Twitter Rocks My Digital World

So, I finally joined Twitter. Some (1) of you may know, but others (1) may be unaware, so I decided to share. It's actually pretty fun. It's like Facebook, only without anything but status updates, which to be honest, was always one of my favorite parts. Seriously, I was so excited when they got rid of the mandatory "is" and you could suddenly exist in other tenses besides present progressive (wowza, how's that for a grammar flashback! haha).

So, yeah, I kept hearing about it on the news and everyone was demanding you "follow" them on Twitter. When I watched a segment on Dateline about it maybe about a month and a half ago, I decided, eh what the heck? So I spent approximately 10 days trying to come up with a great username. What did I end up with? clrumbaugh. Oh yeah. Cleverness at it's peak.

But Twitter is actually pretty nifty. It updates in realtime (apparently), so it's a good way to keep in contact/stalk people. A lot of celebrities use it actually, which is quite entertaining... and brings the level of stalkability WAY up.

I follow these celebrities:

• Rainn Wilson (of The Office, and others... remember him as Arthur from Six Feet Under. Awesome haha): www.twitter.com/rainnwilson
• Brian Baumgartner (of The Office. He plays Kevin Malone): www.twitter.com/bbbaumgartner
• Michael Ian Black (he played Phil Stubbs on Ed, and was on all of those VH1 I Heart 70s, 80s, 90s shows): www.twitter.com/michaelianblack
• Kevin Smith (of Jay & Silent Bob fame): www.twitter.com/thatkevinsmith
• The Ellen Show: www.twitter.com/theellenshow

among others :)

There are lots of companies, publications, stores, whatever on there too, which is pretty cool. I don't mean to sound so advocatey about Twitter, but it is a lot of fun.

That said, here's a shameless plug. Follow me!

Finally an Update!!

Okay, so that whole "I'm going to update this thing more often" didn't really work the way I had planned. Granted, it has only been a little over a month... but it has been a little over a month. I guess not a lot has really happened since then. Went to a fun baby shower :). Bought a dress that will hopefully be my bridesmaid's dress because it's cute and comfortable and a very pretty shade of blue. So that's all exciting.

I'm also excited that I'm now learning to crochet. I still have a difficult time reading the patterns, and I only know like 2 stiches, but I'm getting there. I even made a pair of pretty sweet-ass fingerless gloves (sans pattern, I might add, haha. But only because I was too impatient to learn to read the pattern and wanted to start creating!). I will post pictures when I have some. I will say though that my first pair were a little funky. The right one looked fine, though with this weird webbed finger effect due to making up my own pattern, but the left one looked like it had elephantitis. Whoops. Haha. With the second pair, I decided to ditch the fingers all together and just have the glove stop at the knuckles. Much better, haha. I love them. They're awesome. Next project: iPod case.

I'm also really excited about two new movies coming out soon. How to Be and Little Ashes.

How to Be (premiering April 24 & 25, IFC Theater, NYC) follows the story of this 20-something guy named Art, who, after being dumped, moves back in with his parents, and struggles to figure out exactly who he is and how to survive in a world that seems wholly unfamiliar and frightening in an existential sort of way (at least that's how I understand it). He enlists the help of a self-help guru, hiring him to follow him around give him encouragement. Art has one friend who is becoming a hermit, and another who used to be chronically uncool, but has reinvented himself. It's supposed to be a dark comedy, and Lord knows I love me some of those. Go to the website and watch the trailer!

Little Ashes (May 8, 2009, NYC) is about Salvador Dalí in his college years, pre-crazy mustache and dripping clocks. He makes friends with poet Federico García Lorca and Luis Buñuel. I'm a little hazy on the details, but Salvador and Federico apparently begin this torrid love affair in Franco's Spain, though Federico's religious beliefs in regards to their relationship "torture" him. Eventually it ends, Salvador ends up married, they drift apart, and one day reunite, just as Spain is on the verge of war. The trailer shows a lot of military/revolution scenes, so you can probably bet there's going to be some of that in there. It's probably going to be something like Brokeback Mountain, only funnier what with the crazy Salvador Dali face staring at you, 10 feet high. But really -- watch the trailer, it looks really good. I'm excited!

Okay, that's it for now! Until next time...

christinA

Top 10 Albums posted!!

It's up!! Whew... damn... it only took me a month and 10 days, but I finally posted my Top 10 Albums of 2008 list. Go check it out on Play Your Stereo Loud. Do it now. I'll wait. I know it's kind of long there aren't any pictures, but it's divided up nicely into smaller chunks to make for easy and (hopefully) interesting and informative reading. Let me know what you think. Or check out some of the music for yourself!

Happy reading! And Enjoy!

Until next time...

And 4 months later...

I really need to start writing in this thing more often. I also really need to get on it and finish my Top 10 list for 2008. It's mostly written, but I have 2 entries left. I hope to have it out to you before, say February 5th. Jeez... it's supposed to be posted within the first few days of the year, but I was way too... behind schedule for that. I'll explain more when I finally post the damn thing.

Anyway, I can't believe it's been almost 4 months since I've posted anything here. I was creating a list to help me keep track of my CDs for 2009 over at my listography page, and I was bumming around other people's pages when I discovered a few other blog sites. I was really tempted to start one on like Wordpress or something when i remembered I had this one. That I never update. Like ever, really. And I thought, well damn... why don't I just freaking re-vamp this thing, or at least resuscitate it?

Yeah, I think I'm going to try. I might not be any good at it, but I'll try... in case any of my (2) readers ever periodically check back in with me. Hear that guys, I'mma try again!!

Christina.

New Essay on Helium

I started writing an entry here back in May, but I could never quite finish it. I couldn't figure out quite what I was trying to say or exactly how to say it. But I recently wrote an essay (more of a memoir really, but oh well) at helium.com, and it sums up a lot of what I was going to talk about in my post. So, you can visit there to read it.

And feel free to read my other articles too! The more you read, the more money I earn. So far $1.08! haha

Essays: Saying goodbye

Any suggestions?

And three months later, I reappear. That seems to be the typical pattern around here. I just wish that I actually could disappear for three months at a time. The sad truth is that I have been here all along; I just haven't had anything to say. I started writing a post a couple months ago, but gave up and saved it as a draft. About a month later, I came back to it, wrote a bit more, but then gave up again. It's still there, sitting as a draft, but I don't now how to finish it. That also seems to be the typical pattern around here. I work toward something, and then I just let it go.

I've noticed that more and more often I'm forgetting things. I forget what I'm doing or the things I wanted to do. I forget to write emails and make phone calls. I forget to deposit money and pay bills. I forget that I've been wearing the same shirt since yesterday. I forget to brush my hair. I'm becoming a senile old woman and I'm still 71 days shy of my 23rd birthday.

I'm not creative anymore. I can't write. I can't bring myself to create anything new. I can't think. It's like my creativity has left my body. I don't know when it's going to come back, but I desperately wish it would. I want to be able to create something new. I want to create and sell and make some money. I want a hobby again. But every time I indulge in something that used to be a hobby, I feel guilty about it. Like I shouldn't be doing it. I shouldn't be reading; I shouldn't be writing. Aren't there more important things that I should be doing? Like finding a job?

Oh, I'm trying, but nothing has happened yet. I'm beginning to think that my years-old joke is actually true: I'm terminally unhireable. For whatever reason. No one wants me to work for them. There's something about me that employers don't like. I haven't quite figured out what it is though. I've had interviews, but they always end up with the same shit: "We agree that you are very qualifed, and we would like you to work here... but we're not able to offer you a position at this time" or something like that. You can't offer me a position? Then why the fuck did you waste your time interviewing me, huh? Someone needs to give me a job before I do something drastic.

I think another big part of the problem is that I'm in Jersey. I hate Jersey. I always have. If I could do college over again, I probably wouldn't pick Seton Hall. It sucks because I wouldn't have met the great people that I met, but maybe I'd actually have a job now. Or maybe I wouldn't have student loans. Or maybe I would be happy and things would have just turned out differently. I wish I lived in Charlotte. I want to move back almost as much as I want my creativity back. I want things to be the same as they were before, but I know that's not realistic.

I miss everyone from my previous life. There are some great people in the one I have now, but it's the life I don't want, not the people. I want my old one back, and all the people that come with it. I want to go on a vacation, but my bank account and unemployment status are seeing to it that I can't. I just want things to be different. I think the reason that I've been living in my new apartment/house for 2 months already but still haven't unpacked all my stuff is that I wish I wasn't here. I don't know what to do anymore.

And the Writing Continues!

Wow, I haven't written here in a long time. But apparently I've been writing elsewhere, haha. Yeah, I've been adding to my account over there at Helium.com. I wrote another one yesterday. It's currently #55 out of 223. Yesterday it was 43. I don't know what's going on. I thought it was pretty good, haha. Oh well, maybe in time people will come to their senses.

But meanwhile, you can judge for yourself!

What is your favorite band and why?

Enjoy! (or you can just create traffic to my page, haha)

Write on!

As you may or may not have noticed, I've been posting links to various articles around myspace and facebook. I hope you've been reading them... especially since I wrote them, haha.

That's right! I have been writing articles for a website. It's really more of an online portfolio than a blog or anything like that, but the point of the website is to attract attention to my work (perhaps even from publishers and potential employers!). That's what people around the site are saying. One guy even said that he got a job offer because of the work he had in his online portfolio. Thus, I have begun to write.

If you think you'd be interested in doing it too, let me know and I'll send you an invite link!

Oh yeah, and I do get paid, but it's not that much money. I pretty much just get some ad revenue. Nothing big. So far I've earned $0.01! Hahaha. So you should go read my articles and maybe click on links to make them think you're interested... that way I can get more money, haha.

And if you know anyone who needs some writing done... maybe direct them to my stuff! :)

Thanks and enjoy!

My 'About Me' page
1) The Island on the TV series Lost
2) Songs that pump you up in the gym
3) TV series with the best finales
4) Guide to the characters of The Office

The Worlds of Others

There's nothing more enjoyable to me than being able to lose myself in a narrative, whether in print or film. I love meeting characters and learning their troubles and being with them as they try to find their way out. Now, I've seen countless movies and television shows. Some are better at creating an escape for me than others, but there's nothing like realizing you're having a physical reaction to something someone else has created.

I've mentioned this kind of empathy before, but there is something astonishing about someone creating a fictional character who experiences something that instills you in the same emotion, albeit perhaps a little diluted, they are feeling.

This is nothing knew. We've all seen sad movies that make us cry, horror films that make us scared, and comedies that make us laugh. But I saw a movie last night that had a scene that renewed my faith in screenwriters and made me realize film writing is a fucking art form.


If you have never seen The Last King of Scotland, you should really consider renting it. It's an entertaining story of a young Scotsman who leaves his home to lend his medical help to the a small village in Uganda. While there he "saves" the new President's life and is hired as his personal physician. For some strange reason, the fact that he is his doctor automatically makes him his "closest advisor" as well. Anyway, long story short (and to maybe ruin the ending... about which I'm sorry)... things don't quite work out the way the Scotsman had planned, and he has to flee the country. For the last 20-30ish minutes, he tries to escape death and the scary scary President Amin (a.k.a. Forrest "I Never Wanna Get On His Bad Side Either" Whitaker).

Watching this scene, my heart was racing. Was he going to get away? What if they find out he escaped? What if they kill more people? What if they catch him and try to kill him (again)? WTF am I going to do if that happens?

I know that it is just a movie and nothing was going to happen to me for watching it, but that scene creates such great tension, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't breathe; I was on the verge of panic. Those final flashback moments of the movie were when I could finally breathe again and everything was OK. Before that, I was being held prisoner just like the doctor. The story, the writer made me part of it. The writing for that scene had been intense. THAT is the kind of writing that makes me forget about my own life and become trapped in the world of others.

Whether fiction or not, being able to feel the same emotion is the only way to truly understand someone else. And the writers who can successfully pull this off are masters of character, of people. And these scenes should be noted by us all. Because knowing people is the best way, the only way to really exist (and maybe make a difference) in this world.


Sorry if this was kind of heavy, but you know how it is sometimes...

Will Work for Food... and a Reasonable Salary

Damn, it has been so long since I've written anything here. The last thing I wrote wasn't even a real post. It was a post telling you to check out another post on another blog. I guess I haven't really been taking time to stop and think about my life. At least not long enough or in convenient enough places to put any words down into this word document.

I'm about to turn into an unemployed twenty-something college graduate, and I have no idea what I'm going to do. Unfortunately, the procrastinator in me is telling me that it's fine... I'll be able to find something... don't worry so much. But then the anal-retentive worrier in me is panicking. I, of course, have been siding mostly with the procrastinator. It's what I do best.

I have to find a job. I have been looking, but I haven't really applied anywhere. In my industry, I can pretty much work from anywhere. This means that I can pretty much take any job I find or am offered. Problem is, I'm afraid to apply to just any job because I'm afraid of where I will be living. I don't want to live in fucking Idaho. I don't really want to live in the Midwest. I've been considering this, and I think that if I lived in the middle of the country I would go crazy. The only logical explanation I can think of is that I would fee claustrophobic.

I know what you're thinking. How is that logical? Well, if I live on a coast, East or West, then at least I have the ocean to escape to. If I lived in a landlocked state, then I'd have only more land to escape to. I know that sounds kind of silly, but it's significant to me. I want to stay on the East coast, but if I find a good job that's going to pay me an assload of money, then I will move to the West. I don't know. I'd rather stay over here.

But still, where will I live. I suppose I should have a job before I get an apartment as the little money I have will probably go fast. But what job am I going to have? Where is my job going to be? Should I move to a place I want to live, or try to find a job somewhere first? There are so many opportunities in NYC, but it's so expensive to live around here. I would be so comfortable living in Charlotte, but where would I work? Hell, I'll move to Georgia... but what will I do?

Sometimes the amount of logistics I have to contemplate make me crazy. I don't know what to do with myself anymore.

Any suggestions?

Top 10 Albums Posted!

Dear Faithful Readers,

Every year I compile my list of the top 10 albums I have purchased or otherwise aquired over the past year. And it is my pleasure to announce that my Top 10 (Purchased or Otherwise Acquired) Albums of 2007 is up on Play Your Stereo Loud.

I'm sorry it's long, but hopefully you'll read it, agree/disagree with it and maybe discuss it there. And maybe, just maybe you'll be enticed to try out some music for yourself.

Happy reading!

Love,
Christina

Secrets of Others...

I know I haven't updated in a long time, and I know I'm due for one (and it may be long), but I don't feel like writing one. Instead I share with you a postcard I just saw on PostSecret.com. Occasionally I'll find one that I identify with, or one that just has so much emotion I feel like crying. But I just found one so much more emotional than any other secret I remember seeing on this site or in the books. It's beautiful and devestating, and almost made me vomit with dispair. I want to cry:

I need a song, stat!

You ever have those days when something just doesn't seem to fit correctly? I'm not talking about clothes or anything like that. I'm talking about things that you love, but for some reason, on any particular day, just don't seem to fit mentally.

Perhaps you are a little lost. I will explain: I listen to music everyday. I have it. It's almost a biological need... like food or water or shelter. I need it, in some form, to survive. Today, I especially needed it. No real reason in particular... it just felt like my brain needed it. This sounds weird, but that's what it feels like.

However, my dilemma is that no matter what music I tried, nothing seemed to fit. Nothing satiated my desire for musical sounds and rhythms. I scrolled through all the music on my iPod, desperately trying different things, hoping one of them would stick. Coldplay. Damien Rice. Dead or Alive. Death Cab for Cutie. Duncan Sheik. Elton John. Genesis. Jane's Addiction. Madness. Mazzy Star. Modest Mouse. New Order. Ok Go. I tried them all. Even Paul Simon's "Kodachrome" gave me no relief. I thought Plain White T's "Hey There, Delilah" was going to work, but it didn't.

My God, what was I going to do?? Then, for shits and giggled, I put on a song I don't listen to often. It's a fun song, and I enjoy it... I just don't typically choose to listen to it that often. But of course, this is the song that finally worked. This is the song that finally released the anxiety and pressure building up in my head.

What was that song you ask?

You asked for it (I dare you not to smile):


What's wrong with me? Hahaha...

Where is Kyle?

Dear Faithful Readers,

Hello! And Welcome back to my blog. I haven't updated in a few weeks, but rest assured, I am still here. Unfortunately, I only seem to be able to stop by periodically.

This semester has been pretty crazy. Lots of crap going on. Lots of papers getting written. Mid-terms and such. Luckily there are only a few weeks left of the semester, which is actually pretty scary. That means there are only a couple more months before I have to get started on my life in the "real world."

But until then, I just have to sit back, relax, and remember that I'm still in college. That said, I've been doing a lot of procrastinating. Two weeks ago I became obsessed with missing 24-year-old Kyle Fleischmann. He went missing Nov. 9, 2007 around 2 or 3 am from the Buckhead Saloon in uptown Charlotte, NC. Police and volunteers have been searching the area since then, but there has been no sign of him (that I'm aware of). I've slacked off a little in my following of the story, but there haven't really been any new developments. But if you have any information please contact Crime Stoppers at 704.334.1600.

I feel strangely drawn to the whole case, as if I feel some responsibility to help find him. When they had the sweep a couple weekends ago, I was sad that I wasn't going to be in Charlotte to help. I don't know why, but I feel like I need to help. But I don't know how I can do that from here other than to let my readers (all 2 of them) know.


I don't know. In other news, I went shopping on Black Friday. It was kinda cool. There were so many people there. Kinda like this:
Only there were many, many more people, and we were organized into a line. There had to be like 1,000 people in front of me, and I got there at 4:15am! And the store opened at 5am! I still got what I wanted though.

The Office, Season 1: $8.99
The Office, Season 2: $12.99

and a few other movies. It's all pretty sweet, haha. They're my Christmas present to myself. I think I'll like them.

Other than that, there's not much going on in my world. How was your day?

Song Headache (a real one this time, haha)

The mind is amazing thing. One of the wonders of the mind is the random appearance of a song.

Why does a song, a song we haven't thought of in years, a song we learned the words to years ago, suddenly pop into our heads, unannounced?

Why, when I was doing laundry earlier, did a song we used to sing in elementary school suddenly spring into my head? When I was in second grade or something like that, we used to have assemblies about imagination and I don't even remember what. It was held in the gym/multi-purpose room. We would "fly" on our "magic carpets" (a.k.a. sitting on a carpet square) to far off lands and learn valuable cultural and imaginative lessons. Our gym teacher (Ms. Clarkson?) and our art teacher (Mrs. Rutherford?) would lead us in a song before every "flight."

I was 7 years old. And I still remember all of the words.

Come take a ride on the magic carpet
Come exploring with me
We'll see the sights from the highest mountains
To the lowest depths of the sea
So many miracles
So much to learn
So many things to see and to do
I don't think that anything could be more fun
Than seeing them and doing them with you!
So come take a ride on the magic carpet
A truly miraculous, magic carpet!
Come exploring with me!


Hahaha, some of the things I remember are so bizarre. :)

November Blues

So, I realize that it's been like a month. I'm really bad at updating this thing. It's really a shame. I could update this more frequently, but this semester has been a total energy and time eater. I have no idea how it's already November. October came and went, and I barely remember it. And where the hell did September go? I've been trying to take like one day at a time, but they're still slipping away. I'm not an alcoholic or anything, but I figured if I can go one day without breaking down (which doesn't happen that often), then I can get through this stress and I can make it out alive.

I've realized that's what I really want. I just want to make it out of college alive.

It's my last year. This should be fun, but all I feel is depressed and stressed out. There are a million things I have to do before I go. Also, I have recently realized (and blogged about over the summer), I don't think I'm ready to enter the real world. The prospect of having to get an apartment and get a job and pay for my own health insurance and bills scares me to freaking death. I've desperately wanted all this for the past four years, but now that it's imminent, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself.

Also, I think my parents may move. This is a BIG deal. No, it's not really that big a deal, but my parents have lived in the same house since I was 4 (minus the year or so we lived in the apartment). We lived there when I started school, and it's always been the home I've gone to when on break from college. I'd say like 90% of my childhood memories are at that house, and now they may be moving.


View Larger Map

My dad may be getting a job in Raleigh. We have to wait and see, but if he does, that's a 3 hour commute, and that ain't happening. So they'd have to move. Which means that my permanent address is going to change (though i'm going to have to get one of my own soon anyway). So now when I go "home" I'm going to be 3 hours from my friends and my memories. And it's funny that in the midst of being afraid of being away from friends and memories... my brain also found it necessary to note how far I'd be from Manifest... I <3 Manifest...

There's something wrong with me...

An Update? For Realz? For Realz.

I know I haven't really been writing about me in the past few weeks. I haven't really had any thing to write about. I mean, I always have something I can write about, but there were no complete or coherent thoughts. There was nothing that I could sit still long enough to write about.

Something reminded me of the blog I used to have a long time ago over at LiveJournal. So I read through some of the most recent entries (and when I say recent, I mean like Fall of 2005). Some of them were pretty interesting. Back then I was less concerned with brevity and impressing people than I feel I am now. I mean, if you look at some of the entries on this blog, I'm not too damn interested in being brief either, but it almost feels like I was so free back then.

I don't know why I've stopped. I guess I'm afraid of being candid again. As some of you may know (though most of you probably don't) I found me a new boyfriend. That's right. I have a boyfriend again for the first time in 5 years. His name is Chad and he's good people. He's smart and caring and makes me smile. Like I said, he's good people. That's really all the information I'm going to reveal at this time, but that should suffice, haha.

Besides that, I've got school going for me. Got the Senior Seminar paper that I have to start researching and writing soon. On top of a paper for my Contemporary Fiction class. On top of a paper for my Music of America class. I feel pretty optimistic, though. I can swing it.

Though, I really should be doing reading for Senior Seminar instead of updating, but whatever.

Other than that, there's really not a whole lot going on. I mean, it's day-to-day, pretty action-packed. I don't really have a lot of free time. I really, honestly just want to graduate and get a job, but who knows. Grad school still looms over my head. I haven't decided what to do with that one yet.

I'll figure something out.

Until next time,
Christina<3

Part 2: God Gets a Lawyer

Wow, I didn't think this would happen. But there have been developments in the lawsuit against God.

Looks like God found Himself a lawyer who has responded in His defense. The problems He was accused of, God's lawyer says, is the fault of the people for not acknowledging signs of impending doom. I wonder what's going to happen next...

Click here for the whole story.

The Most Amusing

Okay, I know it's kind of boring when I just post news stories, but this has got to be one of the most amusing stories I've read in a really really really long time.

A Nebraska state senator sued God last week. Yes, that's right: he sued God. Sen. Ernie Chambers has accused God of causing "widespread death, destruction, and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants." The Almighty is also alliterationally accused of causing "fearsome floods... horrendous hurricanes, [and] terrifying tornadoes."

The senator, apparently, was trying to prove his point that anyone can bring a lawsuit against anyone, and that the whole thing is getting a little out of hand, as we now have to deal with frivolous lawsuits left and right. Awesome idea. Really.

Click here for the whole ridiculous story. (note: the picture is especially ironic. I love it.)

Amusing News #2

Okay so here are a couple more news stories that I found amusing in some way or another. Honestly, I think I just like trying to come up with clever tag-lines, haha. Enjoy!



O.J. Simpson a suspect... maybe this time...


One sausage is enough


An Un-sticky situation ... har har... this is actually pretty cool.