It's the little things, you know, about life. Like when you want to put the flea collar on your cat and of course your cat is nowhere to be found. That was me, yesterday. Put the flea collars on the cats, my mother told me. It'll be easy, they're just lying around on the deck out back.

Of course it's never that easy. It took me hours of waiting before they finally decided to show up so I could collar them. And naturally after I had that taken care of me, I was given a dirty look before they took off to sulk. Stupid cats.

But nothing takes the cake like giving a cat a bath. Take my cat Cali, for instance. She's a big girl. About twenty pounds with long hair, so she looks bigger than she actually is. And she was dirty. Dust in her fur and goodness knows what else. So I did the stupidest thing imaginable, and locked myself in my shower with her and gave her a bath.



Yup, that's her, looking totally peeved. She seems to think that she can bathe herself just fine. Except she's too fat to reach her back so she was really bad back there. By the way, that's me, holding her. I would have worn waders and leather gloves if I could have, but really, what good would those have been against my cat's claws and in the shower? Not very. So I just donned shorts and my bathing suit and hoped for the best. Lucky for me Cali's more passive than agressive, so she just meowed at the shower door (um, my shower is huge, btw) pathetically until I was done with her. Then my mom insisted on trying out the digital camera by snapping a few shots to remember the event by. And this is what we get.

I was inspired by all of these "Top 5" lists that seem to be popping up. From Condeleeza Rice to Ember76, these lists seem to be all the rage. So here's my top five songs.

Coming in at number 5 is my karaoke favorite. Everytime karaoke came up, I had to do this song.

"I Will Survive" - Gloria Gaynor

At first I was afraid
I was petrified
Kept thinking I could never live
without you by my side
But then I spent so many nights
thinking how you did me wrong
And I grew strong
And I learned how to get along
and so you're back
from outer space
I just walked in to find you here
with that sad look upon your face
I should have changed that stupid lock
I should have made you leave your key
If I had known for just one second
you'd be back to bother me

Go on now go walk out the door
just turn around now
'cause you're not welcome anymore
weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
Did you think I'd crumble
Did you think I'd lay down and die
Oh no, not I
I will survive
Oh as long as i know how to love
I know I will stay alive
I've got all my life to live
I've got all my love to give
and I'll survive
I will survive (hey-hey)

It took all the strength I had
not to fall apart
kept trying hard to mend
the pieces of my broken heart
and I spent oh so many nights
just feeling sorry for myself
I used to cry
But now I hold my head up high
and you see me
somebody new
I'm not that chained up little person
still in love with you
and so you felt like dropping in
and just expect me to be free
and now I'm saving all my loving
for someone who's loving me

Go on now go walk out the door
just turn around now
'cause you're not welcome anymore
weren't you the one who tried to break me with goodbye
Did you think I'd crumble
Did you think I'd lay down and die
Oh no, not I
I will survive
Oh as long as i know how to love
I know I will stay alive
I've got all my life to live
I've got all my love to give
and I'll survive
I will survive
[x2]

Number 4 on the list shows my roots as a lover of 80s hair bands. Not only is it an awesome song of the 80s, it also happens to be closing theme song from one of my favorite shows - Hellsing.

"Shine" - Mr. Big

I never really feel quite right
I don't know why, all I know is there's something wrong
Every time I look at you, you seem so alive
Tell me how do you do it, walk me through it
I'm following every footstep
Baby on your own you take a conscious step
Do you wanna give it up?
But all I want is for you to SHINE
Shine down on me
Shine on this life that's burning out
I say a lot of things sometimes that don't come out right
And I act like I don't know why
I guess a reaction is all I was looking for

You looked through me, you really knew me like no one has
EVER looked before

Baby on your own you take a cautious step
Do you wanna give it up?

But all I want is for you to SHINE
Shine down on me
Shine on this life that's burning out
I know, I know, girl you got something
SHINE (shine it on to me)
Shine down on me (I wanna feel it)
Shine on this life that's burning out
Baby on your own you take a cautious step
Do you wanna give it up?
But all I want is for you to SHINE
Shine down on me (just show me something)
Shine on this life that's burning out (you give me something that I never know)
Shine (it gonna kill me if you give something away)
Shine yeaaah (I wanna know what's going in on your mind)
Shine on this life that's burning out

Numbah 3 on the list is, well, a favorite J-pop song. I didn't know about this one until I randomly decided to buy Maaya Sakamoto's Hotchpotch album, but this one quickly became one of my favorites. Strangely enough, despite the fact that Maaya Sakamoto is a Japanese singer, this song is entirely in English. That's right, this isn't a translation for the Japanese lyrics, these are the actual lyrics.

"24" - Maaya Sakamoto

See what happened to the girl
Round the midnight
When she lost her crystal shoe
I don't need a spell on me
Or bell to tell me
You'd better go, you'd better say good-bye

Doesn't take that much for me
To feel all right now
And to knock, knock on your door
Maybe just a sip or two
Of good esspresso
And my nails painted two times or more

Too bad she gave it all away
When the magic's gone astray, hey, hey
I'll never let it be
Whatever may come to me
When it turns to be twenty-four

Running up and down the stairs
As she used to
I've been searching for your face
In a pair of platform boots
I may stumble
Oh what a pain, or what a shame on me

Too bad if I'm not fancy enough
I'm so happy just for being so tough
I'll never hideaway
Whatever may come my way
When it turns to be twenty-four

Too bad she gave it all away
When the magic's gone astray, hey, hey
I'll never let it be
Whatever may come to me
When it turns to be twenty-four

When it turns to be twenty-four

Number 2 on the list is a song that I could literaly sit and listen to for hours and hours and hours on end. I love the whole Darklight album, however this song and my number one just stuck out for me. Yeah, Ville Valo is really freakin' hot in that tatooed goth sort of way, which always helps, but it's the story behind this particular song that gets me. It's about Brandon Novak's addiction to heroin. (Brandon, as some of you might know, lives with Bam Margera, who cleaned him up and gave him a real life.) When asked why he shot heroin, he replied, "It kills the lonliness." Now anyone who's seen Viva la Bam (can't say I'm a huge fan, but I do watch from time to time) knows that Bam is really big into HIM. Thus Villie was inspired by Brandon's battle with the addiction to write this song, the number 2 on my list.

"Killing Loneliness" - HIM

Memories, sharp as daggers
Pierce into the flesh of today
Suicide of love took away all that matters
And buried the remains in an unmarked grave in your heart
With the venomous kiss you gave me
I'm killing loneliness (Killing loneliness)
With the warmth of your arms you saved me,
Oh, I'm killing loneliness with you
I'm killing loneliness that turned my heart into a tomb
I'm killing loneliness

Nailed to the cross, together
As solitude begs us to stay
Disappear in the lie forever
And denounce the power of death over our souls and secret words are said to start a war

With the venomous kiss you gave me
I'm killing loneliness (Killing loneliness)
With the warmth of your arms you saved me,
I'm killing loneliness with you
I'm killing loneliness that turned my heart into a tomb
I'm killing loneliness

Killing loneliness

Number 1 also comes from HIM's Darklight album. I blame my best friend Ericka for getting me addicted. In any case, I love this song so much it's the ringtone on my cell phone at the moment. I keep thinking it would make a killer AMV, the question is, to what?

"Wings Of A Butterfly" - HIM

Heaven ablaze in our eyes
We're standing still in time
The blood on our hands is the wine
We offer as sacrifice

[Chorus]
Come on, and show them your love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul, my love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul
This endless mercy mile
We're crawling side by side
With hell freezing over in our eyes
Gods kneel before our crime

[Chorus]
Come on lets show, them your love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul, my love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul
(Rip out the wings of a butterfly)
Don’t let go
(Rip out the wings of a butterfly)
For your soul

[Chorus]
Come on, and show them your love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul, my love
Rip out the wings of a butterfly
For your soul
(Rip out the wings of a butterfly)
Don’t let go
(Rip out the wings of a butterfly) [x2]
For your soul

So there you have it. My top five favorite songs. Maybe I'll do a list of my favorite J-pop songs, favorite Disney movie songs, favorite movie songs (not Disney), favorite Euro-pop songs (wooo, Spice Girls and O-Zone), and so on . . . maybe that's what I come up with tomorrow.

1) I am a happy drunk. Get me boozed up just a little and I become very sociable and giggly and apparently loud . . . but happy so what the hell.

2) If you want an Esspressotini, pass it up unless it has the cocoa rim and was made by an actual bartender. When doing it at home, add a little cream, a little Bailey's to go with the vannilla vodka (or rum) and Kaluha and blend it. A Dirty Frappacino was the name we came up with. Mmm, tasty.

3) If for some reason you don't have a shaker or a measuring cup, travel coffee thermoses and baby bottles work just as well. (No, I wasn't actually drinking the vannilla rum out of the baby bottle, but I used to to measure things out. Of course we found the shaker after we'd already mixed the drinks . . .)

4) By far the best mixer I've ever had was the Diet Dr. Pepper Vannilla Cherry with the vannilla rum. Apparently any type of Dr. Pepper works for great for mixers, so the next on my must try list is Dr. Pepper and Jack Daniels.

5) Coconut cream pie, while extremely tasty, is not the best breakfast food. I should have had it after my cheeseburger and fries, but for some strange reason really got into The 40 Year Old Virgin, which, btw, was a decent movie. It wasn't so good that I'm going to recommend it to everyone, but it was certainly was entertaining (I think I got the biggest kick out of the Racer X magnet on his fridge).

6) The last stretch between the Seattle and the Tri-Cities is really boring, and I do not wish that drive on anyone. I've been a passanger before, but holy cow! Actually driving it was putting me to sleep, and no, dispite all of the drinking I did this weekend, I was not completely wasted or hung over.

Yup, fun weekend. I went up to Seattle to visit my sister, her husband and their kids. We did a lunch/dinner at Lola's (another excellent resturaunt by Tom Douglas, the same guy who owns Etta's where I had my birthday brunch) and I had a lamb burger. It was quite tasty, actually. I may actually prefer lamb burgers to beef now, isn't that strange? I also have officially seen Peir 70, home of Real World: Seattle and saw the exact spot where Stephen slapped Irene. I think there should be a landmark or something there, to make the spot and the occassion. An interesting side note, most Seattle residents did not care for the Real World being shot there, and often wore shirts emblazoned with "F*** you, Real World" and worked their ways into shots so the footage couldn't be used. Seattle-ites at their best, I suppose. (This coming from someone who's local newspaper had a corispondent on location to cover the World Trade Organization conference (aka the Battle for Seattle) back in '99 and saw it reported first hand and not via the Associated Press, which also showed Seattle-ites at their best. No wonder the rest of the country thinks that we Washingtonians are crazy.)

Now I'm home and hoping to settle into Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian once more. But maybe I should find food first . . .

So I've decided it was high time to come up with other ideas for Danny Phantom music videos. So far I've started one set to Madonna's "Die Another Day." The plan is for it to be a battle supreme between Good Danny and Evil Danny. ("Good, bad, I'm the one with the gun.") So yeah, all clips are going to be from "The Ultimate Enemy." And I figured it could dedicate it to my friends here on tv.com. So Bree, Susan, I'll let you know when it's up for public viewing. It might be a while though, since the editing is looking like it's going to take a while. :oops:

Also, I want to do another vid to Cascada's "Every Time We Touch" as a DannyxSam tribute. I was looking at the lyrics and thought it was oddly appropriate. I figure I can splice together the clips from "Faning the Flames" "Memory Blank" "Shades of Gray" (the first Fake-out Make-out) and "Beauty Marked." Now it all comes down to wether or not I can find the clips or not. Wish me luck.

Oh yeah, I included the lyrics to "Every Time We Touch." That way you can tell me if I've totally lost it or not.

I still hear your voice when you sleep next to me,
I still feel your touch in my dreams. (my dreams)
Forgive me my weakness,
but I don't know why.
Without you it's hard to survive.

'Cause everytime we touch,
I get this feeling,
and every time we kiss,
I swear I can fly
Can't you feel my heart beat fast?
I want this to last,
need you by my side.
'Cause everytime we touch,
I feel the static,
and everytime we kiss,
I reach for the sky.
Can't you hear my heart beat so?
I can't let you go,
want you in my life.

Your arms are my castle,
your heart is my sky.
They wipe away tears that I cry. (I cry)
The good and the bad times,
we've been through them all.
You make me rise when I fall.

'Cause everytime we touch,
I get this feeling,
and everytime we kiss,
I swear I can fly.
Can't you feel my heart beat fast?
I want this to last,
need you by my side.
'Cause everytime we touch,
I feel the static,
and everytime we kiss,
I reach for the sky.
Can't you hear my heart beat so?
I can't let you go,
want you in my life.

'Cause everytime we touch,
I get this feeling,
and everytime we kiss,
I swear I can fly.
Can't you feel my heart beat fast?
I want this to last,
need you by my side.

Yup, I've officially lost it (or found it, if you will).  I'm going to make a Danny Phantom music video.  I was thinking that I would set it to the Ghostbuster's theme song by Ray Parker, Jr.  Seemed fitting, ya know?  Anyway, I don't just want to do that one, but others as well.  So now I'm going through my music collection trying to come up with ideas.

Suggestions, anyone?

So my brother is up for the next month.  He's currently upstairs playing LoZ: WW waiting for the moment where he can kick my butt in SCII.  Well, we'll just see about that, won't we?

In other news I'm painfully behind in Danny Phantom.  In fact, it was a fluke that I even managed to catch the last fifteen minutes of "Kindered Spirits."  Gaaah!  I've become such a slacker!  Sheehs.

In other news, I finally got my computer up and running again, and this time with Internet.  I'm no longer reliant on my parents computer.  I can do all of my email, updates, chatting, via my room.  Kind of nice actually.

I suppose I need to face my fate and watch my butt be kicked from here to Chengdu in SCII.  Darn it.

Guess what!  I'm old!  Well, no, not really.  I'm just saying that because it feels like I'm old.  22 is not old, but let's face it, after 21, the next big birthday is 30 and who the heck looks foreward to that one?

Anyway, I had a nice weekend.  I went up on Seattle on Friday, which of course involved a four hour car ride across the state.  I was visiting my sister and my brother-in-law and my two neices, who are just sooooo cute!  Of course it was one of those birth-control visits where screaming babies make you want to become a member of the Catholic order and become celibate, but what the hey.  When Delia and Lola weren't screaming, they were pretty darn cute.  My dad was also in town, so he was pretty excited that he got to spend some of my birthday with me.  (It was saturday, btw.)  We had a very nice brunch at Etta's down on Western Ave (litterally a five minute walk from the world famous Pike Street Market).  Also, the cool thing about Etta's is that the owner was on Iron Chef America (Iron Chef Morimoto vs. Tom Douglas - http://tomdouglas.com/) and WON!  Well, needless to say, the food was excellent, and my mimosa, perfect!  What's the point of being over 21 if you can't have a drink or two with breakfast?  It was ended with a free slice of coconut cream pie with a candle in it to celebrate my birthday.  Pretty nice, eh?

http://tomdouglas.com/ettas/index.html  <--That's the official website of the resturaunt I ate at on Saturday morning.  I suggest anyone who loves good seafood (or just good food in general) to go and try it out.  Way worth it if you're in the Seattle area.  That, and Ivar's down on the Peir. 

I think that's it for today . . . I have to help my brother in Zelda now.

I decided to change out my banner, since the other one was sort of obscured by the different user tabs. Anyway, this one works a litte better (though Chibi-Usa and Michiru are a little blocked). Besides, I felt inclined to fix it up and go with one of my first anime loves. Sailor Moon is classic, but you do have to watch it in Japanese. Anyway, it's very much me. Program used: Microsoft Picture It!

I've just added my own banner and piccy! ^_^ If you were wondering, the images of Link I drew myself . . . a lot of hard work went into him, but he's totally worth it. As for the pic, well, that's me from about 2 years ago, but sadly it's about the most recent photo of myself. My hair is now longer, much longer. Amazing how much it can grow in two years, I suppose. Well, I have half a dozen other things to do, so I'll be moving on . . .

Since I'm sharing this with everyone else through my various blogs, I figured I'd keep it up here. These are videos that my brother shot and edited of Hurricanes Francis and Katrina. Keep in mind, this was when Katrina was still a catagory one, so it wasn't as powerful as when it hit the gulf coast. Happy watching! Hurricane Frances Hurricane Katrina (Storm) Hurricane Katrina (Day after)