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6:45 pm  •  12 February 2012  •  33,848 notes

(Source: xnitemare, via kqls)

11:02 am  •  11 February 2012  •  9,187 notes

Few things in this world make me happier than WAVING BEARS.

Also, I’m going to start waving like the one on the right in the second set. I’ll just lose interest halfway through, like, “HEYoh … unh.”

(Source: toptumbles, via dallowayward)

11:50 pm  •  10 February 2012  •  371,636 notes

(Source: whitegirlpartyy, via kqls)

6:58 pm  •  8 February 2012  •  1,185 notes

I’m constantly trying to be what I think I’m “supposed” to be. Nice, friendly, fashionable, sexy, quiet. Part of me does want to be these things. I know that people who actually like other people are more attractive. 

But that’s the thing. On the whole, I don’t really like people. I’m overly picky about whose company I enjoy. Honestly, most people only have to do one small thing to grate on my nerves. Sometimes it’s a big thing. Sometimes it’s telling me my [highly emotionally grounded] tattoo is stupid. Other times it’s just persistently complaining. Big and small. It doesn’t seem to matter.

Yet part of me wants to be that person who loves being around other people. I would like to have a giant group of friends to call on. I would like to have invitations to go out places all the time. I would like to be called and texted constantly.

Except I’m not good at clearing out my iPhone notifications. I’m not always in the mood to talk on the phone. I’m a homebody. I don’t like people.

And then there’s that one person in my life who just radiates good energy, that everyone loves, that I love to such a degree that I can’t help but constantly think fondly of her. I smile when she enters my mind and when I see a picture of her, I wish she were close by so I could hug her. She’s what I’d like to be. Sweet, funny, warm, but also headstrong and smart. From the second I met her, she’s been this everlasting sunshine in my heart, outrageously corny as that may sound.

Why can’t I be more like her? Was she always like this? Did she have to practice being so wonderful?

Sometimes I think the solution is to own a gorgeous handbag with a set of custom Dungeons and Dragons dice in it, as a balance to my personality. The handbag would be admired by the girls I lunch with. The dice would be for Sunday DnD sessions. I could be what I am and also what I could be.

I want to be more patient with people. I do. But then they open their mouths, and I don’t know how to erase their chatter from my memory. I can’t fix not liking them. I could try. I’m not the most enthusiastic people person now but I could try.

I’m battling what I am versus what I could be. I’m battling the potential society has set out for me—be friendly! Make people love you! Always smile!

I’m positive and optimistic. But I’m not able to always like a person. I can believe in the best in people. But I can’t force them to be good. I can be open minded. But I can’t change a person’s awful way of thinking/speaking/acting.

What’s a girl to do?

7:34 pm  •  6 February 2012

wordboner:

The crazy ones: a tribute to Steve Jobs

more: get on a tee | blog | make your own wordboner store | twitter | facebook | coupons | follow wordboner

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10:08 pm  •  7 October 2011  •  31,145 notes

brittaniheather:

In Father of the Bride Part II, Annie and Brian are deciding on what to name their future baby. If it’s a boy, they like:

• Cody
• Cooper
• Riley
• Wyatt (“As in Earp?” Brian’s father asks and you’re like, “Shut up, Brian’s father”)

And if it’s a girl, they like:

• Sophie

And are still debating…

This.  This forever.

9:47 pm  •  7 October 2011  •  13 notes

My daytime pal. (Taken with instagram)

11:11 am  •  28 September 2011  •  1 note

Yesterday, while grocery shopping at Growers Direct, I bought two bags full of fresh, raw broccoli.  My initial plan was to steam all of it, and enjoy it with some salt and pepper.  However, today, as I contemplated lunch, I was reminded of a roasted broccoli recipe I had found a long time ago.  So what did I do?

Quick Google search for roasted broccoli recipes, weed through the results for the easiest/healthiest one, and then completely ignore any measurements for ingredients.

I did end up steaming some of the broccoli, but I also made roasted broccoli.  Just washed the bunches, dried them thoroughly, cut off the florets, cut up the stems, and tossed it all in some olive oil, sea salt, lemon pepper, and garlic powder.

Popped it all in the oven at 450 for 23 minutes and voila!  Delicious roasted broccoli!  I was eating it straight off the pan, but also dumped a bunch in a noodle bowl from Trader Joe’s.  Easy peasy, mac n cheesy, my friends.

6:07 pm  •  26 September 2011  •  1 note

(via prettyclever)

3:00 pm  •  14 September 2011  •  139 notes

My first experience in mobile gaming was a super sweet lime green GameBoy Color, for which we had only a few games.  I preferred Pokemon Blue, and I thought the graphics during battle were downright epic. 

Now, I tend to stick to my DS Lite and, much to the chagrin of myself a year ago, my iPhone 4.

See, I grew up using Apple computers.  We had an amazing G4 that I loved for every possible reason.  I learned to type on an Apple, and I even used a very old, antiquated Apple laptop for my writing.  I would save stories on a nice collection of … gulp … floppy disks.  I shudder at the thought.

When Apple became boisterously popular, and prices shot through the roof, we became a PC family.  With that came the uppity attitude towards Apple, and Apple fans.  Last summer, in fact, when all I heard about was the iPhone 4 and how great it was going to be and how Apple just works.  Blah, blah, blah.  I vowed to never own one.

To make a long, embarrassing story short, I ended up getting an iPhone 4, which is now basically glued to my hand.  I sleep with it.  I caress it lovingly.  It’s saved my skin on many an occasion.  We are the best of pals.

Not only does it just work (which is something I find myself saying now), but it’s great as a mobile gaming device.  There’s an amazing variety of games, from action to racing to role play to puzzles and every other possible game.  Thanks to the touch screen, it’s also easy and fun to play said games.

For example, the contents of my gaming folders, sans Game Center: Call of Atlantis (puzzle), Luxor (puzzle), Tetris (puzzle), Angry Birds (action), Plants vs. Zombies (action, puzzle), Bejeweled 2 (puzzle), Grimm (action), Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (fighting), Words with Friends (word), TriZen (puzzle), Zentomino (puzzle), and Chicktionary (word).  

No, I don’t like puzzles, but thanks for asking.

I will go through phases where all I do is play Luxor or Chicktionary before bed.  I’ve played Call of Atlantis so many times over.  The nice part of playing on my iPhone is that it’s right there.  I’m not going to miss a call or text while I’m playing.  It’s a small device that fits comfortably in my hand.  If I get bored with a game, there’s inevitably something else either in my folder or in the App Store that I can buy.

Games like TriZen and Zentomino help me calm down if I’m worried or stressed about something, because I’m forced to focus completely on how to fit the pieces into the puzzle.  Words with Friends is a game that I’ve recently become obsessed with as soon as I figured out you could play more than one game (not that waiting days at a time for the other person wasn’t fun).  Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is just plain fun.

Whether I pick up my iPhone intentionally so that I can play a game or I’m waiting for an appointment to start, the games on my phone have supplied me with entertainment and casual gaming on a level I didn’t expect.  I love knowing that no matter where I am, I have the option to solve a puzzle, keep zombies at bay, or maybe even kick Kung Lao’s ass.

10:02 am  •  14 September 2011  •  8 notes

(Source: quote-book, via featherandarrow)

9:33 pm  •  13 September 2011  •  34,083 notes

Due to my recent temporary job, I have fallen into the habit of eating lunch alone.  Not at home, but at a restaurant.  

This is an event that would have previously terrified me.  I assume that everyone else at the restaurant is looking at me and wondering just how much of a loser I must be to be eating alone.  I assume that the server pities me.  I assume a lot of things, most of them unkind.

However, I do eat lunch and it’s more convenient to eat at a restaurant close to my job rather than drive all the way home.  Now that I’ve done it a few times, I’m wondering why it scared me so much.

I no longer have any problem announcing to the host or hostess that I require a table for one.  To me, it’s become luxurious.  I don’t have to force conversation with a dining partner.  I don’t have to split an appetizer or make any menu choices based on who I’m with.  I can eat and drink what I want, and take my time doing so.  

To make it even better, I always bring along my e-reader.  Now I get a two hour lunch to eat slowly and read.  This way, I’m not awkwardly people-watching while I eat.  Yesterday, I chose to stop and occasionally gaze out the window, but that was simply because it was overcast and gorgeous outside.

The past two weeks have taught me that being alone is nothing to be embarrassed about.  I’ve gained confidence over it, and I no longer fear going out to a meal in a sit-down restaurant alone.  Just because I eat the occasional meal alone doesn’t make me a friendless loser.  It just means that I have the ability to spend time by myself, enjoying things that make me happy.  If that means pasta and Sherlock Holmes, so be it.

10:01 am  •  12 September 2011  •  1 note

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12:34 pm  •  10 September 2011  •  111 notes

One of the many life skills that I have half a handle on in the real world is cooking.  I make an awesome orange chicken, chicken chow mein, jasmine rice dealio.  My scrambled eggs are pretty good.  My baked kale is quite the tasty snack.

On my Nintendo DS, however … I am the best chef in the world, thanks to Cooking Mama.

I first started playing Cooking Mama several years ago, when a friend showed it to me on her DS.  It looked and sounded like fun, so I bought it and began playing it.  The first Cooking Mama is not as easy as you might think, though.

Sure, you’re just using the stylus to cook some meals.  It sounds simple.  Yet it’s more challenging than it initially appears.  There are certain skills that take quite a bit of practice and even some special strategies before you’ve mastered them.  The game is kind enough to offer “Use skill”, which is basically just practicing a skill and attempting to clear it.  There are some skills, like cracking an egg, that are simple and you can clear it pretty quickly.  Then there are skills like tearing lettuce leaves that are deceivingly complicated.  Pull too hard, you’ll rip the leaf.  Don’t pull hard enough, you don’t get the leaf off at all.

Even after having possessed and played the game for several years, there are still some cooking skills that I cannot master.  Weighing meat is one of the most frustrating cooking requirements that has slipped past me.  You have to get down to a very specific weight, and to do so you must draw a circle on the meat that is sitting on the scale.  You only have so many circles you can draw, and you have to get down to that weight.  So you may circle it once, and the size of the circle says you’ve taken away 50g.  Next time it may be 120g.  It’s pretty damn frustrating.

The recipes themselves have a nice range.  You can make anytime from spaghetti neapolitan to a pork cutlet to macaroni gratin.  There isn’t one skill that is in every recipe, so each recipe has its own variety of skills.  After each step, Mama rates how well you did, from “Very Good” to “Failed”, and once you’ve finished the dish, she gives you a coin.  When I first started playing, I was just having fun, but then it got to the point where I wanted a gold coin (indicating a perfectly made dish) for every recipe.

Another fun aspect is the “Let’s combine” part of the game.  You start with a base dish (pork curry and rice, spaghetti, rice, fried rice, soba, or udon) and then choose a secondary dish and mix the two.  You can make a fried octopus dumpling rice bowl or creamy chicken spaghetti or any other desired combination.

Cooking Mama has been one of those games that I keep coming back to, no matter how long it’s been since I’ve played.  Even if I have a gold star for a recipe, I like to see if I can make it again.  Or sometimes I’ll just practice a skill and see if I can clear it.  It’s one of those games where I know I’ll keep it even if I beat it completely (though with my meat weighing skills, that may never happen).

My greatest wish is that my skills in Cooking Mama, while not perfect, would somehow transfer over to real life.  The only problem would be the people in my life might have to deal with potato meat stew over udon for lunch and croquettes over rice for dinner.  No matter how well those dishes may have been made, I still feel like Mama would call that a FAIL.

10:01 am  •  24 August 2011  •  3 notes