sami's

actually

2009-04-20T21:21:55Z

i don't think blogging is for me... sorry!

i'm gonna revive this thing i think

2009-03-30T22:19:10Z

please excuse my older entries... i don't cuss like i used to. some of them are good to read though.

I love

2008-05-29T03:58:13Z

"nom nom nom"

I hate

2008-05-13T02:48:44Z

having sticky hands

i am sick

2008-04-01T19:15:06Z

sick sick sick..

and i found this funny game on miniclip
I totally kicked Anthony's ass on it (well, the second time we played)

ever happen to you?

2008-03-13T03:12:09Z

where you have a dream you're pissed off at your boyfriend, then the next day you keep catching yourself starting to get mad at him even though he didn't do anything? haha, I was just thinking about it because I started to have one of those dreams last night. fortunately I woke up and said "let's try this again, but better" to myself...

a snippet of conversations

2008-03-03T05:24:52Z

my parents were talking about their needy siblings. You should know that we are having a bit of family strife over my aunt-in-law on my mother's side. She came out about a year ago and thinks it's okay to bring her lesbian lover to family functions like Christmas even though she is still married to my uncle. We actually put on a great face as a family but underneath it all my grandma is tortured. Plus my aunt has always been crazy: short, cropped hair, black belt, sore loser in scrabble. My dad kinda likes her, despite his jokes. I don't mind her except that she's causing pain to my grandma and uncle.
my other aunt, dad's side, is my middle namesake and I love her even though she can be a wreck. her second husband committed suicide about two years ago or so.

mom: at least I never flew over to colorado to deal with my crazy sister
dad: at least your brother's wife never took a shotgun to her head
mom: oh..
dad: maybe she should...
mom: allan!

we all laughed...

sorry i was moody last time..

2008-02-22T02:29:53Z

i've decided to also post stories about my family in here. They're the ones I most don't want to discover my anonymous blog, and they'll surely recognize themselves in posts like these:

With the usual hilarity, we ate dinner tonight. My dad started talking about work and threw around meeting terms, so Mom spat out some of her own.

Mom: (don't forget something about objectives, weaknesses, strengths, threats)

Dad: -threat? ...I don't want to hear what crazy shit you learned from the military-

Mom: MBA

Dad: MBA? Yeah look what that's cost you, and what for-

Me: You get to be someone's professional bitch-

Brother (turning to me): Well at least she's a paid bitch! BURN! Oooooh! I'm sorry, I thought that was good. Was that good?

Me: Yes, that was good...

It's true, my mother is a paid bitch -erm, Executive Assistant. For. The. Admiral. I won't reveal The Admiral's name, but lets say it sounds an awful lot like a certain synonym for Crazy. Well, not exactly, but she is. Adm. Crazy has a Napoleonic complex, changes her mind constantly, and adores my mother. Mom a.k.a. Pollyanna is perfect for the job because she is painfully, eternally cheerful. She revels in telling us "horror" stories about her day, which seems to mostly consist of arranging travel plans for The Admiral. Adm. Crazy 'prefers' an aisle seat near the front of the plane. She will announce, for example, that she needs a flight to Chicago for March 20th around or after 3 pm because she wants to attend mass that day. "Yes Ma'am," Mom will say, then labor away on the phone, securing the prized seat on the correct time and day. The Admiral then, unfailingly, will say something to the effect of "you know how I need a flight the 20th? Can you make it early in the morning so I can make it there in time for [suchandsuch]?"

"Well Ma'am, I have tickets for 3:30pm already...?"

"Go ahead and change it."

"Yes Ma'am."

Then, again without fail, about two days before she has to leave, The Adm. will groan, "I don't feel like getting up so early? Can you change my flight?"

And without fail, my mother must say, "Yes Ma'am."

maybe i shouldn't read people's livejournals...

2008-02-19T21:58:05Z

that was weird... didn't quite catch the "call sami what you want" part the first time...but... "creepy samantha parties"? obviously there is some joke about myself that I am not getting. maybe it has something to do with the dress up (crossdressing) game the boys played.

I'm so glad that people enjoyed my party. I was getting a little stressed over it but it went better than I could have hoped. I really have my friends to thank for (mostly) keeping everything smooth and happy. I had a great time myself.

anyway, i'm having a hard time "being real" in this livejournal, and I think I'll just keep it to stay in touch with julie and read some of you all's funny stories about crazy parents and such. oh and i might post mediocre poetry from time to time.

*off to create an anonymous livejournal*

fun party!

2008-02-17T22:28:17Z

so i had my annual bash. this year's theme was "big kid party." almost everyone dressed up very cute; we had a teenage ninja mutant turtle, spiderman, boy with overalls, and lots of princesses.

I was a fairy princess. Oop forgot to get rid of red-eye...w/e

i love how we can have crazy fun without alcohol or drugs. the dancing was amazing. who knew a hula hoop could work so well on the dance floor? my boyfriend took up the dj role and did a great job, digging up old favorites like thriller and video killed the radio star.

later we had a bead ceremony, which had me nearly in tears (and katie too, i think!). I gave a bead (on a safety pin) to each person, explaining what it symbolized and basically gushing. very nice serious note for a very fun evening.

anyway, i am tired and need to nap...

poetry

2008-02-03T20:55:54Z

I found a couple poems (well the first one is lyrics, actually) I wrote awhile ago and I thought I should post them. They're not my best but I think there's some interesting lines.

You watch the mites
fly into the fire
You want to be one of them
in a way
even the spiders
who're twice as smart
You want to be one of them
in a way
You could be prey
You could be prey
we're going to die anyway
You could be prey

Your eyes gloss
like pieces of wood
You want to keep one of them
in a way
You used to know
what was sacred to you
You want to keep one of them
in a way
You could be his
You could be his
we're going to live anyway
You could be his

and:

Do you flicker in the limbo
between some and none of faith?
Do you look at their faces
and wonder what they've done?
Do you touch your chest
and wish you could feel?
We know you are perfect.
Are you human too?

Do you wear God's grace?
Are your eyes all-knowing
with joy or with grief?
Father, what have they done?
Do you ask Him why
they hammered holes into your hands?
We know you are All.
Are you human too?

How did the pain feel?
Did you still know who you were?
Blood filled your holes
like red craters in the dust.
Did you know that it was true?
Will I ever be like you?
We know you are God.
Are we God too?

ceramic rings

2008-01-18T05:29:10Z

i'm making some. what are your ring sizes? so far i made two... the pace will pick up once i get the hang of it.

self portraits

2008-01-06T20:15:33Z

woww...so i finished my UCSB application to CCS. all that work and it's only my back up plan. I said i would post some art ...

here's my newest work. sorry i had to put lines through it but i don't want people to "steal" it since this is my public journal. anyway, it's called self portrait without hair

I did it to prove to the art programs i'm applying to that, give me 11 hours and I can do this. most of my other work..okay pretty much all of it...was done in three hours or much, much less.

anyway, this is watercolor pencil, with some watercolor in the background. It's supposed to seem a little apocalyptic...it's somewhat about how people (including me) are forgetting what we are inside - about shedding our vanity kind of... Also sort of an experiment to see if i'd recognize myself without hair. it started out as me wanting to do a bald nudie, but not knowing how to draw a bald head (and not wanting to go print off a reference) and realizing i needed a privacy gag to make it school appropriate for my AP class.

speaking of which, i want the rain to stop so I can bring it to class this week. maybe my teacher will forgive me for not turning anything in for three weeks in a row...

art brainstorming

2008-01-04T01:10:37Z

I have been so busy working on my UCSB application... I'll post some of my art after I doctor up the images to make them hard to "steal." here's a picture of the brainstorming i've been doing. UCSB wants 15-20 images, but UCLA only wants 5...

I made a cell phone holder for myself

2007-12-30T05:33:18Z

Here's what it looks like:

It features a "exposed corner" design so I can see if the little red light is on (it means I have a new message)

And now I'll teach you how to make it. You'll have to know how to crochet.

Start a slipknot with a really long loose end (the end not attached to the yarn - about 6 inches). chain stitch a strand long enough to wrap around your cell phone snugly (but not too tight). Then add the turning chain stitches of course.

Triple crochet (or double crochet if you prefer or have thicker yarn) to about one or two rows shorter than your phone's height.

Eyeball the halfway mark on the width, and mark it with a piece of yarn if you have to. Starting with a half or single stitch, increase the height of your stitches then shorten them again to make that first hump to the halfway mark. (For example, I did single stitch, half-double, double, double, double double, half-double, single). It will be on the front of your phone. Then triple stitch the other half of the row.

make the tab that will fold over and button everything up. I did 3 rows of 5 stitches each, triple, triple, then double. it got a little funky for me at this point:

See how it kind of went off at an angle? I liked it though, and left it that way. If you can't duplicate it, don't worry. To make sure it's long enough, test it on your cell phone and see how it would fold over. Snip off the yarn giving yourself a really long loose end, about 14 inches. Pull it through the loop to knot it.

Now fold the piece in half and whipstitch where I've shown in white. I use my crochet hook to help me by putting it through the piece, hooking the yarn, and pulling it through.

When you get to the other loose end, whipstitch both ends together like in this picture:

Tie it off with an overhand knot, then knot each dangly end to prevent fraying and cut off the excess.
You can make a pocket like i did where the pink rectangle is. I made a pocket more to protect my phone's keys than to actually put things in it.

Put a button approximately where the pink circle is. play around with the flap to see how it will button.

I suggest that you sew on the button with white thread. To attach the thread to the crochet, you can't just knot it on like with fabric. so i doubled the thread, and looped it through itself. Then I put the ends through a sewing needle and added my button.

If you don't know how to knot a finished sewing piece, shame on you, but I will do my best to explain :P

1. Slip the needle through an already existing loop (e.g. right behind the button).
2. hold on to the loop formed by this action (circled in pink), and pull the needle through.
3. put the needle through the loop you're holding, and hold on the the new loop you created. pull tight to make the old loop disappear but not the new loop.
4. repeat step 3 two more times or so.
5. snip the excess thread off but not too close to the knot.

now if you need to, you can tie a bow like I have in the picture to cinch up the cell phone holder and make that "exposed corner." I put the thread through two rows, double knotted it, then made a double knotted bow. I tied the loose ends to stop future fraying.

you can add a strap if you like. I thought about making mine removable with a button but realized that should the button pop off, I'd lose my cell phone. If I had had a key ring, I could have used that instead. My strap is three stitches wide and tapers to a chain stitch near the cell phone itself.

Enjoy!

post comments to ask questions.

Success!

2007-12-30T04:09:41Z

We actually found something cool. My faith in metal detecting is revived.

But first, the junk we found:

A bullet (actually kind of cool), two pennies, a rusted bolt (probably), two nails (possibly), and one piece of metal corroded beyond recognition.

And a "ten cash" coin! (it's linked so you can look at the full size image)

It seems to be japanese money, probably from my uncle's travels. I tried to polish it up so you can see that it's bronze, but my hands were getting tired.

My grandpa found a soapstone pipe the other day. He thinks it might be an opium pipe from the chinese that used to live in the area, but my dad figures it was probably his brother's.

In case you were wondering, I use a Bounty Hunter Fast Tracker IV:

...and my brother Zach helps me dig up stuff.