I doubt it.

I am tired of the heat.  And the short sleeves.  And the sweating.

But the warm weather does have it’s benefits.  It helped with entertaining Wildman and his buddy who slept over last night.   The pool water is pretty darn chilly so I turned on the hot tub so the boys could run back and forth between the two.  They had a blast!

Until the cloud-to-cloud lightning began in the distance…  I wasn’t taking my chances and made the boys get out of the water.

After a quick shower the boys indulged in the cupcakes that my mom brought over.

This morning I had to enforce breakfast eating before they could hit the pool again.  You would have thought I was torturing them when I made them wait for me to get dressed before I opened the child safety gate.  The boys were undeterred by the brief rain showers this morning.  Luckily, there was no lightning accompanying the rain.

J came home briefly after dropping my SUV off to get the tires balanced so he jumped in the hot tub with kids.  I’m sure the neighbors appreciated all the ruckus coming from our backyard at 8 AM…

I’m glad Wildman’s friend got to come stay with us last night.  It was a lot of fun.  I feel like we’ve done so much already today and it’s not even noon yet!

Ha. So yesterday was pretty good. Monique and I went to our cousin’s baptism. Which actually was boring and uncomfortable. There something about being in a room of 100 Arabic and not a lick of English spoken that rubs me the wrong way. But, at least we had fun getting all dressed up and taking pictures.

Then, we went to alvaro’s party. Which was awesome. Hah(: first we were just hanging out and talking and stuff. And then, I gave a go at Mexican dancing and I decided that if I am going to marry a Mexican man, I should learn how to dance. Since I can already speak Spanish. Kinda. Sorta. Hah
But then it got late and we got coooold. So we brought like ten blankets in his jumper (yes, he had a jumper at his 18th birthday party) and attempted to spend the night in there. It lasted until like 3, but it was just tooo tooo TOO cold. Brrrrrr.

And his brother Andy is oh so funny. Ha. That was way tooo funny. He made me forget how cold I was and remember I had to pee. And that look he gave Monique (or shall I say Shaniqua) was oh so classic. I will NEVER forget that.

Oh and Alvaro, I’m still angry at you for telling you-know-who that he could you-know-what. Ew. If you knew I would say no, why didn’t you just tell him for me

I’m thinking about going to waterpolo practice tomorrow. But, I’m not really sure about it. Hm :\

Well okay bye.

8th grade

It was the second official day of her ailment. The ailment that had kept her bedridden the previous day.

When she first awoke, Karina swallowed what felt like one hundred sharp blades. Her head throbbed with savage intensity and her arms felt like they could disintegrate at any moment.

Mr. ED wanted to kill her for feeling too sick to fidget, waltz, and shake. Whenever she stood up, the world around her would reel and whirl about in circles. The girl was in no position to stand around her home for hours upon hours, waiting for ED’s permission to take a seat or catch her breath.

She’d had the strength, however, to ignore his orders the day before and even got in some calories despite her sour stomach. The number of legitimate excuses to not reach calorie goals are scarce. Whether one has a sore throat, upset stomach, or broken nose… the food possibilities to get calories in are endless!

Sure, ED’s “you are too sick to eat” excuse will always be a classic, but it sure is a poor one.

Sunday’s breakfast: 1 packet of instant oatmeal cooked in 1/2 c. hemp milk, 1/2 a mashed banana, 4 drops of rose water, 2 egg whites, and 2 tbsp. almond butter. This bowl of oatmeal was perfect for a sensitive throat as it was easy to get down. To make it easier on the stomach, nix the eggs for a flavorful, yet bland, oatmeal concoction!

Although Karina’s stomach felt better, her throat had taken a turn for the worse overnight, so she chose to say no to heated foods. Instead, she took 1 c. of Fage 2% yogurt and topped it with 3/4 c. of Hemp Plus granola, 20g. of Ezekiel Golden Flax cereal, blueberries, maple syrup and sunflower seeds seasoned with pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and nutmeg. She froze it for approx. 30 minutes, and the result was a tasty, frozen breakfast treat.

She decided to surprise her busy, waffle-cooking mother with a new oatmeal recipe just for her! 1 packet of instant oatmeal cooked in 1/2 c. hemp milk, 4 drops of rose water, 2 tbsp. Nutella, 1 sliced banana, and vanilla extract then topped it with 5g. coconut shreds and 2 crushed Mi-Del whole wheat honey grahams. Spiced with nutmeg and cinnamon.

Her mother was impressed and raved that it was the most delicious breakfast she’d ever eaten. A hit!

Victor, Karina’s eccentric older brother, invited her to watch Sleepover in the game room after breakfast. Sleepover was a cheesy, girl-powered  fun fest starring Alexa Vega which brought back memories of her own bygone sleepovers.

Memories of video-making, suicide hotline prank calls (“my father rapes me with stuffed animals!”), and other random acts of mischief returned to her mind. She recalled an occasion when her and a friend ordered pepperoni pizzas to all of their enemies’ homes to get back at them for being such jerks.

While she realized that all of these acts were obnoxious and inappropriate, she also remembered that she had fun. She had fun experimenting with skittles over pizza, her first risqué Halloween costume (home-made denim skirt Playboy bunny), and even her first and last cigarette (she hated it!).

This was all a part of “growing up”, a beautiful experience in life which Karina felt she was missing out on at the moment.

8th grade Halloween party

She had no period, few friends, and had no interest in boys. She threw temper tantrums, was obsessed with Disney classics, and held a grudge against her parents for never giving her an Easy Bake Oven.

It was as if she were a nine year old trapped inside a high school junior’s body. A calorie-obsessed high school junior to be exact.

Karina sighed as the movie credits rolled and pressed the TV’s “off” button.

She had some major ED sabotage to perform.

***************

Karina lay like a fresh corpse on her game room couch, unmoved from the position she was in an hour before. The poor girl was the image of death and decomposition….. and was known for hyperbolic statements (just kidding, I really do feel like crap, though.)

Her weekend had been stressful: 3 hour ballet class on Friday, company and Nutcracker rehearsal from 10-6 on Saturday, illness and more Nutcracker rehearsal on Sunday (she only “marked” the dance). She adored this crazy dancer lifestyle but unsurprisingly felt overwhelmed at times. This was the reason for her usual blogland absences on weekends. She’d never disappear because she didn’t love her blog friends. In fact, she actually felt closer to her blog friends than some of the people she had met through school and what not. <3

For lunch, she prepared a bowl of 3/4 c. quinoa with a 1/2 c. pumpkin, sliced egg plant, 1/4 c. vegan cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes, pumpkin seeds, maple syrup, onions, garlic, and a medley of spices. (full recipe will be posted on the recipe pages under the Lunch & Dinner link)

This meal gave Karina that warm, wholesome feeling she got whenever she ate a delicious, yet nutritious meal. It was possible to nourish both her body and soul with food. She shuddered when she remembered those cold, bitter days spent in New York last Christmas when she was in the cavernous depths of her Eating Disorder.

The thought of consuming just baby food and egg whites for breakfast, and a tuna cup for dinner made her want to cry. She had done her body wrong and felt so,so sorry:

“Dear Body,” she wrote. “I am sorry that I have put you through such turmoil and stress. I should have listened to all of those occasions where you begged me for food in the middle of the night and cried for me to pay attention… and I chose to ignore you.

I am sorry that I treated you so poorly, as though you were something of no value. I expected so much out of you, yet gave you nothing in return. I would work you to exhaustion, lash at you with the leather whip of Anorexia, and order you to carry on.

I am sorry, body. I am so, so, terribly sorry. I promise to never cause you intended harm or damage ever again, and I promise to treat you with the respect and love that you deserve.

Thank you for always being there for me.

Love, Karina.”

***************

Pre-Ballet snack: Cookies & Cream Clif Builders Bar topped with 12 g. almond butter

Yes, Karina was sick, but truly had no choice but to go to class at this pointe (hah! ballet humor!) This Friday would be BTH’s opening night of The Nutcracker and some of the choreography she was a part of still needed to be cleaned up. Dress rehearsal was set for Thursday, and she had two other performances that same Saturday. Not to mention, she was in all three casts for all her roles. This little ballerina was in for a crazy week.

***************

Thanks to rest and a cocktail of antibiotics, Karina did not pass away at ballet class. In fact, she did rather well and was even praised for her pas de bourrée piqué dessous. Not too shabby for a young lady with a fever!

Her dinner consisted of a very burnt hemp bagel toasted with vegetarian salami slices, 2 vegan American cheese slices, a 100 calorie pack of guacamole and a side of spinach and carrots.

Karina thought back on her morning and prior days. She felt almost grateful for her strong indisposition for it gave her no choice but to lie down, take it easy, and rest. As she had discovered in the past, sometimes all it took was one intrepid time to overcome a fear. One time. And thanks to her muscle aches, sore throat and weakness, Karina Pinzon no longer feared the couch. The couch that once took on the form of a beast in her eyes.

Oh, how she loved showing ED who the big kahuna was. After all, she’d always been a bossy girl.

The End.

————————————————

Hello everyone! Both yesterday and today were special days for me as I sat the majority of the time! I never thought I would find myself relaxing again. Now I just have to work on the fidgeting… which I think will be the hardest rule to break. I am, however, going to take the famous “one step at a time” advice. I believe this is a very good guideline to not frighten yourself, yet still continue to make progress.

Anyhow, one of my favorite girls on the planet, Eliza, tagged me for this fun Autumn survey! I love you, beautiful . I want you and Maya to hang in there, I know today was a hard day. <3

1. favorite variety of apple? Gala

2. apples dipped in? Almond or peanut butter! With cinnamon. Mmmm

3. favorite way to enjoy pumpkin? It used to be pumpkin oats… until I had a taste of today’s Pumpkin Quinoa at lunch. Oh my God, it was delicious. The bowl of pumpkin cereal I had on Friday was pretty incredible too. It was inspired by a comment posted on Kashi’s GOLEAN Cereal page by: Julzdanceruns, who happens to be really sweet 1 c. Kashi GOLEAN cooked with 2 egg whites, applesauce, maple syrup and a 1/2 c. of Cascadian Farms winter squash. Once the cereal was cooked, I topped it with cranberries, pumpkin seeds, and cottage cheese. It was then seasoned, of course, with cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice.

4. favorite soup? with crackers or bread? Definitely Amy’s cream of tomato soup… but not just with crackers or bread. It must be accompanied with a grilled cheese sandwich. Yep!

5. do you eat orange foods all year round? Yes! My taste buds always seem to hanker for some orange. You can never keep me away from pumpkin, sweet potatoes, carrots, winter squashes, etc.

6. most used spice in your autumn cooking: Cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice

7. you are baking some homemade bread, what flavor combination of bread would you like to make? “gingerbread with crystallized ginger.or pumpkin bread with cranberries and walnuts. and of course carrot cake” <—- I steal Eliza’s answer

8. favorite autumn vegetables and ways to eat it? Sweet potatoes and butternut squash sprinkled with nutmeg and cinnamon, dipped in almond butter and sometimes a bit of maple syrup. This is heaven!

9. hot chocolate, hot cider, coffee or tea? COFFEEE. Black. I also adore a nice mug of hot chocolate or warm tea with honey.

10. favorite seasonal dessert? Gingerbread and pumpkin pie. Sugar cookies.

11. lets make a fall stew! pick any 6 ingredients to create your one: Lentils, tomatoes, zucchini, butternut squash, tomato paste, peas, and corn. That was actually 7.

12. pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts or almonds to snack on? Salted almonds.

13. popcorn flavor/seasoning? Buttery with a lot of salt. What? I have low blood pressure

14. bowl of hot cereal you have been wanting to try: Mitri’s Vegetarian Taco Salad Oats. They look so delicious and unique.

15. post a link to a recipe that you recently bookmarked: Cranberry Stuffing Recipe by Betty Crocker.

Before I go, I remember someone asked me if I was a vegetarian through comments the other day… I tried to find the comment so that I could acknowledge the person who asked it, but failed. Hopefully you read this, but yes I am a vegetarian! I just made the full and official switch about a month ago and I must say that I am very happy with my new lifestyle

Alright, lovelies. Have a terrific Tuesday tomorrow! And again, I apologize if I don’t comment blogs very much this week… I am reading, however, and keeping everybody in my thoughts. I send hugs & kisses to everybody!

listening to 3OH!3 samples and feeling the cool wind, JSH’s house has such perfect ventilation, right amount of wind and all, eating Quadratini and looking at beautiful things on Abduzeedo. Here’s a recap of yesterday.

Went to school early again to just sit outside the RC because it was still locked and all. Watched a few episodes of Glee to pass the time, I think I became 100x no life ever since I koped all those entertainment. Suddenly a stream of SMSes from everyone going I WILL BE LATE, GOT RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC! Lesson was filled with Mr Dan stories, it’s so sad it was his last lesson ): I would have loved to hear more about NS and everything.

I do not get how there can be disaposable weapons the size of toilet piping the weight of three laptops just LYING AROUND after they are thrown away. And I do not think it’s bimbotic to express this disbelief. (: Halfway through I had to go “toilet” to pass timo my laptop. And while giving SCHQ some Wang Wang I also lost a couple to NKY. I think I only ate 2 packets of my own food thus far. And my seaweed chips are also missing!

Later after lesson I went to find JSH! We went to Ion to eat Xin Wang HK Cafe which absolutely has the most awesome food EVER. I have not eaten anything even MEDIOCRE from there because everything is heavenly awesome. Then we went to MUJI, bought some Pardon trip things and I had cheesecake <3

Thursday night after Inspire dinner I also went Far East and bought a scarf and a bag, and yesterday I ended up buying… eyeliner. haha! I even got some gay free face mask. Which reminds me of our plan to get face masks in Pardon. Bought some alcohol and chips which was promptly finished and we watched ANTM and some funny movie at JSH’s house. But I just fell asleep.

I guess these few days I’ve been getting so little sleep, way too tired to function normally. Doesn’t feel like Saturday now, does it? SPACEBAR tonight.

From up here the city lights burn
Like a thousand miles of fire.

Timo with hairband

Just woke up! Chunkai Yuensin and Jerrold kept snoring in the night, the aircon was switched off and the grossest ringtones kept going off.

yuensin: “I didn’t keep on snoring!”
chunkai: “it wasn’t me!!!”

I guess jerrold just snores ALL THE TIME but we were all pretty sure that chunkai was the one who kept snoring. My theory is that people on the floor just tend to snore. I even woke up to hiss CHUNKAI STOP SNORING but it didn’t work. It was so obvious because when he woke up the snoring magically stopped. Hmm.

I want cake for breakfast. We had 2 awesome cakes yesterday night and I can’t decide which one is nicer so I just think we are damn happy to has cheesecake AAAND chocolate mousse cake. And Maggi Mee.

Groupies!

My present for them (: With our PW shirts

Yesterday before OP we were at Serene Centre. I ate some McMuffin that Bertrand won and gave my entire group some IKEA pandas for a Jiayou! Gift. A bit annoyed because Kumar only give us feedback damn bloody late so there’s so much to be changed. OP itself was fine. The worst part was trying to survive listening to everyone. Oh and I fucked up the documentary link but it’s ok they didn’t kill me. Ha Ha Ha.

I do NOT understand these fellas.

After OP we watched John Tucker must die. But never watch finish since I was transferring for THFFF <3 all the freaking movies and everything was lagging. I have so many chickflicks now.

Haha this is really fun to do to people btw. Turned bertrand and clement’sd bags inside out.

(: End of PW!

Then on the bus Charlene forgot her freaking wallet and none of us had coins so I borrowed 60 cents but didn’t use it cus we got off and went to school but later needed the 60 cents again for silly CJY. Therefore I conclude that fate cannot be escaped. Such as that we met Berclemothy there so waited for them while they discovered their bags turned inside out. And they kept suspecting it was everyone but me and andrea. Heh.

Having fun with everyone and loving life!

BBQ was so exciting cus it’s like THE FIRST TIME I’m so near a BBQ pit. It’s so exciting because everything was damn bloody hot and I didn’t dare to flip the chicken and flip the satay but I MANAGED TO CONQUER MY FEAR. I flipped quite a few in the end. So I am really accomplished. Halfway through someone had the amazing idea to toss ice cubes down everyone’s shirt (i think it was me) and so we did and had some war thing. And the short one who kept snoring (chunkai) KEPT YELLING “Hanqing is a man!”

I resent that but then again I really think they are all wimps! We had some Who Can Put Your Hand In This Box Of Ice The Longest competition and I beat Derek, Binhao, Yuhui, Ethel and Charlene.

Then because it is very conveniently beside the baby pool we threw a lot of people in and the end result was that late on they came into Marg’s house half naked. WTF. and I kena sprayed with water by limhaojie so just heck care liao since I had clothes with me. Oh and there was some damn funny weird game the guys were playing. Like translating all the band names into chinese and guessing. I should compile a list because it’s so amazing.

miao: “oi u can type something” (while eating awesome cake from yesterday)
chunkai: “HANQING IS A MAN”/”HAOJIE IS A FATBOY”

We watched 2 movies but I didn’t see anything because -duh- I’m asleep. Asleep all the way till people START SNORING LIKE A FARM ANIMAL.

chunkai: “YOUR SHIRT IS FREAKING UGLY”
kevin: “YOUR PANTS ARE FREAKING UGLY” (beat)
rick: “YOU ARE FREAKING UGLY” (indignant face)

That’s all. Pancakes for breakfast but I ate cake.

PW IS OVER! That’s all.

If this post is oddly insane it’s cus I was typing it in the wee hours of morning with chunkai playing bejewelled and hollering stuff beside me.

The story of a young man’s search for meaning and direction, AN AMERICAN IN CHINA follows recent college grad David Braddock to China where he finds more than he bargained for.

Filming this coming of age journey was an amazing journey in and of itself, a whirlwind production that included four cities and more than 40 unique locations. The majority of the movie was shot in mainland China. Filming began first in the bustling modern city of Shanghai, and then the production moved to a quaint little village named Jinxi, a place that time hasn’t changed for hundreds of years. Then it was on to the capital city of Beijing where it’s many landmarks: Tianamen Square, The Temple of Heaven, and of course, The Great Wall, were used as elements in David’s story. The movie finished shooting in Los Angeles for one last week, capping 25 whirlwind days of principal photography.

Shooting in China, while providing the filmmakers with many amazing backdrops, was also an incredibly difficult challenge. The nationality mix of cast and crew consisted of American actors who spoke little Chinese, Chinese actors who spoke little English, and a handful of key crew personnel from America who were forced to learn how to communicate however they could with a Chinese crew who spoke absolutely no English at all.

The American actors found the experience a little unnerving at times. “James (David Braddock) had to do scenes with something like thirty different Chinese actors,” director Ron Berrett says. “And most of the time, neither James nor the Chinese actor he was working with really knew what the other was saying. In fact, since I speak only limited Chinese, quite often even I didn’t know if the Chinese actor was getting the lines correctly. I usually just went with my gut feeling, gauging the performances by the emotions that the actors were putting across… and then I would glance at my producer/wife to get her okay before moving on,” Berrett muses.

The American portion of the crew were faced with unique challenges of their own. “Things took a little longer to get done than I’m used to. Actually a lot longer,” says 1st assistant cameraman Paul Gonsoulin. “I’ve been fortunate to work on Desperate Housewives here in Los Angeles for the past couple of years, and the experience of doing an independent movie in China was a drastic change to say the least. It took a little time, but we were able to figure out a workable method of communication. Eric and I learned as many Chinese terms as we could, words like “key light,” and things got better as the shoot progressed. The Chinese guys also tried really hard to learn our American terms and ways of doing things. By the time we left China, I was really, really proud of my camera crew. It was hard to say goodbye, because we had all become so close in the three short weeks we were together.”

Today started out good but became very blah when my friend left. She came over yesterday because we had a half-day at school & then she asked if she could sleepover & she did & we watched Across The Universe. Then we went to sleep & today we ate breakfast then she had to go home. After that I didn’t do too much. I watched some seinfeld episodes then cleaned & watched the movie Rain Man & then inbetween ate lunch & played Kararoke Revolution. All in all I didn’t do anything really exiciting today besides my friend sleeping over last night. So thats it so peace out!

~beautifulballerina15 aka Cassie

Yo Yo Yo Bitches!

Wow. yesterday, I pretty much didn’t blog at all. sorry. I was at a sleepover.

We made cake. pictures will come soon, when I can be arsed to actually upload them and then put them into a post and write about them and all that. hastle. stress. meh.

Grrrr to window cleaners. I’d just got comfortable on me bed and then the fucker knocked on the door. shhhh, just because you’re good looking, doesn’t give you the right to knock on MY door. not when im resting.

jeeeeesh. have some consideration.

its shockingly shocking how clean my room is at the moment. i like it. it feels… well… clean. duh.

OMG! its pretty much a whole mother fucker of a month till paramore. yayayayayaya! so can’t wait! wahoooobles.

its gonna be a night to remember, and then after that, theirs All Time Low on the Kerrang tour, and then You Me At Six, and then, hopefully, P!NK!

wow. plans. cant wait. hopefully ill get some Avril Lavigne, Kids In Glass Houses and Panic! At The Disco in their.

next year, 2010, will be my year. no ifs, no buts, it will be. and thats that.

righty oh, im off, I want pancakes… the nutella kind.

xo.

p.s. sorry about the title… I couldnt think of one, so I just used some lyrics from what im listening to… p!nk – I touch myself…

It’s been quite a while since I last wrote a bog post, (in my defense I’ve been really busy) but I’m posting one now, and in the interest of having it ready to read as soon as possible, and to cut down on length, I’m splitting it into multiple parts. Thanks to everyone who’s been checking back frequently, and I’m sorry that I didn’t put anything up sooner. In the future I’ll try to put up a post at least once a week. But enough pandering and explaining, on to the story!

Our story begins on Saturday, Halloween. I had been invited to a birthday/Halloween party at my friend Maggie’s house and so there I went, with David in tow. Up until about five minutes before the party I had no costume other that my clown mask, but I felt that it wasn’t enough. So, I donned a white shirt and an old pair of jeans and started splattering myself with fake blood, a bottle of which I just happened to have in my room. As it turned out, my costume was not yet finished, but more on that later. When I was satisfied with the effect and my front porch looked like the scene of a knife fight, David and I walked over to the party, which was just across the street.

When we arrived there we found Maggie and her friend Seanna, as well as Scott Buffon, Christine and Erin Saito, Lauren Tiara, Morgan Cook, Zach Macias, Alvaro Marin, and others. We soon discovered that the main source of entertainment was air hockey, and quickly set to playing. Now I’m no expert when it comes to air hockey, but it seems to me that the puck we were using wasn’t quite heavy enough. The basis of this theory is that every second or third hit to the puck caused it to fly off the table and ricochet around the room. At one point I hit it so hard that it flew clear across the room and bounced off of a window, narrowly missing two girls who were getting punch. Luckily no one was seriously injured, however, I believe that almost everyone at the party was hit by the puck at least once, and I, personally, left with very sore knuckles.

Later that night I picked up a fake severed hand and began playing around with it. (Ok, that sounded kind of dirty, but I assure you, I did nothing untoward with the hand.) Anyways, after doing various different things with it (yea I know, but seriously, nothing bad) I found that if I put the hand up my sleeve with the severed wrist hanging out, it appeared that my arm had been hacked off. This was the point in the evening when my costume went from decent to awesome, and it was the part of the evening when we decided to go trick-or-treating.

We walked around in a huge group going from house to house, splitting off into smaller groups and reforming later. I was too lazy to carry a bag for candy, so I just put mine in Scott’s bag. Whenever I got asked about my missing arm I would say something about lumberjacks. People seemed to approve of the costume and story. At one point I noticed that Maggie, Seanna, and Christine were no longer with the main group. At the time, however, I thought nothing of; people had been leaving and rejoining our group thought the night.

I’m not sure how much later it was since I first noticed their absence, but they came running up to the group all in a huff talking about how they had almost just gotten raped. The story was a follows:

They had been walking alone and had gone up to a house, and knocked on the door. There had been no answer, so they walked away and down the street. Just as they were lamenting about the lack of boys in their company to protect them a car pulled up and a man got out. Hey then instructed the girls to come over to him and told them to wait right there while he went and got some candy for them. This being super creeper-ish, they promptly ran away screaming.

Having heard the story repeated a few times, it has become my opinion that the man simply intended to go into his house and get them some candy, having seen them leave his doorstep empty handed. However, I can certainly understand how his intentions were misinterpreted and I don’t fault the girls for running away. As a result of this brush with rape,  Maggie insisted that I say near by for the rest of the night, so as to be able to defend her in the case of another attempted rape, despite my one-armed status. The rest of the trick-or-treating passed without incident other than Maggie’s little cousin desperately trying to give me all of his candy ( I refused).

Later on we split up sleeping. The boys came to my house, and the girls stayed at Maggie’s. We then proceeded to set up Skype (video calling over the computer) between the two houses, only to have me remember that I didn’t have microphone to plug into the computer. After a, half text/half talking with video, conversation it came to light that Maggie had a copy of The Goonies. Scott pushed heavily for watching it, and when it came to light that I had never seen it, it was decided that it had to be watched. Soon all of us were sitting in my living room watching the movie and eating candy, and while I enjoyed watching it, I was unable to hear about 50% of the dialogue due to all the talking that took place among everyone else.

The next morning I was awakened by three girls jumping on top of me on my bed. Having woken me up, they then climbed up to the top bunk (I have a bunk-bed in my room) and woke up Zach, who had been sleeping up there. My mom came in with the girls and began snapping pictures. She prodded me to join the growing number of people on the top bunk, but I declined. It was not that I didn’t want to join them, it was simply that I had woken up with a boner (presumably the result of some dream or another of which I have no recollection), and my leaving the safety of my covers would have made matters quite awkward, especially since the shorts I sleep in are very loose.

After a brief bit of hanging out, and a stress test on the frame of my bunk-bed, people dispersed and I set to the task of making read for the Mr. Warrior competition which was being held the next day. The night before, a text had informed me that my piano player would not be able to play for me, and so I set out to learn a totally new song in just one day.

To be continued…

I’ve been home for two days (yay)

My car is dead..but I have faith that it will be resurrected tomorrow when the roadside assistance people come into my parking garage..ha

I’m hoping Penny doesn’t die on me. I neeeeeedd her (and can’t afford anything better right noww!).

Tomorrow, Drew Smith’s Lonely Choir is playing at Mohawk w/ Wiretree & Tribella. 9PM. Look forward to walking around downtown. Maybe I’ll treat myself to a meal You know…because my car is dead and all (and I can’t get groceries)..

I’ve missed out on a lot of fun Austin parties But here’s one I’m glad I’m in town for! Bleet-up! The Four Seasons one was great, TollyM sure does know how to throw a parrtayyy.

It’ll be so nice to see some of my Austin blogrls Meets new peeps, drinky drinky and partay.

Friday I’m going to see my friends The Gay Blades. Anyone wanna come? We are having the first ever band sleepover here in the new apt. Fun will be had. Good thing I live close enough where we can just stumble back home.

So yes, the Mai schedule resumes.

Here are the specifics about release of this movie.
Pre-Order Date:
10/28/09

Street Date:
11/24/09

Genre:
Drama

Sub Genre:
Romantic

SRP:
$24.98

UPC:
813153010105

Catalog #:
OSD1010

Format:
DVD

Run Time:
89 min

Production Year:
2009

Rating:
PG 13

Screen Format:
16:9 Widescreen

Sound Format:
5.1 Surround

Language:
English

Origin:
USA

Carton Qty:
30

Package Type:
Amaray

BONUS FEATURES:

1.

•Making of An American in China
2.

•Cast Auditions ?Original Artwork
3.

•Production Gallery
4.

•Film Soundtrack Selections

SYNOPSIS

“It’s time I chose a direction and the Far East is as good as any,” shrugs David Braddock (James Snyder, Sheís the Man), exactly the kind of aimlessness that has his parents worried about their newly minted college grad. Pressured to travel to Shanghai on behalf of the troubled family business, the party’s over and David is reluctantly thrust into a country strangely unaltered by the modern world. His translator (popular Chinese actress Fei Fei Sun), a beautiful young girl as directed as he is directionless, attempts to help the struggling David. Problem is no one seems to take him seriously there either! But ñ despite the language barrier, cultural differences, culinary shock and a near international incident – romance blossoms. David returns a changed man, but the family business is in worse jeopardy than before. Determined, David returns to Chinato see things through both professionally and personally. Will this fish-out-of-water finally find his way?

The story of a young man’s search for meaning and direction, AN AMERICAN IN CHINA follows recent college grad David Braddock to China where he finds more than he bargained for.

Filming this coming of age journey was an amazing journey in and of itself, a whirlwind production that included four cities and more than 40 unique locations. The majority of the movie was shot in mainland China. Filming began first in the bustling modern city of Shanghai, and then the production moved to a quaint little village named Jinxi, a place that time hasn’t changed for hundreds of years. Then it was on to the capital city of Beijing where it’s many landmarks: Tianamen Square, The Temple of Heaven, and of course, The Great Wall, were used as elements in David’s story. The movie finished shooting in Los Angeles for one last week, capping 25 whirlwind days of principal photography.

Shooting in China, while providing the filmmakers with many amazing backdrops, was also an incredibly difficult challenge. The nationality mix of cast and crew consisted of American actors who spoke little Chinese, Chinese actors who spoke little English, and a handful of key crew personnel from America who were forced to learn how to communicate however they could with a Chinese crew who spoke absolutely no English at all.

The American actors found the experience a little unnerving at times. “James (David Braddock) had to do scenes with something like thirty different Chinese actors,” director Ron Berrett says. “And most of the time, neither James nor the Chinese actor he was working with really knew what the other was saying. In fact, since I speak only limited Chinese, quite often even I didn’t know if the Chinese actor was getting the lines correctly. I usually just went with my gut feeling, gauging the performances by the emotions that the actors were putting across… and then I would glance at my producer/wife to get her okay before moving on,” Berrett muses.

The American portion of the crew were faced with unique challenges of their own. “Things took a little longer to get done than I’m used to. Actually a lot longer,” says 1st assistant cameraman Paul Gonsoulin. “I’ve been fortunate to work on Desperate Housewives here in Los Angeles for the past couple of years, and the experience of doing an independent movie in China was a drastic change to say the least. It took a little time, but we were able to figure out a workable method of communication. Eric and I learned as many Chinese terms as we could, words like “key light,” and things got better as the shoot progressed. The Chinese guys also tried really hard to learn our American terms and ways of doing things. By the time we left China, I was really, really proud of my camera crew. It was hard to say goodbye, because we had all become so close in the three short weeks we were together.”

AN AMERICAN IN CHINA was a true “east meets west” collaboration between the writer team of Ron Berrett and Wenxin Yuan. The story is loosely based upon Berrett’s first experiences traveling in China, and also on Yuan’s experience of watching a crazy American (Berrett) invade her country.

The first time I flew into Shanghai, I was looking out the plane window trying to catch a glimpse of the city lights below as we descended,” Berrett says. “I didn’t see anything, just blackness, and I actually had the thought – I’m ashamed to admit this now, but I actually thought that maybe there was no electricity in China yet. When we landed I was relieved to find that the reason I couldn’t see any lights from the air was due to the thick clouds and humidity. Then as I was driven through the streets of Shanghai to my hotel – and I’m also ashamed to admit this, I found myself surprised that there were traffic signals, with red for stop and green for go just like back home in America. The next morning I took a walk and came upon the Shanghai Olympic stadium, where I found literally a thousand women flag dancing to traditional Chinese music. It was an amazing sight: beautiful, graceful happy people enjoying a simple yet elegant morning activity. This was in stark contrast to the China I had learned about while growing up in America during the cold war. Most of my life, when I thought of China, I pictured a poor, repressed country: people in San Pan hats plowing rice paddiies behind water buffalo, or multitudes of glum, gray faces trudging slowly forward in green army fatigues, or political prisoners being crushed under the red communist thumb in rat-infested cells,” says Berrett.

“Years later my wife and I were amazed to find that we shared a similar childhood experience even though we grew up on opposite sides of the world and political spectrum. In elementary school I remember a classroom full of children diving under their desks, rehearsing for the possible air-raid that would come from our communist enemies on the other side of the world. I was amazed when Maggie told me that she had the same experience as a child, only she and her classmates crouched under their desks in Beijing to hide from the imperialist American bombers that her country’s leaders were afraid might attack them any day.”

Berrett continues, “the more time I spent in China, the more I realized that while there were a lot differences between my country and Maggie’s, there was much, much more that we had in common. I began to feel the desire to tell people back home that our perception of China was totally out-dated and wrong. I also wanted to tell them about all the amazing and crazy things I had experienced in that great country. Obviously these thoughts were the genesis for the story I would eventually write with Maggie.”

Producer Wenxin (Maggie) Yuan adds “we decided we wanted make a travel film, to sort of take the audience on a trip to present-day China, and not only give them a psuedo-vacation, but also show them that even though there are many differences between our countries and cultures, we all share the same dreams and desires, the same common humanity.”

The producers hope that audiences will find AN AMERICAN IN CHINA an enjoyable journey, one that inspires them to follow the path of their own dreams, no matter where on this big, wide world those paths may lead.

ALICE GRECZYN (Kendra Braddock) plays David’s smart and sexy younger sister, who enjoys washing her car while at the same time torturing her brother’s friend, Sha. Greczyn was born in Walnut Creek, California. As a child she had no idea that she would stumble into the life of an actress. Her goal was to compete as a figure skater. But that all changed when Greczyn was approached by a talent manager in Colorado. She soon signed with a talent agent and her career was set in motion. Roles on TV series such as “Phil of the Future” and “Quintuplets” were followed by others in feature films, including “Sleepover,” “Fat Albert” and “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

I was playing Scrabble on Facebook just now and the first word I managed to come up with was:

Don’t you just love this game!

Right. Moving on.

So I was invited kinda invited myself to Lily’s house to have a sleepover. So I created the whole programme to make sure we don’t stare at each others’ faces and get bored. Here’s a checklist:

1) Get parents’ permission first. (I’m still working on it)

2) Make pancakes together (Reminder: Must not blow up kitchen because parents will not pay for damages)

3) Play with Lily’s pets. (She practically own a petting zoo — 2 dogs, turtles, actively-reproducing hamsters and God knows what other beasts she rears)

4) Tweak her computer a bit (Lily’s technologically declined you see)

5) Force her to watch a horror movie (She doesn’t want to! That chicken.)

6) Force her to let me give her a makeover. (She also doesn’t want to)

7) Force her into a dress. (Her reaction was one word: APPALLED)

Pillow fight Any sort of fight! (Reminder: Must be careful not to get any blood on the furnitures)

9) Go somewhere fun. (Anywhere! I don’t care!)

10) ……..

11) ????

12) ????????????

13) ?

14) …………….

The programme is open for suggestions. So feel free to come up with anything useful. Please make sure that it will torture or annoy Lily in some possible way.

Hey, that is what best friends are for – we drive each other up the wall! Right Li-Li-An?

P.S. Yes, you MUST comment because this post is practically about you.

~ Anonymously Secret