*Gasp* Gladwell released a new book! Outliers: The Story of Success.
I hope it's better than Blink.
In DVD and Blu-Ray, WALL-E is out! :D yey!
Disneyland Free on your birthday?
"Free Admission on your Birthday: During 2009, you can get into Disneyland free on your birthday. Just bring a valid ID that includes proof of your birth date to the ticket booth."
Does anyone know if this is true? This would be pretty awesome if it is!
Tarts and casestudies
I'm so not motivated to do my counseling case study today. I have a draft due to share with a first year student, so I guess I should get that done soon. Luckily I had already started a while back. The thing is, I haven't been able to fully meet with my counseling case these past two weeks. I really hate that I only get to see her for 30 minutes at a time. Then again I wouldn't want to have her miss too much of instruction time.
Yesterday I got a lot of little things done for my other classes, so I'm glad. I turned in my consultation case study on Thursday and finished our parent workshop on nutrition and academic achievement (which was a success I think).
Last week we had a potluck and I didn't have time to really cook anything. My sp mentioned just buying carrot sticks and celery. I said "no way". First off, I started the potlucks with homemade goods and decent bought food if I didn't have time to cook. There was no way I was going to bring freaking carrot and celery sticks. So anyway she said if I could bring some tarts when I bake them. My sp is always so cool and has bought me lunch a couple times, so it's the least I could do.
I've been wanting to give Mr. Eats Anything some homemade food too since I haven't been able to cook him anything yet since I've been so busy with school. I finally bought some ingredients last week and found time last night to do some baking. :) it came out pretty good considering I didn't have my mom's baking sheets. Making tarts though is such a pain. There are only a few ingredients, but it's such a hassle to press and mold each and very mini shell and fill each and every one. UGH. I ended up making 52 with one batch. I had 12 pcs of shells left and no more filling. I also used about 1 3/4 cup pecans instead of the 1. I don't skimp on ingredients (I guess I'm more like my mom than I thoguht :P). So yeah they are pretty good. I was able to compensate for the cold spots in my apartment's oven. The edges tend to burn one side of the pan while the middle takes longer to bake, but it comes out relatively even. So when making multiple sheets, I'll have to turn the sheets on the side of the oven to their other side to evenly brown.
End result, no sticking, golden brown and yummy pecan tarts with just enough sweetness and crunchy crust :) I wish I could have given them to him warm, but it was way late by the time I got the last batch done. He'll have to heat them in the toaster oven. Still yummy though :D Guess I'll br dropping them off tonight or tomorrow.
AAaaarrrgggggg!!!!
I can't find out if I can access Ticketmaster on the LAUSD network *cries*
I need to log on at 9:55am tomorrow to get my freaking tickets!!!!!! *sigh*
The People Have Spoken
So I guess I should be saying something profound given this day in history November 4, 2008, the United States of America has voted its first non White president and first black president. It's not to say that I am surprised given what led to this decision. I have no clear affinity toward either candidate, although at one point or another I didn't mind supporting Obama, then I figured I'd vote McCain. In the end, I didn't vote and in a way, it's because I lost steam after a while and realized I didn't care who won. No matter who does, I don't think a miracle would really happen. Four years isn't long enough to turn the country around, but in a way I wanted to see what Obama could do. As I was discussing this with my "friend" Obama represents the people of the United States now. We are no longer a nation of upper middle class intact families. We are a multiracial nation with over 50% from broken homes living in adverse situations. Being a school psych intern, it's become more of a surprise to me to find a child with an intact home than a child who only has a mother supporting the family. I think, in the end, the United States was looking for someone closer to them. Granted Obama went to Harvard, he came from a broken home, he is of various races and he was able to overcome his adversity. McCain represents the old "idealized" America that older generations cling onto, but the youth feel disconnected from. My generation voted and voted in droves. We twenty somethings probably made the most difference. We are the ones post college who have the opportunity to make a difference. That said, my vote wouldn't have mattered give that I live in a Democratic state that almost always votes democrat, things like this were bound to happen.
Now, if he is able to prove to the world that he is more than just "pretty face" as a few white teachers in my school appear to be infatuated by him, and a commanding voice, then that's great. Otherwise, this might be the biggest whiplash America has ever felt. We'll see how it goes, but hopefully the world supports the US with its choice for president. One thing I do know, is not everyone who is part of our foreign relations is happy. Oh and where was I when I found out? I was sitting in class listening to a lecture on assessment tools for autism spectrum disorders and we hear yelling outside the class three floors below. All of us on laptops check, and at first I wasn't ready to believe it until I saw a confirmed report. Sure enough by 8pm PST, it was confirmed. Well, I guess the t-shirts i saw all over campus won't have to be burned and the stickers on everyone's car won't have to be scraped off :)
LBP :)
While I've pretty much been out of the loop in terms of games and music, this is one game I've been anticipating since I got word of it a while back. Little Big Planet is definitely making a big mark with it's little sac boy and girl. While the little customizable characters are a bit unrefined, that says nothing about how complex and visually rich this game is. I commend the makers of this game on the extent of its customizability. To me that's programming hell and the fact that it has been out for a week or so and I haven't heard much gripe about it amidst all the hype, I am that much more impressed. Little Big Planet apparently delivers. While I have yet to get my hands on this game, I already have high hopes and am pretty sure it won't disappoint. The only thing that wards my skepticism is how long the novelty of building your own planet will last and how easy it really is. We've seen so many games that allow you to customize your characters, gear, cars, etc, and that alone takes forever. Sometimes you just want to play and not have to deal with making anything. I know LBP provides you with out of the box games anyway, so I'm hoping those are enough to satiate the less hard core gamers who just want to see what this game can do without breaking a creative sweat.
