Hurray for our new treadmill! My mom and I have been saving up for a while now and with the aid of my deposit check from my home in Madison we finally had enough money to get our treadmill. I spent most of yesterday putting it together. I was too exhausted to exercise so I had my first walk on it today. The belt isn't as wide as I would like but otherwise it is great! I decided to keep track of how much work I am putting in each day. I might write it here at the end of the week or month or something. I went to see a movie with my brother today. We decided on "Monster House" For a children's movie rated PG, it was positively scary. Granted it was cartoon scary but still scared me! It was still an enjoyable movie. We finished his "back to school shopping." It is a bit odd that I am not going "back to school" This is the first time in the past 16 years that I won't be starting classes in September. It is a wonderfully relieving but odd feeling. InsaAllah I will have a job by end of September! kelebek }{
Jenny: Look! That must be its uvula! Chowder: Oh. So its a GIRL house -- From Monster House
Posted at 1:09 AM
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
tow chicago with numbers
We went to Chicago on Saturday. Unfort the line to get into the Shedd Aquarium was sooo long, so we only went to the Field Museum. We still had a great time! Yesterday I went to Madison to meet up Mr. Baistiryre who just came back from his visit to Turkey. It was fun being in Madison, such a shame I don't live there anymore. Alex is going back to his parents before he jets off to the state Princeton is (I forgot!). Rachel is leaving for Germany on Wednesday. It is sad that all my good friends are moving so far away... Sigh. On our way back from Chicago (before I fell asleep in the car) I made a list that I titled "Chicago by Numbers" Similar to a Bridget Jones list. * Heard "Oh, check out that car's ... [lights, navigation system, rims etc] -- Too Many
* Wanted to choke little bro -- Too many, directly correlated with the entry above though.
* Artifacts from Turkey seen in the museum -- One (these shoes are from Turkey? Blegh?!) * Number of times pouring rain started and stopped five minutes later -- Three
* Number of times kelebek tripped over her own feet -- Three (must be new low!)
* Oldest thing seen -- Sue the dinasour, 67 million years old
* Newest thing seen -- 2007 Porshe 911 correro S (courtesy of Furkan)
* Salaams given to Muslims -- Two
* Advils taken -- Six (shh don't tell my mom)
* Calories Consumed -- 980
* Shoe Change -- Two (My flats which were cute and matched my skirt weren't ideal to walk on)
* Turks overhead -- Two (1. "Ayseguuuul" 2. "Aay cok tatli")
* Bird poops on our windshield -- One (It was purple-weird!)
* Amount of money I needed to purchase everything I wanted -- $ 376
* Actual Purchases -- One (bought "Alec Albertosauraus for my little boyfriend for 6 dollars. He is going to love it!)
*Free things -- Two (Free admission to the Museum and Free air!)
* Tourists led the wrong way-- Two (not on purpose, we were just as lost as they were!)
* Interesting licence plates-- Four ("MY ALEX2" "AKU MILI" "352-HUH" and "LUV 2B ME"
* Things found -- One * Times visited the King Tut exhibit -- Zero (Tickets were sold out, so sad!)
And here are rest of the photos. These two photos made me laugh when I looked at them later. This is the first photo As you can see Furkan does not want to get any closer to me!
But it turned out good in the end! Leave it to my dad to capture odd little moments!
Furkan, me and Yoda. If you guess the number of lego bricks correctly you win something. Furkan guess something around 47,000
There is me at the lego store. This photo is begging to be straigtened with photoshop but I won't bother. It's artsy this way!
I want this painting in my room! kelebek }{
Posted at 1:47 AM
Friday, August 25, 2006
tow goodbye to Manderfeld
This is sad. Rachel, my dear old roomate, the genious who won the Fulbright Scholarship is leaving for Germany on Friday. She came to see me today. After seeing her almost everyday for two years it is hard to imagine her so far away! But she deserved the Fulbright Scholarship and she is going to be a great teacher in Germany. I am going to miss her dearly. This is us infront of my house. I wish her the best! I had two job interviews this week. I don't want to post which companies they were because I am amazed what a well crafted google search will turn up! One interview was with a newspaper and another was with a bookstore. I feel so useless without having stuff to do. InsaAllah it will be nice to have a fulltime job. I was thinking that actually in 16 years this will be the first september I will not be going to class. I do want to continue my education, but this is an odd feeling! kelebek }{
Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go So make the best of this test, and don't ask why It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life.
So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial For what it's worth it was worth all the while -- Greenday I dedicate this to Rachel who can appreciate a pukey song better than anyone else I know.
Posted at 1:00 AM
Thursday, August 24, 2006
tow Sayin Okcu's playlist
Alex (mr. Balistrerirrr) found my playlist "hilarious" and contributed his own. I am posting it in its entirety-- Can't resist adding some comments of my own, look for them in blue! I am replacing my real name with "kelebek" on the last entry for my own paranoid reasons! kelebek }{
How are you feeling today?
About to Crash - Dream Theater (Not true. Actually feeling pretty good.) Well maybe you will, the song is predicting you future!
Will you get far in life?
Crusade - Annbjorg Lien (Possible interpretation: I will be a Christian going as far as the Middle East?) I bet you will, as a CIA spy of course --- shhh dont' tell!
How do your friends see you?
Indim Havuz Basina - Candan Ercetin (They're apparently close: 'Aç kollarını sar boynuma') I went down by the pool" is the title of the song. So your friends like you hanging by the pool?
Will you get married?
Misty Mountain Hop - Led Zeppelin (Uhhh... I'll take that as a 'no') I bet you will get married on a "misty mountain top"
What is your life's theme song?
Boogie with Stu - Led Zeppelin (Well, the lyrics are true: 'I don't want no tutti-frutti, no lollipop / Come on, baby, just rock, rock, rock.') You won't be eating lollipops and rocking babies all your life? Well guess I haven't known you that well all these years!
What is the story of your life?
Doo Wop (That Thing) - Lauryn Hill (Ummm... 'It's been three weeks since you've been looking for your friend The one you let hit it and never called you again' ... 'The pretty face, men claiming that they big men Need to take care of their three and four kids then They facing a court case when the child's support late Money taking, heart breaking now you wonder why women hate men The sneaky silent men, the punk domestic violence men The quick to shoot the semen stop acting like boys and be men.' 'Nuff said) Umm, wow, aight!
What was high school like?
Zealots - The Fugees (I guess there were those guys that wore Confederate flag jackets, so... true.) Really? You never told me that!
How can you get ahead in life?
Good Luck Mr. Gorsky - Transglobal Underground (UH OH!! By the way, the name's Balystreyriy) Well my list told me "fancy" is going to take me far, must be luck for ya!
What is tomorrow going to be like?
To Zion - Lauryn Hill (Nice! The Promised Land awaits!) We really discuss the kind of music you are listening to. Tsk tsk!
What is the best thing about your friends?
Red Intro - The Fugees (True dis: 'They only gangsta's when it comes to being gangsta's to themselves. They want to be Corleone, Luigi, or Gambino or Gotti or whatever the fuck. They run around callin' themselves Rahiem or Fuquan or Mustapha cause we think they got power, but fuck them, I got power.') Tru dat ma gansta!
What is in store for the next weekend?
At My Mother's - Warsaw Village Band (Wow! Surprisingly accurate. Well, not this weekend, but the next.)
What song best describes you?
The Last Remaining Light - Audioslave (A heavy burden on me!) Well I am sure you can handle lighting the world up by yourself and your gansta friends will help ya by the pool
How is your life going?
Black Dog - Led Zeppelin (I have a black dog! But the song really has nothing to do with me.) Hate to inform you Alex, but a black dog is The Grim. Professor Trelawney, the divination teacher at Hogwarts and the great-great grandaughter of famed seer Cassandra Trelawney says so! What song will play at your funeral?
Vino - Nigel Kennedy (A wistful song. Hopefuly they will drink 'vino' at my funeral too...) Oh thats too sad to comment on
How does the world see you?
A Red Apple - Warsaw Village Band (The world sees me as... delicious? A ward against doctors? Tempting? All three?) All three dear, all three!
Will you have a happy life?
Polka Folkisdead - Warsaw Village Band (If folk really is dead, then definitely not!) Well, maby all the "bad" folk will die and you will only hang out with the goodfolkalive
What do your friends really think of you?
Brickwork (Ascend) - Pain of Salvation (Brickwork? Hmmm.... hmmm.... I'm sturdy? Ascend? How is this different from question 3?) I dunno, I dind't make them up!
What song describes the person you're attracted to?
In The Light - Led Zeppelin (I guess this is true for everybody...) Remember Max first seem Sam in Get Extra Credit, she was in the light!
What message would you like to tell the next generation?
Mouth Wedding - Transglobal Underground (There is nothing I would like to say more to the next generation than 'mouth wedding.') Well at least it is less depressing than my message!
Do you have a deep dark secret?
Ikinci Bolum -Kelebek and Alex Balistreri (LOL. It's true, only a few people know about "Ikinci Bolum!") Well since I never got around to posting it, it is a dark, dark secret!
Posted at 12:20 AM
Sunday, August 20, 2006
tow abdriged
I here by declare that all books that are in abridged form should be marked clearly on the front as such. Barnes and Noble was having a huge sale on classics that I love so I bought about five of them. I started reading Count of Monte Cristo. Keep in mind I have read this book previously quite a few timesAbout three chapters in I realized there was a chapter missing. It was an important chapter so I thought I must have forgetten what order it comes in. But I checked ahead and nope, the chapter wasn't there. That was when I realized there is something with the book. I checked the inside pages and sure enough there were the dreaded words "Abridged" Why, why, why would you do that to such a great book? And if you do, shouldn't you mark in the OUTSIDE cover as such! I am discouraged because I already spent $ to buy the darn book. I might put it up on Book Mooch! I have discovered Rilke! I don't know why I have never heard from him before, crazy! The poem that I posted a few days ago was quoted in the book I've read, in her shoes. I looked up the author when I was at the bookstore and boy does he rock! I was able to find the book I wanted at half price books so the price was reasonable! We didn't get to go to chicago today because the tickets to the aquarium was not availabe. Instead we went to Johson Creek Outlet. It's not that we were dying to go shopping. It was more my mom was on a cleaning spree and outside the house is the best place to be when she starts cleaning. It was't all that exciting but i did buy a gorgeous skirt and a blouse for a reasonable price. I want to share two conversations made me laugh so much I wrote them down. This was yesterday at Barnes and Noble. I was looking through an armful of Rilke books and Furkan was looking through a car magazine Me: It's pronounced Rilk-uh I think Furkan: Show me the book Me: He's a german poet, he.. Furkan (interrupting): Whoa check out these rims This was today in the parking lot of the outlet. Furkan was talking to my dad Furkan: Oh baba park next to the Hummer. I've never seen one with navigation system before. Baba: la hawla wa la quwwata illa bi Allah (there is no power or strength except through Allah) -- My dad says "la hawla" when he's very much frustrated and asking for God's help! kelebek }{
If you are the dreamer, I am what you dream. But when you want to wake, I am your wish, and I grow strong with all magnificence and turn myself into a star's vast silence above the strange and distant city, Time. -- Rilke
Posted at 12:05 PM
Friday, August 18, 2006
tow playlist
I don't remember which blog I saw this in, but I think it was meant to be shared. I have a very large music list, excluding the audio books I have, I have 6.6 days worth of music. Here's what I did. 1. Put your music player on shuffle. 2. Press forward for each question. 3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn't make sense. NO CHEATING!
How are you feeling today? -- Uphill Battle by Sarah McLachlan -- Well I feel like that most of the time
Will you get far in life? -- Wings for Marie (Pt 1) TOOL -- Wings for kelebek (butterfly)? Rather appropriate I think!
How do your friends see you? -- Moondance by Van Morison -- Umm I don't know this song. How did it end up in my collection? Can I try again? No, is that cheating? Fine my friends see me "moondance"
Will you get married? -- Her Seye soz gerekmez [not everything needs words] by Rafet el Roman --I second that, no need for words here!
What is your life's theme song? -- Pardon me by Incubus -- Well probably because I am always bumping into people!
What is the story of your life? -- Uptown Haters Skit by Sean Paul -- Yea all you hatrz out of ma life
What was high school like? -- Your bore by seether -- Actually my high school was quite entertaining!
How can you get ahead in life? -- Fancy by Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- Fancy, but work too right?
What is tomorrow going to be like? -- Muhim degil [It's not important] by candan ercetin --Yup, what matters is now (right?)
What is the best thing about your friends? -- Brain Damage by Pink Floyd -- LOL! Whose brain are we damaging here?
What is in store for the next weekend? -- the Warmth by incubus -- I would prefer it to cool down
What song best describes you? -- X & Y by coldplay -- That can't be right, aren't females XX?!
How is your life going? -- I will not forget you by Sarah McLachan -- Umm, so I won't forget my life?
What song will play at your funeral? -- Be like that by three doors down -- ROFL, I don't think anyone would want to "be like that" at my funeral!
How does the world see you? -- Act a fool by Ludacris --Thats not nice!
Will you have a happy life? -- Stars from the musical Les Miserables -- I would if Javert was not chasing me!
What do your friends really think of you? -- Selam ver (say hi) by Tarkan -- Great, even my music is reminding me keep in touch.
What song describes the person you're attracted to? -- Everything Changes by Staind -- See below for the lyrics
What message would you like to tell the next generation? -- Geciyor bizden de [It is leaving us too] by sezen aksu --Not sure what this is supposed to mean!
Do you have a deep dark secret? -- Leg of Lamb by Queens of the Stone Age -- This wins for being the most absurd answer!! For the record I don't really care for the taste of lamb! kelebek }{
When it's just me and you. Who knows what we could do. If we can just make it through The toughest part of the day.
Stay here together And we could Conquer the world If we could Say that forever Is more than just a word. -- Staind
Posted at 1:26 PM
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
tow where kelebek goes to kurbaga's house
It is past 1 AM but I have special permission to use the internet! I was wathcing In Her Shoes with my mom and I am happy to report it is every bit as good as the book! I can tell you from experience that is not often the case. I am going to be watching Hoot with Furkan ins upcoming days so we'll see if the movie was as good as the book. Today as announced I got to go to burcu's house. Whoo hoo! It was fun. I got to sit around and talk with burcu for quiete a while. Love that girl. Of course I am not dishing out any details of our top secret talks but ahem... Mr. S nice job with the mailed flowers. It is often quite challenging to get a girl to feel like they want to murder you but also love you even more. I whole heartedly approve of the gesture. I shall reward you with a picture of your beloved, no I am not sending you anymore (yes I do have many more) so don't even ask! But we shall start with a picture of my beloved first! There is my boyfriend and a shot of my arm. I was trying very hard to get apicture taken with him but he prefered to lay down on the floor. Notice the dinasour in my hand, even the dinasour couldn't get him to pose with me. You should hear him say dinasour, it sounds like "DINA-SAAWW"
He did fall for his sister telling him that there was a dinasour in the camera. No idea why he belives when Burcu tells him about the dinasours in the camera!
There is Enes with his brother, aka Shorty (Mustafa). I call him Shorty because I knew him before he grew up to be the 6 foot something varsity football playing giant he is now! I am not too sure what enes is interested in, but I bet shorty was showing him some dinasours!
Unfort Burcu had to leave for work around 3 so I didn't get to spend as much time with her as I would have liked.
There is me sitting purdy in Burcu's baby blue chair. You can't really tell by the photo but I am wearing one of my favorite eeyore shirts. YAY And now there is the moment all of you have been waiting for, I PRESENT YOU BURCUUUUUU
Oh and I highly approve of the frog too Mr S. You be good to my Burcu otherwise you would have me to answer too-- don't let the innocent looks fool ya! And now its getting very late and I have some editors to call and ask why they are not hiring me. kelebek }{
zengin cocukla fakir kizin askina bir turlu kavusup mutlu olmayisina gozum doluyorsa hala korkmaya gerek yok yasiyorum demektir
anlatacak hikayelim bitmedi heuz anlasacak dostlarim tukenmedi yorgunluk, kirginlik hepsi gelir gecer her seye ragmen yasamak guzel -- Candan Ercetin
Posted at 2:34 AM
Sunday, August 13, 2006
tow poem
I'd like to sing someone to sleep, By someone sit, and be still. I'd like to rock you and murmur a song Be with you on the fringes of sleep Be the one and only awake in the house who would know that the night is cold. I'd like to listen both inside and out, Into you, and the world, and the woods. The clocks call out with their toiling bells And you can see to the bottom of time. Down in the street a stranger goes by And bothers a passing dog. Behind comes slience, I've laid my eyes On you like an open hand, And they hold you lightly and let you go, When something moves in the dark. -- Rilke
uyumasi icin birine sarki soylemek istiyorum, birisinin yanona oturup hareketsizce durmak. seni sallayarak bir sarki mirildanmak istiyorum, tam uykuya dalacagin sirada seninle birlikte olmak. evdeki tek uyanik kisinin ben olmasini, gecenin soguk oldugunu tek bilenin. hem iceriyi, hem de disariyi dinlemek istiyorum, senin icini, dunyanin ve ormanlarin. saatler, zillerini agir agir caliyorlar, ve sen zamanin aslina inebiliyorsun. sokakta bir yabancı yuruyor ve yoldan gecen bir kopegi rahatsiz ediyor. ardindan sessizlik geliyor. gozlerimi sana, ellerimi uzatircasina sunmustum, karanligin icinde bir seyler kipirdandiginda seni hafifce tutup sonra da birakmalari icin. -- Rilke
Posted at 11:25 PM
tow again
I had a nice post all written up and I was googling for a quote from Hoodwinked when my phone rang-- it was my friend. So I left the computer on and went upstairs to my room where I have reception. 20 minutes later my mom called for me and told me to come look. To my horror my dad had logged off from my account and signed into the home account. I demanded to know what happened to my blog entry I had typed up. He said he checked the browser and only saw a music program (pandora) open so he closed it. Un freaking believable!!! I told him I use tabs when I browse and he didn't even bother to check if I had anymore tabs open (I did, one of the tabs was my blog entry!). Sigh, now I feel too discouraged to rewrite everything. But to recap I rearranged my room to make my bed fit better, we subscribed to blockbuster so it delivers us DVD's so I've been watching alot of movies: syriana was pretty good, hoodwinked was funny, I am reading "In her Shoes", insaAllah we are grilling tomorrow, and on Monday ins we will be going to Burcu's house and I will get to see my little boyfriend! Kelebek }{
Nicky Flippers: So, Mr. Wolf... can I call you Wolf? What is it exactly that you do? The Wolf: I'm a shepherd. -- Hoodwinked
Posted at 1:21 AM
Monday, August 07, 2006
tow take me back home
I went to Madison today. The moment we got off the freeway exit and started driving on E. Wash Ave I felt at home. I was telling my dad how much I missed living here. He said I only miss it here because I went to school here. But thats not true, I just love Madison. The lakes, State Street, the bike paths, pan handlers, Vilas Hall I love it all! Sigh... Rachel wasn't home when we got there, which was sad because I wanted to see her before she moved to Germany. I told my dad the only way my bed (it's a full 6ft by 4ft) would go down is if we hoisted up the fire escape. But knowing my dad he had to try his way first. So we tried getting it down the stairs. Except the stairs are way too narrow for the bed to fit through so it got stuck between the second and third floor. I lived in a old house, no elevator! So we had to get it back up to the third floor and dangle it from the fire escape. It was quite a hassle but Elhamdurillah we managed. After that trip of nostalgia I had to experience another one, go back to the Daily Cardinal office. Everything in the Vilas Hall (the Journalism School's building) was so familiar, the board that was half burnt, the markings indicating where the Cardinal office is, the green elevator. I went to the backroom where all the archives are. It took me over an hour to get everything copied. My dad and I drove to Madison alone. This is the perfect time for my dad to question/lecture me because there is no escape! When he began, "You studied psychology in college..." I tried to guess what the subject matter would be, I thought it's gotta be my brother because he said "psychology" It could also been about my mom approaching middle age and how I should be more tolerant, or maybe more insights into how a male brain works, but I was right, it was about my brother. He talked a good half an hour on how he read that boys between the ages 11-13 are senstive about their looks and how we shouldn't even joke about how they look. I racked my brain trying to figure out when I made fun of my brother. I was supportive of his braces, his new hair cut and whatever else he was doing to his looks. He couldnt' have been talking about the time he called me a "buttface" which I told him he must be seeing his own reflection in my glasses (I used this comeback a lot in elementary school). After talking about my brother and how I should act towars him we progressed to Islamic subjects and how my brother is not studying too hard. He pointed out my brother read the 800 page Harry Potter book how many times and he hasn't read Islamic books in ages. I told him that he didnt' have any story books with an Islamic theme so we are going to buy some on ins next week from Chicago. Then my dad said it must be a group of authors writing Harry Potter because one person could not have possibly written all that this quickly. I reached over to adjust his tinfoil hat and explained to him that she's been writing the series for over 14 years now and told him Tolstoy wrote even longer books, have you seen War and Peace?! We rounded up our discussion on why Photoshop makes my laptop's CPU go insane while it works just fine in our home computer when we arrived in Madison. (The reason is by the way has to do with our home computer having a fancy videocard while my laptop's poor processor has to take care of everything. Now how many of you were dying to know that?) On the way back he started talking about Canada but he cut it mercifully short so I could enjoy rest of the trip with my ipod, black widow. It was a day later, but he finally found free air! Well it wasn't really free it was 50cents still, but it said that if you ask the cashier you can get it for free. I went in and asked and finally my dad got his free air.
See that little button on the side? You gotta push that to get your free air or cough up 50 cents!
Yup, free air by seeing the cashier, whoo hoo! kelebek }{
And if I could hold on Through the tears and the laughter Lord, would it be beautiful? Or just a beautiful disaster -- Kelly Clarkson (This song was stuck in my head all day!)
Posted at 12:25 PM
Sunday, August 06, 2006
tow parsley, ikea, and free air
My mom comes up to my room with her hair tied back with her scarf her hands covered in flour and her cheeks pink. She says "Bana maydanoz lazim, gidip alir misin pazardan bir kosu?" Meaning, "I need parsley, can you get me some from the farmers market?" Groggily I check the clock of my cellphone, 11:00 AM. I ask how long the place is open, I find out one more hour. Our area has a farmers market on Saturdays and parking is practically impossible (ironically the market is held at the parking lot of my brother's middle school!). Around 11:15 AM I manage to get out of bed, do keep in mind I went to bed around 4:30 AM. I consider having a bite to eat but my mom needs the parsely for the dish she's cooking for the Chicago meeting which we would have to leave for by 1:00 PM. The market is 1.5 mile away (2.4 km) so I can easily bike there. My mom gives me 5 dollars and tells me to buy 3 bunches. I skip eating and head out the door. I haven't biked in a week because the weather was so insanely hot and I would have to be insane to leave our air conditioned house! In a week my muscles must have shrank or something because biking that 1.5 was so difficult. I get to the farmers market, I am out of breath. I hop out of my bike and approach the first stand in the market. No parsley. I move to the one next to it, they have ears of corn, squash, tomatoes, but no parsley. Next stand the same thing. I walk through all the stands and no parsley! I don't panic, I must have missed the parsley. So this time I catch the eye of the person at the stall and ask them if they have parsley, and still no parsley. I call my mom to ask if she had actually bought parsely from this farmers market. She says she bought it from another (and considerably bigger) farmers market and she assumed this one would have it too. I inform her she assumed wrong. I would like to add that she should have made damn sure this farmers market had parsely before sending me biking 1.5 in this heat! But I don't. I get back on my bike and bike back home. After pedaling for few minutes the left pedal starts to vibrate a little under my foot. I ignore it and pedal harder, I am hungry and tired and I want to go home as fast as possible. As I go up the hill the pedal starts to feel positively wobbly, I look down and I don't see anything wrong. I come to a busy intersection and since the light is green I keep pedaling, except there is no pedal! I turn around in horror and see my pedal laying on the ground five feet behind me. I drop my bike to the ground, run back grab the pedal all while praying furiously that the light stays green. Elhamdurillah (thank God) it stays green. I walk my bike to the sidewalk and try to figure out how to put the pedal back on. I consider calling home but I can picture my mom rushing madly to finish the food so I try harder. I get frustrated so I kick the pedal. To my surprise a screw that I didn't see before falls off before my eyes. Deciding this is Allah still answering my prayer I screw the pedal back on. It works! I hop back on my bike, put my right foot on the pedal and push down to place my left foot on the pedal, except the pedal is not there. I get off and realize I put the pedal too close to the right pedal. Well how I am supposed to know? I have never installed a pedal before! I take out the pedal, screw it on the right way (using my poor fingernails). I bike back home carefully so that the pedal won't fall of again. My mom calls me to ask whats taking me so long. I tell her my pedal fell off. She says, "ok" then says "you pedal what?!" I come home and my mom is waiting for me at the door. I drink 3 cups of water (I know exactly because my mom put the water in a measuring cup!). I want to lay down because I feel nauseated. Except we still need the parsley. She asks me if I could drive to the grocery store to get it. I couldn't say no so I got in the car and turned on the AC full blast because I was feeling light headed. I managed to get to the grocery store in one piece. Bought the parsley (had to buy four bunches because most of the bunches were yellow!) came home and finally had breakfast.
There is the offending pedal. Don't let the look fool you, it is about ready to fall out. I wanted to take a picture of me holding the pedal, but not feeling particularly photogenic today
Parsley! As you can see it has some yellow in it but after spending 2 hours to buy the darn thing, looks pretty good! If you look carefully to the bottom left of the photo you can see part of my favorite Eeyore mug (it's lavender) peeking through from the washed dishes. The meeting was good. We discussed Surah Shura. I think from now on I am pointing out to my dad every chance I get that a characteristic of a Muslim is to consult! After the meeting my dad had promised to take me to IKEA. On our way to IKEA my dad decided that the car's tires needed air, which is pretty normal. Most gas stations charge 50 cents for the use of their air thingee. Except my dad decided that he wanted "free air". First gas station we went to charged money, the second one did too and so did the third one. By the time my dad pulled into the fourth gas station we were ready to fling quarters at him. But no, he wanted free air! Mercifully he gave up his quest once we got to IKEA. IKEA basically the store of my dreams because they let you play with ALL the furniture and then you get to buy it in pieces and assemble it at home. My idea of fun! Furkan didn't really want to go but once we started on flopping ourselves on the sofas to find the most comfy one he was loving it! We found the best sofa, but I don't think we are buying it! In the sample "homes" they have the bathroom. I had to take a picture of the toilet (with my camera phone, hence the crappy quality).
I did not photoshop the writing there. The toilet is covered with solid plastic and the writing is on the plastic. I do not want to think who in their right mind would use this toilet in the wide open public area! We were in IKEA for over 2 hours. By this time my knees were killing me. We bought my brother a bed frame from the AS-IS department. It was AS-IS because the bed frame was already assembled and according to the guy at the AS-IS deparment this lowered the price because they couldnt' put it back into their trademark flat boxes. Fine with us! We had to unassemble to bed frame once we paid for it. I sat on one of the IKEA carts waiting for my dad to finish taking out the screws. This is what the IKEA cart looked like,
Except it was empty. When we were ready to go I asked my mom if she would push me to the car in the cart. To my surprise she agreed! When we got to our van I was getting pretty comfy in the cart. While my parents were putting the pieces in the car my brother wanted to take me for a ride in the empty parking lot (by the time we got the bed frame taken apart it was 10:20). At first he pushed me slowly but then I got brave and so did he and he pushed me all around the parking lot. Wheeeee!!!! I wanted a photo to remember the fun I had, but alas I only had my cellphone to rely on. I tried working some photoshop magic on the photos but when they are so darn bad even photoshop can't save it. But you get the idea!
This one is a tiny bit better because Furkan pushed me under the giant lights in the parking lot. Here is a photo of the bed frame that I need to re-assemble, SQUEEEEAL!
Unfort most of it was already assembled, so it won't be too much fun but oh well! InsaAllah I am going to Madison tomorrow to pick up my bed that I left behind so Rachel's sis could use it. Boy did I miss my bed. The bed I have now is twin and it's not that comfy! I also need to make copies of the articles I got published in the Daily Cardinal because turns out the employers wants to see the articles as it appeared rather than the pretty print outs from the internet. Who knew?! kelebek }{ Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune--without the words, And never stops at all, -- Emily Dickinson
Posted at 3:02 AM
Saturday, August 05, 2006
tow I did it
Taa Daa! I finished my template!! I am actually really proud of this. I had a base template to go on, but I changed pretty much everything. The only reason I needed a base template of sorts was CSS still throws me off a little and it is easier to code when most of the code is already set. I created the top photo on Photoshop. The titles are my handwriting (I scanned them in!) Unfort if someone is using Internet Explorer (why oh why people still use Explorer?) The handwriting and my little butterflies at the end of the post doesn't come out transparent. I will prolly look into that later, but now I just want to adore my template. Ok enough gloating! I didn't do much actually except spend sometime reading the new issue of Photoshop Creative at Barnes and Noble. The cafe hired two new people, lets see how they turn out. We are ins going to Chicago tomorrow for the always exciting meeting of the Turkish community. It's kind of sad because Erdogan Hoca and his wife Marnie teyze are leaving for Turkey for a few months. It was so nice seeing everybody even if it was once a month. And on Sunday insaAllah we need to go to Madison to pick up the bed from my old house. I need to stop by the Cardinal to copy my clips because turns out they want the actual paper copy, not the stuff printed from the internet--blegh! kelebek }{
It's amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper. --Jerry Seinfeld
Posted at 1:24 AM
Thursday, August 03, 2006
tow chick lit
Somehow I got sucked into reading Undomestic Goddess. When I sucked into I mean it. I was at my beloved Barnes & Noble about a week ago and the cover caught my eye. I picked it up and added to the pile of books I had in my arms that I wanted to browse through while drinking my latte. It was a quick read, wafer thin plot but I wanted to see how it would turn out. The author of this book also wrote the popular Confessions of a Shopaholic. Since I was doing pretty heavy duty reading I wanted to read something light so I checked out the Confessions of a Shopaholic from the library. Again got sucked in with the plot. I grudingly read most of the book but I feel like my intelligence is dropping by the page. The entire book is about the shopaholic and how she practically worships shopping. There is of course the male character thrown in. I felt like I should make a post card to sent to Postsecret saying "I read two Sophie Kinsella novels" I discovered a website today that is too good for me not to share. Now I know all of you keep updated with all the techie stuff worth knowing with Life Hacker but just incase you missed it the website I am talking about is "Pandora" According to the website it came out of the Music Genome project that people with too much time in their hands created. It is a bit similar to Yahoo!'s "my radio" except more exciting. You tell them one band you like and it analyzes whole bunch of stuff bout the music and creates a radio station for you to listen to. You say "yes" or "no" to the songs and it picks good stuff. So far I have a "Staind" station which has all the good alternative rock and a "Kelly Clarkson" station which has all the good female vocalists in it. I decided to put my mad (ha!) photoshop skills to work and work on a template that I truly love. I will leave this one up while I perfect the photo I want as the header. So excited! Other than photoshop I decided to look for freelance reporting. Sheila (the lovely AAJA member who's been soo kind to me) recomended that I should freelance 2 articles per week which I responded with "Eek!" but come to think of it I can do it! I am still waiting on Yasmin's wedding photos. I think I'll call her tomorrow and ask her when we'll get to see them! kelebek }{ My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return. --Maya Angelou
Posted at 12:20 PM
