And with it came the light.

Alright that's IT!!
I'm going to stop being a chicken and just WRITE.
SO HELLO. i hope you feel I am being forceful, as that is what I intend to imply.
Why am I chicken? Well that's none of your goddamn business, nosey!!
Life right now... I must say, is not at all bad. I just got my macbook pro in the mail on friday. in the shower when it arrived, got out and saw the package leaning against my door. I feel bad making all those weird noises whenever I get a package in the mail. Like, 'GAHHHHH!!! YAAHHH!!! WOOOAAHHH!' something like that.
I couldn't even wait to dry off/put clothes on. I just ripped opened the package and started setting it up. It felt so weird. this awesome piece of machinery belongs to ME! I get to put my name in it's system, I get to fuck it up with music downloads and unstable sites. Yay!!

Most importantly, I have no any excuse not to be putting out new music. So as much as I've been looking forward to getting this thing, I've also been dreading it. From here on out, it's all hard work. Dang it. But yay :D
So Friday I got the puter... on the same day Barbara asked me if I would play at the Lab for the Artery Art Opening on December 4th.... and today I had a jam sesh with Mr. Jones. Got Adam on the bandwagon for the show as well. Tried to records a little today in between the jamming and going to the Blank Tapes show in Laguna, but realized it's a little hard to record when I don't have headphones so that ended abruptly. However, when we met up with Ben before the show I told him about wanting to record and gee golly, that guy gave me a pair of headphones, a mic and a mic cord to hook up to my interface. Love that guy.  Seriously, best guy ever.

SO. tomorrow, after my 10 to 5, I'm probably going to be held-up in my room blowing shit up. On my compy. I'm still testing this thing out though. Seeing how it does with my huge amount of photo downloads right now.
Awesome. This thing is awesome. It may take a little getting to know, a little feeling up, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I just keep accidentally enlarging and shrinking the screen occasionally.

BUT, I am officially, a mac user.
And I officially have no excuse. So. Anyone wanna jam?? Hit me UP.

On a different note (sort of), it's no fun having to wear work clothes all week long. It sucks. There's barely any room for personal expression. Although, I must say, I love my job(s). I love all the people I'm meeting everyday. Making connections with people, but if I don't think it's genuine, I don't bother. Let's not waste each others time, right?

Oh my, Mother's. It's awesome. I love the people I work with. Everyday is an adventure. I mean, it's work, but at the same time, seeing these people every week, whether we'd like to admit it or not, we're growing together, we're learning together. We experience the same atmospheres, the same ambiance in the same place.... basically wearing the same clothes. How can we not be connected? I feel it.
Kean is the same. I feel like we really try to hold onto our difference from other workplaces there. We don't let the fact that we're at work effect our personalities. What really makes that work is that Keanians (as I like to call them) are all very personable. I mean seriously though, check out our ratings on yelp.com. We get a 4.5/5 stars with 255 voters. That's fucking great. And personalized latte art on every hot cup (with foam of course), I mean honestly, I'm not being bias, we're awesome. But we don't have overstuffed chair(s), I don't know why you lie so. Yelpers should ALMOST never be trusted. They tell people we have big couches and overstuffed chairs... really? Where are they? We have one couch. And you weren't the first to sit there. Just sayin.
Alright well! On that positive note, I'm off. We've had enough.

Next time  I post, I almost promise a video.... probably not though but hey, crazier things have happened.

p.s. just finished Factotum, wishing I had read more slowly as it was amazing and I would have liked to savor his genius, but people were giving me funny looks. I guess I don't look like your typical Bukowski reader, but what do 'those people' look like anyway??
Anyway, I need a new book now so I'm open to suggestions.

Expressing an Interest in Taking it All Off

It's weird, no? Having your own thoughts online for people to read... to scrutinize? It's so weird.
But still, there's something about it that appeals to me. The idea that maybe the words you put out there are reaching someone on more than just a surface level. And I think, for where I want to be in the future, how exposed I am as a song-writer, as a lyricist... I'm already naked. Literally just the physical nakedness is left to expose. And I'm not getting naked for you so don't ask.
But who really CARES about all the outside stuff anyway? I believe that none of these outside effects really matter. The good stuff is on the insides. The guts. The guts are the good stuff that people have. If you have rotten guts, no matter what kind of FREAKISH things you do to yourself on the outside, to your shell, people will eventually get a whiff, of the stench that lie-th beneath. And BOY, can it smell.
I think this principle applies in multiple situations. The connotation I'm making seems to directly relate to looks and altering ones outside appearance, but that's not what I mean.
What I mean is the daily person one presents to the outside world. The everyday "hello," or the passing fake smile or the complete disregard for life or a lacking in human compassion, that stuff smells. And though one may be able to fool others for a while with their potpourri smiles and their "new car" scented teeth, someone will smell it. It will seep out and it just spreads from there. So honestly, it's understandable that some are afraid of this concept. I think people appreciate traits with more depth than the shallow attempt at interest in another or some how falsifying even general kindness. Traits that are hard to come by.
Such traits may include but are not limited to :

1. Sense of Humor
2. Sense of Humility
3. Acceptance and Admittance of Wrongful Actions
4. Honesty

Does anyone else feel like I do, like when you find a person that has even ONE of these qualities, you're just... drawn to them. There's nothing I like more than a person who can laugh, who can laugh at themselves and one who can admit they're wrong. Combine that with a person who will be honest with you when you REALLY need it, it's absolutely priceless.

 There are only a handful of people I know like that. And there's no need to even mention names, they know who they are.  But I think the only reason I know this list myself, is because we've discussed it in detail. Let's laugh at EVERYTHING. Let's laugh at OURSELVES, cause shit, we funny and we do some really dumb shit sometimes too. Let's just fucking ADMIT when we're wrong! For god-sakes! I'm not going to judge you! You know you're wrong, I know you're wrong, but the only person who needs to admit that, is you! And more important than all the others and the hardest to practice, let's just be honest. Honest about each other, about the world around us, about the future, the past and the present. Because projecting some kind of alternate reality onto the world in front of us isn't going to mean shit. If that continues, one day, we'll wake up, reality will be staring us right in the face, and we wont be able to handle it. And it will be our own faults. 

So, shall we?
Yes, let's.

Justice of the Universe

I haven't been writing when I've wanted to because now that I know others can read this, I've had the idea that I have to write something for others to read.
But this isn't about you, for once, you asshole. This is about me.
And it doesn't benefit me to keep a blog for the sole purpose of entertaining others.

So I'm just going to write as I have before... before I went public.
Candid, organic and most probably boring to everyone except myself.
But again, this is about me, so it doesn't matter if others are entertained.

I was thinking today about how some things never go the way you plan them... I mean not exactly.
I used to get really annoyed by that concept, it used to make me so frustrated. Like, why the FUCK did I specifically plan this shit out moment by moment, if you (speaking to the universe now) are going to go and fuck EVERYTHING up?!
That's how I feel now. This Wednesday my roommate, my friend and I had a big road trip planned to SF. We were going to pop on over to Big Sur, make our way to Santa Cruz, hang at the Mystery Spot for a minute and MOST IMPORTANTLY visit my sister,. It's all gone to shit now. Everything saved and planned was in vain (why do people use that phrase? shouldn't the response to that be: it was always in vain to begin with?). There's no point in even talking about it anymore, I should just pretend it was never planned because it's not happening.
However, I now have 5 4 days off from work with nothing planned and the same fervor I've had to leave this godforsaken hell of a town for just a brief moment of time.
Another thing I learned from this happening so much in my life is exactly this; when one door closes, another door opens. Everything evens itself out. That's how the world works. If you want to look at a plan taking a turn as a negative thing, that's exactly what it will be, negative. Which is how I was looking at it but I'm making up my mind to be excited about what else this could mean. I have no idea what new opportunities will be laid in my path now and THAT, my friends, is exciting.
I still need to get the fuck out of this place in the near future for my own sanity* at some point. It's not a joke, this place is a whirling pool of doom and destruction. But if you go up for some fresh air and sunlight, you can live survive under the thick cloak of  Chanel perfume and weed haze that covers OC, for a while longer. So that's what I'll do.

I'm working 10 11 days in a row this... I don't even know what to call it, it's just going to be 11 days straight. I'm at day 9 tomorrow. Now that's an accomplishment. Not that I didn't do that while I was in San Diego, but this is so much more than that, I love it. I love growing up, I love becoming more responsible and getting more wisdom as each day passes. I always knew I would love to grow up.
I don't love to work 11 days in a row, but it means I'll have money for rent, bills, gas, food, and maybe this month I'll even buy myself something new... like from a regular store. Like, you know, not from Goodwill or Salvation or even Crossroads. Maybe I'll stroll right into Banana Republic and buy myself some new pants.
I mean... the only thing I can justify buying new right now is work pants AND festival tickets (HEY, so sue me! I'm a musician!)... but ya know what!? Fuck it! Caution to the wind! Maybe I'll even get a new work shirt too! hahahaha. I love that my life is all about working right now. Cause that means as soon as Takuji gets back, I can allow myself to be fully submersed in music and we can get this album out of our souls and into others, because I'll have money saved up and I wont be living on free leftover food from Mothers. Yayy!


Alright well. If you made it through...... I have nothing for you.

*many OC'ers don't understand this concept 'the bubble' is not a myth people!!

"What Makes You Think You're the One"

The title of this entry is a song by: Fanfarlo

I'm in the process of making the hardest decision of my life in the next few days, and I can't get away with not writing about it.

I'm making a decision that has delivered many sleepless nights, created intense anxiety and finally the feeling is going away. Because I've made the decision.

It all began with my first band, Rae Nae and the Badger, a name I've avoided saying/writing/thinking about for the past 8 months. I was ashamed of the name, Rae Nae and the Badger. Not because of the music, not because of the members, but because I put my decision not to go to UCSB last fall on the shoulders of that band. I made all the members promise me I was making the right decision to stay and continue playing with them. I made Se-June, Vanessa and Ben promise that they would stay dedicated to the band no matter what issues we had, or what music we played. We would focus on our music, above all else.

Then I left for London with Make Moon, hoping to learn something from all the success I saw them have locally. I wanted what they had and I thought that if I went with them, some of that hardworking genius ora to rub off on me. What I learned I took with me... but it wasn't what I thought I'd learn. I learned to be independent, not to depend on others to have a good time or to see the world, which I should have learned in Spain when I went with Tina.
Having the desire to explore and get all that I can out of my time in a foreign country is something I've had to relearn every time I have the chance to go

I had fully planned to go to school this coming fall semester, whatever school I went to.

But now, I'm making a more concrete plan, and YET it is much less sturdy. 

The plan is to focus on music. From now until.... until I die.

Trying to explain to my mother that I didn't need to graduate from any prestigious university to do what I REALLY wanted to do for the rest of my life, was the hardest thing I've ever done.... probably. 

But she was the one, the first one who inspired me to do this. As all mothers and fathers do, my mom told me, 'Linnae, you can do ANYTHING you put your mind to.' I believed her more when I was younger, and now, as I mature, I believe that statement even more. 

Even though she has stopped saying that statement, I can never forget it. It is ingrained into my existence.
Mom, I'm sorry that when you said that to me, what you REALLY meant was, I can do anything i put my mind to, as long as it's what you want me to do. 

I believed you. Don't deny me now.

I am going after the big dream. Because the only way to make a dream into a reality, is to believe. 

It's fucking scary, but I feel more clarity of mind now than ever before.

This is IT. This is truly IT.

Life. 

Now take it or leave it.

I'm going to take it. by the balls.

....had to :P

good morning friends.
it's now almost 6:50am.
that's right, am.

i work @ 8 today at barnes and noble cafe, where they pay me little to do my best. nothing against the company, really, i mean they're losing serious money. people try to cheat them everyday and as an effect, they've had to change multiple reasonably policies to completely outrageous ones. like, if someone takes a book from the store then they come to the cafe to return, then they want to use ALL the 50 bucks from the book to buy food from cafe.
sending me and only one other cafe working scrambling to get a bag big enough so that the person isn't carrying around 12 tiny bags full of stale red velvet cake and mushy panini's.
boy, can't wait for work.

but it's alright. the best days start out with the best breakfast.
today for breakfast i just had a blt with turkey bacon, fresh butter leaf lettuce, on the "vine", ripe tomatoes on whole wheat.
yum yum. i'm jealous of myself... that's how good it was.

so my birthday is officially in two days. April 3rd. i was born @ 6:32am in the Scripps Hospital in San Diego, CA. not that interesting. i haven't moved very far from my first touching on earth.
too bad. i had such plans.
i planned to be far away... very far away. like japan. or... africa. i dunno... it was far. it was supposed to be so far.
i have moved up the stream... to orange county. and my next stop was supposed to be la....
next i'm guessing i would have wanted to explore life in washington, or canada even. not that i don't want to do those things. i would love to go to washington and canada. i just wanted to be brave enough to leave everything behind.

well i should probably leave soon. i have to go work 8 hours at the slave factory. hehe. i know i shouldn't use references like that, but it's just so... hard not to. :)


plus it's way funnier to use those references.

oh, i do believe. :)

I have decided that being single when i turn 21 is going to be one of the most awesome things in the world.  i think it'll be good, it'll be nice.

i suddenly have had a really positive attitude about my upcoming birthday. before i was a little disappointed that it wasn't going to be the big hurrah i thought a 21st should be.
but, this weekend i jacuzzi-ed with some awesome people. you know how you meet someone and you feel some weird connection with them? like, geeze, this person is so awesome, i cannot wait to be friends with them. i met a really cool gal that is 21 and just HAPPENS to be in town the same weekend of my birthday, and since we got along so well, she and my other amazing friend, shauntis, are going to come and help me celebrate my 21st the RIGHT way. in bars and dancing the night away in clubs.
i am STOKED, to say the least.

it was just pure luck that i went to the jacuzzi that night and shauntis invited me to share in her night.
that night was awesome. it was me and three other girls, and shauntis, being the always gracious hostess that she is, had champagne, chocolate, and strawberries for us all to indulge in, while we sat in the jacuzzi and soothed ourselves in it's steaming water.
and we talked for hours, about life, about ex's, about new guys, about sex, and love, and life and school, and getting 'big girl' jobs. it was just what i needed after an 'interesting' easter with my mother.

and, i saw a shooting star. a huge, illuminated ball of light slowly making it's way to earth, just out of view of the girls i was with. and it felt... special, like it was a sign of change. is that stupid? i don't think so. i believe in signs... some signs. and this was for sure a sign.


a good one. ;)

life has been so complicated recently.
sometimes i wonder why it has to be do confusing.
why cant the people we like, like us back, and the things we hate, disappear. i mean, would it really be SO bad if we got what we wished for at least some of the time? if we got the pony, or the boy did actually ask us to prom, or we got into the college of our dreams even though it seemed so impossible.
and i'm not going to lie, sometimes, things turn out just the way i want them to. and i'm never grateful, i'm just confused. and a little upset. why, when i don't really care about the true outcome can my wishes come true and when i REALLY REALLY care it doesn't even come close to what i'd like to occur.
there are people i have known in my past that i would have liked to have known forever, and i know few of them now. people from my past who i have loved as people and they are the ones i have absolutely no chance of knowing again.
 it's ok, i guess, it's just so disappointing at the same time. cause i actually miss those people... genuinely, as who they were, i miss them.
though i am so grateful for the people i know now, also.
tonight i had two very important conversations with two very important people in my life. and they have taken me so well.
sometimes i don't get that either. what is it that we all share that can make us understand each other in that way? we are all so completely different. do they even know how interesting that is?

i wish more of my friends had blogs like this. i feel like it's putting a lot out there for people to see. and i want my friends to have some way that i could literally read about their lives. i mean we're all so different that we sometimes have a hard time understanding each other... sometimes things get misconstrued, things get twisted out of focus.
i feel like a journal could help to clarify. that's why i am so FOR journalism. sometimes words from the mouth cannot say words from the mind and the heart. sometimes it has to physically leave the body in a more concrete manner, otherwise, things one says can just floating in the space, completely unstable in meaning.
 
i'm a bit... 'tired'
it's a friday night and i'm almost 21... so sue me. i'm a big girl.
heheh. :)

life is about living, and that ain't no lie.
don't try to take that from me.