I loved this movie. At first, I debated waiting to just get it on Netflix, but then I decided that I wanted to help boost its box office. And I’m really glad that I decided to go! The comic book and video game effects were BRILLIANT, it was filled with the quirky nerdy humor that I’m a big fan of, and I laughed a lot. The storyboarding was far from perfect, and character development could’ve been taken way farther, but all-in-all, I enjoyed myself. Michael Cera did a great job, and it was awesome to see him kicking ass.

mood: pleased
music: I’ve Got the World on a String – Michael Buble

Some people need crazy parties, expensive gifts, and lots of attention to feel like they had a great birthday. Not me! I had a fantastic birthday, and I didn’t even do much out of the ordinary.

Last night (as in the 12th, the night before my actual birthday), I went to Todai, an uber seafood buffet, with my parents and sister to commemorate the occasion. The food was great, but what was also really nice was that I had a great time. Seriously. My mom and sister and I had some great conversations on the long drive there, and then we all talked a lot about interesting topics over dinner. I even got to ramble about the Daily Cal for a while, which is always fun. And when I told my dad how I’d been selected to fill that single copy editor spot, he told me that he was really amazed and really proud of me. That was nice to hear.

When I got home, I went to the gym with Mark for a while. Then, he brought me to Cha for Tea and treated me to one of my favorite drinks ever! And tofu. Heh. Then, he drove me back to my house to give me my presents at midnight — only to realize that he’d left the gifts at home! I laughed so freaking hard. So we went back to his place, and he surprised me with three freaking bags of chocolates (white chocolate truffles and mini Toblerones!). And a totally badass talking Optimus Prime card. It was actually like the first real card he’d given me, haha. It’s about time! He of all people knows how much I love cards (lord knows if you totaled up all the words I’ve ever written in my cards to him you’d probably end up with a novella). In it, he wrote about how this time, he doesn’t have to write something to try to inspire me or remind me that he has faith in me; instead, he is just so proud of me. He says it a lot to me now, but it never gets old. I never stop feeling that swelling of pride for making someone I admire so much proud of me.

I got a bunch of midnight birthday wishes, then, which are always awesome. Some were awfully random, but they all made me happy. Anyway, so Mark dropped me off, and then I wrote a little reflection entry.

Then, I sat my ass down (not that I wasn’t sitting already, in all honesty) to watch Batman: Under the Red Hood. Which was fucking amazing, by the way. Like, I don’t even know how to express how awesome it was, except to say that it took me around three hours to watch the 75-minute movie because I kept going back and watching practically every scene like at least three times. The script was well-done (action, character development/exploration, and humor were skillfully balanced), the actors did a great job (Neil Patrick Harris, one of my favorite celebrities, voicing Nightwing was a real treat), the art and animation were superb, and the soundtrack was perfect. (Er, spoiler alert?) I love how easy but complicated it was to sympathize with Jason; his ideas made so much sense but you had to keep reminding yourself that murdering people is wrong and that the ends don’t justify the means. I absolutely loved seeing Bruce all emotionally affected by knowing that Jason was under that hood, and oh my god, that scene with them and the Joker at the end — I never wanted it to end, because all three characters were so dynamically different but so spot-on, and their interaction was so fucking intense that I swear I was holding my breath in time. And of course, I loved seeing Nightwing on-screen and squealed to myself a little after every one of his little perfect lines.

Bruce: Alfred, take him home.
Dick: Bruce, I can still help.
Bruce: You already have. Thank you. Go rest up.
Dick: Okay. But you know where to find me if you need me. He did just thank me, right?
Alfred: Indeed he did, sir.
Dick: Weird.

They did a really good job of making Bruce Bruce-like without making him a jerk. I loved Dick’s playful annoyance every time Bruce did something Bat-like, too. It was very clear that he was used to putting up with it. So fun. Batman and Nightwing were beautiful fighting together, too. They hardly said a word to each other but worked so fluidly as a team. That’s why I’ve always loved when Batman and Nightwing get to work together in the comics and in the cartoons. The only person I like Batman working with more is Superman, but the reason they work so well together is because they balance each other out so nicely. With Nightwing, it’s more about how well they complement each other. They read each other’s moves without verbal exchanges because they are so used to working with each other. I just always find it beautiful that even though Dick left the mantle of Robin behind, he will always be the Robin inside — Batman’s optimism, inspiration, and perfect combat partner. No matter what comes between the two guys, they will always make a very formidable fighting team. Also, I absolutely adored all the little details that the animators perfected. For example, the ways in which Batman, Nightwing, and the Red Hood’s fighting styles all differed despite going through the same training regimen. And I mean, this is coming from someone who is a total whore for Dick Grayson, but seriously? Nightwing’s acrobatics were absolutely breathtaking. Reading his comics, I always mourn that his fighting panels (and hell, even the scenes in which he jumps from building to building) aren’t animated — that acrobatic fighting style is meant to be animated. Another detail that made me super gleeful was the difference in the whooshy landing/flying sounds of the three Batguys. So fantastic. I bought the soundtrack right after the movie ended, and Mark is getting me the special-edition DVD for my birthday! Yaaaaaay.

ANYWAY. After the movie, I randomly decided to make a Dick Grayson wallpaper, which turned out pretty neat. Then I went to bed and worked on my latest Clark/Bruce story before going to sleep. Eight hours later, I woke up and made myself lunch, which I ate while watching Teen Titans. Then, I went to give Mark a ride to the pharmacy, and he treated me to Starbucks, woo! Then, Jess and I went to Jamba Juice, where we got the BOGO deal, yum. Afterward, we went to the bookstore and just chilled there for a long time. I grabbed a few trade paperbacks and read their first chapters to see what I should order (and I almost bought Blackest Night, which came out today, but the online price was way cheaper) and also picked up two more books to add to my ever-growing to-read book collection (Her Perfect Symmetry and The Book Thief). I’ve also been following the Fables comics, which I find really creative and awesome. Maybe I’ll subscribe to it?

I got a stomachache randomly while reading but tried my best to ignore it, since I had more food to collect! Went to Marie Callender’s with my mom and sister to get $5 off an entree plus a free slice of pie! I would’ve gone to Cold Stone afterward to grab my free ice cream, but my stomach really wasn’t feeling so great at the time. It’s mostly better now, at least. It’s a good thing, too, because I still have Maggiano’s and Benihana’s to collect. Also CVS, heh.

I didn’t really get to see my friends today, but I’m going to celebrate with them when more of them are in town. And so many people wished me a happy birthday. My phone decided to randomly delete half of their texts, but what’s important is that they remembered (or were reminded by Facebook, anyway) and went out of their way to wish me a happy birthday. It’s a small gesture, and it’s easy to scoff ones from random people I haven’t talked to in like months or even years as meaningless, but the truth is, just because they see my name on their Facebook birthday lists doesn’t mean that they have to do anything about it. So it really means a lot to me.

My day wasn’t crazy, and it wasn’t even perfect due to that annoying stomachache (which I must point out, only ever happens to me like once a year), but it was still wonderful! And hey, what matters the most is that I finished my teenage years totally happy, yeah? So here’s to the next decade! May it bring happiness, success, and PURE AWESOMENESS.

(Oh, and a job. That would be nice, too. )

mood: contemplative
music: Let’s Call It Off – Drake

I just watched Up in the Air, and wow, it blew me away. George Clooney was amazing as usual, and the script and premise were just so good. I was charmed by all the characters and found a way to relate to each and every one of them. That’s art. And of course, it really got me thinking.

Natalie: Never?
Ryan: No.
Natalie: Ever?
Ryan: No.
Natalie: You never wanna get married?
Ryan: Nope.
Natalie: Never want kids?
Ryan: Not a chance.
Natalie: Ever?
Ryan: Never. Is that so bizarre?
Natalie: Yes. Yes, it is.
Ryan: I just don’t see the value in it. All right, sell it to me.
Natalie: What?
Ryan: Sell me marriage.
Natalie: Okay. How about love?
Ryan: [scoffs] Okay.
Natalie: Stability. Just somebody you can count on.
Ryan: How many stable marriages do you know?
Natalie: Somebody to talk to, someone to spend your life with.

The other day, I asked Di whether it would be better for me to get married or to raise a child, if I were to pick just one of the two evils. She said that I should raise a child, since I didn’t have to be married to be in a relationship with someone. And we talked about how if I remained single and childless for the rest of my life, then there would always be that kind of…gap between my friends and me.

When I told Mark about this, he found the idea that I was thinking about having kids just so I could have conversational topics with my friends very incredulous. But I don’t think it is. It’s like…that next step that everyone expects you to take. And yeah, part of me is just like… Well, I don’t want to take it, and I’m not going to let society dictate that lifestyle for me, so why bother? But then I think about staying like this essentially, while my friends go on to raise families and all that jazz, and I honestly do have to reconsider. It’s like how there’s always the conversational gap between my friends who didn’t dorm for college or didn’t go to college for a while and me. It’s not because I’m condescending them or anything — it’s just that there’s an entire other part of my life that they cannot understand. I can still talk to them about it, of course, but not in the same way that my friends who did leave home for college and I can trade stories and discuss similarities and differences. Yeah, there’s plenty of other things I can talk about. But it’s different. Because we will always lack that element of connection that accompanies similar living styles, similar environments, similar types of people we’re meeting.

So when I think about it that way, I feel that it is almost imperative to live that life with the marriage-doomed-to-fail and the really annoying kids.

Which is so weird to me.

I dunno. I used to say, “If I ever somehow ended up having kids, then…”

And now it’s shifted to “If I have kids, …”

I wonder if it’ll ever end up being “When I have kids,” like everyone seems to say.

Domestic life — seems comfortable and yet incredibly, incredibly confining. Hmm.

Welp. We’ll see. If I meet somebody that I can really see being worth the trouble, then all right. I’ll be game. If not, then that’s cool, too, I’ll stick with the original plan.

P.S. Last night, I got to make my first birthday wish of the year (my first wish of the year, I just realized… Oh dreamer Elaine, you truly are dead, aren’t you?), and for the first time in a long time, I didn’t even think of making it about someone I was romantically invested in. It was so refreshing.

I’m going to be twenty. I’m officially going to cast off the shadow of my relationship with Mark that haunted me for more of the time I was nineteen than not. But it’s a new world.

I’m so fucking ready.

mood: happy
music: Only the Ocean – Jack Johnson (just got his new CD! Whee!)

…has been FANTASTIC.

I go to bed around 4 to 6 a.m., depending, and wake up from 12 to 3ish. When I wake up, I cook for myself ( a new meal every day to practice for when I go back to school in the fall!) and then eat while I watch an episode of Teen Titans. Then, I have dessert and watch an episode or two of Batman or Superman. Then I watch the other one later in the day. I work on my story, I read fanfiction, I read books, I read comics, I draw. I talk to people online or text friends. I read and tan by the pool. I go to the gym with Mark almost every day. I’ve finished like 60 episodes of Batman, along with FlashForward. My story is about 25k words long so far. I’ve been applying to at least three jobs a week. I’m working on a menu for the Cafe, a website for DeCadence, and a logo for a film company.

I LOVE MY LIFE.

I keep thinking I’m running out of time, but seriously? It’s only been three weeks. So awesome. And everyone comes home this week, too. Although most everyone has summer school this year… Makes me feel so unproductive! But I honestly have no use for summer school. Even though I’m officially double-majoring. It’s kind of crazy but also really awesome. And I don’t want to take on another minor because I have my eyes set on a position on the Daily Cal and the BFR.

It’s…cool to say that, haha. I feel all ambitious and stuff. It’s especially exciting because I actually believe that I have a shot at that stuff. Go me!

The Thursday that I got back, which was…the 20th, I went to dinner with Amanda and Maggie. We had Veggie Grill, which was yummy as always. Mag told us about her boy drama, which was delightful to listen to. Not that I want her to have drama, per se, it’s just so new! And fun, haha. We hung around UTC for a while and I got Jade Green Tea boba from Cha, mmm.

Trekked over to Redondo Beach on May 22nd to hang out with Dana and Katie before Dana had to leave for her drum corps tour. I got to see Katie’s house for the first time (so cute and nice!), along with a bunch of furniture for our new apartment for next year! Awesome. Then, we went to the beach and just chilled for a while. Wow, their beach is amazing. I’m so used to the crappiness that is CDM beach (to be fair, it’s crappy just because it’s a bonfire beach) that I was shocked at how smooth the sand was and how clear and gorgeous the area was. It was incredibly windy, though, which meant sand everywhere. I was still trying to extract sand from my hair like three days after the trip, haha. But it was fun. We got some yogurt and then went to RA Sushi for dinner. Yum. We had a lot of fun without doing much. That’s why I love hanging out with them so much. Seems like we never have to do anything fancy to entertain ourselves; we always have so much fun just sitting around and talking. I miss them a lot! Really looking forward to living with them in the fall.

The following Tuesday I went to San Diego with Mark to see Kelli perform at a gospel choir concert, haha. She gave us a tour of the UCSD campus, which was very cool since Diana definitely doesn’t care enough about her school to ever do such a thing, haha. Only problem was that I hadn’t expected to be walking so much and had dressed up all cutely…which you know equals cute but uncomfortable shoes. GAH! At the concert, we met up with Kelli’s family, and afterward, Mark and I hung out with Kelli and Erin. We got some very tasty Mexican food, and Erin rode with us home.

Why don't we have cool things like Dr. Seuss statues?

It's like, a monument to Paradise Lost. And it has one of my favorite quotes from it on the cover. And nearby on the "Snake Path," there's a bench in the midst of a bunch of brush that has another quote from it -- which I recognized before I knew that there was a Paradise Lost thing going on at all! I squealed. A lot.

It was a neato day, and Mark and I got to talk a lot, so that was nice since we have a funny habit of not actually talking to each other that much when we hang out, LOL. It’s the beauty of our friendship, though, that we don’t need to talk to be totally comfortable around each other. Also that we both know that we’re there for each other if either of us does want or need to talk. I like that certainty. Just as there’s definitely a certainty in both of us being online all the time. Doesn’t mean we constantly IM each other; in fact, sometimes days go by where we don’t say anything to each other. Doesn’t matter, though, ’cause we’re both still there if one of us needs something. It’s like how Di and I can go weeks without talking sometimes, after weeks of leaving three voice messages a day for each other. It’s the same with Mag; sometimes, we’ll talk for hours about what’s going on in our lives, and sometimes, we just let the catching up pile up.

But I love it, in a way, because it means that it doesn’t matter how far we’re apart, how infrequently we contact each other, how busy we are — we’ll still make time for each other if it’s necessary. And our support is always concrete and never needing confirmation. I dunno. Makes me happy. And come to think of it, it’s kinda like how Katie and Hillary and C.J. and I just hang out in Qualcomm on our respective laptops or doing our own homework and have no need to constantly chatter or anything. They always say that you know you’re good friends with someone when there are no such things as awkward silences anymore. Sometimes, it’s just nice to do your own thing but have company at the same time.

Anyway, that Friday, I went to visit Diana in San Diego! The drive ended up taking three hours (it took an hour just to get out of my county!) but it was worth it on the whole. Went to Dick’s Last Resort in Downtown San Diego with Di and a bunch of her friends for dinner, which was fun. These douchebags and bimbos kept throwing wads of paper at everyone in the room, so some of Di’s friends started throwing them back, haha. It was…interesting, to say the least. After dinner, we drove back to Di’s (new) apartment, which is ridiculously nice. And way cheap compared to what a lot of us at other UC’s are paying. Grrr! I thought La Jolla was supposed to be expensive! At least I live in a cooler city? Haha. Anyway, we had a chill night and just played Brawl and talked and made smoothies and stuff. It was nice, and it was very interesting seeing how Di interacted with her school friends (and how she was around Matt around them, too). Then, Di and I stayed up for a while, with me re-reading Music of the Spheres (such an amazing read; gets me every time) and Di playing…StyleSavvy on the DS. Which is a ridiculous game, by the way. But very amusing, I must admit.

The next morning, Di, Matt, and I got lunch at this breakfast place called Broken Yolk. I got French toast and sausages, which was very yummy. Then, we went to the mall to watch Prince of Persia, which I enjoyed a lot. It wasn’t a stellar movie by any means, but it was executed well and very enjoyable to watch. And as an added bonus, both Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton were positively smoking. Yum. At the mall, Di and I went into the Steve Madden store and came out with two matching pairs of wedge sandals, LOL. They are so ridiculously cute, and the 4.5″ heel is to die for. I’ve always wanted to be 5’6″!

We had a delicious pizza for dinner that night. I have no idea what else we did, but I do remember going to sleep at 2 a.m. for the first time since break started! Haha. Woke up early…ish the next morning, and Matt picked Di and me up. Got donuts for breakfast and the lovebirds had a little disagreement which was both interesting and a little awkward to witness. Drove to Balboa Park, where parking was nigh impossible. Took at least half an hour for us to get a spot. And like another half an hour to walk to the Natural History Museum from said spot, haha. But that’s okay, ’cause I was in good company. We checked out the…greenhouse? I don’t know what it was, but there were pretty flowers and cool plants. Then we went to the museum and checked out dinosaurs, ocean life, and gems. Matt and I were bored to tears in the gems section, but Diana was ridiculously enthusiastic and decided that she wanted to take a picture of each and every gem in the damn exhibit, LOL. So Matt and I decided to just crack jokes about WoW and jewelcrafting the whole time, since some of the jewelry was so…huge and impractical that it reminded us of WoW gear. But it was a fun visit! And then afterward, they took me to this Chinese restaurant that is literally in like…a house. It was bizarre, but the food was pretty damn good. I got shrimp in lobster sauce, which is probably one of my favorite Chinese dishes (but my mom never makes it! I only ever get it in restaurants! I wonder why. Maybe I should ask her). It was nummy. Then, that night I drove home so as to avoid what was sure to be Memorial Day traffic the next day. The drive home took a measly 50 minutes… Woot.

Memorial Day was pretty quiet for me. My mom had a barbecue, but I pretty much just ate the food and watched Batman: TAS, haha. Hey, good food and cartoons? I enjoyed it. Jess had over a bunch of people, and it was kind of awkward because she’s never introduced me to any of them but they all clearly know who I am and I vaguely know who they are. I told her later that she needs to start doing that, and she did the next time her friends came over. I was very pleased and proud that she took that lesson to heart, haha. She’ll understand why it’s so important when she goes to college, where you’re introducing people to each other like every other second! And then sometimes you get the awkward re-introduction because you forgot that the two people have already met… Heh.

And that was it for May! Yay!

mood: at peace
music: Dear Vienna – Owl City

I love good action/adventure stories. Watching Avatar for the second time today (with my parents this time), I realized how to better explain my taste. I really love action; fighting sequences are really awesome to me — but unfortunately I’m also extremely squeamish. So I really enjoy action that’s not gorey or gruesome; action that gets the point across without explicitly emphasizing the violent aspect of it. Adventure stories are great for this. Most stories that have “battles” are usually winners for me. I also really like putting action scenes in my stories, but I kind of suck at writing awesome action. I think it’s definitely one of the hardest things to write convincingly (Rick Riordan actually does it really well in the Percy Jackson series; it was always very easy for me to visualize what was going on but it wasn’t like simple or anything; it was clever action that made sense and was exciting), along with romance.

I really love movies that fashion a new world. You know, ones where the writers had to sit down for a long time creating a world. I’m hardly degrading movies that aren’t like that, but those are definitely the ones that really catch my eye and get me really excited and…into them, really. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a total sucker for new worlds, superheroes, magical universes, mythology, all of that good stuff. My friends at Berkeley are always making fun of me for my random plot bunnies/wild imagination tidbits that I like announcing to the world, haha. Once, we were hanging out in C.J.’s room when we suddenly heard a loud train horn outside and were really confused, seeing as there are no trains that close to the dorms. Really excited, I suggested that maybe a superhero had just teleported a runaway train into the soccer field on top of the parking garages and that now our lives would be changed forever. I just love thinking about that kind of stuff. Maybe it’s childish. Maybe it’s unrealistic. Maybe it’s escapist. But more importantly, it’s fun.

Right now, I’m working on an original story about superheroes. The idea was born two summers ago during a family trip to Las Vegas; we had to take my dad to the hospital that time, and afterward, we dropped my mom off at Walgreens to pick up some meds. While we were waiting for her, I chatted with the cabbie. His story, in combination with the David Copperfield show that I’d seen the previous night, sparked my imagination and grew into a full-fledged plot bunny. I really hope that I’ll get somewhere with this.

In fact, I’m going to go work on it right now, before I sleep. Thank god for break and all this freedom!