Leave me a comment saying "What would Brian Boitano do?"

I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity
Update your journal with the answers to the questions
Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions
These questions were asked by monicarnsg

Who's the funniest person you know?
Probably this boy named Dovid. He's the brother of those bizarre religious Jews I've mentioned. He is absolutely hilarious! He can do a great Quagmire impersonation...plus he's just hilarious If he doesn't end up as a Rabbi he can do standup. Giggity!

What`s your favorite song of all time? Movie?
Noooo! I hate these questions because I have no ultimate favorites. I can't :(

If you were guaranteed honest responses to any three questions,
whom would you question, and what would you ask them?
Hmmm...I can assume that I can ask three different people one question?
My cousin Ben: Why the hell hasn't he bothered to get together with me when he's had days where he had hours of free time. Hurts my feelings :(
My brother Adam: Why he treats mom and me the way he does. We don't count. He knows we have no plans for Thanksgiving but didn't even extend the offer for us to come over to his place for dinner.
Myself: Why I set myself up for failure

If you could re-live a day of your life again, which would it be
and why?
Hmm.....I think my day in the Scottish highlands a few days before the Potter trip. I went there twice, once before and once with the group. I preferred the first one. My tour guide was a Scot and hearing the history told from a Scot is so different then hearing an English person tell it. It was so beautiful up there, I could happily relive seeing Glencoe and Loch Ness again....and the whiskey tasting. Bahaha

Name one thing that not many people know about you.
I just got home from school to see our lawn covered in manure. It gave me the perfect bit of self trivia. I don't hate the smell of manure. In fact, I sort of like it. It's Earthy and reminds me of farms.

Here's two photos of the new ratties I got. I still haven't thought of names for them. For now they are Fuzzy #1 and Fuzzy #2

( brux brux )

I just got home from 2012, it was amazing! I'm a major fan of THe Day After Tomorrow and other disaster movies, I watch that movie a few times a year. 2012?

It's nearly three hours of epic awesomeness. There's many scenes that made me either cry, go "woah!", or just sit there in awe. Here's a few scenes...

( spoilers )

Anyway, to sum up this post, see the movie! Especially if you like disaster movies where things you love get destroyed.

I need a 2012 icon!

edit
I thought I liked the movie more then DAT but now I know better. DAT came on tv the other day and it reminded me why it's my favorite of these disaster movies; acting. There's good actors in that movie. 2012 has the glitz of epic effects but the acting was bland. I love 2012 but DAT is still my favorite.

My computer fried. The other night there was some sort of black out power surge and my computer's hard drive died. It's not due to a crappy hard drive but a crappy surge protector (it's about 15 years old!)
I took it to the guy that made it and he'll just charge me $80 for the labor because I'm under warranty, well that's nice of him. I lost everything. Thank the computer deities that I put stuff on an external hard drive! I haven't backed up things in months though and I just realized that I never put my UK photos on my external HD! I have a lot of them on photobucket but I had resized them for LJ! I also didn't put everything on Photobucket...my photos of the Tower of London for example. I don't think I deleted the pictures off my memory card but I just can't be sure and I'm too afraid to pop those in my camera and look. If I lost them...then I lost maybe 10% of my photos, that's not too terrible. It also means that I don't have huge photos anymore, nothing to print in the future. I printed photos already for my photo album but, if I lost these photos, I can't make poster prints. I hope I didn't delete them off my memory cards! Or, if I did, only the Powershot cards and that my Rebel pictures are untouched! *crosses fingers*
I have my other photos though and my music, well the music besides my new stuff. IT's on my iPod though, I can download something that will transfer music from my iPod back onto the computer.

All saved games are gone....that includes Sims 3 and Spore!!! NOOO!!! I also lost my Cake Mania and Puzzle game (<3 Cake Mania).
Oh well, I can just start new games. Hooray, more time wasted!

I'm trying to finalize my plans to Yosemite but it's difficult...I vow to have everything done by next Sunday! Well, everything except get my car checked and buy stuff for the car.

A few of my friends are having babies, congrats to those friends! I still don't know if I want a kid but I'm happy for my friends.

Birthday shout-outs, both early and late. Happy Birthday: Daddy, Aleksandra, Joel, and Ashley!

I'm seeing 2012 tomorrow, I've been waiting months for this movie. From the director of Day After Tomorrow and on a subject I'm fascinated about! It'll be kickass! I plan on going to a 2012 party in 2012, maybe in Yellowstone! Haha, I don't think the world will end but that'll be one hell of a party! It'll definitely be superior to the Millennium!

Okay, because I'm going to be bored without my computer I must have a quest! You all! Give me up to three things to take a photo of and I shall post them! Exception; my room. Haha, it's way too messy right now.

I got new ratties! I'm such a sucker, my breeder friend is like "want new rats?" and I'm like "hell yes!"
I don't know what to name them. I was thinking of Kyle and Stan but they're about the same color (well, technically they're a lilac and a burmese but a rat person couldn't tell). I have a fawn (orange rat) and a black rat that named Biff and Marty that wouldn't been awesome as Kyle and Stan (but they're also awesome as Biff and Marty).
Soo....suggestions? I like having theme names!
What do you think?
Poll #1484771 What theme should I use?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4

What theme should my two boy rats be named for?

Here's some more photos from my UK trip. You may or may not get photos from the Tower of London :(


The Bridge of Sighs in Oxford...isn't there a Bridge of Sighs in Venice?


Me! I'm in the Courtyard at Oxford. OMG, GOF ALERT!
The Cloisters surrounding the Courtyard!

( three more, GoF locations ahoy! )

Sexy late night Comedy Central guys make my stress level a little lower.

Happy birthday Dad, I miss you

On the morning of the 18th we headed to Paddington Station to take a train to Oxford.


In Oxford we toured the school and then headed to Christ Church. So many filming locations, so much beauty!
Man, I was walking the entire trip, hours of walking. It wasn't until Oxford that I almost started crying from it though. It wasn't any more walking then before but those cobblestones really messed me up, I actually still have pain in my ankles from it now. Whenever I get up after being off my feet a bit I actually have to hold on because the pain is just awful. Mom thinks it's heel spurs, I don't know..she wants me to go to the doctor. I guess I should...the pain isn't as bad as it was a few months ago though. There's still pain but it lasts about 15 seconds now instead of a full two minutes.
There were times during the walk I actually got to the point that if anybody talked to me I wouldn't burst into tears, it was awful. It tainted Oxford for me just a bit, but I'd still go back.


Oh look, the train's coming!


OH MAH LAWWDD!!!!!


*spaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzzz*
More to come! These are teasers, mwaha

WHAT THE FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!

I am filled with so much rage towards these people right now. I rarely get to a point where I feel like I could actually hurt somebody, these people make me come close to crossing that line.

Elie Wiesel is amazing, his books are amazing, he is amazing.

A few weeks ago I commissioned a piece of South Park art from glockart since I've loved her other fandom related pieces for years.
Yesterday she emailed me, telling me it was done! I'll be getting it in the mail soon but for now I have a digital copy and I thought I'd share with you!

( winter fun )

I finally have art from glockgal! I've wanted one for years, yay!

I was playing with my lazy rats and thought it would be a good time to whip out the ol' Powershot.





( lazy rats are lazy )

London Eye.


Parliament again


Nelson's Column at Trafalgar Square.

( two more )

I put a lot of thought into it, I hope to hear some feedback from some of you :)

I think I finally know what I want to do for the rest of my life. It's been loitering in the back of my mind ever since I was a child. I've been pre-pre-pre planing my trip to Yosemite this winter. I'm preparing way more then necessary but I'm very anal about these things, it's just me.

I bought a few books on Yosemite as well as the National Parks in that region (Mono Lake, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, etc). I've been reading about what to do, the background, and the history of the parks. The backgrounds include the people who make the parks run, the people that protect these parks.

Those of you that have known me awhile know my love of nature. Not only animals, I have a love of nature in general. Animals, plants, the rivers and the mountains. I juggled the idea of working with animals but I thought it wouldn't work for me. Ever since I've been a kid I've wanted to work with nature somehow. As I matured I just tacked on "science" to that, I want a job that's in the field of science. I realize now that just because I have an interest in astronomy, meteorology, oceanography, etc...it doesn't mean I would necessarily enjoy a lifetime of this work. That put me back to square one, but still I was determined to find a career path that had to do with nature.

As I was reading these books it hit me like the sun hits Anderson Cooper's shiny hair...the National Park Service (NPS). It hit me and I said out loud to a room devoid of life except for one lazy cat "oh shit, I'm a moron. It's obvious!"

The NPS! Duh! It's been there in front of me this entire time! It's like a big fat guy flying around on cherub wings for five hours and I only just notice him! (sorry for all these lame analogies, it's nearly 3am). I love nature, I love everything about nature. I love the soft side, walking a lonely forest road and knowing that something wonderful is around the corner. I love the raw and savage side of nature, seeing a polar bear catch it's meal. I love it all. What I don't love is people's disregard for nature...and especially our national parks. I know people that think it's a waste of our taxes to help keep these parks open and safe from man's harm. There is nothing wasteful about protecting these treasures, I think the National Park system is one of the best things about this nation. Our land is full of beauty and we need to protect it.

I want to be a part of this.

I do have an obstacle...school. I don't know how I would go about working with the NPS. In a perfect world I would work in a national park and not the federal offices. I would educate the public or work behind the scenes, making sure the local wildlife and the environment itself is protected from all the well meaning, but naive and ignorant park visitors.

I plan on making an appointment with a school counselor to find out what sort of classes I need and any other information I will need to make this a reality. I will also talk to the employees at Yosemite when I go, especially the Rangers.

( Why do I feel our National Parks should be protected? )

Here's some more London photos for you.


Parliament and Big Ben from the Thames


Borough Market, a major outdoor market in London. It's also in the third movie, the Leaky Cauldron looks over this market. (two links provided)


Another outdoor shopping area which, for the life of me, I cannot remember the name of. This is in the first movie, it's right before Hagrid and Harry enter the Leaky Cauldron.

( three more of that fancy looking market )

More!


London skyline from the Thames. You can see the Tower of London on the right.

Speaking of the Tower of London...



St. Paul's Cathedral. It's gorgeous


Another view of the Cathedral. The statue is of Queen Anne

Still more photos around London!

First off we have...

Kings Cross St. Pancras Station! I got to Paris from St. Pancras and Edinburgh from Kings Cross. For Harry Potter fans, it's definitely something in the movie. Not only Kings Cross but the exterior of St. Pancras. Can you recognize this building from the movies? Harry and Ron take off in the Ford Anglia from in front of St. Pancras. Very cool :)


Platform 9 3\4! These were two guys that joined up with us when the London HP Tour started. I didn't relaly talk to them but they seemed nice. Man, I like how this photo came out!
You can see a photo of Platform 9 3\4 here. Also, you can see a photo of me trying to get through the barrier here!
The actual Platform was filmed, not between 9 and 10, but I believe somewhere around the 6th or 7th platform. I really don't' remember. All I do know is that later I found out that I walked right past the actual filming spot when I was going to the train headed for Edinburgh!


Lastly we have this building. The pockmarks were caused by shrapnel in WWII. The history buff in me was excited to see this. That whole area has damage, I guess England decided not to fix it so they'd remember? I don't know

Ever have a feeling that no matter what you do things just aren't going right for you?

Not only that but I had a nightmare last night where I was stuck on a plane where a hideous thing was on the wing.

It wasn't a gremlin though, it was Dick Cheney. I seem to have a lot of Cheney nightmares....
By the way, the gremlin in that image above is pretty damn scary looking...

Fuck you Maine

I honestly can't work up the energy to be enraged over this. All I feel is depression.

Here's a few bridges from my River Thames cruise :)


London Bridge...well, one of the reincarnations of London Bridge. It is not the original (yes, London Bridge as in "London Bridge is falling down my fair lady")
Another London Bridge was bought by the US and is now at Lake Havasu, Arizona. You can pay to go across it. I drove through Lake Havasu to get to my hotel in Arizona last year...we refused to pay to cross a bridge. I believe this is the fourth London Bridge. The first was made of wood, then in 1209 the stone was was built. After that granite bridge was built (currently in Arizona). This one was built in 1973 and is made of concrete.
The London Bridge that's currently in London is pretty boring to the eyes.


This is the Southwark Bridge, opened 1921


This is the Blackfriar's Railway Bridge

Lastly, we have...

Tower Bridge! The most recognizable bridge in London and one of the most recognizable bridges in the world. It's right next to the Tower Of London. I'll have some more photos of Tower Bridge later on, from my last day in the UK.

I'm sorry I haven't really updated (pic spams dont' count).

A few things have happened over the last few months and my mind can't wrap around everything. So I'll just update with what is foremost on my mind.

I'm going to Arizona for Spring Break. I'll probably stay in Flagstaff and go to same places I went to last time. I'll meet up with the lovely imonsie since she's my best friend and lives there. I might take Ben, it depends on whether he can go (or even wants to go).

Next May I'm going to Washington DC and Connecticut for a wedding. Well, the wedding is in Connecticut but I haven't been to DC in over a decade so we're (mom and I) are taking a week to do DC. Hopefully I can meet up with friends for a day or two to take in the sights.

Lastly, I'm going to Yosemite this January with my best friend (imonsie). She'll fly in from Arizona and I'll drive us up there. The drive, ick. It'll be over 5 hours. It'll be worth it though.

Ok, that's trip stuff. Not really an update on my life huh?

Nothing important has been going on. I'm still going to the gym and I'm still walking. Everytime I lost some weight I get in a massive fight with mom and eat too much, it doesn't' really help. I've been looking into moving (again). I'd love to move out of state, or out of this part of the state. I thought I things holding me back though...like my cousin. I was in the mind frame of "well, he's finally in LA so I shouldn't move until he's done with school"...you know what though? Screw that logic. I haven't seen him since I got together with him and his family before he started school. I'll probably see him once or twice every school year. Why should I limit my range possible places to live for somebody I never see? I love the guy, but I never see him. It's like he's not in California at all, he could be in Oregon for how much I see him (or talk to him).
So, I'm not going to limit my range. I'm going to look at Central California, Northern California, Oregon, and Arizona (Flagstaff!). That should make some people happy...and some people pissed.

I'm also looking into getting a job with the USGS or DOI (United States Geological Service & Department of Interior). I can still go to school but I'll have a federal job in department I like. It's hard as hell to get jobs with DOI and USGS but here's hoping!

Boy news? I keep attracting people that don't click with me, either for mild reasons or for outrageous reasons. Is it to much that somebody that's even mildly compatible with me express an interest in me?

I suppose that's it...
I hope you've been able to see my UK photo posts! I'm almost done with that, I only have a few more days.