Every Girl's Best Friend: Barbie

Alright so its been a while since I've updated this atrocious thing of a blog. And I fervently apologize. School work and jobs tend to overwhelm me easily.  Speaking of jobs, I am now a piano teacher, teaching a wonderfully angelic  four year old brat . Honestly, she is a brat. It took me 3 hours to get her SEATED at the piano. Her parents were amazed with the fact I got her at the bench. Wonderful. These past three weeks I have slowly broken down this child's mental defenses with my most advantageous asset: bribery. For every line of a song she learns, I give her a Barbie doll (one of my old ones that I barely used as a child). so far I gave her Scuba Diver Barbie, and Spring Barbie.

However, as I sift through my Barbies each week to decide which plastic doll will be the young girl's reward, I become slightly nostalgic.  As a child , I rarely played with Barbies, and even when I did... it was quite... unorthodox with the manner how I played with them. I never asked my mum to buy me dolls. It was something people just gave it to me because I was a girl. Yet , I clearly remember one Barbie doll that I wanted so badly.

Beautiful, huh? *___*

I was in India for summer vacation, and I was roughly 5 or 6 years old. I was at  a store with my mom, and thats when I saw HER: Indian Barbie. I was so transfixed by her turquoise salwar and her pink scarf and  her beautiful dark hair.
 I had never seen a Barbie so beautiful and unique as that , that I actually wanted one...

La Barbie de Iberia... que bonita!

Perhaps it was my cultural pride, or the fact that this was a Barbie that could actually resemble me. Nevertheless, I pleaded to my mother for her... and I was denied.
"You have so many at home you don't play with! No!"  " But mom.... She's different..."
I must admit, that wasn't the only time, I begged my mom for a Barbie...
In the summer of 2007, we went back to India... and my beloved Barbie was still there. A fifteen year old then, I begged my mother  and was denied again.
And I've come to the conclusion... it wasn't just the Indian Barbie I gravitated to... it was those exotic ethnic Barbies...
When I was at Valencia, Spain, I was captivated by the Spanish Barbie. And of course, my penurious cousin declined my request.
 Even this summer when I saw the Statue of Liberty, at the gift shop, not only they had a Statue of Liberty Barbie, but they had a beautiful Big Ben Barbie, and a chic Eiffel Tower Barbie. Of course, I didn't even bother to ask to buy those  three dolls. I'm an eighteen year old, after all, and perhaps sometimes I should try to restrain my childhood fantasies...

My favorite: Eiffel Tower. Hell, just get me that dress then, if not the Barbie..

 .. or give my old Barbies away,  so I could bring in the new... ;)

Occult Academy

Normally, I'm not a fan of starting brand new animes, especially those that are really modern. I'm all for the the old school Cowboy Bebop  or Ghost in the Shell classics for fear of wasting my time with another Naruto. However, the manga god spoke to me, and as if by divine intervention, I felt drawn to start watching Occult Academy. After watching the first episode, I was transfixed. I fell in love with the ominous yet weird aura it evoked  and the use of the things I love. This anime had everything, creepy mythological creatures, zombies, time travelers, and of course, your main tsundere girl.  Maya Kumashiro  has made it to my list of favorite female characters, which is quite a notable feat in my eyes, considering the fact that I'm a misogynist.

Maya staring at a naked Fumiaki descending from the sky... just watch the show please. 

The male lead, is Fumiaki Uchida, or known as Bunmei, a time traveler who is klutzy, cocky, irresponsible, and is completely idiotically cute.  The animation is beautiful and just mind blowing,just like the plot. Carefully mastered and tying all pieces together,  Occult Academy is a complete success in my arrogant opinion. It touches on so many topics and issues of humanity; deception, lust over love, importance of family, and of course, good vs evil. It's such a good show... that I don't want to belabor you with a mere plot summary. (I'm not being lazy...) Watch it yourself, and believe in the occult.

Maya and Fumiaki. Now she's my kind of girl. 

Robin Hood: Not Just the Guy in Green Tights

This past Tuesday, I hurried over to Best Buy to claim my pre-ordered DVD of Robin Hood (2010) directed by Ridley Scott. I watched it again with the same intent I had when I first saw it in theaters. And again I was blown away with how appropriate the role of Robin Hood fit Russell Crowe, the romantic tensions between the feisty Maid Marion and Robin, and not to mention the historical references.

Russell Crowe as Robin Hood. Awesome right?

 Also, I enjoyed the fact that this movie was not fully CG . It was a nice break to watch real acting without any profound special effects ( except for maybe the arrows... those were bloody brilliant I may add). Other than making me want to take archery lessons and to overthrow the capitalistic nature of the world, this new version of Robin Hood made me reminisce of my past devotions to Robin Hood. As a child, I watched the Disney version countless times and doodled pictures of the foxy outlaw and his animal companions.

Robin Hood ; Disneyfied.

 I've read his stories countless times and each time I marvel his brave and magnanimous nature. To me, I believe Robin Hood is who influenced my sense of thinking. "Robbing to rich to help the poor." Only to me, its more like flipping the entire social pyramid upside down involving radical change... but let's not delve in my ideologies now.

For those of you who are apprehensive to see the new Robin Hood movie, it is worth it; the plot is superb and the action and romance is well crafted. Fair warning though, this movie depicts HOW Robin Hood became an outlaw , so don't expect any thievery. Nevertheless, for the history bard, romantic, or the idiot who just loves the action scenes, this movie is perfect for you. As for me, well I'd love to chat more about good ole' Robin but, I best be on my way, I have some wealthy folk to rob.

Flinging Things at Authority

Last Saturday, I felt extremely mischievous when I saw a spider climbing up my laptop.Rather than brushing it off or setting it free, I , of course, picked it up and threw it at my younger sister.After her ten minutes of shrieking and crying, my sister told on me to my mom. Instead of scolding me, I was alarmed by her response. " Practicing throwing  bizarre things at authority?" This soon began to fester in my mind... I began to wonder the different things thrown at celebrities and notable figures in society.


For instance, there is the shoe throwing Iraqi reporter, Muntadar al-Zaidi, who threw his shoes at former < thank God>  US president, George W. Bush during a press conference. There were mixed reactions to his brave confrontation. Some applauded his protest claiming it was 'courageous' while others denounced it bitterly. While as for comedians and people like me, we just laughed at the whole scenario making fun of Bush.( "Probably the first time he leaned to the left" XD )

Flinging shoes at the President of the U.S. Genius, in my eyes.

One of my favorite incidents is with the homeless man throwing a tomato at Sarah Palin during one of her book signings. Unfortunately or luckily for her, the tomato hit a police officer instead of the charismatic governor. Apparently the man, felt that the tomato was better off thrown at her than consumed.


A very bizarre case of flinging involved a German student who took off his shorts in front of a Hell's Angels clubhouse in Munich and proceeded to hurl a puppy at them as he escaped on a stolen bulldozer. Don't believe me? I have the BBC link right here. And also... poor puppy.. ;___; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10333211

Now that i think of it, it is common to throw things at people. I mean, the Beatles had panties thrown at them. Now I wonder... should become famous... what will be thrown at me?

American Idiots

Everyone has heard  Green Day song " American Idiot" which  criticizes the US Government, and the individuality and sense of the American people. Though it came out in 2004 , in a post 9/11 era, I think it can be applied to the current state of our country.  

American Idiot Album Cover

There are two great divisions of the American people. One part of the population are living in reality; they are aware with what is going on in the country, and though it is not changing rapidly; they acknowledge the fact that President Obama is doing his best. However, there is the other side... the *idiot* side. This is the Tea Partyists and Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. They are the religious right who believe that Barack Obama is enforcing "Islamic Law" on the United States and that he is indeed a Muslim or a terrorist. It's not that  I believe that everyone should be so supportive of the president. Opposition is good too, but there  has to include a supportive backbone to it, such as FACTS! If you think that is insane, listen to Republican Newt Gingrich saying that President Obama is " so out of our comprehension that only if you understand Kenyan anticolonial behavior can you piece him together". Kenyan? Anticolonial? Baffling, right?  It's also interesting to see the Tea Party Slogans that they want to " Take back America" and that they need to "Redeem America's Honor". What do they mean by taking back America? I mean no one took it away from us, at least that I know of.  And redeeming America's honor? How come I didn't hear this during the Bush administration? They claim President Obama is a 'Socialist'. But how? If anything he is a centrist liberal, which many of the Amerians who live in the reality can agree with.

Um... he's a US Citizen... he was elected by the people of America... and its bastards like you who trash this country with your ignorance.

I understand that the Tea Partyers are angry and impatient with the government, however they must understand, by supporting the idiots who caused this mess to begin with  will not solve the problem. A good analogy would be this: a patient is loosing blood in copious amounts. The first doctor treats him with leeches , and hope everything will be better. The patient is now dying and is continuing to loose blood. Then he decides to switch doctors. The new doctor bandages the wounds of the bleeding patient; not curing his illness, but managing to stop the profuse bleeding. Now, because the patient wasn't fully cured, is he supposed to go back to the first doctor who treated him with leeches? I think not.

It is quite pathetic that we see such large influxes of people buying into this conservative and racist propaganda against President Obama. Yes, race is a big factor in this. Why else is it called 'take back America'? They want to return America to it's 'White Power'.  Europeans and other countries laugh at the mass stupidity fomenting in our country. They know that President Obama is doing so much for the country, and  in the end the country is trying to impeach him.

Liberate? You act as if we are living under some dictator. But I agree, we need to liberate ourselves from idiots like you.

We Americans were not always stupid. What happened to the America of 1776? With great thinkers like Thomas Jefferson or George Washington? Or the America of 1863? With great leaders like Abraham Lincoln, who manage to salvage the divided Union? What happened to the America of old; where the public wasn't brainwashed, that people actually thought on their own with out joining the bandwagon?  

Nevertheless, I can't help but do this, when I think of the  current state of our country:

This summarizes it all.

Rafael Nadal - Iberian Tennis God

And Rafael Nadal has done it again. He defeated  Novak Djokovic at the 2010 US Open Men's finals, adding to his collection of championships to nine at the age of 24.  Not to mention, he is the seventh person to complete a Career Grand Slam. Oh, and he's ranked #1 in tennis worldwide, but I figured you'd know that by now. Despite his great success, Nadal still doesn't consider himself Spain's greatest athlete , even though he replaced Spain's greatest tennis player, Manolo Santana.  

"I can't say that I'm the best Spanish sports person of all time because I have no idea. But it's an honor to be considered." -Rafael Nadal

He's athletic, cute, AND modest. Wow. That's what you call good sportsmanship. However, don't be fooled. Nadal le gusta sus trofeos y sus triunfos. =P

Rafael Nadal y su trofeo.

Hitting the Books

So I have amassed a great amount of work to accomplish in many of my subjects. Chem pre-labs, Calculus problems, articles to read for Political Science and the list goes on... I haven't touched my desk the entire summer ; it was immaculate, void of paper or book. However, as soon as I finished my first week of college, it has become this:

The industrious student's workspace

Yeah... that's just the top of the desk. Let's venture the inside:

Scantrons, recipes, Bleach magazine, bank statements, a chocolate catalog.... 

Yup, as random and messy you can get.
Yet, I don't mind studying in such a messy cluttered area, in fact it's not a 'mess' in my eyes. It's just the way I manage to organize myself or... I'm just that lazy. Well, personally, as long as if I study and get good marks in what I do, I don't care how messy my desk would be.
But I'm not THAT messy... there is a lovely stack of books in a neat pile that I haven't touched .... yet.

And yes, I need to study every single one of those books in order to have a fighting chance for medical school. 

Ah... the life of a scholar....