Shake It

thank god for Garfield Minus Garfield to get my mind off things

currently listening to: Sam Sparro, Black and Gold

oh my god! the Bloc Party new song "Mercury" sounds like shit! geez!

so I have a couple of new favorite obsessions in my life that I would like to sing about. my first obsession is with vintage stores. who knew used clothes could be so exciting, cheap, and fun?! for me the thrill comes from scoring that unique find or look. and because what I wear is always changing on a whim, cheap, trendy clothing is a must. it was only appropriate that I was introduced to vintage goodness on Melrose Avenue, since it has been THE place for me to hang this summer. the stores I discovered include Wasteland, American Vintage, and Crossroads. I'm still on the lookout for good vintage stores, such as Buffalo Exchange and American Rag Cie, so keep a heads up for future posts on adventures to these stores

I guess I'm experiencing yet another major style shift. okay, I'll confess. I used to be into a little store called Abercrombie and Fitch. god. I would spend a lot of money at that store because I thought it was "cool" and "mature." looking back on the trend it was even a bit embarrassing because I would try to own as many different zip ups and t shirts and jeans as possible. yikes. and then I...stopped. I guess the overpriced sweatshirts and the huge ABERCROMBIE letters across the chest just got to me

UPDATE: today Los Angeles and the Southern California area experienced a 5.4 magnitude earthquake (initially reported as a 5.8, downsized to a 5.4). I was in the Pasadena office when I felt it and was like fuck it's an earthquake! all the workers got super giddy because being structural engineers we work a lot with preparing for earthquakes. everyone prairie dogged their cubicle and was like "IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!" it started out with a sharp jolt, followed by a longer, more powerful vibration. immediately I went onto the USGS website, and sure enough, fifty "refresh" clicks later, a huge dot appeared. the news wires went nuts, the phone lines were jammed. I was lucky to send out a quick text to my brother telling him to let my parents know I was okay

it was fairly interesting to see people's reactions. a lot of the coworkers immediately began checking for structural damage. we found one wall panel had been knocked askew, and peered into the building. we discovered the column in the office was not properly seismically braced. hah hah. for some people, this was their first EQ experience, and it definitely unnerved them. they were very excited, nearly hysterical. as I hail from the also earthquake prone Bay Area, I was nonchalant about the EQ. it was pretty exciting and made the day more interesting, as it happened right before lunch. we felt a small aftershock afterwards, which was nice. the most amusing part for me was the countless status updates on facebook: "-- just experienced their first earthquake!" "-- is safe from the earthquake!" "-- felt the earthquake!". holy fuck, it's not that big of a deal. unimpressed

so there's a 1:20 chance that a major earthquake will strike in the next twenty four hours and a 1:100 chance of it happening in the following week. hooray for tectonic stress releases in the form of seismic energy

anyway I'm actually tired from blogging. I'll continue bitching about clothes another time. since you know, that's all I ever talk about anyways

Just Dance

currently listening to: "Just Dance" Lady GaGa. Jermaine Stewart "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off"

it is RIDICULOUSLY HOT in Los Angeles! Southern California is embroiled in a heat wave. temperatures in downtown Los Angeles are above 90 degrees.

meanwhile, bugs are eating me alive. seriously. I woke up one day and found four bites on my leg. the temptation to scratch was unbelievable, but I resisted and dabbed anti-itch cream on them multiple times a day

I've also gotten into the MTV show America's Best Dance Crew. the crews are so sick. last year's winner was this group called Jabbawockeez. the fact that they got their name from the legendary Lewis Carroll poem "Jabberwocky" only makes them even better. I tivo-ed an entire ABDC marathon just so I can watch their performances. hah hah