Feed Seattle promo

Todd had a promo made and I think it's great! Check it out at http://www.vimeo.com/3014437.

Music Scene at Edmonds

[[[ Article for the school paper... I'm particularly proud of this one since I've never downloaded in my life, and a 48-hour deadline was pretty rough after randomly drawing this prompt. Still needs to go through copy editing though. It's still too wordy and blah blah blah... ]]]
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Rylan Yee, an Edmonds Community College student, sports a red iPod Nano covered in an eclectic sticket compellation, and proclaims with a smirk, "I am a pirate, and I have scurvy."

With a taste for the classics, as well as new hits, Yee keeps his playlist fresh by frquently downloading from iTunes.com. However, he bashfully admits to pirating music from other, less-than-legal sites.

Despite knowing that piracy is bad news, it turns out that Yee isn't alone on the pirate ship. Several students mentioned "peer-to-peer network" sites, such as Limewire, Kazaa, and Torrents.

These sites allow users to download legal and illegal files from another person's computer through an open connection. "Limewire or Torrents: those two are the best out there right now," said Kyle Strumbeta, an EdCC student. "Well, that you don't have to pay for."

If downloading isn't your thing, there are still other option. For instance, Nick Kirkpatrick, a Running Start student, ditched his CDs years ago. He then began to upload the contents of his CD collection onto a computer so he could transfer music to his new iPod. His taste in music ranges from Christian to classic rock. Kirkpatrick uses rhapsody.com to add new additions to his playlist. Kirkpatrick is happy to be able to easily download from the internet or upload old CDs. "If it weren't for the evolution of the computer, music distribution would not have reached the level it is at now," Kirkpatrick said.

For those who still prefer the random grab-bag selection of the good ol' radio, there's now a method of creating your own station on the web, with music to fit your taste. On Pandora.com, users can type in an artist or song, and the site will generate a playlist based on a "sounds like" pretense.

"You can type in any artist or song you like, and it will match similar songs, and it's free," said Angelica Montanari, an EdCC student and frequent listener. "There are almost no commercials." Even though the site requires users to sign up for a free membership, the perk of having radio on demand has Pandora's listeners streaming with joy.

So whether you're uploading or downloading, streaming or file-sharing, remember that you are one of a great population doing the same, so do it right and keep it legal. However, if you're set in your ways, please remember to unleash your inner Jack Sparrow somewhere other than on the school's computer.

Thrift store junkie

What a productive weekend! I'm still in the process of furnishing my room via craigslist and thrift stores, and over the last few days I've acquired a fabulous green couch, a coffee table, an end table, and a dvd player for under $100. Damn I love being cheap haha.

The couch came from Goodwill and I talked Micheal into hauling it to my house today. I absolutely love the couch even though I seem to be the only one that appreciates it lol. In the truck earlier, I enthusiastically told Micheal, "I'm surprised someone actually donated that thing!!!"

And he replies flatly, "...I'm not." Lol.
Apparently he's not a fan of green couches.

My room is a few minor details away from what I originally had in mind, but these few details will probably take me a good month or so to iron out.

I'll post "after" pictures when it's all done.

Passion vs. Prominence

Yesterday at work, my mom looked over at me typing away, and with a smirk says, "Someday you'll make a good employee for someone..." and swivels her chair back around with a snicker while awaiting my reaction. I shot her a spiteful look with one eyebrow raised which caused us both to laugh, and she says, "You know I only said that because I know you want to be a business owner." This led into a discussion about how the lousy economy was affecting my career choice, and that I had decided to "take the safe bet" with a degree in social work and settle for a decent government job.

I think nothing of my word choice and turn back to face my computer. She turns her whole body towards me and demands my attention:

"Jacee, look at me, don't let me everrr hear you say that again... 'safe bet?'. The economy has gone through this before and some businesses will prosper no matter what the market is like."

She goes on to tell me that the founder of McDonalds started the company during a recession even though he was already 50+ years old. In my defense, I explain that photography is not as much of a necessity as food, and that a photo studio would go out of business before a food place, so hey, bad example. We kind of agree on this point, but her argument was persuasive enough to get me thinking about where I'm currently at with school.

I'm halfway through my Associate of Arts, which in my case, would only do any good if I transferred to a university and completed a bachelors in social services or liberal arts (the two bachelors degrees I had been debating on.) Neither of these will do me any good in pursuing photography because the only place that even has a bachelors program in photography is the art institute, and hey go figure, they have an entirely different associates program and the progress I've made so far in school doesn't cover their course requirements. I'd have to start over at ground zero if I were to change my major at this point. Then again... I have tons of professional photo experience and could easily pursue it without a degree... hmm....

I'll have to put some serious thought into it and decide if that's something I can commit to doing, or even if I feel like it would be worth it. It's tough deciding between keeping your hobby as a just a hobby, or making it your lifelong career. But for me, what it comes down to is knowing that lugging around my camera and tripod just feels right, and I guess that's really all I should consider.

You are not a car.

This is a rant for all the bicyclists that ride in the street. Okay actually, not all of them, just the one I got stuck behind today. Come on dude, don't try to kid yourself. Why would you think it's a good idea to ride down highway 99 on a flimsy 10 pound bike while inspiring insane road rage in all the people stuck behind you; one in particular being the girl in the blue hybrid who is coffee-deprived and running late for 7:30am math. It's foggy, and you're slow. I'm just saying that hey accidents do happen... Watch yourself.

Messy room pictures

For all of you that were just dying to know what a purple and orange room looks like, here ya go... I still have to get curtain rods as well as some white curtains... sorry for the mess, it's still a bit of a construction zone.

Rain

I woke up this morning hoping it would rain, and it poured. I love it when the weather suits my mood. There's nothing like being surrounded by dreariness when you're already feeling down. Today hasn't been a good day, and I think it warrants me taking an overnight trip down to my broken-hearted-hide-away.

I feel like I've written this blog so many times before even though I hate admitting that I keep making the same mistake over and over again. I posted a blog a few days ago while I was upset, and ended up taking it down sometime the next day, but the gist of it was me asking how long should one put up with something that doesn't make them feel good... basically, how much is too much? I deleted it because it was in frustration against a specific person, and I thought maybe we had started to get past the problem in question. I have finally realized that it's just not something I can be okay with and took corrective action. I was hoping to evoke some emotion out of this person, maybe as some proof that he actually cared, but got nothing. I guess that's all I needed to know.

I'm tired of feeling like I care too much about people that don't reciprocate the feeling, and it's really wearing me down. Today I just feel... defeated. Just completely drained. Could be my lousy night's sleep in anticipation of how today would play out, or could be the emotional punch in the face I received today, or it could be that Lynsey's car broke down today and we had to freeze in the car while waiting for the tow truck, and consequently making us both late to work.

Guess that's all I've got to say at the moment. I'm leaving tonight. Be back tomorrow.

First Post of '09

Sorry for not posting for awhile - life caught up with me over the last few weeks, and it doesn't help that my hard drive decided to fry itself just before Christmas. My only option left is to use the computer at work (which is what I'm doing right now), but yanno... sitting at this desk drains all my inspiration because of how much time I've served here. I don't have any insightful thoughts or funny stories to share at the moment, but I figured I need to at least throw out the highlights from the last few weeks.

I started out the new year at my brothers house surrounded by [drunk] friends and [drunk]family at my older brother's house. What a blast! We carried the karaoke on through the wee hours of the night/morning until someone decided it was time to start calling the taxis. Within minutes I was wiped out in the guest bed, only to awake 6 hours later to find my nice curls had gone crazy overnight and my eyes resembled those of a raccoon from leftover mascara smears. I hoped no one on the road would notice how freakish I looked as I made the drive home.

The following Tuesday (woulda been Monday, but had a snow day) I started classes again. The roster this quarter is Math 132, Journalism 125, and Digital Photography. Today marks the end of week 1, and I'm already exhausted. No surprise here, but math has already woke me up every morning this week feeling like I was punched in the face. It's like the never-ending stress factor that snatches my sleep time away by forcing me to study throughout the night.

On a side note, I've realized that the more there is on my to-do list, the less I will actually get done. Just knowing that I have math to study, articles to write, and photos to take makes me want to lay in bed and watch an entire season of House on dvd instead... (I've actually spent way too much time doing just that).

I already know that the best part about this quarter will be journalism. The class just kinda throws you into being the staff for the school paper while letting me choose my own story topics. Yesterday I got free press passes to go see The Unborn before it was released to the public and it was great! Well the movie SUCKED (I'll be posting my review soon), but the experience was great. I know this is lame, but we (my fav sidekick Angelica and I) felt pretty cool. There was a line of people who had gotten free tickets from radio shows and whatnot, but we got to pass that whole line after telling the usher that we are "with the press" lol, and he showed us to the VIP press section. Man, I could get used to this.

In other news, Jena and Gabby moved out of the house. No time to mourn though because we already shuffled some renters in off craigslist. Things are going great with them so far! It's a woman named Ellen who is mom's age, and her 24-year old daughter Kristi. It couldn't have worked out any better and I'm lovin' the living situation now. Oh yea, and I finally moved into the big bedroom that Jena seized from me back in the summer time, and then just to spite her, I painted it purple and orange hahaha. I think the colors are fabulous, but when Ellen first peeked through my doorway, she said:

"Oh... my... god...

(surveying the room without moving her head, just shifting her eyes back and forth while her mouth hangs open)

... ARE YOU COLOR BLIND?? You better tell YOUR MOM you're color blind!!!"

I jokingly tell her that my mom will love my "porn palace", and just wait until I hang the mirrors over the bed. haha.

It has since come together rather nicely and all the inhabitants of the house agreed that it looks nice.

Moral of the story: don't ever let anyone tell you that orange and purple don't go together... lol.

I hope everyone else is enjoying the new year!