Moe Skwee Toes

Here are some interesting facts about mosquitoes (copied from a site to which I give credit at the end of this list):

-You're more likely to be a target for mosquitoes if you consume bananas. 

-Biting activity increase by 500 times when there is a full moon. 

-A mosquito's wings beat 500 times a second.                               

-The animal responsible for the most human deaths world-wide is the mosquito.                                          

-Mosquitoes dislike citronella because it irritates their feet.

-Mosquitoes prefer children to adults, and blondes to brunettes.                                          

-A mosquito can detect a moving target at 18 ft away.  

-The average life span of a female mosquito is 3 to 100 days. the male lives 10 to 20 days.                                            

-Mosquitoes: lay up to 300 eggs at a time, fly across 150 miles in their lifetime, range from sea level to altitudes as high as 10,800 feet (3,600 meters), and develop from egg to adulthood in 4 to 7 days.

This all came from (http://www.thaibugs.com/Articles/amazing_mosquito_facts.htm) and is not at all in my own words. Also, the site I just credited credits another site (http://www.control-mosquitoes.com/) so if you wanna know more you should check those out. Not sure why you'd want to know more about mosquitoes but hey, whatever.

So that was fun. Kind of interesting about the banana thing. Also, something that isn't mentioned here but is on the aforementioned site, mosquitoes are apparently attracted to carbon dioxide and lactic acid. So does that mean a lactose intolerant person breath into a tree and not be bitten by mosquitoes? Just a thought.

Archaeology

Is not nearly as much as you'd think. Digging up bones and cool stuff from millions of years ago?? Wowieee!!!

Not so much. Archaeology is mostly about dating techniques and whether or not hominins are different than hominids (they are, by the way). Sure it's fascinating to figure out how we started and how we evolved and how we eventually got to where we are now but most of that fascination gets lost in the minutia of anthropological tedium. Like paperwork and walking for hours trying to find a fragment of a pinkie bone in the desert. Or putting pieces of dirt into a fancy machine and waiting for it to beep at you. That stuff really isn't so great. At least, not to me. I think I would much rather prefer to study cultures and write books and teach students than travel to Antarctica and study the remains of that observatory thing we built 100 years ago, or even than dig up human fossils in Egypt. Well, that last one would be pretty sick. So maybe I'll be a cultural anthropologist who writes books on the cultural traits of modern Egypt whoch were influenced by the ancient civilizations or something. Yeah.

Untitled

So much for me doing this on a daily basis. To be fair though, the semester just started and I've been pretty busy with other things. Like catching up on all my favorite shows and drinking beer. You know, good student stuff. At any rate, I suppose I should try to keep this up for at least another month or so before I give up. It was supposed to be for the whole year but as I'm the only one who reads this, I can forgive myself for not following through completely. Perhaps I'll even give it another two months but it seems as though Google does not like me. Apparently the blog which I made for myself is not interesting enough for the internet world at large. Oh well, it's barely interesting enough for me so I'm not all that surprised. Since I started on that track, I'll keep it up with movies:

1.) AVATAR- My current absolute favorite.
2.) Clue- Classic. This is a great mixture of humor, drama, and suspense. A difficult trio, but done quite well.
3.) Madagascar- Because everyone loves a sappy cartoon with childish humor.
4.) Scream- Another classic. Scary when you watch it for the first time when you're ten, otherwise it's just good.
5.) The Omen- Creepy and slightly disturbing, a really great date movie if you want an excuse to cuddle ("oh, this is so frightening! Hold me!"). And I'm talking about the original, not the (let's be honest here) really crappy remake.
6.) The Rundown- One of the best action movies ever, especially the huge gunfight at the end. Best part? There are enough guns and fights and chase scenes to make the guys happy and The Rock is good-looking enough to keep the girls happy- Perfect!
7.) The Riddick Trilogy- Vin Diesel rocks.
8.) Paris, Je T'aime- The ULTIMATE love story (ies). Eighteen different short films, all about love in Paris. Great movie to make your boyfriend watch with you, it's totally romantic.
9.) The Notebook- Wonderful? Yes. Overrated? Not at all. This is another great sappy love story, and the ending is ridiculously perfect.
10.) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY- One of the only movies that has ever scared me. Ever.

Other note-worthy movies: Evening, Finding Neverland, Fifth Element, Serenity, Edward Scissorhands (great movie but be prepared for the WORST ENDING EVER), Secret Window, Pirates of the Caribbean, Sweeny Todd (sensing a Johnny Depp theme here?),  Corpse Bride, Chocolat, Cry Baby (Now I bet you're really sensing the Depp theme), A la folie... pas du tout, Le Diner de cons, 10 Things I Hate About You, and, of course The Nightmare Before Christmas (Which should really be on the list of top 10, it's one of the absolute best movies in existence.. Tim Burton is stupendous [how many people have you ever actually heard use that word? Stupendous. Good word])

That's all I can think of right now but I'm sure there are more. I like movies. Especially French movies, Johnny Depp movies, and anything by Tim Burton.

Tattoos

So I've been thinking. I really want to get a tattoo. I've heard a lot of people say that I shouldn't, that I may change my mind and regret it but I don't really care. My body is a canvas waiting to be filled and piercings only go so far. I've picked eight designs that are really cool, but I don't think I'll be able to fit all of them and be happy with the placement so we'll see. I'd like one on each of my wrists (a heart and a spade, respectively), one on the middle of my back (a Nietzsche quote.. the dancing one at the top of my blog with a dancer), one on the side of my lower back (a tree), one on my stomach (a tree on top of a heart with roots underneath and two lines going from the heart), a peace sign/yin yang symbol in an ink splash (I dunno where yet), the Tibetan symbol for om (behind my ear), and a tribal sun (on my shoulder blade). And then of course I'd like a double eyebrow piercing, a second belly button piercing, a lip piercing, and maybe a wrist piercing as well.

Ahh, I love body art :)
Unfortunately, I think I'll only be able to get the second belly ring and one or two tattoos :-/
But, we'll see.


And on an unrelated note, here are a few songs I love:
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun- Cindy Lauper
Wouldn't It Be Nice- Beach Boys
Build Me Up Buttercup- The Foundations
Hello Seattle- Owl City
Anything by Frank Sinatra :)

Moldy coffee, anyone?

I'm pissed. Today was just a pretty bad day all around. First off, a nine hour shift at Wal*Mart sucks. After about half an hour I start thinking about quitting, you can imagine what nine hours does to me. So I come in all ready to start my shift in a good mood. The first words I hear? "We'll have you open up one... and then go to the door in an hour." Here I was, all excited about being able to open register one (I love express, you only have to deal with each customer for about a minute) when I get told I'm going to the door. She might as well have sent me straight to hell. If hell existed. Being on the door is quite possibly the worst job in the world. Worse than scrubbing out toilets or trying to feed a three year old. People either ignore you, look down their noses (which are often sitting right above their dirty toothless mouths and obese bodies, by the way) at you, or giving you that pitiful smile that says "I feel bad for you, having to work here. Guess you should have gone to school." Which, to be fair, would be a pretty accurate statement. But I am in school. So there. Anyway, THREE HOURS LATER, they finally let me go to lunch. When I get back they send me straight to 16, another terrible register. Sixteen sucks because it's right in the middle, where customers love to congregate. Fourteen and eighteen are wide open, but do people from my line want to take advantage of this? Noooopeee. They're quite comfortable staying in my line of 500 customers while the other lanes are empty. Great. Finally after my last break, two hours before I go home, they put me on 19. It's not an express, but it is the only lane that sells cigarettes. Know why I like it? Now this is going to sound bad: I truly enjoy seeing the frustrated looks on the faces of all the nicotine addicts waiting in line for their smokes behind the mexican family with four carts of stuff. Classic. The way they fidget and try to restrain themselves from screaming makes me feel so much better about my own situation. So there it is. Terrible person that I may be, I've got to get my kicks somewhere. Unfortunately, because it's the only register that sells tobacco, 19 has to stay open 24/7. That means that when your shift ended 15 minutes ago and you have a dinner date, you can't just shut off your light and leave. Which is what happened today, of course. Staying late at Wal*Mart isn't a party to begin with, but when you've been there for nine hours, it REALLY sucks. I was about 30 seconds away from throwing a potted plant at some woman's head and the only thing that stopped me was the laziness of her son. Long story. Anyway, after I got out of work I went to go meet my best friend at Chilie's. Everything was going great, we were chatting and I was drinking a much needed cup of coffee when all of a sudden... I decided to stir around my coffee a bit (half empty by this point) and as I brought my spoon up, I noticed something clumping together. After further investigation I realized that it was either mold or congealed rotten cream. Awesome. And what did I get when I made my complaint? Another coffee and a "I don't know what that is, I rinsed out the mug before I gave it to you"

Fuck you.

So that's my story. Word of advice: Don't ever, EVER apply to Wal*Mart as a cashier. Seriously, choose living in a cardboard box over working the Wal*Mart registers. Seriously. And always ask for the expiration date of cream when you get coffee. Also, ask to NOT be served by your best friend's ex-babysitter. It makes complaining to the manager a lot more difficult.

Because Everyone Loves A Good Quote

Seriously, do you know anyone who doesn't? Here are some of my favorite quotes ever, along with their sources:

"And what do you do, out of love?"
"I ache... for who we were." (Paris, Je T'aime)

"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." (Stephen Henry Roberts)

"Kiss me on impulse! Surprise me!" (Paris, Je T'aime)

"And perhaps beyond those shrouded swells another man did walk with another child on the dead gray sands. Slept but a sea apart on another beach among the bitter ashes of the world or stood in their rags lost to the same indifferent sun." (The Road, by Cormac McCarthy)

"Don't feel inferior... we lie a lot." (me)

"The time has come, the walrus said, to speak of many things, of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings, of why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings." (The Walrus and the Carpenter, a poem in the book Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll)

"It's not failure, it's redefined objectives." (Harry Potter fanfiction.. and some TV show)

"He walked out into the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world." (The Road, by Cormac McCarthy)

"Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it." (The Road, by Cormac McCarthy)

"...And the people who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." (Friedrich Nietzsche)

"Well, I don't know how to break this to you, but I think they might have noticed we broke into Gringotts." (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling)

"It's like those guys who raise bears and then they get eaten by one and it's like "oh yes, of course"" (NCIS, "Ignition")

By the way, for those of you who haven't seen it, Paris, Je T'aime is an amazing movie. It's actually comprised of 18 different short films, each one based on a different arrondissement in Paris (they had to leave two out for editing reasons), that follow the different love stories of the citizens in Paris. Definitely a movie worth watching.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy is also really great, for those of you who love reading like me (: It's set in post-apocilypse America and follows a father and son as they wander around a barren earth, trying to survive starvation, hopelessness, and cannibalism. Rated one of the best apocilyspe books ever, as well as one of the most disturbing. While it may leave you feeling slightly depressed and hopeless, it's well worth it.

Introduction Of Sorts

Before I do anything else, I'd like to make a few things clear:
1.) I am not actually Italian
2.) Nor am I actually a koala bear

Now that that's taken care of, welcome! I suppose I should start with something of the introductory sort so here goes:

My name is Ashley. I'm currently a student at an undisclosed university studying Anthropology and some other stuff. I don't like throwing out a lot of information to the world of internet creeps, so at least for now I'm going to choose to remain somewhat ambiguous. I will, however, give you a whole host of things to judge me on.

Likes:
Jack Skellington
Harry Potter
Learning
The Environment
Traveling
Human Rights
Aristotle
Prodicus of Ceos
Liberalism
Books

Dislikes:
Conservatism
Having a cold
People who litter
Sigmund Freud
The SOA
People who think climate change is the only thing wrong with our environment and use the "climate change isn't real" excuse to not do anything to help save our earth (hello, landfills? deforestation? migratory patterns being disrupted due to human activity? seriously, just admit that you're too lazy to care)

There.

Now here are some links I think are pretty rad:
stumbleupon.com
stickmans.net/saddestbear/default.html ( if nothing else, read this story (: )
postsecret.com
fancast.com

Now that we've got the basics over with, I suppose I'll have to be a bit more creative in my next posts.

Enjoy!