I Will Lose My Shit If Just One More Person I Know Dies.

All the people's mouths are moving

All you hear are car alarms.

This is getting ridiculous.

SHARK SLAYER!!!

Finally some good news! Just what I've been looking for!

Again, I have to keep things vague, just for safe-keeping,

but at least there's a little bit of hope in the future.

So far today, I have:

Tidied up a little bit

Made lunch/dinner with enough for leftovers tomorrow

Cleaned and reorganized my hookah and shisha collection

Found the perfect gift for Van's birthday

Called into the phone company to sort out some issues

I feel pretty productive.

Work at 7 today, until 11, which is kind of shitty, but its hours, so I can't complain too much.

I also need to call Microsoft AGAIN because they've been charging my bank account for no reason.

Easy enough.

Today I also found this article, which made my day and began step one to my "Hope in Humanity Restoration" project (which doesn't actually exist, by the way.)

This awesome guy named Dragan drunkenly jumped into the ocean off of a high-dive and killed an enormous shark that had previously killed a person and injured others. Apparently when he landed on it, he broke it's neck, killing it on impact. Definitely my kind of man.

Feel Free to Skip This One. The Other Two Are More Interesting

It's funny how the past sneaks up on you out of nowhere.
One minute, you think that everything you left behind is nothing but dust. Old map markers a few pages back. Then, suddenly it's in front of you again, whether you like it or not.
Its like something that was burned to ashes suddenly rematerialized, plain as day, as if it had never been engulfed by the flames you set to it.
Disgusting.

But inevitable.

This past month and a half has been nothing but that feeling.
Things resurfacing. A cancerous relapse.
Everything that I thought I shed, crawling back over my fresh skin.

I've returned to square one.


As much as I hate to admit it, there hasn't been a day that I haven't cried for the past 20-some days. Frankly, I grow weary of it.

My heart is tired of hurting. The weight of it makes it seem like stones could float with ease in comparison.


It sucks that this blog is turning into more of a diary. Occassionally that happens, but that is not my intention. Hopefully it'll seen be back to the angry, yet interesting jots and tiddles that it used to be.

As of right now though, this might be the only place I have to turn.

See, I'm not looking for advice, I'm not looking for help and I'm not looking for opinions. There are plenty of people that are offering that. It's just simply not what I'm looking for.
At this point, I just need to get everything out. Something is telling me that I time will come where I won't be able to convey my feelins properly, but this will be here to do so. This is just a fallback, I guess.

As I started writing this post, my intention was actually to review a CD that I just purchased. Funny how things start to tie together. I suppose I had best get on that.


Until next time.

Wow. 4 Days Already? Oops!

I could have swore that just yesterday I posted my 30 Day Blog Challenge.

Time to catch up.

Day 2: Talk about your tattoos and piercings.

Easy enough!

My first piercings were, of course, my ears.

I was an infant, it wasn't my choice. I don't remember.

As I grew older, I wanted more. The holes had shifted a little, so now I just ignore them

Now I have 3 new holes in each ear. I've had them normal sized, I've had them gauged to all kinds of crazy ways. Unsuccessfully, I've pierced my nose and ears and other parts. None of it turned out as I hoped, so I just let them be.

Right after my 18th birthday I pierced my tongue. I've had all of those since.

Tattoos, though.

My first one was a hand-drawn honey bee. Not unlike the ones from Whinnie the Pooh. It is on my side, above my hip.

Ink, as many people know, is addicting.

From the bee it then turned to arm tattoos:

3/4 of my right arm is covered, from above my wrist up to my shoulder. All of them are old Sega Genesis games.

It starts with Zombies Ate My Neighbors, then goes to Battle Toads, then Earthworm Jim, then Ecco the Dolphin, then Sonic the Hedgehog. Some the main characters, some the side characters and villains. Today, for example, I got Evil the Cat from Earthworm Jim on my shoulder. Next month I'll be getting the cover from Golden Axe II on the back of my shoulder.

No, there are no real pictures of them online. I have a few pictures of the individual bits, but there are no pictures of its entirety. Soon, my friends, soon.

Day 3: Write About Your Favorite Television Program

I wish I could write about my favorite television program, but I actually don't have one.

In all honesty, I avoid watching TV if I can. I really like movies and games, but TV, I could do without.

Back in the day, Queer as Folk was one that was frequently played in my house. When I was younger I liked Invader Zim. As of right now? There really aren't any. Its a struggle to find something enjoyable.

Day 4: Write About Your Closets Friends

That is pretty hard to do at this point in my life.

Many of my friends, I don't talk to anymore. The ones that I do speak to, we don't have the "best friends" relationships.

Wow.

This...actually really sucks.

Ain't That a Kick in the Head?

This passed week has been mostly wonderful!

Isn't that a good thing?

It's been a while since there has been any updates here, and for that I apologize. This may be a lengthy one.

First things first:

Fallout New Vegas.

Has is been taking up a lot of my time?

The answer is "yes".

At this point I am at level...18? And well on my way. So here comes the "review", so to speak.

The beginning of the game may have been the biggest disappointment I have faced since Sonic the Hedgehog became 3D.

The storyline was god-awful, the startup of the game was slow, the area was boring and the new features were confusing.

Total play time before throwing down the controller: 45 minutes.

Total time spent bitching because the game sucked: 5 days.

Eventually I had some more spare time and I finally mustered up the patients to guts to pick it up again.

Same thing.

Total play time: An hour and 15 minutes.

Faith in Bethesda: Diminished.

"Oh, it gets better," they said.

"Keep playing!" They said.

Fine.

"You can launch Ghouls into outer space!" They said.

...

Well... in that case...

Controller back in hand, I trudged onward through the Mojave wasteland, trying to make the best of things.

Total playtime: 32 hours and 15 minutes.

Ultimately, it redeemed itself, making it a more playable game. Less frustrating, too. Here is a quick run through of what is good and not so good.

Good:

The dialog. I was extremely impressed with the dialog, this time around.

In Fallout 3, you could walk around and another character would make a nasty, offhand remark about you. Though, as soon as you clicked on them to speak, they were cheery as can be.

Here, that changed that. When they're mean, they're mean. When they're nice, they're nice. It is refreshing. Other than that, the dialog options are great.

Creatures and people.

The new characters and creatures in the game are awesome! Robotic dogs, firebreathing geckos, Elvis impersonators. Its great. A lot less run-of-the-mill.

Companions.

The companions you have follow you are swell. They also give you a lot of neat-o perks.

Let me tell you, Boone is just the bee's knees.

Fame:

Instead of just having good or bad karma, you gain fame an infamy amongst the other colonizations and groups in the wasteland. This is really nice, actually, because instead of having EVERYONE shooting at you, you only have a few people. Though, the disguises and outfits don't work as well as I had hoped they would...

Mediocre:

The storyline.

Perhaps Im just not far enough along yet, but I think that I like the other storyline a little bit better....

Housing:

It takes a bit longer to get your house here, I feel, but the options are greater. The first house you get, there is little or no attachment to the tow you're in. No reason to stat, reall. Evertually you get a really badass one.

Perks: There are some good ones, but there are also a lot of the same ones.... its disappointing. On top of that, you only get to choose a perk every-other level, which confused and upset me in the beginning.

Weapon mods:

Cool in theory, but a little too complicated for my liking. Especially the ammo. It is too time consuming and the menu screens are too cluttered for my to bother taking my time on it.

Bad:

THE BUGS AND GLITCHES.

This may be the reason that I permanently lay this game to rest. There are too many quest-breaking bugs. It stutters, freezes and stalls. People and items don't show up where they need to be, and we have has some file corruptions that set us back HOURS.

Ammo mods/Creation:

I hate this and try to avoid it at all cost. Too much of a pain in the ass for me.

Snow globes:

I miss the bobble heads! And they give you money, instead of skill points... Oh well...

Overall, its pretty cool, but it doesn't quite hold a candle to Fallout 3. After falling in love with those characters, it really sucks to have to start over again. The bugs in the game are excruciating and frustrating (along with the lengthly loading screens...)

I would recommend picking it up, for sure. But I may actually recommend that you wait until there is a patch out for it or you will just be wasting your time.

When not playing Fallout, I have been working overnights (hence the lack of updates.) Personally, I think it is awesome. Most of it was physical labor, which was a nice chance. Getting in to work at 9, then leaving at 9 in the morning was actually pretty sweet. (McDonald's bacon, egg and cheese bagels for dinner! YES!)

I didn't really like sleeping all day though. Didn't get to see Van very much either. But other than that, it was nice. A lot of hours and a lot of moving around. I dig.

Finally I caved and applied for college again. I just need to get my transcripts sent in. I'm going to be a High School English teacher. This is something I look forward to.

Right now all I can think about is food, so I'm going to go and perhaps play Fallout until Van wakes up. My sleeping schedule is all screwed up now, so I just woke up a little while ago and its 4 AM (I think? Daylight savings time has confused me a little bit, since the clock on my computer is already wrong?)

Off to scrounge up some Lucky Charms.

There Ain't No Rest For the Wicked

Sagging, tired eyes

What is this thing you speak of?

"Sleep" is what it's called?

I've lost count of how many days it has been since I've slept well. Going to bed at 6:30 am isn't cutting it. For some reason I keep tossing and turning.

Luckily enough, I've been able to keep myself busy.

So far I've nearly completed my Fallout 3 Laser Rifle prop for my Halloween costume. The rest of my outfit is ready to go. Same with Van's.

The other night I worked the midnight release for Fallout New Vegas. What a wonderful time!

Of course I left the store with my collector's edition copy, I haven't had a chance to play it though.

After leaving the midnight release a little later than 1 am, I drove a friend of mine home, then picked up my other friend, Jason, and we drove to Philly.

In the pouring rain.

At 2 am.

Several Full Throttles, a NOS, a Rockstar and a Venom later....

We got to my parents' house at 6 am, just as Dad was leaving for work.

Almost immediately we went to sleep, just to wake up in 4 hours then drive an hour into Center City.

There we waited at the Rock School of Dance to audition to work at DISNEY WORLD!

This was very exciting.

I figured, though, that we would just do some minor acting auditions and get an interview. I was sorely mistaken.

And sore in general.

Turns out we had to dance for approximately 3 hours. Almost non-stop. After being so exhausted (and sick from drinking all those poisons on an empty stomach that morning...), dancing was the LAST thing I needed to do. I was certain that I was going to faint.

The auditions were out at 5 pm. I felt confident and sweaty and ready to collapse.

With eyes drooping and heads nodding, we finally made our way home, ate dinner, then watched the extremely disappointing Scream Awards.

At 8 o'clock this morning, we woke up and made our way back to New York. Traffic was awful, due to ungodly amounts of construction.

I dropped Jason off at his house, then went to Planet New York and added on to my tattoo.

Now, I'm home, sitting on the couch, typing this with my eyes closed, ready to fall asleep. Maybe I'll make cookies for Van tonight, since I just got some chocolate chip cookie dough from Mom.

Or maybe I'll just lay on the floor until someone scoops me up with a giant spatula...

Android.

I am so paranoid.
This is terrible.

Recently, I had fleas in my house. Luckily enough, I killed them all, and will be respraying next week.

On top of that, the media keeps fueling our minds with the threat of bedbugs.


All of this has led me to being extremely itch all the time.
I feel like I have things crawling all over me. It is driving me crazy!!!

As Promised

To any of you who haven't read my reviews before,
You will quickly learn that I specialize in tearing things apart.
I know, I know, this is unfair, but that is just how it is.
Unfortunately, the bad almost always outweighs the good.

If there is a movie where a basket of kittens get violently and graphically tortured, no one is going to give a shit if the protagonist finally gets with the love interest.

Violently and graphically tortured kittens outweigh a kiss.

The bad outweighs the good.

(I am in no way, shape, or form suggesting that a basket of kittens get violently and graphically tortured in The Social Network, so don't get your hopes up, sociopaths.)

Now, the first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem.

That is exactly what I'm doing here: admitting that I violently and graphically torture movies in my reviews.
So, I will try my hardest not to be to brutal with this one.


(Insert shitty "Windows Movie Maker" transition here)


The Social Network.


Let me start by telling you that I only had minimal knowledge of what this movie was about before I went to see it.
So little, actually, that about 40 minutes into the movie, I noticed what the main character's name was, leaned over to my friend, and said "Wait...Mark Zuckerburg? Isn't that the guy who made Facebook?"

No shit, Sherlock, go back to the kiddie table.

I though that this movie was a fictional tale about social networking, fabricated for the entertainment of the Internet-saturated youth of today.
Oh, was I wrong.

It turns out that this movie was the history of Facebook.

FACEBOOK!

REALLY?

Why would ANYONE be interest in seeing that?

Had I known that, I probably would have waited to rent it, accidentally kicked it under the couch, forgotten about it for weeks, and had a movie-ticket's worth of late fees by the time I finally found it.

Luckily though, it wasn't wretched.

So, allow me to paint a picture for you;

The film starts out with our hero(???), and his girlfriend at a bar, babbling almost incoherently back and forth in a tedious, somewhat indistinguishable monotonous exchange that made me pray and pray that the entire movie wasn't going to be like this.

Turns out it was simply a way to show what a DICK our main character is.

Though, our dickish main character's dialog was kept up in the same excruciating fashion throughout the entire movie. (I will admit that it was funny, if you could keep up.)

The whole middle of the movie was a back-and-forth, dizzying switch between camera angles and parts of the story, trying to explain multiple lawsuits. Not only were they explaining lawsuits, they were explaining them backwards. Kind of. It wasn't bad though, just took a little getting used to.

One thing I couldn't get used to was the GOD DAMN FILTERS that they used.

I felt like I was watching the first 10 seconds of an Asthma medication commercial throughout the ENTIRE MOVIE. And when it wasn't an Asthma medication commercial, it had the feel of a modernized Western. Maybe if Walker Texas Ranger banged Juno McGuff.
Something like that.
Horrible filters. Horrible filters that were difficult to see past (ba'dum-tss!)

That was perhaps my biggest complaint about the movie.

I had one more problem, though. Not from my own personal experience, but I feel like it could have easily been an issue, especially for either the older generations or the younger generations.

If you understood a large amount about computers, then this movie would be easy for you to follow.
If you understand a lot about the law, it would be even easier.
And if you understand a bit about business, then it would be easier yet.

If you don't know much about any of the previously stated; good luck. You're gonna need it.

The film is about Harvard students.
They talk and act like...well...Harvard students.

So, if you're an older person that only operates the computer to check your email when you remember or to play Solitaire because the TV is out, then this movie will be miserable for you to watch. Stay home and open up that DVD your grand kids got your for Christmas that you haven't touched yet.

If you're twelve years old and have no idea how life works yet, go watch the Guardians of Gahoole or whatever the hell it is, because you're not going to understand it and you're going to sit in the theater texting your BFF the whole time. Then I'm going to reach over and break your phone in half then stuff it in your cherry slushy. (Do I smell a euphemism?!)

Now, as I say in almost every blog of mine:

Moving right along.

The acting was pretty on-par (with a few awkward exceptions,), the story, in the end, was interesting enough, and the cinematography was...acceptable. The oh-so-anticipated musical score, though, was god-awful.

Have you ever seen "Forgetting Sarah Marshall"?

At one point in that movie, the main character talks about his job as a composer. He explains that he doesn't compose music, really, but just dark and ominous tones.

It felt like they hired him for this movie.

Dark and ominous tones.

Dark.
And.
Ominous.
...

Tones.

That's pretty much what we had going on here.

But let's try to think positively.

One of the strongest points of the movie, was character development, but I feel like that's nothing special since it was based on REAL PEOPLE. There were no "characters" to "develop".
But over all, the characters were interesting.
While watching it, I felt for them.
When one got fucked over, I was a little pissed. When something good happened, it made me happy.
They weren't just empty shells, so that was good.
Everything about it was very realistic (no shit...) From the emotions, to the consequences of the character's actions, to the way they spoke, to the way they dressed. Even the events of the movie were realistic, so that was very uplifting. My time wasn't totally wasted.
Well, not all of it.
About....eh.... an hour and fifty minutes of it.
A story that could have easily been told in ten minutes was drug out to about two hours.

It was like listening to your drunken uncle at thanksgiving.

You know, the one you try to avoid being alone with because he's going to hold you hostage and tell you his life story for the 6th time?
Kind of like that.

The movie was just a bit long.
(and then ended really abruptly, so you had no idea when it was finally going to be over.)

So, i the end, I'd say "sure, go see it".
Its worth seeing once. I wouldn't buy it, I wouldn't see it again in the theater unless someone else was paying for my ticket and begged me to go.
Maybe I'll rent it once.
Its worth a one time see, so may as well.
We all know that if you don't, you're just going to sit home and F5 your News Feed for two hours anyway.

3/5 stars.

Ling Ling, my ass!

As humans, many of us work hard to keep our environment clean, healthy and alive.
We have National Parks, reservations, endangered wildlife funds and various research projects all to make sure that our planet will last forever.

At a very young age, we are told that we should respect the environment. You know, "don't litter", "conserve water" and of course "recycle".

We are also told that every being on the planet has its own special use. Every organism plays its own unique role in the environment and that all of it should be protected and saved.


Well I beg to differ, because I have found an exception:

Pandas.

Fucking pandas.

Those smarmy, self righteous bastards.

Of all creatures on this earth, pandas are the ones that serve no use to the ecosystem.

They do not produce anything useful (except for shit, which can apparently be made into souvenirs...), they don't serve as prey for anything and they don't keep any kind of population in check.

Bamboo population? Yeah right. That shit grows faster than mold on a week old burrito. Pandas or not bamboo is going to flourish. There is so much bamboo and so few pandas that they don't even count.

Pandas. Serve. No. Use.

On top of being useless, they're little bitches, too.

Everyone thinks they're so cute and cuddly,

THEY'RE FUCKING BEARS, PEOPLE!

Do you not realize this?

There is no difference between

and

They're both bears, they're both huge and they both want to tear your limbs off.

Just because they look like fat mimes doesn't mean they're friendly. Or in an invisible box.

Below is a video of a lucky man.

Long story short; fuck pandas.

Skip. Not exciting.

Day 24- A letter to your parents
(Skip.)



Day 25- What I would find in your bag

Everything.
Cough drops, pay stubs, pepper spray, a ton of keys, phone, ipod, perhaps food,
change, my wallet, pills, lady products...
All kinds of things.


Day 26- What you think about your friends
Well now,
that really depends on the friends, I'd say...
Considering I rarely see most of my friends, I can't really make much of a judgement on that.
I see my work friends a lot.
And the people that I am actually friends with, I really like.

Friends outside of work really depends.

I have my Philly friends that I love but never see.

I have my New York friends that I am still getting used to.

My Maryland friends are pretty much non-existant anymore since its been 10 years since I've seen any of them.

Then I have other ones, from many places.

So...it...varies, I guess...


Day 27- Why are you doing this 30 day challenge?


Mostly so my blog doesn't die, so I have something to write about and something to do. Despite the fact that I neglect it....





This was a really boring post.

I am sorry.

Hear Ye, Hear ye!

Yesterday was a wonderful day.

Van and I spend the afternoon at the New York Renaissance Faire.

It was a LOT of fun!

Getting there was a horrible hastle. Aside from not being able to properly read a GPS, the god-awful parking situation, and the less-than-accomodating staff, everything was very well put together.

It took us at least 30 minutes to figure out where to go. Turns out that you had to take a bus from the parking lot, to the fair. Then wander around there for 20 minutes while the staff stared blankly at you, desprite your confusion. Only to find out that you have to cross the street to get to it. Simple enough, right?

But, after going through all of that, it was wonderful.

So many colors and characters. Booths and tends and stalls of all kinds of interesting things.

Delicious food and pretty clothing.

V got me some lovely flowers and a turkey leg. Everyone knows that is the way to a girl's heart.

Plants and meat.

One of the coolest things we did, was see the birds of prey show. Enormous creatures, some of them. Owls and condors and hawks and vultures. It was really very cool.

All in all it was really cool. We're definitely going back next year.

The end.

Because I'm A Heartless, Sarcastic Bitch

Another list.

I used to say that I thought I was a rather patient person. As my life goes on and I encounter more people, this theory seems to change a little bit. Perhaps morals are just different from what they used to be. Maybe people have just stopped caring. Who knows. I certainly don't. There are a lot of things that I see kids (and adults, for that matter) doing that I know for sure I would have gotten in HUGE trouble for if I did.
Not to say that my parents were strict, because they definitely were not; they just brought me up to generally be polite, courteous and have manners. I must say that for this I am thankful.

Sadly though, I see how people act these days and it sickens me. I don't mean to be "hoity-toity" or stuck up, but at the rate our race is going, we're about to drive ourselves into the ground.

So, now, it is time for another list!


SKELLYTON'S SOCIAL PET PEEVES 1. Playing music off of your cellphone in public.Whether you're sitting on the bus, walking through the mall or eating at a restaurant, you should NOT have your cellphone out playing your shit-quality MP3's for everyone to hear. Use some headphones. I don't want to know your "Top 10 favorite songs this week" while I am trying to enjoy me meal.I once had a couple come in to Ruby Tuesday's while Van and I were eating, sit down at the table across from us and play music through their cellphone throughout their entire meal. Should I have said something? Probably. Would it have made a difference? No. Why? They were friends with the waiter. Go figure. 2. Take up two parking spaces, because your car is "the shit".There is no need for you to double park your shit. If you do this intentionally, you are a pompous asshole. If you do this accidentally, you are a 16 year old girl that just got her license.Another time, while at the mall, Van and I encountered another bout of douchebaggery. It was a Saturday afternoon and the parking lots were almost all full at the movie theater. It took us at least 15 minutes to find a space, when finally, low and behold, there was one! We begin to pull our car up only to see that someone had very intentionally parked on the line. This irked me horribly. If you are worried about your car getting scratched or bumped, don't take it to the mall. Don't take it to the movie theater at the mall. Don't take it to the movie theater at the mall on the Saturday afternoon. And lastly, don't take it to the movie theater at the mall on Saturday afternoon in POUGHKEEPSIE NEW YORK. I hastily wrote a note that said "You;re car isn't THAT nice, asshole" stuck it on their windshield, then went and enjoyed my film. The end. 3. Pure and simple lazinessLaziness within reason, I can handle. Being so lazy that you cause more strain for someone else, I cannot. Laziness and ignorance go hand and hand, to me.Guess where I was for this one? Yep! THE MALL! Though, this time I was working. Sadly, this happens on a somewhat regular basis. A customer comes in, hustling like their ass in on fire, and comes up to me. They do not say "hi", they do not say "excuse me". The first thing out of their mouth is "I need 'x'". Now, 'x', is usually a CD of sorts. Let's say its The Rolling Stones.
"I need The Rolling Stones."
Usually in this situation, I would like to reply "No. You don't. You WANT the Rolling Stones. You don't need shit." But I don't. I don't say it. Usually, to be honest, I say "okay.""You'll be able to find it a lot faster than I will, I don't have a lot of time.""Its under "R" for "Rolling". All of our CDs go alphabetically.""Where is that?""Under "R". Comes after "Q" and before "S".""You need to show me."Jesusfuckingchristmaythisearthburnbeforemeandsufferonethousandfierydeaths.At this point, I stop whatever I am doing, walk over to the very predominantly labeled "R" section and point to the 4 to 5 rows of Rolling Stones CDs we have."Which one is the latest?""I don't know...here..."I then pick up a CD and look at the date on the back, explaining that CDs have a date on the back. I hand them the one that says "2010""Is this the latest one?""Yes. Its from 2010."They then walk away without a word. Apparently working in retail makes you sub human.

This post is getting far to long, so perhaps I will continue my list later on.

The Delicious Ice Cream Adventure (Ice Creams of Chincoteague)

Believe it or not, Van and I went to the beach last weekend. Yes, I know, surprising and comical all at the same time.
Luckily though, we did not go to the actual beach part of the beach. Meaning...the water and sand.
Instead we stayed on the nice little island and wandered about eating delicious food.
And that is exactly what I am here to talk about.

As much as I don't want millions of people flocking to Chincoteague, I feel as though it is a place deserving of millions of people.

It is a tiny, tiny little island in Virgina, and I must say that it is wonderful. Though, I kind of wish I could keep it a little secret because lets face it, the place isn;t what it used to be.

Back in the day, when I was little, it was the ultimate place to go for vacation.
There was the beach, a wildlife reserve, a few places to play mini golf, places to fish, a park, a carnival and some awesome restaurants. I could probably name most every store there from memory.

Granted, it still has all of those same things, but now theres even....more...
Everywhere you turn there is a souvenir or Tshirt shop. They've installed a Dairy Queen and a McDonald's. Its gotten a bit out of hand. But it still is a great place.

All of this aside, the main reason I was writing this, is to talk about the ice cream.
Delicious, delicious ice cream.
Ice cream.


First and for most, there is the Island Creamery.



My personal favorite.
Everything there is homemade, the ice cream, the fudge, even the waffle cones.
They always have a wonderful assortment of flavors. Birthday cake might be my favorite.

Van and I went there first. It was our first ice cream experience on the island.
I got my Birthday Cake icrecream on a cake cone, and Van got their variation of a Blizzard. Pony-tracks ice cream (vanilla ice cream, fudge swirl, peanut butter cups), with Reese's pieces and hot fudge all blended in a cup.

We had a very delicate rating system for each ice cream shop. Basically it went something like this:

Service:
Taste:
Originality:
Value:
Experience:

Yes, I realise that spells STOVE....
The rating goes from 1-10.

So, lets take a look at the Island Creamery.

Service: 9
The Island Creamery is always busy. Busy busy busy, with the lines out the door. But, they always move very quickly. Its actually rather impressive. On top of that, they're so friendly! Its great.
Only thing that is keeping them from getting a 10, is the fact that they had an employee there with piercings in her face. As much as I like piercings, I don't like them around my food. Other than that though, flawless.

Taste:9.5
Delicious. Simply wonderful ice cream. That's all there is to say. Its homemade, its tasty.

Originality: 7
They get points because its homemade and they have some ridiculous flavor es (margarita and cantaloupe?)
But, its really just an oddly large ice cream shop. No gimmicks or anything. They don't sing or mix your ice cream for you, but they really don't need to.
Though, I will mention that they do have a thing called the Round Up. 5 scoops of ice cream, 3 toppings, whipped cream and a cherry. If you eat it all, you get your picture taken. Cool enough.

Value: 9
Excellent. I believe that between the two of us, it cost around 8 dollars. I got a single scoop cone (but the scoops are so huge its like a double) and Van got a Blizzard..or something similar. We were stuffed by the end.

Experience: 7
Its cool to see them making the waffle cones there, to browse through their gift shop and to pick out your treats, but there isn;t any unique feel to the shop. Its Chincoteagues primary ice cream store, and that is really what they have going for them.

Over all : 8.3


Next place we went was called Muller's




Muller's was a very small ice cream shop that was set up on the first floor of a house. I assume that the owners live above it. I believe that most of their ice cream is homemade.

Service: 7.5
The staff is extremely friendly and talkative, which is always refreshing.
The only downside it had though, was it took a bit too long to get our food. They seemed to be disorganized, especially when it came to serving multiple customers.

Taste:9.7
Van and I both got root beer floats.
I must say that it was by far the best root beer float I have ever had in my life.
As far as the ice cream goes, I can't really say, as I only had vanilla floating in the most excellent root beer I've stumbled upon. But as I said, this was by far the most amazing float ever.

Originality: 9
The whole house was very quaint and almost Victorian looking. It had a really old-timey feel. Not like 50's old-timey, but even more so. It was wonderful.

Value: 8
Offhand, I can't remember how much we payed. I would be willing to pay 10 dollars for one of those floats though. I'm pretty sure it was under 12 for the both of us though.

Experience: 8
As soon as you walk in the door, you see all of the different things you can try. From peach and waffle sun days to a malted milkshake. They have such a selection and its such a nice little house. It was really great.

Over all: 8.4




After Muller's we went to Build Your Own Cookie



After playing a competitive round of mini golf in 97 degree weather, we decided...well...I decided that ice cream was a must. The closest to the golf course was BYOC, or Build Your Own Cookie.
Seemed interesting enough!

BYOC is literally a horse-trailer with 2 tables outside. The tables were both made out of stacked up 10 gallon buckets, a table top and an umbrella. You walked up to the window and picked the following
1 cookie, 1 ice cream flavor and 1 topping (more cost more.) You then got your treats, then stood at the tables. This is fairly normal for Chincoteague, as several places are stand-outside style.


Service:10
This is the one place that I will give a 10/10 for service. This lady did it right! She was very friendly when we got there and ordered, she was very quick also.
Then, while Van and I were outside eating, she came outside with two cups of ice water for us. She mentioned that eating these always made her thirsty. It was very nice of her. I was extremely impressed.

Taste: 7
The cookies were enormous and delicious, they were also homemade. That is the only reason I am giving this score a 7 instead of a 5. The ice cream was just Hershey's ice cream, which was disappointing, since you can get wonderful homemade ice cream almost anywhere on the island.

Originality: 8.5
Cookie sundaes? Awesome. I've never done that before. There is definitely nothing else like it on the island.

Value: 6
It cost us over 10 dollars for two sundaes. They were good,yes. The cookies were homemade, yes. But the ice cream was not. I could buy 2 cartons of ice cream and 3 boxes of cookies for that price.

Experience: 7.5
It was really fun standing outside eating ice cream. The staff was friendly and the cookies were great. It was perfect after that oh so strenuous mini golf.


Total: 7.8


Lastly we have the famous Mr. Whippy. Mr Whippy (aside from Dairy Queen) is the primary source for soft-serve ice cream.



Service: 5
Typical teenager working their summer job. I was certainly not impressed. Considering their large menu, they were not very patient while we were deciding our orders.

Taste: 8
I really enjoy soft serve ice cream. Mr Whippy is by far my favorite place for it. Sure, its not the most exciting thing ever, but it is still good. I got a vanilla cone dipped in cotton candy shell. It was pretty good, I must say. Van got an Oreo sundae. He seemed to also enjoy his.

Originality: 8
The over-all feel of the shop is very lodge-like. They have interesting toppings and flavors, cute names for their menu items, and their own ice cream truck.

Value: 8
Mr. Whippy is both yummy and inexpensive. It was under 10 dollars for both of us, and we got large portions.

Experience: 8
Aside from the service, the overall experience was good. It isn't as unique as an old fashioned ice cream shop, or standing outside to eat, but in general it is a good experience. The store was clean and the service was fast.

Over all: 7.4




In the end, I would have to say that The Island Creamery is my favorite for just good ol ice cream. They would be my number one pick each time. Fast service, awesome ice cream and a nice shop. But, if you're looking for the best root beer float in town, Muller's is the way to go!

This Entire Society Needs Rehab.

There have been many many posts around the internet about the state of modern music.
We all know that it is god awful. We all know it is nothing but autotune. We all know that it takes little to no talent to "make it" in the musical world these days.
But there is no point in beating a dead horse.

THOUGH.

I would like to touch on it for just one moment.



Not only is music shitty as all hell,
but the majority of it is sending a wretched message.


It is amazing how even when someone isn't paying attention to what they're listening to, it still sticks in their mind.


I noticed this the other day while I was walking through Michael's.


In the process of purchasing leather string and clamps for jewlery, I heard a young girl, about 7; her brother, about 5; and her mother.

As I was making my selection, I heard the tiny girl's voice singing "Your love, your love, your love is my drug!"



This made me absolutely sick.

First off, that the girl was singing such a stupid thing, secondly, that the mother didn't tell her to shut her little mouth and keep such trash out of it, and thirdly, that her mother let her listen to that putrid, rancid shit in the first place.


Putrid.
rancid.
shit.



I guaruntee you that my children will NOT listen to such wretched music. Especially at that age.
Whether the song is about "love" or not, the last thing I want is my daughter to be admiring some coked out trashy whore or supporting her music.

I need to stop writing about this.
This sickens me.

Blogapella

Here for my 179th post, I would like to show my appreciation for a'capella music.
Now, I'm not talking about ONE chick that's trying to sing a Paramore song, nor am I referring to groups singing things like Stand By Me.
Usually I try to find a more modern song sung by a group. (preferably not on stage)
There are a few exceptions though.

Yes, a lot of times its pretty goofy sounding.
But good a'capella truly is...well...good.
(Just as bad a'capella is horrid.)
Rarely is there a middle ground, with the exception of comedic a'capella. (Run To The Hills by It's Super Effective, WHAT?)
Playing instruments truly takes a lot of skill, but I feel that orchestrating an a'capella piece takes a lot of coordination, since there are so many parts and voices involved.

My personal favorite would be the Bad Romance cover by the following group of gentlemen.


This newly discovered piece is another favorite.
(Along with a favorite song in general.)
Notice how he sounds almost EXACTLY like Sufjan.


Don't hate me for this one:


Despite the stupid bow on the one girl's head, and the even more stupid song selection, these girls really know how to pull it together.

*Disclaimer; I by no means support Justin Beiber or his fans.

Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah


This one took a lot of searching, as there were a lot of pretty bad covers of this song.



This one is pretty impressive also. Even though usually I don't go for male vocals sung by females


This was a toss-up between two:



and




This was a hard one to find a good version of.
Let me know if you find one that you feel is more impressive.
I liked this one.



If anyone can find an a'capella cover of a Flogging Molly song (that isn't a bunch of kids singing on cellphone quality in pirate costumes and stomping to the beat.), please send it to me.
(Though, the previously mentioned one was pretty cute.)

Surprisingly Uncool

Today I would like to bring a sense of enlightenment to the seemingly very confused world. Perhaps its just Poughkeepsie that suffers from these horrible phenomenons, but just in case it is the rest of the world too, I will continue on.
Here I would like to remind people that just because you think something is cool, doesn't mean that it actually is.
Now, I by no means claim to be a cool person. I mean, honestly, I write a blog for Christ's sake. But still, there are some people out there that need to get a grasp on what is or is not socially acceptable. So, today I bring you:

THINGS PEOPLE THINK ARE COOL

1. Car-balls

I don't understand what makes these cool or funny. They're stupid and disgusting, plane and simple. Do you not have any of your own, so you feel the need to tack a set of fake junk onto your bumper? Come on, guys. Give it up. Neuter your pets. The last thing we need is a bunch of stray Hummers running around.

2. Tacky-ass Ghetto nails.

No matter what your occupation, if you have nails that are more than an inch long, you instantly look like you run the cash register at the local 7-11. And I am instantly going to assume that you're going to sell me a Slurpee. Wild Cherry, bitch.

3. Douche-Beard

Although it sounds like you might be a bad-ass pirate, actually HAVING a douche-beard simply makes you an ass. If you spent half as much time learning proper English as you did carving hieroglyphics into your head, you would be a much more respectable human being. Instead you look like you just allowed a lawn-mower to take creative freedom of your face.

4. Tribal Tattoos

Unless you're a Maori or fucking Tony the Tiger, you need to stay away from the tribal ink. You either look like a wrestler, or look like a frat boy. Neither of which are respectable personas for the day-to-day civilian. There is nothing else like having solid splotches of meaningless black ink over your body to say "I think I'm a bad-ass, so does my orange-tan girlfriend!" They're gggggggrrreat!

5. Plymouth Prowlers

A wedge of cheese on wheels. Enough said.



6. Keytars
Perfect for the kid whose mom made them practice hours of piano everyday before they could watch t.v. We all know that all you wanted to do was join a rock band. Just like we all know you will always be a total dweeb for the rest of your life. Keytar = significantly uncool.


7. 3-wheeled motorcycles

Too bad-ass for a 4-wheeler, too chicken for a chopper. Looking for the perfect balance? You didn't find it. Move along. You're a tool. Tack a side-car onto it and you'll be the whole hardware store.

Just Your Typical Thundercats Ho

Today I had planned on writing a blog about how every woman has "Jaguar mode". No, this has nothing to do with "cougars" or anything of the sort. Jaguar mode is when a woman gets so incredibly irrate that when she yells or screams she no longer sounds like a human being, but like a wildcat singing a thrashmetal song. This tends to be a very rare experience and only happens when a women is as angry as she can possibly be.

To better describe this, I had clips from two movies in mind, but I couldn't find the second one that I needed. First bit from was Forgetting Sarah Marshall. There is a scene about two-thirds of the way though the movie where Rachel encounters her ex-boy friend and more or less flips shit on him. I found that clip and will post it below.
The second bit was from Knocked Up. In that scene, the character Allison screams mercilessly at a rather confused Seth Rogen in a gynecology office. Unfortunately I could not find the clip from that.
But, those were my two best examples of women going into jaguar mode.
It really is a terrifying experience.

Here is the clip from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It is relatively short, but the part that I speak of is only within the last 10 seconds or so, and she only does it for about 3 seconds, as jaguar mode rarely lasts longer than that.

Well, I suppose after all of that I did make the post I had originally planned on. So now you may carry on with your lives.

Good day.

Oh, and if you are curious as to what sound I am refering to, is would be this, which is technically a bobcat:

I am pretty lost right now
in a way no GPS could help me
Kind of strolling about
with no reception
in a country where I don't speak the language.
I don't really know what to do with myself for the time being.
In between being very, very sad, I am also bored, confused and frustrated.
Help?

I think I came back to New York too early.
Should have waited another day.
But I had been gone so long that I wanted to see Van again.
And now I have to go to work, which I shouldn't, but I've been away for quite some time and have no money at the time being.
So I need to keep going.
and I need more jobs.
Looking at perhaps a bookstore?
That might be nice.
Since I like to alphabetize.

Open Your Eyes, Your Eyes Are Open

Hey there champs!
Again, its been quite a long time since I've said anything on here. I really need to get into the habit of updating this regularly, whether anyone reads it or not. Its just a good thing to do.
Thankfully I will be able to do this more easily now since I got a new phone.
Yes, I know, I know, I hoped on the band wagon and got a smartphone that's going to cost me out the ass monthly, but at least I will have my Internet and I can update here on a very regular, and I fear multi-daily basis.
Unfortunately I have been rather museless recently.
Though, I will quickly mention that I just turned 20 the other day.
And I cannot believe it.
I feel.
old.

I feel like things get real now, and I don't know if I'm ready for that. Perhaps this is something I should get used to.

I will also quickly mention that I just got back from the movies with Van.
We saw She's Out of my League.
It was a cute movie, for the most part, it was also funny, but I found that it was far too long for what it was.
If you're a fan of Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, or Fan Boys, you will most likely enjoy this movie.

A few hours ago I also got a Formsprings account.
Honestly, I don't even know what it is, nor do I think it seems interesting.
Ah well, we shall see.

I believe my username for it is XOskellyton.


PS

Play Rainbow Unicorn Attack. Its fun an addicting.
http://games.adultswim.com/robot-unicorn-attack-twitchy-online-game.html

I Pose A Theory.

Today I had a horrifying experience.
As a Pagan and an ex-vegan, I still feel the need to treat nature well and with respect, regardless of the situation, but unfortunately work today seemed to focus mainly on the demise of small animals.
Working in a bakery, it is only natural to have mice show up now and again. To me, I figure as long as they aren't getting into the food and making a mess, it should be okay. Unfortunately, the entire reason mice go to places in the first place is so that they can get into the food and consequently, make a mess. Therefor the mice had to go. The proper way to handle this kind of situation would have been to order enclosed traps and relocate the mice to a nearby field, which we have plenty of. I do understand that there are 1. too many mice, and 2. not enough time to do this. So, in the end this means that they must be killed. As much as I don't like the idea of this, it is understood. Personally, I have no problem disposing of a dead mouse. To be honest, I am a little bit afraid of the living ones since I got bit by one as a kid. Though a dead one doesn't bother me. Since this is the case, I was elected head of Mouse Disposal Crew. Actually, I was the only member of mouse disposal crew, due to the fact that we have other things to do other than play with dead mice, and also that they had to be quickly removed since they were decaying and the whole place smelled horribly of dead rodent. Sad to say, I can identify the smell of dead rodent very well.
Moving right along.
As I go to dispose of what I thought would be one or two dead mice in snap traps, I find that my employers have decided to use the least humane form of trap possible: a glue trap. And little did I know that there were not one or two mice, but seven. Two of which were still a alive and stuck in the little gooey trays.
As previously mentioned, it was a horrifying experience to see the small creature staring up at me with its shining, beaded eyes, with it's nose and feet stuck in a thick layer of gel. It immediately began squirming and tugging in fear as I approached. Feeling there was no kind of polite way to dispose of it, I placed a paper towel over the entire tray, covering both the living mouse and the couple dead ones that lay stuck next to it. At this point I was unsure of what to do. Do I put it in the plastic bag and let it suffocate slowly? Do I quickly end it's life by stepping on it? I felt that the second would have been the nicer thing to do, but on the other hand who am I to play God and take a life? it is not my choice when something should die. So instead I tied it into the plastic bag and tossed it into the dumpster. Perhaps the poor creature will free itself from the trap and make its way into a safe dumpster haven. As unlikely as this is, I can hope. The only thing worse than the one still wriggling, was the small mouse that had to have only been a few days old. No larger than my thumb he stood stuck in the glue, ribs fluctuating with each panicked breath as my hand drew closer to pick up the tray. The saddest part of the whole experience was the fact that this small one began squeaking in terror, trying to escape. This was not something I would like to have to do again, although I do know that there is another glue trap in the back room.
Scary that this all happened by 7:00 am.
As the day progressed we had several, and by several I mean anywhere between 5 and 8 people woth arms bigger around than my head, come in to install our new proof box. How exciting. Lucky for me, my space was taken over and I had to relocate to a different table right in the way of every person that walked by with a huge piece of the metal box. Please note my sarcasm. We usually have seven or so people working at the same time in our bake shop, occasionally a dishwasher or another employee from a different part of the building will come in. Today we ended up with a total of 15 people in the room at once. Mind you, this bakeshop is not very large.
One of my co-workers then said "In a perfect world, we would be working at different times." Meaning the bakers and the men that were installing the proof box.
This then got me thinking "What is a perfect world?"
I pondered this thought for quite a while as I put danishes and cinnamon rolls on a tray.
I then finally come to the conclusion that we already live in a perfect world, everything is perfect as it is. This theory is still in the works, considering that I haven't had anyone to discuss this yet, but so far I can not think of a reason why this world is not perfect. Yes, I understand that each individual person is not perfect, but people as a whole are. But then you must break that down. Are only half of the people perfect? No, because no one is perfect. And if no one is perfect, then there is nothing above imperfect. We know nothing greater than imperfection. And if there is nothing greater than imperfection, then imperfection is indeed perfection. If there were anything that was indeed 100% perfect, that would then make something else obsolete. And obsoletion is imperfection. Imperfection is necessary for perfection. Again, I am still testing this theory and I welcome any criticisms and will answer or reply to them in later posts.