It Is Hard to Fill a Cup That is Already Full

It was a dull day until about three hours ago, when we popped in the newly-released DVD of Avatar. Despite all the bad press I had read about it, I absolutely adored the film. The effects are stunning, the all-star cast was believable, and, most importantly, the transition between Pandora and our bases there were seamless. I especially like that Zoe Saldana was involved; I enjoy her increased presence in Hollywood since Star Trek came out. I think one of the only things that bothers me is that the movie rips off the plotlines of so many films that came before, among them Ferngully: The Last Rainforest, Pocahontas, and Braveheart. I can't complain too much, though; after all, Hollywood hasn't come up with an original idea in years. Another issue is the improbability of the creatures that live on Pandora> Why does everything except the Na'vi have six legs and four eyes, or two sets of wings and multiple breathing holes? The only added appendage the Na'va have is a tail, and an interface cable that looks like a braid with a squid coming out of it. And I'm not the only person who wonders about the inexplicable nature of Pandora's fauna. But enough about complaints. What I want to do with this blog is round up some of the best resources the internet has to offer in terms of learning more about the movie Avatar and the Na'vi, who are the humanoid beings who reside on Pandora, which basically looks like Jupiter Photoshopped blue. So, I give you:
15 Incredible Avatar Links
1. Official Website
2. Avatar Wiki
3. Na'vi Translator
4. Official Facebook Page
5. Avatar Forum
6. Wikipedia article
7. Encyclopedia Dramatica article: contains a LOT of foul language
8. Rotten Tomatoes review
9. Hate By Numbers review
10. Unhealthy side-effects of watching Avatar
11. Create a Na'vi Avatar Maker
12. Cracked.com's hilarious overview of Avatar: more loads of swearing
13. Avatar fansite
14. Avatarize Yourself
15. Jake Sully's Facebook profile

I hope you have fun with all the links. Until next time, Oel ngati kameie.
~Sushi

The Voyage Home

NOTE: Latecomers will note that the Spock mentioned in this post is the author's boyfriend, not the Roddenberry creation portrayed by Nimoy, Quinto, and others. This is not fan-fiction. I just wanted to avoid confusion, considering the title of the post.

I'm about to head out, so this will be a relatively short post, at least compared to some of my previous masterpieces. There is only one sentence that can sum up all the insane thoughts buzzing in my head: Spock is gone. Yesterday, Moose [Spock's mom] got the brilliant idea of moving all the furniture, clothing, and what-have-you out of his room and into their new house. In one day. Without telling him that he would be sleeping under a new roof that night. We knew that the day was fast approaching, but I still didn't think that it would come so soon. Needless to say, I cried quite a bit throughout the day. I'd like to think I did a good job of hiding it, though. Today, I'm going up to the house to help organize all the furniture that was haphazardly landed in Spock's room. We got his bed put together, but then it was time for me to leave; his grandma was my ride home, and she was ready to go. Hopefully, if I just keep working, I won't have to think about the fact that when I leave the house, Spock won't be coming with me.
May all your drawers be organized,
~Sushi

Ethnic Hair Dye and Booty Dancing Seven Year Olds

Most people in my small group of friends know me as a person who is always willing to try something new. I'm also one of the few of my friends who goes out of her way to have some of the weirdest hair colors possible. I've had Challenger Orange, violet, and burgundy, yellow, among other colors. But, I wanted to try something a bit daring even for me: red. Not like Orphan Annie red--firetruck red. I'm kind of broke right now, so before going to a salon, or even Trend Setters, which is the cosmetology school in my area, I hit Wal-Mart. And, believe it or not, I found what I was looking for; what surprised me was the aisle I found it in. After giving up on the hair dye aisle--nothing was bright enough--I walked back to the pharmacy, and there was this glorious box of hair dye--> ! It was the perfect color! And the woman on the box is a total babe, too! I don't know about you, but I call that an epic win. Why wasn't she in the hair dye aisle, with all the other, not-as-red colors? Well, she's black. And the hair dye is Creme of Nature, a company that makes products specifically for black people. See, I'm not just writing this blog to tell you about my awesome dye job--though it is awesome, and I will put up pictures eventually. For the most part, I'm writing this because I don't think hair dyes should be segregated. Nor should books, for that matter. And yet, the library I used to work for separated all the Spanish-language books into one small, dark corner of the building, fiction and non-fiction, juvenile and adult. Maybe it makes lives of stockers and pages a little easier, but it has to feel the slightest bit embarrassing to be told that the book, hair dye, food, et cetera that you're looking for is in another aisle, simply because of the ethnicity of the product. Yes, there are entire salons devoted to the treatment of African-American hair. I used to pass one such salon every day after school. But as I stop to think about it, that store may have been opened because every other salon in the area caters to white people. I'm fairly sure that I could count on one hand the number of white hair techs in my area who can do a proper weave. [I apologize if I'm wrong, but from what I've experienced, it's very likely.]
Before I go off on a racially-charged, crazy-insane tirade, I'm going to move on to the other topic that I would like to tell you about: the booty dancing seven year olds. It's been brought to my attention [by Severe, who thought it would be a good blog entry] that a group of six to eight year old girls dancing to Beyoncé's "Single Ladies" has been pasted all over the internet and the news as of late. These aren't just little kids dressing up and playing around; they are trained dancers, working it in ways no small child should. Being not-quite-straight and all, I feel like a pedophile just for watching this! Here's some of the news coverage I mentioned earlier:

CBS News
CNN News
ABC News
FOX News

And, from the World of Dance site comes this group shot of the girls; seeing their young, tiny faces really drives the point home for me.
I hate to show my age, but I'm three times as old as the little girls [who happen to be the same age as my sisters], and I would never dance or dress like that, especially in front of a live television audience. And this is coming from someone who regularly dresses in ridiculous costumes at midnight movies and anime conventions. I'd like your opinions on the matter.
~Sushi
P.S. Personally, I blame The Chimpmunks...

Pomp and Circumstance

It doesn't seem like it's been enough time since I graduated high school in 2008. Has it already been two years? There are days when I can't even remember high school, and others when it feels like I was just there. Today, I can clearly remember standing in the kitchen, ironing the hideous green gown I wore then, and I can recall sitting at my kitchen table decorating my mortarboard with foam cut-outs of the colleges and universities I thought I would attend [I made it to one out of the three]. But now, I've traded my green cap and gown for black, my green and gold tassel for blue and red, and my high school diploma for an associate's degree in psychology. Some things stayed the same, though. For instance, I didn't actually receive my degree today--the school will mail it after they do a degree audit. Instead, I crossed the stage and was handed a snazzy folder with a letter inside:

Dear graduate:
On behalf of the Board of Trustees, faculty and staff, I congratulate you on your accomplishments as a graduate of Kankakee Community College.
We trust your experiences at KCC have prepared you for your next steps in life. More importantly, we wish you to always look at KCC as part of your life-long learning experiences and intellectual growth.
It was our pleasure to serve you through our programs and services. This letter will serve as your provisional diploma. Upon final verification of your completion of degree requirements, your diploma will be mailed to you.
As you go on to new and greater challenges, let me wish you success in realizing your highest potential and accomplishing your goals. I sincerely hope that your efforts also bring you happiness, prosperity, and a sense of fulfillment. KCC is proud to include you in our growing family of alumni.
From the entire KCC family, we wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
[signature]
John Avendano, Ph.D.
President

When I was in high school, the same thing happened, minus the provisional replacement on official school letterhead. In fact, I don't remember why the diplomas weren't in the folders, since they had our names on them and everything. No matter, though. I had an enjoyable day. Another interesting parallel was that Ted Petersen, the athletic director at KCC and an EIU alumnus, was our keynote speaker; when I was a freshman, he came to my high school to give a speech. After snapping a million and a half pictures, Spock and I went back to his house and watched Star Trek. We got through four episodes, all third season:
1. All Our Yesterdays
2. Turnabout Intruder
3. The Cloud Minders
4. The Savage Curtain
And I'm well-aware that they aren't in order; I put them in which they were watched.
College has brought a lot of interesting changes for me. I've got five more piercings than I used to. I have dated five people since I started, and found, I hope, the person I will stay with. I've changed my major, and gotten far more experience in the field than I ever thought I would. I've met new people, and made friendships that I will keep for a lifetime. I've gone to midnight shows, anime conventions, pride parades, and not a whole hell of a lot of parties. [There really isn't much partying in community college; either that, or I didn't hang out with the partying crowd.] I discovered my sexual preference, and flaunted it like a tad too much at times; my parents didn't appreciate that. Most importantly, I developed a sense of who I am and where I am going in life. I'll take all these experiences with me, and move on to the next part of the journey. IN THREE MONTHS!
I'm super-tired after all this, though, so I'd just like to close by saying congrats to the entire Class of 2010, no matter what school, or even what level of education, you are in. We all did well.
~Sushi, A.A.

Episode II: The Attack of the Meme

Tomorrow, I will go on and on about my graduation, but tonight, as promise, I will continue with the Aruebesh image meme.
Cherek - CH

^{Now that's the way to start an image meme! With kitties!!!}
Enth - Æ

Onith - EO

^{Well, what do you know... A Star Wars action figure, in a Star Wars-based image meme.}
Krenth - KH

Nen - NG

Orenth - OO

^{Click it! It's a DEVIANT!}
Shen - SH

^{That's nasty.}
Thesh - TH


Looks like I spelled my name wrong the last time around!
~   

Man's Corruption of Nature

I'm very sleepy from being outside all day, so this is going to be a short entry. Being that it's Mother's Day, Mama Bear got to pick what we did today. So, we packed up the family and headed out to Starved Rock State Park, in Ottowa, IL. We used to go there when I was younger, and I always enjoyed being surrounded by the natural beauty of the park. Needless to say, it's not the same anymore. In an attempt, I assume, to prevent lawsuits, the dirt paths have been covered with boardwalks, most with railings. There are stairs leading up the hills, rather than dirt trails. The cliffs overlooking the Illinois River have been fenced off, and there are signs posted that inform the hikers that leaving the marked paths is illegal. Not unsafe--illegal. However, their website doesn't entail what the punishment for such a grave offense would be. Maybe the offender is hauled off by the Forest Police, or forced to make cheap crafts to sell at exorbitant prices at the state park's numerous gift shops. It's fair to assume that I was not pleased with the trip, though I did take some good pictures. I'm putting them on Photobucket, as it seems I have almost used up my space limit for the month on Flickr. How sad.
Enjoy the pictures, and if you want to go on a real, come out to Kankakee River State Park. It hasn't been sterilized yet.
~Sushi

A Meme from a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Lately, I've been on the Star Wars kick from hell. I've drown myself in games, movies, novels, and websites all about that galaxy from a long time ago. Combine that with the fact that I haven't done very many lists as of late, and the fact that I love image memes, and you will get today's Force-tastic list. The same rules apply as the first alphabet meme that I did; the first result is taken, no matter what. And I'm a firm non-believer in Safe Search.
The Aurebesh Image Meme
- Aurek

- Besh

- Cresh

Dorn

- Esk

- Forn

- Grek

- Herf

- Isk

- Jenth

- Krill

- Leth

_{Wow, this is double-nerdy: That's a Klingon weapon.}
- Mern

- Nern

- Osk

- Peth

- Qek

- Resh

- Senth

- Trill

- Usk

- Vev

- Wesk

- Xesh

- Yirt

- Zerek


Oh, but there's more...
This meme will be continued next time in Episode II: Aurebesh Letters that have No Technical English Equivalent. Or something like that.
~