Tag Archives: Jerlyn

Au revoir 2012

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(I apologize for the lazy formatting of this post)

2012: what a year. I’m wrapping it up again like I did with 2011 and prior. What I love about these yearly recaps is the lessons that I have learned. Sometimes I try to apply them to my life the following year. I have no idea what 2013 has in store for me but 2012 has been a whirlwind, however a whirlwind of mostly good. I had a great deal of preconceived notions at the beginning of the year (I was wrong for most). I gained friendships, lost people, made career moves and embraced life… And finally some sort of religion (whatever it is, I’m more spiritual). I also ran my very first marathon. Before I get ahead of myself, lets recap from January 1st:

January: Premonition

I worked at my very first pharmaceutical advertising agency and had been there for little under a year. I had the worse boss (and it’s difficult to talk about my job on my blog since many people have gotten in trouble for it). I was incredibly burned out. I was gaining weight and didn’t know why. I saw the NYE photos and got pretty self conscious.

Gaining weight

Gaining weight

I ran almost everyday but I wasn’t getting enough sleep and getting home after 10pm daily sucked. I felt unappreciated. I needed a break. My birthday was coming up the following month so I asked for 3 days off a month and half ahead of schedule. I was given a hard time. I sort an escape. I trusted no one. I loathed my team, everyone seemed so fake I was out of energy for politics. I didn’t know who to trust. I couldn’t understand why work had to be my life. Why did the thing that I love the most start to feel like a chore? Dating was a nightmare and with some sort of narcissism I started using it for an outlet. It was pure comedy. People was weird, I was weird. I learned to laugh at myself.

I built an art bin container by gathering supplies from home depot, I’m not a carpenter but it felt amazing using powertools and a saw:

I purchased the Wacom Inkling:

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February : Awakening

I was approximately 400 feet in the air parasailing when I made the decision to quit my job, even if I had no plans.

parasailing

I was interviewing and didn’t care if I caught nothing. I was in the middle of the bay in St. Thomas and it was my birthday. I really hated my boss by then. I even dropped the F-bomb at work after getting off a phone call with him. He had made me look bad. Something was about to give and I know I couldn’t last another month of being out of control of my life. I hated him because I had lost respect. I thought he was incompetent and a manipulator. I wanted a better role model. I went to work daily with fear of losing my job and I cried everyday because I believed he would have sabotaged my career. I thought I was pretty good at what I do. When I got back to NYC, after the few days away home in the Virgin Islands, I decided to give it another two weeks before I put in my 2 weeks notice. A past colleague reached out to me. I interviewed at his agency. Everyone seemed to like me. I wondered if the grass greener and was ready abandon ship.

March: Cabo
MS Climb to the Top New York City
I climbed the Rockefeller center in 16 minutes for MS climb to the top. It was one of the events that made me sad about leaving the first job. It was the first time that I got to hang with the CEO (not like we did any talking). Emily and I went to Cabo as soon as I started my new job. It was just 49 hours and perfect. I provided tickets, she provided boarding.

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It was a blast to me, I needed it. I relaxed, I had just started a new chapter at a new job.

New Job!

The clients loved my team, they immediately loved my work. I was wondering whether they were just joshing me but I felt love for them anyway.

April: Daredevil

gym rat

I started paying attention to my body more. I started loving my job! I signed up for the Miami marathon.

Miami Marathon

I started earning my body with 30 day challenges. Did boxing for the first time and I enjoyed it so much! I hated that I was interested in too many things. I thought that’s why I was so stressed out. I signed up for zip lining for the first time to face my fear of heights. I wanted to learn to let go and I love it. I also started to really appreciate people around me.

May: Challenges

I exercised everyday for at least 1/2 hour and found out that I had 17% body fat. I bought a fitness bike taking after my dad’s cycling hobby. It’s now one of my most treasured possessions.

2012 Jamis Allegro Femme

I ran a great deal. I had went the furthest I’ve ever gone.

Run

I visited my old job and was happy that I didn’t work there anymore. It’s because I realized very few people liked me there and I bided adieu wholeheartedly. Later, I tried a Russian rotten bread beer for the first time. I tried to learn capoeira and appreciated the history.

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June: Au naturelle
I went through a natural hair transition:

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I ran the pride race again this year beating a personal record.

NYC Pride Run

I beat all my PR this year. I also lost a follower because I ran that race… I still believe that we should just accept people no matter their sexuality. I got to see my aunt get married.

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Took watercolor lessons.

Water Color

 

Bought my first pair of Cole Haans.

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Learned a great deal from Gary Mack. Went zip-lining and signed up for a local marathon, another one besides the Miami marathon.

July: Sobriety

Did an entire month of sobriety.  Someone accused me of bullying fat people, it was hilarious! I wrote about the fat topic in a response. Found out my ex boyfriend since 4 years ago had plotted to have me beaten up. His ex girlfriend at the time tried to befriend me (which was short lived because I’m hardly ever friends with girls, she’s a talented comedian though). Started doing 60 day challenges in motivate and get in shape group which became super fun. I really enjoyed boxing classes:

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August: Affairs of the heart

Bought myself a pull-up bar.

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I overslept on my first race.

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I also signed up for a race with the guy I was dating. Also convinced him to runs marathon with me.

I biked 20 miles on my own:

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I read fifty shades of gray and committed literary suicide (after wondering where I could find a mr. Grey). By dating the perfect guy I realized that he’s not so perfect (but that’s months later…). It was very nice to have him in my life. He balanced my life a great deal.

September: Growth
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I did a 30-day challenge of push-ups, also had no coffee for 30 days. My boyfriend at the time saw me run. I was so happy that he made it to my race. He was the first person to ever come out to my race. I think from now on I’d love spectators. There’s just something about running for a purpose.

October: Enlightenment

I tried a Paleo diet.

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I ran my first race with my then boyfriend. It was fun and I hope that whosoever I end up with in the future will be as active and into fitness as I am. Sandy also occurred and I was humbled by how fragile New York could be. I was stuck in Maryland for a few days after running The Glo Run, with my then boyfriend, and I appreciated the fact that I lived alone.

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I met Calvin Lee @mayhemstudios. He was surprised that I was tall in person.

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November: Dreams of a marathoner

I exercised my right to vote. Tried a yoga per day challenge for the month of November mostly for my group on facebook: 30 for 30 fit.

Yoga per day

I ran a marathon and made it in 4 hours 18 minutes.

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Then I hurt myself a week later from patella tendonitis with anterior knee pain. My quads are stronger than my hamstrings. I realized that I had to stop training with my personal trainer and I start physical therapy because I am still going to do that marathon in Miami. I felt accomplished and I will forever applaud anyone who has attempted a marathon.

I spent quality time with my niece and sister <3. Family is so important.

December: Single and seeking religion
I started experimenting with a new type of illustration on my iPad:

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I started physical therapy:

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I became single shortly after discovering some sort of spirituality. I went back to my “home” in St. Croix to transition from breakup to being an eligible bachelorette.

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I realized I only loved like this once in my life so I’m not prepared to do it again as yet. I’m still not sure where I stand on religion but I seem to be learning a great deal. Although I fear introducing this topic to my blog, I believe that it’s a personal journey and I’m quite content with where I am currently. I’m constantly challenged and I do believe that I’ll be considered a heretic eventually, but for now, I’m quite amused by the events around attending church and reading the bible. If its worth anything, I thoroughly enjoy challenging and discussing it. As a scholar, I can’t consider being anything than apathetic agnostic, so that’s where I am. I just believe that I don’t know everything, it’s difficult to determine whether any religion is right or wrong—no matter how much people will try to indoctrinate me. Just a few days prior, I went to a church where I couldn’t enter without wearing a very long skirt (I met a cousin who found my blog)… then the day after I went to the church that i frequent with acceptable conservative dressing:

viewer-1 viewer-2

One thing’s for sure: I’ll always be moral. As for being single, well that’s not abnormal of my lifestyle, and well, who knows, maybe I’ll find love in 2013 (or just be fabulously single as usual). I’m always very optimistic about it. I realize that I can’t plan or control matters of the heart no matter how I feel at a given time. You can change or the person can change. I’m not sure what the future holds for me, or my ex, but I’m happy that I went through it. As of now, I’m not prepared to be married or have a family as many of my peers were this year. I also learned to take no one’s advice on relationships because everyone just gives advice based on their own experiences and what’s right for them. I still struggle to find what’s right for me but it’s my own journey.

I can say this: 2013 is going to be my fittest year ever if all goes well and I’m continually blessed. Check 30 for 30 fit for updates as I try to make 2013 my fittest year ever. Now it’s less than a month until my second marathon.

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Love you, hope your new year is fullfilling!

Off to the next…

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… adventure. I’ve had to evaluate my goals yearly at each stage of my career and once again I’m doing it. It might be because I’m a year older. It might be because I’ve been at my job for almost a year or it might be because my values changed. Nonetheless, I still want to make cool shit.

I’ve always respected the great mentors in my field and in  reflecting on my own career in comparison ensures that I’ll never settle to be devalued or settle for less. I’m so happy to have stuck to that mantra.

I’ve done so many cool things these past couple years, I’m proud. I still want to do something so incredible that it would change the world.

Advertising is an interesting field. Falling into it seemed painless and I love learning more and more. However, the journey hasn’t been so painless. These days when I meet people who have been in it for over a decade, I want to learn their stories. I’m fortunate when I meet those who absolutely love it. When I do, I wonder what field I would rather be in if I hadn’t gotten into it.

My greatest challenge this past year was to balance my life. I didn’t seem to have time to blog or Tweet anymore. Many of you know that this behavior is unlike me. As a creative person I believe it’s important to step outside yourself. Even if you look at inspiration, you ought to look at things more conceptually.

My goal this year was to find a position that allowed me to balance my life. I feel like the world can leave you behind if you don’t. When I’m older I would like the stories of coming up with the great idea to be the focus of my legacy. Let’s see how this new year goes, so far, it’s even possible that I’ll find love.

Twitter meet/date or hangout?

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I hung out with @Montagist who is pretty awesome! He’s a super intelligent guy. I think I can honestly say I learn something new each time we chat. We first met at Flash and the City and he was the first person to ever recognized me off twitter (unconventional ways to meet people).

We had some food at a Chinese restaurant first:

Then we went off to Alpha One Labs to play with robotics (yup that’s what I do on a Friday night).

We got the first project to work which was simply to make the lights blink on from the Arduino playground site.

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/*Blink
 Turns on an LED on for one second, then off for one second, repeatedly.
 The circuit:
 * LED connected from digital pin 13 to ground.
 * Note: On most Arduino boards, there is already an LED on the board
 connected to pin 13, so you don't need any extra components for this example.
  Created 1 June 2005
 By David Cuartielles

http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Blink

 based on an orginal by H. Barragan for the Wiring i/o board
 This example code is in the public domain. */
int ledPin =  13;    // LED connected to digital pin 13
// The setup() method runs once, when the sketch starts
void setup()   {
  // initialize the digital pin as an output:
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
}
// the loop() method runs over and over again,
// as long as the Arduino has power
void loop()
{
  digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);   // set the LED on
  delay(1000);                  // wait for a second
  digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);    // set the LED off
  delay(1000);                  // wait for a second
}

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Sadly I couldn’t get the RFID Reader to work which we wanted to do next.

Have you played with any robotics or gadgets like these? I’m pretty interested in them now and I’m curious about what I learn while coming to these hack days.

We wanted to make something out of cowbells but we didn’t get the parts. It’s awesome thinking about how machines work :D .

DesignLadyNYC on facebook.

Warmer Days, injured knee & musings

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It’s kind of difficult updating consistently so this post will have a variety of things – a mixture so to speak.

feet

Few things to share. I found out this week that I have Jumper’s knee, aka Patellar Tendonitis. I did some research and found out that, “People who continually jump, run or cut quickly to one side during a sport can irritate these tendons.” That’s definitely me. I do lots of running (besides those that I have been tracking, I’m always running up the stairs and speed walking…

However, none of that is good for my knee so I had my first session of Physical Therapy and I was told that I couldn’t jump rope, do lunges or squats for the weeks that I am in therapy.

It seems like the only cure for this is rest – if you call that a cure. So that’s what I am dealing with as I prepare for the 10K (the Nike Human Race). I got my gear today for the race:

nike plusThis year it’s in Prospect Park. I am very excited but I know that I will have to take my time with this. The other day I ran 4 miles and brought my pace down to a minute (although I sped up in the end).

A great deal of my friends think that I am crazy for running like this but I’d have to say I love running a great deal. I’m very fortunate to be doing it. Many of you do not know what you’re missing… there’s nothing like a runner’s high. I feel driven, determined and fulfilled at the same time. Another step to push myself.

So, it’s my mother’s birthday today. Halloween is coming up. I can’t go to St. Croix this year because of $$$. I have Physical Therapy which is taking up my time as well (hey, in the perfect world, I’d won the lottery by now).

I also wanted to share some artsy stuff with you. I saw displays in Chelsea Market and thought I’d share:

market

market

market 2

market3

market4

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market7

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I really love the building’s rustic look.

underpassSince it was a warm day I got to go around… including Flash Happy Hour (the drinks were free)! Then, Shweta and I ended up going to Taj for Indian Food (amazingly delicious!)

pink

By the way, I hate pink.

guysThe ambiance was caused by them… Photo by Shweta.

I will try to be quicker between posts ;-) .

Day 2 in L. A., Monday Session at AdobeMax

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Having this 3 days in a row = not so good but it’s free hotel breakfast but this is what we had every day.
Breakfast

DAY 1 – Conference Day…

It’s only the first day and I’m seeing the most amazingly innovative things!

The design of the conference (by the way) was put together by a company I’m familiar with and Rachel works for: AKQA.

Congratulations guys! It looked amazing! Red Interactive (you know how amazing their work is!) was also involved.

We ventured out to the first General Session.

They said to use the crosswalk but Shweta ignores…

Shweta Crossing

Before entering the building, we had to go through some sort of CUSTOMS like airport security. I saw a girl with a cool hat, I asked to take her photo.

Girl with HatThen while seated, we took in everything…
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First off, I finally got to see who makes ADOBE what it is. I met some great guys from @deMonsters. Their business cards are so creative! Erik van de Wiel, Ferdi Koomen & Paul Reijnierse deMonsters…

Business Cards

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I placed their stickers on my laptop and they posted it on their blog :-) . Here’s the pic [link to their post]

Laptop

The general session actually opened up with youths who work with Adobe + Black Eyed Peas.

They did a singing/choreographed session with some design which was pretty cool! Followed by Shantanu Narayen, President & CEO of Adobe.

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Followed by Kevin Lynch, Chief Technology Officer.

11
12It was also announced that the founders of Adobe was appointed the 2009 National Medal of Technology & Innovation by President Barack Obama.

So many amazing things were announced, such as where Flash is going… especially in Flash 10.1 I got some stats of how long the phone lasts with motion:
Active State of Video lasts 3.4 hours
Active State of Animation lasts 6.5 hours
Low power with animations lasts 14.5 hours…

Flash 10.1

Isn’t that amazing?

Here are some more videos:

I posted some more on my facebook page.

Another:

Then all of a sudden, there was a spoof of mythbusters with Adobe MythHackers…staring Kevin Lynch and Johnny Loiacono.

Adobe went into some more details about Omniture but sadly the speaker wasn’t very entertaining and people started tweeting negatively. I felt terrible for not being interested either :( . HOWEVER, the merge of Adobe + Omniture = AMAZING. Having tracking in one software/company/provider makes our lives as online advertisers easier I think.

We got sneaked peak never before seen clips of AVATAR which were superb!! I will be watching this the night it comes out! What’s so great about this movie: It’s in 3D (they gave us 3D glasses), It uses all Adobe software, & it appears to have a great storyline… I love Sci-fi though, so I might be bias.

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After this session.. I went to Student Work and Curricular Design at RIT. As some of you know, I attended the Rochester Institute of Technology and I am extremely elated when I see the amazingly innovative things that come from that school… They started a new major there for Interactive Games and Media (Why wasn’t this there when I attended! I’d so do that!)

Prof. PhelpsThis is Andrew Phelps explaining about some of the Academic/Industry Partnership with their program.

Partnership

Partnership

This session was mostly to show how Adobe products were used and the students worked in teams to discover new technologies.  Interactive Games and Media Department at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). The products used in here were Flex, Flash, Director, and Photoshop.

My next session was called Creative Suite 4 Evangelists’s Shootout.

They showed some really nifty tricks in inDesign, Bridge, etc. The speakers were: Paul Burnett, Rufus Deuchler & Jason  Levine. I was excited to finally meet Rufus since he followed me on twitter after I couldn’t find my Adobe Design Premium Package.

EvangelistsThe object of this session was to outdo each other. However, I loved all the tips that they presented.

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My next session was From Big Screen to Browser, Desktop, and Mobile Device with Adobe Flash CS4.

The speakers were Jesse Resnick, Evan DeHaven & Jeff Lin.

They demoed entertainment brands that used Flash CS4. One of the companies, The Visionaire Group used this for Universal’s Fast & Furious 4 (HOT!). (The only thing I didn’t like about the Fast and Furious Campaign is that they had an entire campaign that tried to get to the male demographic but I wish they did something for women who were really into vin diesel’s hotness! Anyway…)

Another, Ignition Interactive explained how they used it for Disney/Pixar movie UP. Etc etc… everything was simply amazing. Here’s some eye candy:

Fast and Furious

Up the Movie

Slide

Finally, I had Advanced AfterEffects Workflows for Flash Professional

It was interesting seeing how easy it was to integrate workflows from AfterEffects into Flash interchangeably. He showed how to turn keyframes into cuepoints to be used in Flash. I loved that this feature was demoed again because I had forgotten all about using it :-) I love After Effects.

Immediately after this session, we went off to mingle with others in the Community Lounge.

Community Lounge

I stayed and spoke to some people. I also met with my favorite Evangelist again, Rufus.

Jerlyn Thomas & Rufus D.

David Blaine also made an appearance.

David Blaine

Then I met up with Anissa | @anissat

We checked out some Max Awards, we really liked All Girls Arcade.

AnissaAnissa’s a very talented lady who introduced me to some other folks such as Stefanie Sullivan from (W3Conversions.com).

After mingling, I went off to meet others … called it a night somewhere after that!

Random Photography

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These are 17 random shots that I took ranging from college to now. 01Clarence in a coffee shop.

02Clarence from xmanstudios in a coffee shop.

03Rose from a date.

04Manhattan view in Dumbo

05Skateboarder who allowed me to take his photo.

06Lafayette Ave in Brooklyn

08St. Croix, Virgin Islands

09Purple Papaya in St. Croix

10No Parking, but how about, “Just say NO.”

11Sun in the trees

12Graffiti in Rochester NY

13My ex

14An ex-coworker’s last day.

15Random pair of jeans

16My shoes, I always take photos in these angles

17The way home…

18My friend Kimmie & her friend, I always liked taking photos of her.

Musings for August

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Alas, these musings are long… this is a “My Life in NYC” post.

My attitude, lifestyle and experiences have coalesced into the new me. The things I do not take for granted anymore the time I take to reflect on changes that I deem as important to my growth. Much of my life’s goals have been altered, not necessarily because I accept failure but because they might not be realistic or they fit comfortably in some other way. I still have aspirations that I will most certainly work for them to come through…

It’s funny that I muster these reflections while riding the metro, possibly because it’s my only down time… much of my other idle time is spent doing something productive – may not be accomplishing my own goals but those of others.

It feels nice to just be selfish for once. Accept a bit of the mindset of an existentialist and agree that much of my own defeats or winnings will be a product of my very own moves on this chess board called life. It’s not because of the people I hang out with or do not. It might be my approach that’s completely wrong. However, why should I spend the next seconds, minutes or years of my life wondering about the impressions that I leave on others? I was told that I think too much.

Yesterday’s shot of espresso did nothing while I was riding the subway. My eyes were heavy from the night before. I should be getting more sleep because right now, I can definitely imagine myself losing much more of my short term memory from the lack of my body’s necessity for rest. I keep forgetting the simplest things, it’s truly annoying to say the least.

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On Saturday, I went to Prime on 511 W 21st street, cozy club, with Robert. When I got to the end of the line, they took my two bottles of brand-new, unused hand sanitizers. I was taken aback by this because I was left with my pepper spray – the only worthy weapon in my bag. Some of my peers said that other items were taken away such as visine and a hairbrush. I hope that one day someone can explain how these items can cause problems in a club. I have some ideas. I wish their website at least warned at this (they have no photos of actual events).The drinks are overpriced and even if I ordered a long beach (long island but sweeter – it supposedly had 5 liquors but it tasted like water and did nothing). Nonetheless it was great seeing people who went to my school.

prime

[Photo source: Their website]

Yesterday, I went to see Avenue Q with Earle. I must say that that show was fantastic! I have a new view on life because of it. We were laughing so much! Also Earle’s company also means you’re in for laughter. We went to a Cuban restaurant that he frequents which was also amazing! It’s called Havana Central. The waitress was very nice and gave us complimentary 2 for 1 mojitos card. Her name’s Andrea and she was very sweet. I think I might actually go there again soon. We ended up going to Barnes and Noble to look at books, I loved that. I always have a great time catching up with him because we both love reading and discovering new books. Earle convinced me to get a library card a few weeks ago, it’s not regretful. I usually purchase books that I want to read however, I guess considering that my apartment will be filled with books that I will never read again, I think loaning them might be the best alternative to this almost hoarder-like behavior.

Books that I have read this year so far: The Twilight Series, 48 laws of Power, The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Seducing the Boys Club, and some others that I have started and not completed as yet.

jeriI did a great deal of shopping on Saturday that I will say that I might regret for a few weeks but on friday I did my hair, meaning that I did it myself. It’s funny that people are surprised that I braid my own hair… it’s really not that difficult just requires patience.

I also got the internet on Friday… I decided that my landlord’s isn’t fast enough.. then the cable guy accused me of stealing cable (long story). I was very offended and kicked him out almost not getting cable. However, I realized he was just bitter and possibly didn’t know what he was doing. He’s a jerk.

Also, I realized somehow between this month and last, I have lost all my girlfriends. What’s going on? That’s for another post.

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