THRILLED
yesterday's highlight: hearing Incomplete on the radio TWICE!
it is so exciting to hear my boys on the radio again... it's been too darn long. the more i hear the song the more i like it too, so that's a good sign. at first i wasn't sure if i was that excited about their new sound/style, but it's growing on me. yay for bsb!
oh, and sorry about that ranting yesterday. i was just a little worked up.
my supervisor was okay with me taking a half day off on tuesday, and i even told her the reason! i figure it's excusable since i am one of the youngest ppl at the office, i can be a teeny bopper right?
oh, in other news... american idol.
what is up with jessica getting voted off? she totally sings better than at least half of the others on the show. if it were up to me (which it's not since i don't even vote) this is how i would rank the rest of the people:
9. anwar - his r.kelly rendition was way off key. plus he just seems really cheesy. he definitely should have been gone this week.
8. nikko - does anyone notice that he sings sharp? not even the judges make comments about this? that, and i feel like his style is very unoriginal.
7. anthony - so, i think his appeal is that he sort of looks like he belongs in a boy band... but, he does have his pitchy moments and he's kind of cheesy... i have to admit the fact that's he's from russia is sort of appealing though. i don't know why.
6. nadia - her voice is not good enough... she performs well (aside from the mohawk week) but won't last with all the other great singers.
5. scott - he was kind of pitchy singing brian mcknight's song... but usually i really like his voice and he seems sincere.
4. constantine - he is a good singer and has his own style... that's cool with me.
3. vonzell - you know at first i thought she wasn't that good but every week she impresses me and i think she shows a good range of styles... so, i hope she sticks around.
2. bo - also, i'm not a fan of the hair or rock/country thing he has going but he is a good singer and performer and he seems to know himself pretty well instead of trying to impress the audience or judges. i'm pretty sure he'll last for most of the season.
1. carrie - so she's the best singer, she's cute, she's from the south... she definitely has that "american idol" image and style that i think will make her the winner. i like her the best too because i know that when she sings i don't have to be afraid that some weird sound will come out of her mouth (i seriously get nervous when the ppl at the bottom of this list start their song.)
and yo, why are there now 6 guys and 3 girls? are the guys that much better? i don't think so... let's hope a guy goes next week.
some serious beef
okay, so what i don't get is why everyone seems to be going to extra lengths to diss the backstreet boys.
i've been reading "reviews" from all the concerts by "journalists" and they're all a bunch of crap! what happened to neutral, un-biased journalism? seriously, i don't understand why everyone hates them so much. okay, so they're a little cheesy, and maybe they don't write all of their own music. BUT - they can sing and they've had a lot of success. is that so wrong? and is it such a crime that they happen to be a group of good looking guys?
if nSTINK were trying to make a comeback right now, would people be as critical? probably not, because for some reason not being able to sing but having a good dance beat in your song is forgiveable and even credible. what is up with that? i'm sorry, i just can't understand it.
even if i wasn't a bsb fan, i would still wonder why people are always so hard on "boy bands"? so a lot of the forgettable ones were pretty untalented, but the ones that actually found success earned it because they actually were more talented! maybe aside from p.diddy and hilary duff, most successful artists do have some talent, either in their style, singing, businessmindedness, etc... so if boy bands just happen to be good at harmonizing and not so much at writing music or playing instruments (both of which the backstreet boys are quite capable of, might i add) then so be it!
alright, i think i've established my opinion. just wanted to get that off my chest. thanks. :)
spring
finally the weather is getting better! i'm busting out the 3/4 sleeved shirts. hahaha... yesterday i wore my denim jacket and a hoodie... isn't it sad that one can get excited about that? anyway, i'm hoping that there will be no more snow/coldness but go figure i bet by the end of the week it'll be all white again. why do you toy with me, weather? it's bad enough being sick (i just realized i've been sick for six days now!)
anyway, spring reminds me of a whole bunch of things... new life, rebirth, new beginnings... memories of spring activities, studying out on palmer field while simultaneously trying to get a tan, walking through campus without a jacket, senior sendoff, graduation. aagh! this stuff was only a year ago!
oh yeah, guess what's in ONE WEEK? heehee... :) must i even remind you? getting more and more psyched by the minute. oh, but i heard that security is really tight and they have been taking away people's memory cards from their digital cameras! that's terrible! we must be really careful. i'm going to bring my non-digital camera just in case. i haven't used that thing in ages, i hope it still works! i think it needs new batteries/film... man, i haven't had to deal with camera film in a long time... i better make sure i still know how to use it! one must be fully prepared for a bsb concert. heehee... i remember for the first one i bought a purse that fit my camera and little tape recorder just perfectly... gosh, we really took our concerts seriously back in the day. can't believe it's been SEVEN years since my first bsb concert. and i still remember it so well...
okay, ladeeda... today is going to be another slow day. better get started...
i'm still feeling sick. it was sucky being sick over the holiday weekend, but i guess it could be good because i didn't have to waste any vacation days for work. however, i'm not sure how functional i'll be at work today. not that there's really anything going on (as usual.)
concert countdowns:
backstreet boys - EIGHT days
point of grace - TWENTY-SIX days
i guess it's better that i'm sick this week because it would totally suck being sick next week during the concert. imagine me trying to scream howie's name while my throat was sore and i was coughing up a storm. heehee... i suppose that wouldn't stop me, but it definitely would not be as enjoyable.
so, last week my SISTER and my friend DAVE both started xangas. what is the world coming to? are we all doomed to following suit and being like everyone else? i guess so. haha... don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with xangas, or my sister, or dave. heck, xangas aren't even all that different from blogspots. i guess - it's just when i see the world becoming more and more dependent on computers and high-speed internet, not only to get work done but also to keep in touch and maintain friendships, i just wonder if technology is really that helpful. i wonder if cyber-friendships can really take the place of real face-to-face interactions... if reading and commenting on xangas is enough for you to consider it keeping in touch. maybe it is. i don't know. somehow in my idealistic little head i'd like to think we're all better than that. but maybe we aren't. maybe it's not even such a bad thing.
alright, enough rambling for this monday morning. man, it's not even 10am!
Good Friday
Ever wonder why it's called Good Friday? It's a day to remember the day our Lord was crucified and buried. It seems like it should be called Sad Friday. But, on the other hand, we are reminded of God's mercy and great love for us. Every time I am caused to reflect on Jesus's death, I am moved to praise and worship, and there's nothing sad about that! So, while it is a somber day, remember the reason for His death, and remember what happened three days afterwards!
I hope you will take some time this weekend to reflect on why it's Good that Jesus died, and more importantly, why we're celebrating his LIFE! He is risen!
Happy Easter and Praise the Lord!
top ten movies with a US state in the title
so, in another state of boredom i was doing a bunch of random searches on imdb.com, and i am quite surprised as to how many movies have US states in their titles. many of them are those old westerns or boring history movies though... made before 1950. but some of them are actually quite famous. here are the top ten!
(by state in alphabetical order)
10. sweet home alabama - i love how this movie totally makes fun of the south. you have to wonder though, how true are the stereotypes?
9. mystery alaska - and then there was a movie called "alaska" which is pretty much exactly the same story.
8. my own private idaho - actually i really want to see this movie. it stars keanu reeves and the late river phoenix, and i think it's one of those deep thinking movies. pretty intriguing considering keanu is the master of "duhhh" movies (the matrix, the first one).
7. indiana jones - i have not seen these movies... i'm sorry! i'm a bad person.
6. feeling minnesota - another us state movie starring keanu reeves. what is this movie about anyway? did you know there are quite a few movies with this same title structure? "verb"-ing [US state]? chasing montana, bleeding iowa, raising arizona. hmm...
5. ghosts of mississippi - they became ghosts because it took them too long to spell mississippi correctly. i'm serious.
4. oklahoma! - not sure why you have to exclaim it, it's not like oklahoma is that exciting... except maybe when curly is played by hugh jackman (heehee...)
3. happy, texas - a much better choice over texas chainsaw massacre.
2. mr. smith goes to washington - granted, he's not going to washington the northwestern state where seattle is located, but that's okay. no one's keeping track.
1. who's afraid of virginia woolf? - i am! she's one weird lady.
(new york movies are not included because i'm saving those for another list!)
response to lindsay's comment
lindsay's right. i'm no longer obsessed with the backstreet boys (praise God). however, i don't know if i've totally become a slave to God like i should.
it's actually really easy to be slaves to other things. if it's not sailor moon or bsb, it's something else... like gluttony, xangas/blogs, shopping, entertainment, people, friends, control, success, perfectionism, status, gossip, complaining... there's way too many things. thanks be to God that Jesus gives us a way to be set free from those things and bonded to the Spirit so that He can help us put off our old ways and put on a new self that is more like Jesus Christ. let's pray that the process of doing this will continue as we grow and walk with God.
my dream
so last night i talked to joyce on the phone and the last thing we talked about was our plan for the backstreet boys concert. so of course, being extremely tired and exhausted, that was exactly what i dreamt about! i dreamt that tiffany and i got there super early as planned, so we could be first in line. but then when we got there they had already let people find seats and the whole main floor was already full! i was so stressed out and panicky! we were running around trying to find seats, and it was just chaotic.
oh goodness... why must i let this control me like it does?! it's totally like our bible study in romans - the things i know i don't want to do (be overly obsessed with something that doesn't really matter that much) - i do! and the things i want to do i don't do. thanks be to God that he helps us resolve the conflict between mind and flesh.
a thought.
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The latest picture
Commentary:
1. I particularly like this picture because of who is in the front.
2. I wonder if Brian is being conservative (by wearing a tie instead of having his shirt semi-open like the others) because he's now a Christian artist.
3. AJ's hairline is unusually high. He's balding at the ripe old age of 27!
4. I think this is a first: ALL FIVE of them actually have short hair. no corn rows, no dyed hair, no ponytails or weird manes... amazing.
5. Doesn't Brian look like he has a combover?
6. This picture looks strangely familiar, it's like More Than That + walking pic + black suits... (this comment only makes sense if you're a BSB fan and have seen all of their old pictures.)
PS: The new single was announced yesterday! It's going to be a song called "Incomplete." Yes, folks, I've heard this one already. It's kind of rock/ballad, all Nick and AJ. Should be interesting to see how today's R&B/Rap scene responds.
the church parking lot
on sunday as i was leaving the church, i stepped out and momentarily forgot where i had parked my car. i looked over to the right and saw a red taurus with a huge dent in it, and i thought, "oh that's not my car, i don't have a big dent there." then i remembered that that was exactly where i had parked, and i walked up to find that it was my car that had a huge dent! someone had hit my car while i was parked in the church parking lot! i was shocked that someone could hit it so badly without notifying someone so i could find out about it. i went back into the church building and told my mom about it. later she told me that this is the third time a hit-and-run accident has happened in our parking lot! i am appalled that church people could do that, hit another person's car and not 'fess up to it. i mean, yeah it's gonna cost your insurance, but hellooo, we're talking about integrity and honesty here... if we can't hold church people ("christians") to these standards, how are we supposed to be any kind of light to the rest of the world? in fact, one of the other two incidents, the person whose car was hit was a non-christian. and when this non-christian approached the christian who had hit him (his idenity was known), the christian refused! REFUSED! the non-christian was so upset that he stopped coming to church. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? how could someone be so selfish as to not give someone your car insurance just because it's gonna cost you a few hundred dollars, causing that person to probably give up pursuing Christ for the rest of his life? that is just sick.
i apologize for venting, i don't like to do it on my blogspot, but this is truly truly appalling and i had to write about it. please, if you hit a car and do damage to it, be honest and own up to your mistake. if the person who hit my car ever comes to tell me, i don't think i'll be mad. i will be glad that the person was honest. i mean, accidents happen... that's totally understandable.
anyway, that's all i have to say about that...
# of times my computer froze today
= FOUR.
hmm, maybe i shouldn't be surfing the web all day...
da boyz
I just wanted to share one of my favorite BSB pictures with y'all. This picture is from Teen People, 1998. It was the first magazine I got that they were on the cover of! I remember we loved this picture mostly because they were "wet". hahaha... hmm, yeah it was seven years ago give me a break! You have to admit they look pretty hot here. You know what's weird? I'm older than Nick and AJ were when they took this picture!
Anyway, I can't believe we're going to see them in three and a half weeks! It's like, too much excitement for me to handle. A few weeks after that I'm going to see Point of Grace too! Wow... my two favorite groups in one month. One shouldn't be allowed to have so much fun.
I'm really bored at work today... as you can probably tell. I'm hoping to get off early, cuz my sister and I are gonna go see "Robots"! I'm excited, I think it's gonna be really funny. Next week "The Incredibles" will be out on DVD. Yay! Definitely gonna pick that one up. It never ceases to amaze me how creative movie-makers can be. On the other hand, some movies are also extremely stupid. (Jingle All The Way comes to mind...)
Okay, enough babble for now. See ya!
WE'RE GONNA SEE THE BOYS!
i got tickets today! yahoo! my fifth backstreet boys concert. TOTALLY psyched! and because there are five of us going, we've got all the boys represented:
me - howie
lindsay and tiffany - nick (i'll leave it to them to duke it out...although maybe tiffany will win since lindsay is engaged...heehee!)
joyce - kevin
yt - aj and brian
haha... i guess it's little weird to be calling brian a "boy" since he actually has his own two-year-old boy. but, boy oh boy i can't wait! it's gonna be really cool to see them up close in a smaller venue. the past four times we've been to the palace or the silverdome. actually, during my fourth concert, we were on the main floor and since they had that walkway thing, we were probably about ten feet away from them during one song. that was pretty amazing. anyway, if we get good seats (it's general admission) we could be that close during the entire concert! aagh!!!
okay, must calm down. i just had to share the exciting news. yayyy!!
TOP TEN - 2 year anniversary
It has been two years since my very first top ten list, so I decided to re-post it for your enjoyment! heehee...
TOP TEN REASONS LAURA IS A BANANA-HATER:
10. bananas are mushy.
9. they're not juicy (don't give me none of this 70 percent water business... i don't buy it.)
8. they're not eaten cold. (i have this thing about cold fruit. i don't like it when my fruit aren't cold.)
7. they smell weird.
6. they taste weird.
5. the sound people make when they eat them is just GROSS.
4. they turn brown! (okay, so a lot of other fruit does too...and i have nothing against brown. my friend lindsay is brown! heehee)
3. artificially-flavored banana is the WORST flavor in candy ever. (notice all the yellow runts and laffy taffy's are always left? oh and don't even get me started on jelly belly's)
2. the peels are highly lethal weapons! (not that i've ever been a victim...i stay far away from anything that was ever part of a banana)
1. what kind of fruit doesn't have seeds? hmm???
and that, my friends, is why i do not like bananas.
news tidbits: bonus, nick, bsb in detroit
BONUS
so yesterday i'm sitting at my desk, not really doing anything, and my supervisor comes over and she's like, "hey do you have a minute? don't worry, it's good news." so i walk over with her to our department's vice president's office, and they sit me down. although i was warned that it was good news i was still a little nervous, considering i had spent the entire morning (and last week) doing nothing. well, it ends up they decided to give me an appreciation bonus! (everyone got one, but i wasn't expecting it since i've only been working for four months.) our vp said he appreciates all i've done for the company and blah blah blah good job. i was pleasantly surprised and also reminded that God totally gives me more than i need, and more than i deserve. thanks God!
NICK
you may have seen on the news that nick carter got arrested over the weekend, accused of drunk driving! tsk tsk... this is either a shameful publicity scam, or nick's poor attempt to overtake the "bad boy" title from aj now that he is sober. either way, i still have to shake my head at the news. supposedly he was taking prescription medication that affected his ability to drive, but i guess we'll have to wait and see what the truth is. joyce commented on how his eyebrows are really clean and perfect in his mugshot, which leads her to suspect that it is in fact a publicity scam. i wouldn't be that surprised... i suppose it's not as bad as the janet jackson/justin timberlake ordeal.
BSB in DETROIT!
they're coming! whoo! april 5th, at the state theater. i'm getting tickets this week... and totally psyched! it's been a really long time since i've seen my boys! definitely excited that it's in a smaller venue too, cuz that means we'll be FACE to FACE. who knows, maybe we'll even get to meet them!! (one can dream...)
chicago
i'm back from my weekend in chicago with joyce and lindsay. i am thoroughly exhausted. it has been many months since i've had so little sleep! anyway, i had a good time with the girls - we got to do a lot of fun stuff as well as have some good conversations and just spend time together before lindsay gets married. we played some vball with joyce's friends (i am still slightly sore since i haven't played in almost a year!), did some hard core shopping at schaumburg mall (why don't they have an H&M in michigan?!), ate cuban/latin cuisine in downtown naperville (really yummy), watched a bunch of sailor moon episodes (including the really good one where darien and serena are in the elevator!), cooked dinner together, saw bethany dillon in concert, karaoke'd in k-town, had lunch with joyce's church friends, and had some jamba juice! all in all it was a good time. =)
i guess on top of all the fun i was able to reflect more on how my life and our friendship is changing, and how to deal with that. i guess change is never easy for anyone, it is a challenge to adjust to it and to remember what's important, and what's real. i'm realizing that there are some issues i haven't dealt with and only really think about when i'm in a certain surrounding and with certain people... it seems far removed from my daily life but it affects me more than i like to think. these are all things i'll have to think more about now that i'm at home and will return to my solitary lifestyle. it can be so easy to just live in a perpetual routine only to look back and realize you're not going anywhere or growing at all.
anyway, those are just some thoughts about chicago. glad to be back so i can sleep in my bed, although as usual the weekend was too short!
THE Darien Picture
i just wanted to share my favorite darien picture with you. (this is a follow up from my cartoon crushes entries) so, i know he's just an illustration, but come on, you have to admit he's cute. [GRIN]
a complicated morning
so my mom and i have been carpooling lately because my dad has yet to fix our two other used cars and the three of us have been sharing the two working cars (ie: my mom and i share one while my dad uses the other). this morning we go out to leave for work(my mom has jury duty this week which makes things even more complicated) and we can't back the car out of its parking space. after pushing on the gas pedal a few times we realize it's stuck in the snow - even though my dad had plowed the driveway earlier in the morning. the reason it was stuck was because my dad had used my car yesterday to change the oil, and he parked it all the way in so that the front of it was stuck into the snow that had piled up around the edge of the driveway. well, my mom and i got out the shovels and tried to dig it out. we spent about half an hour doing that and trying several times to drive it out of the snow. well, it wasn't working and my mom was going to be late for jury duty. so in desperation we walk across the street to our neighbor. thank goodness someone was home! our neighbor Michael came over in his pajamas and slippers and managed to push it out. by then my mom was almost late for jury duty, so i had to drive her there and then drive to work... only to have to leave an hour later to get my mom from the court cuz they let her off early, then to her workplace, and back to mine. by the time i was back it was nearly 10:30! good thing no one really notices whether or not i'm here...
i take having my own car for granted so much. this whole episode was extremely frustrating... but you know, it's not even worth it to get mad or blame someone... i realize that it doesn't really accomplish anything. it doesn't even make me feel better. anyway, i just wanted to tell that story... hopefully this won't happen again. probably not since i won't need an oil change for another 5000 miles.
snow days
don't you wish that everyone could take a snow day? growing up in good ol' michigan, i would pray for snow days because they were spontaneous days off from school. my favorite activities included making snowmen, sledding, other snow activities, as well as playing board games, eating lunch with my siblings, and watching the beautiful snow from inside our warm house. now that i'm working snow days are just not an option anymore. sigh... another reminder that we're getting old.
