The End is Near!!!

Yep, you heard it hear first, folks. This is javafoofoo's last day of school. Tears were shed. Adieu was said to classmates and teachers. Job oppurtunities were sliped into my hand by one of my fave teachers. ( I love ya, Ms. K!!!)

Well, technically, Friday's the last, but it don't count. Final will be toooo easy to count. (Oh, for those out of the loop, me a gradate from colage tis mont.)( :D )

On another note, HAPPY REPEAL DAY!!! Drinka and drink and drink in celebration!

On a note directly to Satcey: Nobody says it's abandonment. And nobody says it's to get away from a "problem". 'Cause it's not. (and now, the reason I'm posting this...)Though I do agree, 12 hours ain't no vacation. Especially when it will includes a 6 hour drive! It's a break. A break!! (Oh, if you decide to take a break, let me know. 'Cause if not, I's got to mail ya something)

Break time

I've been doing some major hours working on my numerous design projects along with trying to remember that I have an 8 page literature-research paper to write (groan). I needed a break. So here I am..Taking a moment to declare what I will never stop declaring until the day strikes.

because to day makes it exactly one month away till my graduation!! Woo-Hoo!

(pic courtesy of iStockphotos)

Did I mention how nervous I am about graduating? See y'all later!

Chew On This

Inspired by gawd knows what, I called Satcey up this morning to babble about absolutely nothing. Nada. Zilch. Haven't had a "conversation" like that yeaaaaaaaaars. And like all good converstaion about absolutely nothing, nada, zilch, it transformed from subject to subject eventually arriving at the ever so death penalty issue.

An ephinay was had.

I'm against the death penalty AKA capital punishment. My two main reasons: no one on earth should have the right to kil someone. You didn't choose to enter this world, and you shouldn't get a say on when to exit AND what kind of punishment is killing someone?! Now don't give me crap about sitting in a jail cell knowing that one day you're gonna be killed because that's absolutely BULLSHIT! Heck, I practically live my life that way...well, minus the whole jail cell thang.

I've actually kinda dig the whole "eye for an eye" thing that's been taken quite literally in some of the countries on this planet. What better way to punish a theif than cutting off his/her hands?Yes, morbid are these thoughts, but stay with me here. If it could work for a theif, why not a murderer? How can you shoot a gun with no hands? How can you stab someone with no hands? How can you successfully tie your shoes with no hands? (though I'm sure someone can answer that one for me...) Just think abou it.

Though, like all my thoughts, this one came full circle. As I heard Satcey rolling her eyes across the phone-waves, I continued on about how these criminals wold also be visually reognizable due to their appendage lackage. The circle officially closed with me realizing that those folks who do not have hands due to some other form of fate would probably get ill-treated. We don't want that.

Well, at least I momentarily thought it was a good idea.

In the mean time, Spidey's back!!

I did it!!

I updated Idiosyncratic Speckles. Woo-Hoo!! I said I would show my new pics of Ace, so there they are. Check 'im out...

Fun with Photoshop

Classwork can be fun. Who knew?

Bound to Ruin A Good Thing

This past weekene I playe double-duty at work; I was hostess and ticket seller/info for the tours that are offered. Sunday became the onse a year occasion when a guest proceeds to chew me out over things I could not change. This is how it went down:

Man come up to my cashier desk (which is in the restaurant), ask about buying tickets for our tour.

"I apologie sir, but our next tour will not be till tomorrow at 2 o'clock."

"Excuse me? I called up and was told there was going to be a cruise at 2:30?!"

Immediately i knew that he did call and was, once agian, given the wrong info by some fool. *sigh* Here it goes...

"I apologize sir, but it seems as though they passed on the wrong infomation to you. The line you called aoffers two tours and it sounds as though they didn't know you were calling about our tour."

Than the fun begun. He started to yell at me about how fed up he was with all this crap and how he couldn't beleive that he was given the wrong tour. He's been trying to do our tour adn has been given the run around and is tried about blah, blah, blah. I understood, but he didn't have to yell at me like it was my fault. So, I told him the last bit of info that usually calms people down a bit these days...usually.

"Sir, again I apologize. Due to the storm last year, things have been all topsy turvey."

"WHAT storm?!?" he, agian, yells at me. That make me skip a beat. I honestly didn't know how to answer this asshole on the rise.

So I gitted my teeth, pursed my lips together and put on the fake smile. "Katrina sir..."

"I can't beleive this shit!!" And he finally storms away from my desk adn moves into another room to hopefully grot and foam up at someone else. Lord, the things that come with this job.

I could here him in the other room, and also heard that he wasn't alone. I don't knkow what was going on in there, and homestly I didn't give a damn. I just wanted him to leave! Yet agian, *sigh*.

A lady walks in, who I found out was his daughter, who told me the asshole was her dad visiting from out of state, adn that she lived in Houma, which is a city just about an hour's drive outside the city. I would like to tell you that info releived me (for how can't she understand what's going on down here?) but she was pissed off too. Thankfully, not as bad as dear old pops.

"He yold me that y'all don't have a toru today?"

"Yes m'am. Like i told the gentleman (HA!!), our tours are on a shortened schedule with the next one being tomorrow at 2."

"He called. We called adn they told us 2:30. This is "1234 Mockingbird Lane", isn't it?"

God almighty, "yes m'am, but as I..."

"I got this brochure for your front office. It says in plain sight, tours at 10, 12, 2 and 4. This means y'all are advertising false information."

That, I couldn't disafragree with anymore. I complained about that, but nooo let's keep the wrong info out, what's the worst that could happen?

" I agree with you on that, m'am. I don't know why the insit on placing that out there."

Now, for our grand finale! The return of the ASSHOLE!!

He saunders in, with a face that is meaner than a raging bull, with foam coming out of his mouth and screams (again, I remind you, we're in a restaurant where people are eating) (and getting entertainment).

"I cab't beleive this crap! You listen here, I came out of town to do this and I'm getting sick and tired about getiing these damned Katrina excuses. It was over in a minute!!! nd your still using it as a lame ass excuse!!

Oh...my...god. This guy needs to go down. Of course, those of you who know me know I'm a master at keeping it cool under these type of situations. My mind was no problem, but Ib started to shake with anger. How the fuck dare this uy come to our city and act like all that happened was a little rain storm took place here? He's one of god knows how many that is a comlete idiaot in not understanding (or caring) that a number of businesses adn industries gone down becasue of Karina. Many places are under staffed, or have even gone bankrupted. I wor inthe tourism industry in which at least 1/3 of the tour companies that made there bread and water from tourist have gone of of business. The company I work for has cut down our pre-Kat tours in half, times and offerings. On top of that, the boat tour that is associated in my company has to leave the city and state just to help us bring in some major $$$ to help keep the comapany afloat. So FUCK you!!

Of course, I couldn't get this in. One, I was trembling like a bomb ready to explode, adn two, it's not like I wouldn've gotten a word in anyway.

"Dad, just leave from here, there's nothing you can do."

Thank god.

I honestly can't remember what she said after that incident, but all I knew was that I had to get rid of them. Enough of this bullshit.

"M'am, like I said, I can't do anything, I'm the middle person here. Here's the number of my manager. She'll be in Monday through Friday and she'll be able to help y'all." Now get the fuck out of here...thankfully, she begrudgingly did.

PRAISAE BE !!!!

That almost ruined my day, but I struggled to not let it get to me. Exploding tourist is a once a year occasion, so I got rid of this year's annual run.

But it brought me to wonder, what the hell is up with people who want to ruina wonderful vacation over a simple little tour? For heaven's sake, WHY??!!

And I swear, if I ever see that amn agian.....

One in the Freaking Morning

I can't sleep. It's almost 1am, central time, and I just can't get my mind to shut the hell up.

Though that probably has to do with a Monster (highly caffienate energy drink) about, hmm, 8 hours ago now. I was trying to give myself a boost to continue my 6 hour run on this Mac, working on my school projects. So many, adn so little time...

So i sit here, rocking back and forth, back adn forth, wanting seperately to get some sleep since I have to wake up at 7:45 am to begin at least a 10 hour stretch at school. Weee!! i honestly can't wait, but than agian, I know I'm gonna get supremely exhausted. I'm just not use to pulling off college hours. *sigh*

Anyway, I laid my head on my pillow about twenty minutes ago after reading a few chapters of The Hanmaiden's Tale, by Margaret Atwood. So far, I love this book. It's sorta like 1984, but it's main charecter is a woman. Ecxellent read, if you like those books that consist of letting you know about the possible future. I love 1984 so it's no surprise that I dig this book.

I've always dug those books that attempts to show you how the future can be if things aren't done (or done) in a certain way. For example, 1984 is about the UK in, um, 1984 (the book was writen in the 1950's, which actually makes the book a little creepy) and the country is a communistic state. Ever heard the phrase "big brother is watching"? It comes from this book. It's a book that is a warning on how the powers that be (e.g. the government) can turn on you and use protection as a controlling issue. Sounds familiar, fellow Americans? Of course, it's a lot more than that, but being 1am in morning, adn strung out on caffiene, that's the synopsis ya gonna get from me.

I can reneber the time in my life when my innocence was sorta broken and my eyes were opened to how fucked(can I say that?) up this world we live in is. The earliest issue was my veiwing of Schindler's List. I've heard of the holocaust and how terrible it was, but that movie made it come to life for me. It was the first movie that had me sobbing like a baby; I was twelve.

I can't remember how long after that in which I was presented with a senseless world. It was with the Oklahoma City bombing. For you non-Americans out there, around the mid nineties (or maybe earlier), the wrold trade center was bombed in Oklahoma City. Of course, aquications begun about who did it, why, and so on. What got to me was a few days after the incident, there was a photo in the paper of a couple crying their eyes out, who were from somewhere's around the Middle East. The caption underneath the photo was informing the reader that the woman had a miscarriage due to tremendous stress of being harrassed, adn practically attacked, by people who beleived Middle Easterns were to blame. Not exactly them, but their people.

What made this even worse is that it was a white-azz, stupid mofo that bombed the building. Asshole. Killed hundreds because of something to die with hating the government.

I guess my last memory of being completely confounded by the world we live in was when I was 18 years old and in my geography class, I had a sort of debate about the wars in Northern Ireland. i just couldn't wrap around my brain why people would be fight and killing so long over territory. (This is before my knowledge of the world open up, now. ) (So don't ask me about the hundreds of similiar countries that have gone through this through-out human history...ok?)

I guess you can called it irony, though I'm probably wrong, that I can understand it just a little these days. Not the killing, mind you, but the "this is my land and I'm not gonna leave without a fight" attitude...but not actions. Why, you ask? I live in New Orleans, people, so I'll let y'all put two and two together on that one.

In the meantime, I'm gonna attempt to get that sleep thing going on. Sleep me need...or so I here...

BAY-BEE!!!

Okay, this kid ain't mine, but isn't he the most darling little thing on the earth? All thanks to his mom and pop for bringing him into this world and giving me the chance to be an aunt. XOXO Y'all...

Mmmm...Food...

Yet another Meme stolen from Stacey's blog. This is becoming a bad habit...


How do you like your eggs?
Usually medium scrambled. ya know, not soft, but not dried out like old leather.

How do you take your coffee/tea?
Coffee please, only with two packets of equal. Unless your coffee sucks. If so, gotta add some cream to the mix.

Favorite breakfast foods:
Eggo waffles, drizzled with honey; fried egg with grits and hasbrowns

Peanut butter:
Yes please.

Coke or Pepsi?
Dr. Pepper, though I occasionally have to satisfy my diet coke fix.

You're feeling lazy. What do you make?
Make? HA! I heat something up in the microwave.

You're feeling really lazy? What kind of pizza do you order?
Thin crust italian sausage pizza. Mmm...thin crust.

You feel like cooking. What do you make?
Anything that inspires me at the time...or at least looks good!

Do any foods bring back good memories?
Field peas always makes me think of my grandma. She used to cook this great Sunday meals, every other time with field peas picked fresh from her garden. Damn I miss her cooking...

Do any foods bring back bad memories?
No, not at all.

Do any foods remind you of someone?
Yep, and ya already know that. Oh, add gumbo. Always makes me think of my daddy. :D

Is there a food you refuse to eat?
Mustard greens. tried it once and that's some nastty azz shit. Well to me. Along with raw tomatoes. Every single tomato I've every tried is incredibly bitter to me. ugh...

What was your favorite food as a child?
Cheese. Cheese cheese cheese cheese cheese. :D

Is there a food you hated as a child but now love?
Smothered cabbage. Just put a pot in front of me and watch it disappear.

Is there a food you loved as a child but now hate?
Not that I can recall.

Favorite fruit and vegetable:
I can never pick a favorite and you can't make me!!

Favorite junk food:
Hands down, french fries.

Favorite between meal snack:
Sharp chedder.

Do you have any weird food habits?
When I eat peanut M&M's, I only bite half off in a way that'll just slip off the chocolate shell, than eat the rest.

You're on a diet. What food(s) do you fill up on?
I'll tell you whenever i go on a "diet".

You're off your diet. Now what would you like?
Refer back to previous answer.

How spicy do you order Indian/Thai?
Depends on the restaurant. Average is medium-spicy.

Can I get you a drink?
What?

May I get you a drink?
Huh?

Red wine or white?
Cabernet Sauvignon, please.

We only have beer.
Okay, that's noce. Do you have Samuel Adams? Than how about an Abita Amber?

Favorite dessert:
Haagan Dazs sorbets.

The perfect nightcap?
Depends on the night...as always. ;)

No Fair!!!

I have never, in all my life, wanted to go to a Saint's game as bad as I do now. Heck, I never even wanted to go to a Saints game till now.

Alas, they are already sold out...*sigh*...

RULES OF CAJUN COUNTRY

Got this as a chain email. I couldn't send it, had to post it!

This is definitely for you Louisana folks out there. I don't think anyone else would understand...


1. Pull your droopy pants up. You look like an idiot.

2. Let's get this straight; it's called a "gravel road." I drive a
pickup truck because I want to. No matter how slow you drive, you're
going to get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.


3. They are cattle & oil wells. That's what they smell like to you.
They smell like money to us. Get over it. Don't like it? I-20 and I-10 go
east and west, I-49 goes north and south. Pick one.


4. So you have a $60,000 car. We're impressed. We have $250,000 rice
strippers that are driven only 3 times a year.


5. So every person in every pickup waves. It's called being friendly.
Try to understand the concept.



6. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of doves are coming in, we
WILL shoot it out of your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to
your ear at the time.



7. Yeah, we eat catfish & crawfish and love it. You really want sushi &
caviar? It's available at the corner bait shop.



8. The "Opener" refers to the first day of deer season. It's a
religious holiday held the closest Saturday to the first of November.

9. We open doors for women. That is applied to all women, regardless of
age.

10. No, there's no "vegetarian special" on the menu. Order steak. Or
you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham & turkey.

11. When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes: meats,
vegetables, and breads.

We use three spices: Onion, Pepper, and Garlic!

12. You bring "coke" into my house, it better be brown, wet, and served
over ice. You bring "Mary Jane" into my house, she better be cute, know
how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair

13. College and High School Football is as important here as the Lakers
and the Knicks, and a hell of a lot more fun to watch.

14. Yeah, we have golf courses. But don't hit the water hazards --it
spooks the fish.

15. Colleges? Try Louisiana Tech, NSU, UL, McNeese, or LSU. They come
outta there with an education plus a love for God and country, and they
still wave at passing pickups when they come for the holidays.

Five Years Ago...

...I got stuck in L.A., and damn was it great.

The reason I got stuck wasn't even close to being a nonchalant excuse plus y'all know what happened five years ago today. Well, I was so suppose to return home that day after spending a fun filled week visiting Stacey and Drew, but was awoken at 7am with news of my flight cancelation. What a hell of a day it was.

Though good did come out of the bad. I believe everything happens for a reason. It could be the littlest thing or something major, but something will come out of it.

If I didn't get stuck that extra week and a half I never would have overpaid majorly for a matinee movie. (Twelve bucks??!! What the heck did they charge in the evening?!!) I never would have tried a talented bartender's recipe for a German Chocolate Cake Drink (my god was it amazing!) nor tried a Rusty Nail (aka lighter fluid). Plus I never would have got a chance to see a certain someone stumble out of that bar at 2 in the morning and puke before exiting the door. ( That was some FUNNY shit!) I also would have never been able to take my first train trip through the West. Up to that trip, I have never seen the desert (well, in person) and never would have seen the most amazing rainbow gracing the sky above Texas' rolling hills. And I wouldn't have been hit on by the train's current lounge lizard!!

As you see, great memories were formed after a horrible memory got placed in my mind. It's strange how such a blemish in America's history could personaly give me such great memories as those. That's fate for ya...

Absolutely Freaky

Okay, it can't only be me that was a little freaked out when I heard about this earthquake. I didn't even know it was even possible, but thank god there were no damages.

Shake, Rattle and Roll, y'all.

One Step Closer

So yesterday I took another step toward graduating this fall; I dropped off my graduation application! Woo-Hoo!

Unfortunately, along with my application I had to drop off a $35 application fee. WTF? I have spent about $2000 a year for the 4 past years adn they can't front $35 to graduate? Strange, my friend, strange...

Happy Labor Day!!

"Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day...is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation."
From History of Labor Day

So with that in mind, thank you to the millions of people through out the world for working a lot longer and harder than I'll probably ever will!!

And to my women folk out there: enjoy the picture!!

And Now for Something Completely Different...

Time for a little humour...

New Orleans: One Year Later

We will never forget what happened with Hurricane Katrina. You should not forget either.

while you're at it, check out where we are now, which honestly isn't that far along, but check it out anyway.

Sigh...

This past Thursday I was irritated by every single thing through-out my busy work day and almost ripped the pretty little head off my talkative co-worker.

This past Friday I was bored off my azz at work and found out that evening that a class I needed to graduate in December had been canceled due to a lack of students.

This past Saturday (AKA yesterday) my attempt to register for another class that wouuld be needed to hold on to a school grant given by the government failed when I found out registration stopped.

Today, I discovered my grant was dropped, but I did have the best burger in the world for lunch. (God(s) bless a portobello swiss-cheeseburger, though I should say bless the cook!)

I wonder what tomorrow holds...

Tidbits

I finally got to see my nephew, Ace. Oh my god, he is soooo cute! All he did was sleep, he was as light as a feather (well, a seven pound feather) and his toes were as long as a monkey's toes! I love him! Stacey and Drew did a great job!

I finally got my academic calender for my final semester at school. So mark you're calenders: December 15 at 10am, I shall be receiving my degree in graphic design...as long as the fate's allow it. (please do! oh pleeeease do!!)

I hate epilepsy. I really really really really hate it. I hate it so much that I'm actually gonna talk to my doc about other options. (As in "surgery" options.)(sheesh...)

Did you know that if you decide to take a train to New York City from New Orleans and decided to travel comfortably in the sleeper car it'll cost ya about 600 US dollars?

Did you know that if you had a key to a FEMA trailer in New Orleans in the past few months that you would also have a key to about 50 other FEMA trailers?

Humor Can Be Your Saving Grace

Sometimes, the only thing you can do to save your ass is to use what god given talents you have, even if it is only a smidgen of a talent.

Case in point:

Today, I was needed to work the floor at my restaurant as a waitress. My job mainly consists of hosting and selling tickets to eager tourist. Oh, yea, I should have mentioned that I am a employee of a small neighborhood restaurant that is in conjunction with tours that are offered in our wonderful city.

But I digress...

Anyhoo, I was needed to work the floor, which is something I’m only called on to help with every blue moon. I’m always around to lend a helping hand to my employers, especially when I can earn some extra moula in the process!

As soon as our establishment opened, the people begun a flowing. Of course, I happened to get the first couple of group tables that walked in. One was a table of cops in disguise. ( I didn’t find out till they left...and that’s a whole other story...)

They patiently waited for about ten minutes at their table while I ran around the restaurant like a chicken with her head cut off with high hopes of actually waiting on their table.

I was finally allowed to access their table in which I went into major happy huge smile waitress mode, who really wanted to make her table think that she was here for them and only for them...even if it was ten minutes later.

“I’m so sorry it took so long, but thank you for patiently waiting. So what can I get you guys for lunch?”

“I’ll get the shrimp poboy, dressed,”guy number one says.

“I’ll take the pasta,” says guy number two.

“Give me the special,” says guy number three.

“Yea, I want a oyster poboy dressed with *mumble, mumble* and lettuce *mumble* with butter,” mumbles guy number four.

And last, but certainly not least, guy number five gave me his order for one of our half club combo.

Now, imagine me, after getting these guys orders, guys who were probably a little antsy for having to wait so long and upset that they won’t be able to get out the restaurant as soon as they wanted.

Now imagine my inner thoughts in realizing that I have to ask someone to repeat himself because his was babbling like a drunk.

I did the only thing a server could so in this situation. I went ring around the table and read off their orders to confirm and hope that guy number four can speak up when he goes to correct me. *Sigh* It didn’t go as I planned.

“No. I said *mumble* no lettuce, *mumble* and butter.”

Uhhhh, goes through my confused mind. Okay, let’s try again.

“ok sir. That was an oyster poboy with lettuce, tomato, mayo and butter?”

“NO. I said NO lettuce, tomato, pickles and butter ONLY.”

“I’m so sorry sir; it seems as though it is not meant for me to get your order right. Sadly, I heard you say no lettuce, but apparently my mouth didn’t agree. Okay, so that was....”

So my brain was officially fried at trying desperately to understand what Mr. Mumbles said. As you read, I heard him say loud and clear no lettuce, but for some strange reason, I said the opposite. I finally succeeded in hearing him in round four in this challenge, which not only did I understand Mr. Mumbles, but I could actually repeat it. Ahhhh...it was finally over.

NOT!!

I gave my order to the kitchen and they informed me that their was no half club. Oh, and I didn’t get what Mr. Mumbles wanted with his poboy (as in, you want fries with that?).

Shit, man.

I went back to the table, informed the club guy that his club is a no go. He grunted and changed the order. Then I popped over to Mr. Mumbles and get his side item.

These guys were irritated and I was doing my best to keep the irritation on the down low.

Luckily, the bad vibes disappeared with what they have all been waiting for, their food.

Before I ran away, I made sure to cap off their lunch with a little side entertainment in which I gave them some advice for their next visit.

“ Well, I hope y’all enjoy y’all meals, and just remember the next time y’all come on over, make sure you request to NOT get Angie, that way your lunch will be as smoothly as possible.”

I was sooooo glad to hear chuckles as I walked away. Bad vibes gone, good ones in, along with a pretty darn decent tip...