in grunts. I mean it's nice and all that he was being polite, but asking me questions that require more than a "yes" or "no" grunt was kinda pointless, dontcha think? After teeth were yanked out, I spent the rest of the day at my future mother-in-law's house being nursed back to a quick and heavily medicated recovery. The next couple of days, I was pretty much starving since I couldn't really chew much of anything. If only I knew what was still to come.

Fast forward to that Friday and I'm back at the orthodontist to have my braces placed. I wasn't a harrowing ordeal to have them put on, but my teeth were in so much pain afterwards. Like it hurt to bite anything or chew. I wasn't able to eat for the next 5 days. Low and behold, I had to return two weeks later. I thought they were going just going to do the routine change of my bands and wires, but they decided to take it up a notch. They placed an expander (to widen my bite) on the roof of my mouth and ever since it's been uncomfortable trying to each some things since it gets stuck in the gap. Not only that, but my teeth hurt and I can properly bite through things; especially one of my favorite foods: sandwiches. Hopefully, as I keep getting used to having braces, things will continue to improve with my eating. On the bright side, however, I have lost 10 pounds since getting braces! Not going to complain there.

New Idea.

I think I'm going to start posting mini reviews about all the books I've been reading and have yet to read. I've been tearing through books so often lately, I think it'd be neat to share my thoughts on them and maybe convince some of you (if anyone actually reads this) to read some of them or skip them.

Not to mention, I've been buying a lot of books lately so that would motivate me keep it going. The book reading list has been piling up mainly because there's this used movie, cd, vinyl and now used BOOK store right by house, and a lot of the books I've found there that I've always wanted to read I've been buying for 99 cents so I have a lot of catching up to do.

So what do you all think? Book Review Mondays? Paperback Wednesdays? Book Club Sundays? Suggested Reading of the Day? I'll find that catchy title soon enough.

UPDATE ON 9/10/2012: I think I'm going to stretch this idea out further to include films as well. I don't plan on including mainstream films that every and their mom has seen, but more so movies I've found interesting and worth recommending to others.

Free Weekend Getaway? Don't Mind If I Do.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I got to go to South Lake Tahoe for a couple a nights and see Maroon 5 in a sold-out concert all for the low cost of $0. How is that possible you might ask? Well, let me tell you just how.

One Monday morning, the Monday before July 4th to be exact, my boyfriend and I woke up some time around 7:40; as is my habit, I grabbed my phone and made the rounds of checking my email, the morning's headlines and checked out my Facebook news reel. I'm a fan (on Facebook that is) of a local radio station here in Sacramento. I saw a post from them that said something about winning tickets to go see Maroon 5 in concert, but one had to qualify to win first; and by qualifying one would win their newly released album. All I had to do was tune in around 8 in the morning to find out how to qualify. So, what do I do? Seeing as I'm still on my phone at this point, I immediately go on their website and listen to the live stream that they have available. As soon as they said, "Be caller 103 to qualify" after announcing the contest, you can bet your balls I was dialing their  like a mad woman to  win. Several times, all I got was a busy signal; one time the phone rang and rang and I hung up because I didn't want to lose precious time trying to be the winning caller. After several more busy signals, I got through to a ring. At this point, I decided that it no one answers by the time the total call time reached 30 seconds, I was going to hang up and try again. But as luck would have it, that's not how things were going to go.

One the second to last ring before I was going to hang up, I heard the line click. On the other end I hear a man come on and say, "So, you ever wake up and find out that Adele's baby isn't your baby?" and I responded with, "That happens to me all the time." I thought someone was fucking with me but I decided to play along just in case. Eventually, he got to the  main point, "Are you a Maroon 5 fan?" and I responded with, "HUGE Maroon 5 fan." That's when he congratulated me on being caller 103 and how I'd won the CD and qualified to win the big prize: a hotel stay for 2 nights and two tickets to the sold out show. I'd find out if I'd won or not the following Friday if they called me before 8am. So, I shivered with anticipation (see what I did there?) for the rest of the week because I really wanted to win.

Come Friday morning, I was laying in bed with then boyfriend C (I say "then boyfriend" because if you've read my previous posts you know how that one ended up) and low and behold, my phone rang. It was from an unknown and private number, but I answered anyhow because it could've been an emergency for all I knew. But, wouldn't you know it, it was the radio station. After dicking around with me for a while, they told me that I'd won the whole shebang, and I've never had my heart beat so fast in all my life (if you don't count embarrassing moments). Who would've thought then that that weekend would turn out to be the best weekend of my life?

The winning tickets that came with some sweet seats.

I'M ENGAGED!!!

Well, depending on who you ask, I'm either: A) Just engaged or B) I'm FINALLY engaged -- but like I said, it all depends on who you ask. After being together for 4 years my now fiancé thought it was time to pop the question. It was so cute when he told me how nervous he'd been the entire time leading up to it. And the way he did it as well, was something that was definitely our style.

While on a weekend getaway to South Lake Tahoe, we decided we were going to go on a hike and revisit Emerald Bay -- which is a 20 minute drive or so from the California/Nevada stateline (which is where we were staying). Since there was no parking near the Vikingsholm (where was our intended destination) we had to park at the Inspiration Point vista point, just a little over a mile walk/hike away. So, before we headed up there, we stopped at the local Subway to get a couple of foot-longs for lunch. After parking and packing up my camelback and all that other fun stuff, we began our trek out to the start of the trail down to the Vikingsholm. Before we headed down there, we thought we'd find a bench or something so we could each lunch.

Boyfriend C was trying to find the "perfect" spot while I was just trying to find somewhere decent enough to sit so we could eat and sit and so I wouldn't burn my butt (it was a really warm day out). He's out on top on this rock hill saying it's perfect, while I'm walking around it saying I refuse to burn my butt; I end up finding a nice ledge, that's half in the shade, and has the perfect view as well. I tell boyfriend, and pull out the sandwiches and start tearing into one while he walks on over to me. Upon reaching me he said, "Can you put the sandwich down?" and I responded with a "WHY!?"

He just replies with a, "Can you just put it down?" and I say "Okay, fine." He then proceeds to recite the chorus of The Beatles' "Do You Want to Know a Secret?" and then gets down on one knee and simply says, "Will you marry me?" I managed to sneak in a "Are you proposing right now?" in there.

After saying no -- he knew I was kidding when I said it -- and officially saying yes, he told me the story about how he went about asking my father's permission and pretty much telling everybody and their mom that he was going to propose that weekend. After telling people the story, they all said that it was very "us" the way it happened; I'm thinking the sandwiches had something to do with it.

Me in all my excitement.

Overall, it was a nice surprise to a fun filled weekend. The day only got better when we hit up the Maroon 5 concert that I won tickets to (more on that later). The engagement is still sinking in for sure, but I'm super excited about it all! Not only that, but I'm surprised at the overwhelming response and joy that we've getting and how much people want to help me plan my future wedding. Which, by the way, is just a little over a year away now.

This one will definitely be framed seeing as this is where he proposed.