Wednesday, April 30, 2008

PIG FOUND :(

UPDATE: PIG FOUND. hmph. The email exchanges that went back and forth between the four of us were quite entertaining. Though quite possibly just for us.

From Cameron:
I will gather weather data and you girls can interview residents.....I'm gassing up my car now

From Melissa:
COACHELLA FOR LIFE!!!!!

We can all skip classes tomorrow and go.

But seriously, that thing could be anywhere. We should check wind reports that pilots check from Sunday night and try to figure it out. oh man. that'd be awesome. Do you have to pay taxes on reward money?

From Cameron:
I think we'll need a boat...a large boat. It is probably off the coast of Rosarito, or even further down Baja. If my 4th grade social studies project taught me anything, it's that these balloons can go really far. I had someone find my balloon note in Virginia...and I lived in South Florida (I promise I didn't know about balloon dolphin deaths at the time). It is hopeless...damn it!

From Melissa:
It feels silly to "reply all" when Hillary is seriously and literally sitting right next to me. But I officially blame Cameron for all ballon dolphin deaths. Can't we just all be professional somethings that don't require us to do real work so we can actually go on a giant pig balloon search. Imagine the dolphins this thing is going to take out! Coachella is now the official dolphin killer!

From Hillary:
We could find a sponsor & film crew for this adventure..it could be the next Cannonball Run: Search for the Desert Swine! Cameron, you will be required to grow a moustache in honor of Burt Reynolds.

From Dana:
as an animal lover, i am willing to take off the rest of the quarter if necessary. who's with me??

The conversation even made it to Facebook:
Cameron left this on my wall: alright so I really think it is in the Sea of Cortez! But it's hammerhead season and that place has a shit load of them. Lord knows what those crazy bitches would do to a two-story pig. Lucky my new barber has a helicopter so we won't even need to get wet.

My reply to him: Yucatan Peninsula. For Shizz.

And the finding of that pig was the balloon in our blow hole of banter.

We were way off. That Swine made it a mere 2.4 miles driving distance. And couldn't even hold it together long enough to get it to the ground. The thing was in pieces. That pig needs some serious help.

Pig Route


Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Find This Pig!!

FoxNews just informed me that:

"Organizers for the Coachella music festival announced Monday that the gigantic blowup swine, released into the night sky during Roger Waters' headlining set Sunday, was still out there — and they want it back.

The festival is offering a $10,000 reward plus four Coachella tickets for life for the safe return of the pig, according to spokeswoman Marcee Rondan."

Hillary, Cameron, Dana and I are officially on it! Cameron's checking the weather data, and the girls are responsible for interviewing residents!

COACHELLA FOR LIFE!!!

Monday, April 28, 2008

Coachella'd.

Coachella was indeed a blast! The official Coachella Crew (the people I drove with anyway) ended up being Hillary, Dana, Cameron, and me. We spent more time actually seeing music than we did in the beer gardens this year. That was a first for me. The day was filled with music, drinks, heat, and loveliness. And this year was probably one of the most stress-free years there for me.

Anyway, music: We walked in during VHS or Beta's set, caught the last couple of songs. I don't really know their music, but what I heard was interesting enough. Dana was a fan of the lead singer's Asian-ness. Then we wandered over to the Sahara tent for Kavinsky, where I proceeded to dance my butt off. Such a good time. Attempted to see some Devotchka, but opted for MGMT since I'd seen them already. The MGMT tent was a shitstorm and impossible to get in, so back to the Sahara tent for Boys Noise. Hot Chip was by far the highlight of my day. Dana and I have been dying to see them since they're new album was released and since we had tickets to a show that was rescheduled until tonight! So Hot Chip twice in three days? But of course! Islands was a bit of a disappointment compared to the other times I've seen them - at the El Rey, the Henry Fonda, and at UCLA. They were having technical difficulties that we think they didn't know about, so it was beyond their control. The new album is great though. Due to Islands' technical difficulties, Animal Collective went on late, and we had to eat, so we sadly, missed Kraftwerk. We were all dying for food though. After food and a quick stop in the beer garden, we made it to Portishead. Wow Portishead. Beth Gibbons voice is like a female version of Thom Yorke's. I have never gotten so many goosebumps because of a voice more times in any other show besides a Radiohead show. The moment we finally got away from the annoying singing girls in front of us was the moment I was able to just close my eyes and feel the entire set. It's amazing that Dummy came out in 1994 and still manages to sound like it came out now. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, they were so ahead of their time. In other news, Beth Gibbons looks very similar to my mom. And then Prince. What to even say about Prince other than he was Prince. It was fun, entertaining, and I got a surge of energy to dance once more!

All in all, it was a pretty perfect day - great people, great music, great dancing, great time.

Here are some photos:

Twelve

Hot Chip Dancing = The Most!

Islands

Here are the rest of the photos!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Foreshadow'd!

In preparation for Coachella this weekend, Cameron convinced me it would be a good idea to get out of bed this morning (at 11:30a) to make it to school in time (noon) to see Islands perform a free show to 200 UCLA students. I made it just in time to grab a wristband and a coffee, the latter of which I then wasn't allowed to take inside, and to see an awesome show. Granted, because it was noon, the atmosphere wasn't exactly ideal, but it was a perfect precursor to a surely awesome weekend. Bus Driver even showed for Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone! Here are some photos - a bit noisy, but I'm still getting used to my new camera and figuring out the optimal settings for lower light situations. Damien, any suggestions?

And after much scrambling on Craigslist and such, everyone I know who was looking for one now happily has a ticket and will have a great weekend. Though it certainly won't be the same without Matty, Alli, and Taylor.

Shiny
Cameron + Islands
(click the photos to see a couple more)

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day! I'm still using my reusable bottle for water. I'm still drinking coffee out of my own stainless steel cup. I'm still riding a scooter that gets around 80 mpg. And tonight, I'm going to walk to yoga as part of their Walk/Bike/Skateboard/Rollerskate to class and get a free class on Earth Day. I try my best on a daily basis to be Earth friendly and am looking for more ways to do so. Anyone have any suggestions?

Home

(photo: This is your Earth on Global Warming courtesy of azrainman)

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Study-ma-tron

Today's been a fun filled day of studying. I've been trying my best to stay off the computer save for an occasional refresh of the Craigslist "Saturday Coachella" search. I'm currently studying for tomorrow's Developmental Psychology exam. I'm not answering my phone and not responding to emails unless they're from someone with Coachella tickets. In case you're wondering, The Period of the Fetus consists of week 9 through the end of the pregnancy and is largely characterized by a rapid increase in size and is also the period in which the nervous system, organs and muscles become organized and connected, and new behavioral capacities like kicking, thumb sucking, and rehearsal of breathing appear. This is also the time at which the fetus' sex is evident. Oh, the life of a student...

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Bread. Butter. Cheese. Victory!

Grilled Cheese Invitational! This sounds amazing. Basically, you just show up and eat yummy grilled cheese sammiches! I work til 8 and will probably head over after this if I can find a food-loving date to join me... Mikey?



(that girl looks like she'd eat a baby)

Good Bye Rob & Big

It was hilarious yet sad night for Hillary and I... Last night marked the series finale of MTV's Rob & Big. Rob Dyrdek is a professional skateboarder who hired Big Black as a body guard. They became best friends, lived together, and carried out hilarious antics on each episode - murdered out scooters, murdered out a Pinto, then green'd that Pinto, Rob broke 21 Guinness World skateboarding records, and Big broke 2... the fun goes on. Oh! And we can't forget Meaty, the beloved bulldog or Mini, the adorable little minihorse!

Monday, April 14, 2008

I'm Old Gregg!

Jeremy posted this on his site the other day, and I still can't stop laughing.



Fact: You're like a breadstick.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Human Footprint

Tonight I watched Human Footprint on National Geographic. It's quite interesting to gain this type of perspective on the impact my every day life is having/has had on the earth. I'm taking the pledge to reduce the waste I produce by eliminating my use of bottled water. I learned that Americans consume and send to landfills 38 million water bottles per year. That's A LOT of waste. And according to the latest issue of 944 Magazine, it takes 26 times more water to make the plastic bottle than the bottle contains. It's much easier to simply buy a $10 reusable bottle and refill it with filtered water that comes out of my tap that is actually regulated for safety and contaminants.

I do wish they'd have addressed more ways to reduce the overall footprint...

Hello

I decided to start a blog.  I've been toying with the idea for a little while now, feeling as if it was simply self-indulgent.  Then I thought about the friends' blog that I read... it's more about giving my friends and family the option to see what I'm up to and what I'm interested in on a daily basis.  

Here's a photo I took:  

good