the union line (it's about time)

my friends jordan and adam are in a band called the union line. they make awesome music, so you should give them a listen by clicking here.
i've been to four of their shows, and taken tons of pictures at each show i've been too. well, i finally finished editing all of them, at last.
so here, for your viewing pleasure, are a few of my favorites, out of the hundreds i've taken. they're in order from oldest to most recent, so hopefully you'll notice an improvement in my photo-taking (and editing) ability.

at the detroit bar, back in february (i think):


the night of blue lighting at the gypsy lounge, in march..





sweet harmonica action:


jordan and i especially like this picture of adam:

gypsy lounge again, mid april...






at the oc tavern last friday:
finally, a picture of johnny that i am happy with!

richard/dicky's rockstar shot:



one of my favorites, of the brothers-

dicky uses a beer bottle as an instrument-



they're playing again this thursday at the detroit bar at 9pm! and it's only $6, so....
you should go! i'll be there !!

last wednesday

two things of note:

1) in the middle of my spanish class, the girl in front of me turns around and says to me, "this might gross you out, but i need you to take my contact out of my eye- it's irritating me and i can't see anything."
both creeped out and fascinated, i tried twice before admitting, "i'm sorry, i don't wear contacts so i don't really know how to do this."
so then the girl behind ME pipes in, "here, let me get it," and fully reaches over me and grabs the girl's contact out of her eye.

2) i had some time to kill at the train station before my train came to take me home, so i went to the little cafe and ordered a bean and cheese burrito. i went back in a couple minutes later and it was ready, but there was a ladder in the way (they were doing some remodeling or changing light bulbs or something). there was literally no way around the ladder to get to the counter and get my burrito, so i went underneath it. the guy who must have put it there appears out of nowhere and says "no, don't do that!" as i'm already under the freaking ladder. so i tell him, "hey relax- superstition doesn't count when burritos are involved."

for the last time!

i'm tired of hearing people say, "drink 8 glasses of water a day."

you don't need to drink 8 glasses of water a day!
you need about a liter of water each day, yes, but you take in about that much by eating solid food!

so it seems the water companies have pulled the wool over our eyes, somehow.
not that i don't think drinking water is great- it is great, better than most other beverages- but i'm just tired of hearing people repeat that dumb myth.

there's no place like this place

here are a few polaroids i took in a "home" series a few months ago.



and here is someone i miss very much, and it fits with this post because she is also in my home in this picture...

i get by with a little help...

...straight off the comic blog.

don't feel left out if you're not in this one- it was just those of us who happened to be hanging at adam's starbucks one day.

my dad said something amazing this morning

he said:
"my singles' group is just hopping these days- last week we had a speed dating event, and tonight we're having a sock hop! i tell you, it's a good time to be in the 40s/50s group!"

(he meant it to be funny)

3 reasons why i am having a great week

it's been a great week, and this is bizarre to me, since there's no specific reason i can attribute it to.

so, i am forced to conclude that it is because each day this week has included the following:

-a MORNING devotion (being comfortable in my nightly devotions, i am among those detestable night-owls who find it nearly impossible to motivate myself to wake up earlier so as to have time for a morning devotion. save your speeches, i know it's a shameful thing to admit...or maybe i'm being too hard on myself. all that to say, i've managed to make time for jesus in the mornings and it has changed my life this week. be inspired; if i can do it, surely you can too- if you aren't already, that is)
-stovetop espresso. enough said. (although i would add that peet's anniversary blend is delightful- and its availability is limited!)
-a daily run. let it be known up front that i despise running. coming from a family of runners (my dad runs more than some people breathe[...not really], my sister was captain of varsity cross county in high school, and so on, and so forth), i have always been quite resentful toward the "sport" for not blessing me with such a seemingly natural affinity. although i've been known to run on occasion (we do own a treadmill after i became convinced that the reason i hated running so much was because of drive-by hecklers), it has been quite infrequent . in recent years, i have opted for bike riding as a means to trick myself into exercising. since my recent crash, biking has temporarily lost its appeal. instead, i've picked up running. i still hate it, mostly, but if i put on some tunes, it's not so bad. and the best part is, afterward i feel great, i sleep great, and ...i just feel great.

one of my all-time favorite internet finds

eleven

today after my creative writing class, a guy in the class came over and asked, "hey blythe, do you watch american idol?"
"i've seen it a couple times....are you going to say that i look like someone on the show?"
"yeah, every time i see you, i think- brooke white!"

he is the eleventh person to tell me this.
(i counted on the walk to my car)


i don't see it, but i'm pretty flattered, on account of the fact that she is quite beautiful. And talented.

why national treasure 2 was an awful movie

this is in response to the two comments i got from the last post about not wanting to see national treasure 2. two comments may not seem like a lot, but in my opinion, it is two comments too many to ignore.

so here's why i hated the movie:

-the leading lady cannot act. period. i didn't know it was possible, but apparently an actor actually can give a worse performance the second time around.

-the entire plot is centered around clearing a dead guy's name.
come on.

-and how exactly does finding the treasure clear the great-grand daddy's name? seriously, how?

-it was toooo loooong. over two hours. sheesh. no one wants to watch nicholas cage for that long. at least not i.

-the guy who plays the sidekick was the best thing the first one had going for it, in myyy opinion. but in this one, he was really irritating. i don't know if it's because he was complaining the entire time, or because when he wasn't complaining he was trying to impress a girl. besides that, it felt like bad deja vous of the first movie.

-the moment nicholas cage thinks he's going to have to sacrifice himself for the rest, the blonde girl comes over and looks at him in loving agony, and he says, "Abigail, make sure my parents leave. [dramatic pause] Make sure my parents leave." What girl wouldn't swoooooon over those words? please.

-the president doesn't carry a gun?

-the fact that ed harris and helen mirren agreed to do this movie should have made it a better film, but alas, it is all for nothing. ed harris dies an anticlimactic death and helen mirren spirals back into a relationship she left behind 32 years ago.

-nicholas cage and his little ladyfriend's relationship mirrors that of his parents. which is pretty twisted. (relational message= differences/problems/incompatabities can call be resolved or at least forgotten about if you go on an exciting treasure hunt and almost die several times.)

the movie's redeeming qualities:

-i was able to have quite a time making fun of the movie to my friend melissa, who luckily sat next to me and shared an equally strong aversion to it.
my favorite part was when they first get locked inside mount rushmore. i decided that normally in this situation, people would check their phones for reception (which these fools didn't, of course), and imagined the dialogue that would take place if you were able to call for help....
"Yeaahhh, we're going to need you to go to the top of the mountain, and pull the lever inside the eagle's crotch."


overall, it felt like a sloppy attempt to clone the successful elements of the first movie. which most sequels are.

caffeinated thoughts

i'm looking for a new job. getting a little burnt out on the coffee biz, yet again.
i went to this cool new restaurant in the artist district of santa ana and left my contact info, so we'll see if that pans out.
i really like that area.

some obervations-

every other store in downtown santa ana is a bridal shop. how do they stay in business? people must be perpetually having daughters who get married at 16 and immediately start having daughters of their own to marry off.

it really does feel like a "little mexico."
there are candy/fruit carts on the corners!

being both thirsty and tired, i stopped at starbuck's for an iced coffee. i swear it tasted like a hamburger. freaking starbuck's.

my leg is doing progressively better. still tender, still requiring more than its share of neosporin, but doing better. i bought another pack of the hugest-bandaids-ever on my way home. hoping to be back on the bike by sunday..

in my art class today we had a demo on shrinky dinks. SHRINKY DINKS! as ridiculous as that is, i made three.

i'm teaching myself "blowin in the wind" on the piano and harmonica right now, which maybe is not exciting to anyone else, but i'm loving it. it'll be especially great when i get one of those hands-free harmonica holsters.

i'm going to "girl's night" tonight, and we're going to see a movie at the dollar theater. the good news is that it'll only cost a dollar, but the bad news is that it'll either be alvin and the chipmunks or national treasure 2. both of which i'm pretty sure i would pay a dollar NOT to see.....but such is life, eh?

rough ridin'

i don't get hurt very often. i think this week was my body/the universe's way of making up for lost time.
on tuesday, i burned my hand at work- i'm pretty sure it was 2nd degree; it was the worst burn i've ever gotten at work.
on friday, i cut my finger with a pastry knife. it wasn't tooo bad, but still sucky.

and then YESTERDAY. on my leisurely bike ride. i completely ate it.
it took me well into today to figure out what happened.
i was in the zone, listening to "Bob Dylan's Dream" in one ear and just loving life.
so i was going slightly uphill, and so i was standing and pedaling and putting my weight into it. then my bike randomly downshifted completely by its own mischievious doing, and my feet jerked down and my whole body flung forward and my bike and me positively tangled together in one disastrously fascinating mess. we fell forward and over and then down into the gutter. lucky for me, i was wearing pants and flats instead of shorts and sandals, or else i would have ended up with dirtier wounds.

here are some pictures of the damage. (since blogging about it is my only compensation)

my poor feet. notice how scuffed up my once-cute silver flats are


the only person (i think) who witnessed my crash was a sweet little mexican lady across the street. she ran over, helped me up, and after asking me if it was ok she ripped my pants from the knee down and wrapped it around my leg. i offered my hair tie as a way of securing the makeshift bandage.


this is when i set the camera on a table with the timer. i wanted to give an idea of the size of the nastiness in proportion to my leg.


the worst area, just under my knee. there were also several "little brother wounds" on the top of my right foot.


my blood-stained, ripped up, ruined pants. i loved those pants. bah.


i asked my friend melissa, who has been my stand-in nurse and encouragement, if i'm overreacting or being a wimp- "since i don't get hurt often"
she said "Nooooo. No, it's bad."

does anyone have advice on treating it?
my method:
-soak in warm/hot water (ie bath)
-scrub lightly with a soft-bristled body brush
-pour hydrogen peroxide over it, let it sit for a minute then dab off
-neosporin the hellooooooo out of it
-gauze and tape and bandaids and more bandaids.
(repeat two-three times daily)

if you haven't already,

it's time to set up an RSS Feed for the blogs you frequently read.
this will save you tons of time: instead of checking everyone's blogs individually to see if they've updated, go to your feed and it will tell you who has updated. it's that simple.


start by clicking here!


i'll walk you through adding a blog to your feed, since i realized i still haven't added my friend aj yet...(sorry bud)

step 1: click "Add" (just under the "Feeds" tab on the top left in the left-side window that comes up)
step 2: enter the address for the site you want to track (i suggest my comic blog- http://lifeiscomical.blogspot.com !!)

step 3: press "subscribe"
step 4: select the option that matches the site you're thinking of (often times i find that there are multiple options for the same site...as shown below...so i pick the first one or the one with the simplest url)

step 5: scroll down to "options" and change the "Display Preferences" from "Default" to "Titles"

step 6: the new link will come up on your list in the left tool bar, and it will come up titled whatever the blog is titled (in this case, "Ice Cream Parlor").


If you'd like to change it to the name of the blogger (as i find simpler), click "Edit" on the top next to the "Add" button and under the "Feeds" tab.


Then, scroll down to the link, click it once, then probably another time to re-enter a name.



then press enter (or return, depending on your keyboard). You can also drag the link upwards on the list, and organize the list how you like.
step 7: when you're done, press "(Finished)" under the "edit" link.



and you're on your way to a simpler blog-reading life!

you can thank me bby adding my blogs to your feed. seriously. this took longer to explain than i thought it would.
http://blythehill.blogspot.com
http://lifeiscomical.blogspot.com

blog to blog

my friend greg made a neat little design inspired by my last post.
check it out by clicking here!