Bon Bons des Pommes

ends/beginnings

2009-01-01T22:32:00.000-08:00

A belated Merry Christmas, and a Hippitty Happitty New Year to you too.

If I could sum up 2008 in one word, I would. I can't, so I'll do something else.

My favorite Book of 2008: The Book of Lost Things, John Connelly.

Okay, this book came out in 2006, but I didn't read in until 2008, so it's okay. Honestly, if you are a lover of anything, read this book. I adore it. I feel like I am a better person, just for reading it.

My Favorite Album of 2008: Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes.

I can't deny it, I want to find a bearded man on a mountain in the woods who plays a banjo and fishes every day. I don't necessarily want to marry that man, just find him. The voice, the melodies, the harmonies, the twang, the plucks, the strums, the album cover, the natural reverberations, this album is my own personal heaven.

My Favorite TV Show of 2009: Pushing Daisies.

This show has been cancelled. This makes me sad. This makes me angry. But, oh well. At least I can buy it on DVD and drool over Chuck's amazing clothes and Ned's sad blue eyes. Cute clothes, morbidity, pies...need I say more? I love it.

My favorite Movie of 2008: Kung Fu Panda

I had to think about this one for a while. I don't think it's the best movie of 2008, but it was my favorite. I don't have a real explanation, other than "I liked it."

So, there you have it.

Now go read a book and have dreams about fairies and wolves you fine people!

New

2008-09-29T23:39:00.000-07:00

New Favorite Song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lobwr6pBbmU

New Favorite Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw3Y84zXLwg

New Favorite Instrument: Pikasso.

New Favorite Starbucks Drink: Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate.

New Favorite Horrible Name for a Girl: Gwawr.

New Guilty Pleasure: NCIS

New Favorite Deli Sandwich: turkey, prosciutto, swiss cheese, avocado, wheat bread.

New Favorite Person to hate (besides Sarah Palin): Lady Gaga.

New Favorite Person to love: Robin Pecknold.

New Favorite Color: bright plaid.

Bunnies

2008-09-16T21:34:00.000-07:00

please visit: http://www.angryalien.com/ for your own good. :)

here are some picketies!

STACKS

2008-09-12T23:49:00.000-07:00

I cleaned my room today.
I found stacks of stacks.
I don't know why I am so stacky.
Anyways, here is a glimpse into my world.

Summer is almost over, and daily I feel less and less suffocated by heat and heavy valley air.
I am excited for December.
In December I get a niece and a diploma. (finally).
Until then, I still have a lot of exciting days ahead.
Halloween, Thanksgiving, the first day of Fall, cooler weather...
I can't wait to wake up and feel the crunch of frozen grass beneath my feet,
and wear sweaters and scarves and boots and hats.
Okay, I'm drifting off now, better get some sleep. :)

Thoughts of Love

2008-08-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

Love has been on my mind lately.
Not the noun, but the verb, the action of love, the choice.
Pure Logic would lead me to the conclusion that love is pointless,
and hurtful...
but I choose to go on loving anyways.
I've discovered that love isn't something you find, but something you create.
You can't chase after love, you have to make it happen where you are.

Love as a noun:

"But Love is such a Mystery
I cannot find it out:
For when I think I'm best reslov'd,
I then am in most doubt."
- Sir John Suckling

Love as a verb:

"Better to sit at the waters' birth,
than a sea of waves to win;
To live in the love that floweth forth,
Than the love that cometh in."
- George MacDonald

My dog, Merlin, who I love :)

New York, NY

2008-08-12T16:34:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Indianapolis on Tues Aug 5 at 9:55pm.
Precisely thirteen hours later we started a 12 hour drive to Washington DC.
About 44 hours after that we drove to New York.
We stayed there for two nights in an amazing hotel.
Then we took an insane drive back to DC, slept for six hours and drove back to Indianapolis, and I left the following morning.
Sounds boring when I put it that way.
I will let the following pictures (which are out of order) help me reconstruct the week more creatively.

Me and Emily went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural Science. Holy Wow. We dorked out over bugs and gems and dinasour bones. We saw the hope diamond, which is not worth anything to me. I thought it looked like a trinket out of a quarter machine. The following picture however...

This gem weighed about 11 pounds. It's a topaz from brazil, I think. I loved it.

This is a picture I took in Central Park. It was a beautiful day, despite me feet hurting and new york people driving me nuts.

Emily took this picture. We were at some trendy club in the "meat packing" district.
Seriously, it's a slaughter house neigborhood by day, and an overpriced club scene by night. It's a meat market any time of day. We danced to this "house" music that didn't sound the the "house" music I'm used to. I liked it.

We took this picture for my brother Jimmy. It's pretty self explanitory. It was a restaurant just a block from our hotel. The quote says "put some south in yo mouth" which I thought was hilarious.

This was taken at the Rocket Bar in DC. You can't really tell, but we are in the entrance and there was this big shaking robot that lit up hanging from the ceiling. I loved it. It had a skee ball machine, and that was really exciting to me. We met some boys that went to some nearby college that described themselves by stating which schools they had attended. Lame. DC was a fun place, but I couldn't live there.

This was the inside of Emily's apartment in Indianapolis. I loved the view from the window. In the upper right hand corner is her halloween costume, (a tea cup). I loved it.

We spent much of our time driving. This picture was taken soon after we entered Maryland from West Virginia. The views were spectacular. As were...

...the towns. This town was chock full of hillbillies. I really liked this church though, so I had to take a picture. The town was called "Cumberland" and I called it "Cucumberland" because I'm so freaking clever. We stopped there to eat.

I'm too tired to go on. Perhaps I will make another post to continue my unorganized retelling of my adventures on the east side of our nation. Until then...

Peace it out.
Cynthia

Queen of Leaves

2008-08-04T18:30:00.000-07:00

I'm obsessed with the forest.

I wish I lived in one.

I live in a hot sweaty polluted valley.

I wish I lived in a forest by the ocean.

Someday.

I leave for Indiana/DC/NY tomorrow.

I should have some blogging material when I get back:)

love, cynthia

Pictures tell the story.

2008-05-22T17:52:00.001-07:00

My family fostered these kittens. Two of them have gotten adopted, now we just have the black one left, who needs to gain some weight. They were stinky, but SO much fun.

Our House got broken into. This is a picture of the sliding door that connects the Master Bedroom with the back yard. They used a chunk of flagstone to break in. I came home while "they" were in the house still, and they ran off. We were relatively lucky, but grrrr still.

These flowers off of our Passion Fruit Vine in the back yard provide me with endless inspiration. I will really be surprised if I don't start writing sci-fi sometime soon. :)

Jonah Bologna and Mema. What can I say, he smiles for his Aunt Cynthia

My friends from Paso Robles/ San Luis Obispo came and played a show and let me play with them, as impractical as it was. I love them for it. Well, I love them anyways but...eh. As you can see, I was feeling happy, and they couldn't wait to get home.

My cousins from Montana, (2 of the 4 pictured here), visited. I love kids.

Jonah plays with Merlin. It's really cute.

Merlin is King of the 2ft. tall rock! Watch out, he'll turn you into a squirrel just to teach you a lesson! :)

So, I've been busy as a bee.

I've pretty much been assigned to opening shifts at my work, without my consent.
Multiple 4am mornings do not one happy Cynthia make.
I need a vacation...but, on to the fun stuff!

Family is great. I don't know how I lived away from them for 5 years. What a ninny muffin I was.
Brunches, Teas, Family Birthday Dinners, Holidays, and the nightly chill time in front of the tube is equally treasured. I have truly discovered the best friends are family. At least in my case, this is true.

I am in love with my backyard right now. We've got flowers coming out of every nook and cranny, it's insane. To see pictures I took of les fleurs, go to www.flickr.com/photos/ohdeeryme.

I am learning more and more this year that I need to reconnect with art. It really is the only thing besides friends and family that motivates me. I've always wanted to write and illustrate Children's Books. I've always wanted to write a novel. I've always wanted to record a solo album. I've always wanted to create an art school/museum dedicated to children. I really should stop WANTING to do these things and start DOING them. Who knows, maybe it will lead somewhere. I need to take the risk, I think.

So, here is some childish food for thought.

In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis, Eustace is a pain in the neck boy who "liked animals, especially beetles, if they were dead and pinned on a card." Among other things he liked to bully his "friends" and blamed them for every bad thing that happened.
He was feeling especially sorry for himself when "he had turned into a dragon while he was sleeping. Sleeping on a Dragon's hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart, he had become a dragon himself."

It's a children's story, but that small vignette hit me like a brick wall.

Lately I have been really frustrated at work, with my life, with everything. I will spare details, but I've basically turned into a walking disappointment. Not a disappointment to anyone, but myself. So, as us humanoids usually do, I started pitying myself. I started blaming my icky feelings on things that I have no control over. I can't control my work schedule (apparently), and I can't control the new management at my store. I can't control Sac State's budget cuts, and I have no choice whether or not the classes I needed got cancelled. I was holding bitterness in my heart, and in the process, I turned into a cold, bitter, complain-y person. Go Figure.

Why is it that we have to see the mess in another room before we recognize the clutter in our own?

So, thank you Clive Staples Lewis, for once again reminding me, post mortem, to be a good person.

Baby in the Window!

2008-03-30T10:17:00.000-07:00

Apparently this looks a lot like a Horror Movie Poster, I just thought it was a cool picture.

This one, Papa likes

I wish you could see him shaking this toy around, so cute.

While crawling, Jonah stops randomly, and gives these inquisitive looks.

I will never get sick of Jonah pictures, so I hope you guys don't either!

Jonah Balogna

2008-03-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

warning: baby talk. bunny wunny baby waby sweet cheeked little angel.

Here Jonah ponders the effects of economic stimulus payments on his ability to become a pirate.

Tagged?

2008-03-04T18:59:00.000-08:00

I was tagged...

10 years ago:
I was in eighth grade. 13 years old. Not so much fun. My best friend had just moved away, my brother was leaving to go to college. I was lonely, insecure and shy. Sad. I hope nobody asks me this again for a few more years. :)

Things on my to-do list today:
It's late in the day...so...
Edit some pictures.
Help make dinner with my dad.
Watch some TV, get starbucks?
sleep.

What would I do if I suddenly became a Billionaire?
I would thoroughly flip out. Then I would buy myself a bunch of really awesome clothes, handbags and shoes. I would start up a business: A bakery, magazine, or cafe/venue)

I'm sure I'd give a whole bunch of it to a whole bunch of charities. I'd probably seek advice for this.

Three of my bad habits:
1. Saying negative things about myself as a joke.
2. "picking" at everything and anything.
3. ignoring phone calls.

Five jobs I have had:
1. Dishwasher (Al's)
2. Waitress (Al's)
3. Hostess (The Hangar)
4. Store Manager (CA Coast Candy Co)
5. Barista (Starbucks)

Five things people don't know about me:
1. I am surprisingly talented in the arts. I draw, paint, play piano/guitar, sing, write, and ...create!
2. I am really good at crosswords and sudoku.
3. I am an expert candy maker. You name it, I make it.
4. I am a slave to style. Nothing makes me happier than a Marc Jacobs handbag.
5. I study Mythology, Folklore, and Fairytales for fun.

Now I'll tag Demetri

A Late Valentine

2008-02-19T20:33:00.000-08:00

I mostly think of Edgar Allan Poe as a morbid writer, but I rediscovered some of his poetry. This is my favorite:

To F____S S. O_____D

Thou wouldst be loved---then let thy heart
From it's present pathway part not!

Being every thing which now thou art,

Be nothing which thou art not.

So with the world thy gentle ways,

Thy grace, thy more than beauty,

Shall be an endless theme of praise

And love---a simple duty.

-Edgar Allan Poe.

I took a picture of these pretty flowers that fell off of their stems.

This is the ceiling of the Morrocan restaurant I went to for Emma's bachelorette party. There were crazy cool lights.

This is me being sad and lonely on Valentine's day. So emo.

This is me being weird, which is normal.

New/Change/Different/Altered/Morph/Forward

2008-02-05T17:44:00.000-08:00

I like this picture because I feel like it really looks like me. It has some of my favorite colors: mustards and olive greens and a pop of purple.

Reaquainting with old friends is seriously amazing. I love seeing what people are up to. It's the ultimate before and after. It's uplifting to realize that the afters almost always seem better than the befores. If the trend stays true, my life should be on the upward slope, and I should expect great things from myself and others. In this picture Chris and Tracy pose for my camera. Don't they look like genuinely happy people?! I'm excited to hang out with them some more.

I like this picture because there is a prop in it. Holding a guitar will automatically make one look ten times as cool. Demetri went from slightly sissy to downright spiffy in seconds flat. Tracy looks like she's posing for Covergirl.

Demetri has a seriously irritated look on his face. (By the way, this is a shout out. "Demetri, you are so cool! I love the blog!") I'm wondering what is irritating him so much. Is it the creepy guy that kept trying to hug Sundeep? Is it me forcing him to hold a pose when he's trying to call someone? Is life just too much? Maybe he just has a stomach ache.

Look at that smile, more sparkle than a Miss America contest.

Tracy, Sundeep and Melissa have posing down pat.

These pictures were all taken at Pine Cove on Saterday night. (except the first one, which was at Tracy's house). It was fun, we sang some karaoke, threw popcorn at eachother, laughed at the weird people, got creeped out by the creepy people, smiled and took pictures of eachother to fill in the lags.

I feel like this would be a good time to provide links to my various other pages.

My Personal Myspace

My Music Page, and

Old Band's Page

My Flicker Acount, (which is new so don't expect anything for a while).

So there you go, anything you'd ever want to know about me.

love, cynthia

Where are all the Aliens?

2008-01-27T00:45:00.000-08:00

They're at the arcade.

So, here is my newest favo(u)rite quote, but first some background so it makes sense:

The Fermi Paradox: our galaxy holds 100 billion stars, most stars have a life-hospitable planet revolving around it. Where are all the other intelligent life forms? Shouldn't they have found us by now?

The most common solution to the Fermi Paradox: If the aliens are intelligent, they will have created massive weapons and killed themselves off.

So now my quote:

"I suggest a different, even darker solution to Fermi's paradox. Basically, I think the aliens didn't blow themselves up; they just get addicted to computer games. They forget to send radio signals or colonize space because they're too busy with runaway consumerism and virtual-reality narcissism." -Geoffrey Miller

Now, I know what you're thinking... why am I talking about aliens. The answer is: I'm not. I'm talking about my obsession with recreation.

Now, here are some pictures for you:

Oh Crap

Hair

Mask

My Dad's Goldfish

Looking up at our Oak Tree

A grimy deer

Bulb Bud says Hi

Mossy Trees are the Best Trees

Tracy and Demitri pose with the muralized transvestite

Tracy and Katie pose for the internet.

love, cynthia

A Visual Summary of Christmas 07

2007-12-28T19:23:00.000-08:00

My mom, Karen, Emma, Johnathan, Jimmy and I made gingerbread houses. Emma taught us how to melt down hard candies like Jolly Ranchers, and turn them into stainedglass windows. We're thinking of making this a yearly thing at our house, because it was a lot of fun.

I got to catch up with my old friends Bosco, Grant and Jay. I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of us playing "Rock Band". Our band was called "Curly Sideburns" (they named it before I got there). I sang "Creep" and got 100% accuracy on Hard. I was very proud of myself.

This picture pretty much sums up the night, just goofing off, like old times.

Here's Jimmy, playing my electric guitar.

Aunt Cynthia plants one on baby Luke. What a cute kid, with an impressive set of lungs. He got along very well with Jonah, who I didn't get a picture of. It was pretty much the cutest thing of all time.

My cousin Jason playing my brand new acoustic guitar that my brothers got for me. It's pretty sweet, I'm not gonna lie. I've been playing it pretty much non stop since I got it.

Johnathan and Mema Langley looking pretty frightened for some reason.

It was a pretty fantastic Christmas. Lots of fambly, lots of friends, and lots of food. We continued old traditions and started new ones. We sang, we laughed, we cried when necessary, we watched Christmas movies, we opened presents, and we were all sad when we had to go back to work.

This new year is going to be an exciting one.

The Proudest Aunt on the Planet

2007-11-14T23:11:00.000-08:00

Blog Shots are the new Myspace Shots

Aunt Cynthia, you're wearing that outside?!?!

Does this diaper make me look fat?

The Fox and the Grapes

2007-11-12T22:08:00.000-08:00

Sour Grapes

"A hungy fox saw some fine bunches of grapes hanging from a vine that was trained along a high trellis and did his best to reach them by jumping as high as he could into the air. But it was all in vain, for they were just out of reach. So he gave up trying and walked away with an air of dignity and unconcern, remarking, 'I thought those grapes were ripe, but I see now they are quite sour." - Aesop

Now, everyone knows the reality that is: we want what we can't have. It's certainly true, us humans are driven by challenge. The allure of bigger houses, nicer cars, more grandchildren, a brownie with zero calories...there is absolutely no necessity to it all, only the illusion that if we can't have it, it's better.

On rare occasion, the exact opposite happens. That is, we hate what we can't have.

It's amazing that a 7th century man could know exactly how we feel at those moments, and could relate that feeling to us with such a simple story. In this fable about "sour grapes" we can easily see the fox's disillusionment, yet in our own lives, we can fool ourselves into this behavior.
In Junior High I tried out for cheerleading. I didn't make the team. I should have just tried again the next year after more practice, but I decided that I hated cheerleading and wanted nothing to do with it. I thought the grapes were ripe, but then saw they were sour.

This concept is nothing profound, but it opened my eyes to the ways I can decieve myself, and limit myself, for my immature attempts at saving face. How many times have I despised people because they don't like me at first, or they have things that I don't? More importantly, what can I do to stop myself from having a "sour grapes" attitude, and start thinking logically?

Preparation and Celebration

My days have revolved around preparing for big days. Holidays, Wedding, Ceremonies...Finding a job? Does wishing count as preparing?

Since art is the only stabilizer I have, besides God, I have been messing around with leaves and spray paint. Here is the outcome:

It's amazing what you can create with the simplest processes. Nature provides the best tools for creativity.

And this 4 month old butterball is the coolest thing since sliced bread.

Keep it super sweet you wonderful people, Cynthia

From the Beginning

2007-11-10T14:46:00.000-08:00

New blog. Hmm.
I haven't had one of these since my dormyears.
If I remember right, my dad made me delete it, due to the profanity laced through it.
Oh, how time's have changed.
I'm hoping this new blog will be laced with something much more usable, like, intriguing thoughts, or insight into my life.
I most certainly hope it doesn't turn into one of those diary tpye journals,
(i.e. "Well readers, today [insert male name here] got in an argument, I just don't get why he doesn't like my tone when I talk to him, like the other day...").

I'll try to keep stuff about my personal life more general, like "Today was my birthday and I had a great party."

I'm hoping to use this journal to discuss things like music, art, coffee, and other super indie fresh stuff. Like tuxedo vests and skinny jeans with bright shoes, and this one band who is so indie they literally won't play above ground, only in caves and basements. They're called "sixty-two" because that's how many instruments their lead guitarist plays. Cool huh?

On a more serious note...
I hope I can use this as yet another way to bridge the gap and lessen the distance between us people we call friends.

Expect content soon.

Love Cynthia

PS I'm calling it "Bon Bon des Pommes" because that means "Apple Candy" in french and I like apples, candy and french. Because french is the official language of all things uber fresh. Au Revoir.