Bottled Sky

Despite not being a Formula 1 fan, I will be watching the F1 Singapore Grand Prix in September. One of my friends, who is a fan, convinced me to go with her, the bulk of her argument being “It’s the first-ever F1 night race! Pretty please with sugar on top? I will pay for half your ticket!”

This friend is also an avid fan of slash. See below an excerpt from the IM conversation I had with her about our plans for the GP.

Me: Are we going to wear special fangirl outfits?

F1 slasher friend: I wanted to wear a Ralf/JPM OTP shirt. Too bad JPM isn’t in F1 anymore.

Me: Can we still wear those? It can say “I’m old-school.” in smaller letters at the bottom.

FSF: I’m gonna have one made right now. O_O

Me: Yay!

FSF: Maybe people would stay away from us then.

Me: My coworker and her boyfriend will be there, too. We can meet up with them… Unless they’re too embarrassed to be seen with us.

FSF: Ask them if they’d like t-shirts!

Me: Ooh, YES.

FSF: Her boyfriend can wear “I watch F1 for the buttsecks.”

Me: I’m sooo posting this conversation on my blog.

This is an excerpt from an online chat I had with my friend Chrissa recently. It should give you an idea of the depth and quality of our friendship

Me: I had the weirdest dream last night.
Chrissa: Oooh! Was it naughty?
Me: Unfortunately not.
Me: I dreamt there was a competition, kind of like the Amazing Race, except the end goal was to reach an old, abandoned mansion and capture a mouse living in one of the rooms.
Me: I joined, but instead of teaming up with other people, I decided to team up with — get this — a chihuahua and a rat!
Chrissa: Uh huh… a chihuahua, a rat and a human looking for a mouse?
Me: We were running all over the place. We got a bit lost and got separated from the other teams, but we ended up finding a shortcut and made it to the house first.
Me: The rat was the one who captured the mouse, because of course he knew where to find it. We won!
Me: So… what exactly is my subconscious trying to tell me? I am at a loss.
Chrissa: Well, a chihuahua is sort of a rodent but only it’s canine…
Me: I know!
Chrissa: So you’re with a rat, a canine-rodent hybrid, and you’re looking for a mouse…
Me: I’m thinking Ratatouille had something to do with it.
Chrissa: Ah, I dreamt of mice, too, after watching Ratatouille!
Me: OMG, Pixar is going to take over the world, and they’re starting with people’s dreams! CONSPIRACY!
Chrissa: Ratatouille must have had some subliminal messages embedded in the film.
Me: Ooh, that would explain everything!
Me: I’m also suddenly hungry…
Me: The film was more powerful than we ever expected.
Chrissa: I am now scared of Pixar.
Me: Pixar is evil.
Chrissa: Next you’ll think that your toys are really alive.
Chrissa: And that bugs are intelligent beings!
Chrissa: And that there are monsters inside your closet!
Me: And that cars have sex lives!
Chrissa: And that super-heroes everywhere are getting busy and making little baby super-heroes!
Me: Condoms are no match for super-sperm!
Chrissa: Eeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
Me: Hehehe.

Last Friday I had dinner with Aggie and Chrissa, my closest friends from high school. Chrissa and I hang out pretty often, but we get together with Aggie so rarely that we were quite excited to see her. I also met Aggie’s boyfriend, Art, for the first time, and he shot what would become my new favorite photo of us:

We talked until the mall closed, but it still wasn’t enough. It’s crazy how much we’ve all changed since high school, from the way we look and dress to how we think and approach life. Elaborating would probably make this a long-winded and mind-numbingly boring post, so I’ll just say that the last seven years has brought a lot of positive changes to our lives.

Speaking of changes, I asked Chrissa to adopt Boo, because I won’t be able to take her with me when I move to Singapore. She seemed anxious on the drive over to Chrissa’s house, like she “sensed something big was about to happen” as Chrissa put it. However, she quickly adjusted as soon as we got there and excitedly explored every nook and cranny of her new home.

Anxious Boo turned into Happy Boo.

I, on the other hand, am not adjusting as well. I miss her so much — and it’s only been three days. The house feels kind of empty without Boo lying around belly-up, waiting for someone to scratch her tummy. I know it’s for the best, though, because Chrissa and her family are already in love with the little sweetheart. I just know they’ll spoil her rotten.

In other news, I finally got to see Transformers last Sunday! Since everyone has already blogged about how awesome it was, I’ll make this super quick: Shia LeBeouf was hot (he’s the newest addition to my “To Do” list), Megan Fox was hot (if only I looked like that), the robots were hot (I want a Bumblebee of my own). The end.

My sneaky friends gave me the sweetest, cheesiest surprise last Saturday. There I was at our favorite pizza place thinking we were all there only because it was Kathy‘s birthday, when suddenly they whipped out a video camera and proceeded to almost make me cry! I’ll be leaving for Singapore soon, so they decided to send me off with a few speeches and a box full of fond memories. Each gave me two gifts — one that reminds them of me and one that’s supposed to remind me of them — which they put in a lovely box that the uber-talented Phin made. I don’t think I’ve ever been more surprised or more touched. I wub them *squishes friends*

Group photo from Kathy’s camera

From Kathy I got something floppy and something squishy: a Stitch (my favorite cartoon character) pen that flops about as you write and a koala-shaped, gel-filled wrist supporter to remind me that — major cheese alert! — she’ll always be there to support me. (You can click on the thumbnails for a full view.)

Continue reading A Sneaky Surprise »

It looks like my plan to rid myself of designer’s block worked. I made five layouts in the last two weeks and am now more than halfway through my huge backlog of design projects. Go me!

The first three designs are grossly belated birthday gifts for my college friends. I was broke last year, so instead of buying cheap gifts that I wouldn’t want for myself, I promised to make new layouts for those who had blogs or LJs. I’m still broke, so the question is, what will I make for them this year?

Anyway, the fourth is for our group blog, and the last is a streamlined, resume-appropriate version of my portfolio. Check them out! Links and screen shots (as well as a few web design questions that I’m hoping you coding gurus can answer) are after the jump.

Continue reading Finally Making Progress »