:: 2008 8 May :: 3.55 pm

sean bell protests
My last day of undergrad was yesterday and while I was at school I saw a group of people forming in front of the Brooklyn Bridge across the street. I remembered reading in the paper that Rev Al Sharpton was planning on executing several civil disobediance protests citywide over the murder of Sean Bell and the recent acquittal of the NYPD officers involved in the shooting. I was guessing this was one of those. I headed over there and passed about 30 NYPD officers lined up as a backup for crowd control.




And the equestrian police was on my campus, presumably for riot control.




I found out Al Sharpton and Sean Bell's family were at this location for the protest. They had blocked off traffic to the Brooklyn Bridge (at rush hour) and had organized tandem protests across the city at other transportation hubs like the Washington Bridge and Holland Tunnel. They were standing in the middle of the road surrounded by protesters, police, and news crews. I wandered out into the street (since it wasn't being used for traffic at this time) and tried to get a better look. A woman came up to me and said, "Do you wanna get arrested wit them?"

"No, ma'am."

"Then you bess stay out of the street, 'cuz they's all gonna get arrested."

(I stepped back on the curb.)

I found out that the group was going around getting people to volunteer to be arrested with them for increased publicity.

Turns out Al Sharpton was arrested along with the family members, and others were arrested citywide at the other locations. Everyone stayed peaceful though, no violence ever happened.




I don't know if anyone outside of NY knows about the Sean Bell trial. It's a big one around here, but I'm not sure it is anywhere else.

Hundreds Protest Sean Bell Verdict

Apologies for the cameraphone-only pics. Why in the world am I not in constant possession of my SLR? Oh, because it's heavy. Blarg.

Anyway, interesting way to end my last day of college eh?

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:: 2008 7 May :: 1.23 pm

I'm living through the day I've waited 5 years for.
I never gave up.
I never will.

5 thoughts | Comment

:: 2008 4 May :: 2.01 pm

Dear Avocado,
We need to talk. I think you're out of line. I mean, I love you. Really. That's why I feel the need to write this. But you already know that don't you? Jason & I travel all the way to Times Square to get our beloved Chicken Avocado Wrap for you. We fight the crowds. We wait in line at ESPNZone...all for you. But I discovered your nasty little secret today. I mean, I always knew you came with a little baggage. I guess I just never realized how much. I went behind your back this morning after gorging on Roxana's delicious guacamole last night (don't worry, you were fantastic) but I felt like something was wrong. I looked up your nutritional information. I'm sorry! The internet...it was there at my fingertips, begging to be scoured for information! But maybe it should be you who is apologizing. 27 GRAMS OF FAT! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE! You're a fruit for god's sake! All that guacamole, all those chicken avocado wraps, all that love--wasted. Sure sure, the website says it's the good kind of fat. The mono- and the poly-, yes I know all about them. But I don't accept this. When I'm looking for a fruit, I'm expecting to receive deliciousness without the guilt. Sure, maybe I'll binge on you every few months, but I guarantee it won't be with pleasure, it won't be with love. I'll simply be fulfilling a biological need. I hope you're happy. I want you to know I found someone else. The mango. Roxana introduced it to me. I never appreciated it before. But you know what? It's delicious. And before I jumped into it with this one, I did my background check. Mangos help with skin complexion. And they invigorate the nerves. THE NERVES! So you can take your polyunsaturated fat and shove it, avo.

Love,
Mango Michelle


Dear Gasoline,
Look. I'll be completely honest. I forgot all about you. I haven't bought you in almost two years. But I was watching the news the other day. And now I know. You've let yourself go. You know, when I left Michigan you were hovering around $2.50 a gallon. But on the news I saw that you're flirting with $4 a gallon. What the fuck, dude? You think this makes me ever want to come back to you? I'm glad I left. I'm glad I sold my car. I'm glad I know exactly how much I pay for transportation every month. Because you know what? The subway is loyal. It gets me anywhere I want to go in this city and I pay one price a month. THE SAME PRICE. You could learn from this, petro. Because if you don't change your ways you better believe that when I leave this city someday, I'm going electric.

Love,
MetroCard Michelle

2 thoughts | Comment

:: 2008 28 April :: 3.09 pm

Some friends from Michigan have been crashing at our apartment for a few days and last night we broke out the brand new Mario Kart Wii game.

Wootsors.

Michelle's Wise and Expert Opinion: Fun, natch. The Wii Wheel ^{(TM, ja?)} definitely takes some getting used to. I thought it might be difficult to turn with, but it's not at all. The hardest part for me is remembering which button fires items and which one does the power skid. I keep mixing them up. Go me.

Least favorite part: The new battle mode. We've only done it a few times but it seems like you can only be on a team of 6. So the computer will play as the rest of the team, and you're not dead when all your balloons pop. Your team wins by getting points. When all your balloons pop you still come back. I dunno, I like the good old-fashioned balloon-popping deaths. There's also this coin battle, but I haven't done it yet.

Favorite part: Playing people from all over the world. We jumped on the Wii network and joined a race with like 16 other drivers from different countries. Unlike Super Smash Brothers, the M.Kart network doesn't lag AT ALL. It's amazing to be so connected. For those of you who are wondering, I did not represent our country well. I need to work on my skillz and give America a good M.Kart rep.

Very fun.
Very not studying for my Forensic Bio final.
Very d'oh!

Also, super excited for the new Wii Fit that comes out in May.
Exercise away from school?! Hells ja!

PS: Flickr users are super nice.

4 thoughts | Comment

:: 2008 26 April :: 1.23 am

New York in Bloom














more:
The Blossom Series

7 thoughts | Comment

:: 2008 24 April :: 1.47 pm

As the countdown on Jason's FB profile thus informs me, there are 92 days until the X-Files movie premiere.

That is all.



<sub>Oh, and Lost is back tonight.


Oh, and the end of the semester sucks my taint.</sub>

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:: 2008 22 April :: 10.16 pm

ok funny
So I noticed today on my stalkerfeed that Facebook has a new experimental feature called Facebook Lexicon.

It's basically a search engine that counts the occurrence of words on people's Walls. I messed around with it for awhile. I entered Michelle and the date with the highest incidence of my name was Christmas. I entered hey and the results weren't that variable except there was a noticeable decline on one day--Christmas again. I guess people were saying Merry Christmas Frankie instead of Hey Frankie on that day. So this is all fun and interesting to me but I want something more striking.

So I entered vagina.


zomg success! a spike!




The chart lets you zoom in to further satisfy your intellectual curiosity in human linguistics.

At which point I discovered, not to much surprise, that Valentine's Day has the highest occurrence of vagina on people's Walls.

1 thought | Comment

:: 2008 17 April :: 3.36 pm
:: Mood: sudoriferous

i must be twitterpated
my brain is going a million miles a minute.
this weather isn't good for my education.
79 tomorrow?!
why am i at school & not swimming in the ocean?

5 thoughts | Comment

:: 2008 15 April :: 10.56 pm

hokay
I kind of had an insane day.

It started with me crying at school.
(Go me.)
And then ended with getting an internship at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Manhattan (the biggest DNA profiling lab in the entire United States), getting Coldstone ice cream with Jason, buying Juno on DVD, then making this my desktop:


[Thank you Rachel, thank you. PS: There's a bigger version here on my Flickr if your masturbatory habits require higher resolution.]

More about the internship later.
No more about me crying at school later.
I just want to move on from today, but I will say this:
I had an exorbitantly shit-tastic day at school up until 6pm. And when I'm rich, in a prestigious forensic position, I'm going to take the time to help students because I know the insane crap they have to deal with. The people that were there for me today made all the difference.

How can my whole world come crashing down and be rebuilt all in one day?
::uncurls from fetal position::

2 thoughts | Comment

:: 2008 14 April :: 2.00 pm

There's this guy on Flickr who keeps tagging my photos as "beautiful," which is flattering and all but they're all photos of me and since Flickr doesn't distinguish which user adds a tag to a photo, it just looks like I've been sitting around tagging myself as beautiful. It's all rather awkward. Can't he just leave a comment saying "hey there fancy pants" ?

Anywho, Remy was in heat last night. How do we know? Well, she was acting funny and Googleland told us why. What does a rat in heat do exactly? She runs in circles, jumps on our laps, scurries up our pantlegs (ow claws), and her ears do this weird vibrating thing. Oh, and she arches her back and sticks her butt up in the air.

I know Remy, I know.

It's like she loves us more (surprisingly enough she seems to love me just as much as Jason, although I lack phalic accoutrements) and she's also (somehow) more spastic.

Fun had by all (except Remy).

1 thought | Comment

:: 2008 11 April :: 11.58 am

I'm at work, not working. Jason is at home, pretending to work.

via G-chat(sors)
Jason: i'm using the same exact test as a year ago, 'cause i'm lazy!
me: that's my boy.
Jason: mmm, Sr (that's loser ABA shorthand for reinforcement)
me: THEN WHY DOES IT START WITH AN S??
o god, you people are worse than i thought.
Jason: to make your head explode
me: done and done.


PS: Rachel! Jason bought Portal and he didn't tell youuu! He even played it and loved it but he didn't share his love with you! What kind of woohu friend is that? /tattle.


Every time I encounter tourists from France on my way to school I have the urge to talk to them. I usually help them out because the smile on their faces is so rewarding.

Oh, what's that hun? It's Sr? Srsly sr? Yeah? Hm.

6 thoughts | Comment

:: 2008 10 April :: 11.07 am

70 degrees.
Windows open.
Eyes closed.

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:: 2008 7 April :: 10.29 pm
:: Music: NCAA Finals

Just wanted to share
a few things.

The Central Park Series



Click through the picture to see my favorite NY oasis.



The Las Vegas Series



I finished this album awhile ago but kept forgetting to link it here. I cut our 600 photos down to 100 uploads. Then I spent an hour of my life adding titles, descriptions, and tags. Oy.

So cozy up to your computer some groggy Saturday morning with a cup of coffee and browse the city of sin, courtesy of yours truly. Click the picture above.


Laaastly
since A Fine Frenzy is my favorite female artist as of late, I thought it would be polite of me to share her fantasticness. We went to her concert for my birthday and it was lovely. I uploaded a song on my Box (heh. box.) so you can listen to it. If you like it (which you will), I even give you the option to download it.

Whoever said only children don't share their things?


Come On, Come Out

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:: 2008 3 April :: 12.46 am
:: Mood: wootsors

July 25th 2008

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:: 2008 1 April :: 10.44 pm

Things You Should Know About Rats

• They eat anything
  • Fruit Loops
  • pumpkin seeds
  • grapes
  • apples
  • raisins
  • Wheat Thins
  • Peeps (yes Peeps)
  • SunChips
  • ham
  • turkey
  • Cheese-Its
• They will go anywhere you don't want them
  
• They make you duct tape your apartment
  
• And stick penises in your speakers
  
• They're sassy as hell

But man do I love her. I never would have expected it, but a rat makes a fun pet. It's kinda like having a miniature ferret. Except it doesn't like bells. Or any noise. Ever.



Oh Remy.
How you torment us so.

3 thoughts | Comment

:: 2008 31 March :: 12.30 pm
:: Mood: amused

on the set of Law & Order
Law & Order is filming an episode next to my school.
So I stole some food from their catering cart outside.
Mmm, donuts and trail mix.




I don't have my camera so excuse the grainy, indescript camera phone picture. That's the view from the window where I work. The apartment directly across is where they are filming. I always used to look at that apartment when I was bored at work because it was so freakin pimp. Srsly. I guess Law & Order liked it too.

Anyway, thanks for the food, guys!
::snicker::

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:: 2008 30 March :: 11.26 pm

the marrow of mirabelle
Have I ever told you about Mirabelle? No, it's unlikely. I've kept her hidden. She's been a part of me since 2005, when I lived in Goldsworth.

Schizo?
No, don't worry.
Complex.

Michelle is an analytical thinker. She is the scientist, the ambitious one, the level-headed, lab report writing, education whore. She swallows documentaries whole, falls asleep with an Einstein biography on her chest, and craves all the knowledge the world has to offer.

Mirabelle. Well, she creates. She gives into her inhibitions. She is a photographer and an abstract writer. She would rather describe something than be told what it is. She closes her eyes when the wind is in her hair. She smells the pages of her books because the musky ink is intoxicating. She lets sand slip through her fingers and wants nothing more than to capture the world between them.

We are vivid silhouettes. Once, maybe two years ago, I wrote an entry that I wished I could fade into Mirabelle. I was questioning everything I had stood for. The biochemistry. The labs. The work. I wanted to leave it all. But somewhere along the way I realized it was all the same. I could be both. I could let go and still succeed. I could find my balance. I found it here in New York somehow. I don't remember one instance or point where I clicked together, but looking back over the years I see that it happened somewhere.

So I present to you Mirabelle. My other half.
I'm not crazy, but you can't expect such a delicate balance of cells to operate rationally all the time can you? We all have a purpose. I just happen to have two.

This introduction comes on the cusp of an "unveiling" of the Marrow of Mirabelle. The quotations are in place because I'd rather it not sound so dramatic. It's really not. I converted my old blogspot into a connection point for my internet network. I look at it as a nucleus. You can connect to all parts of me there _{that I want you to know about}. It was inspired by Mira because she often creates and keeps up places such as that.

Je vous presente:
www.marrowofmirabelle.blogspot.com
I also am putting a permalink in the header of my woohu. Look closer.


One thing Michelle & Mirabelle have in common.

We both work best by candlelight.

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:: 2008 27 March :: 11.18 pm

You know you love Woohu if...
_{I ganked this from Jessa.}

You are logged in with cookies.
You have woohu as your homepage.
Andy is on your friends list more than once.
You know Rachel ends all her entries with "I love you all."
You refer to periods of your life by referencing what your user icon was.
You have ever done a Gunny sighting.
You know Andy as Gunny.
You have referred to your real life friends by their user names. As in- "You know Kevin? You know, tuwang?"
All your entries have changed security levels five times.
You participated in the entry with the most comments.
You have ever wondered who Homsar was.
You've stopped by dead journals and posted a comment saying "I miss you."
On Facebook your 'website' is listed as your journal.
You were excited when the 'mass action' feature was created.
You noticed when Andy changed the saying.
You are part of any community journal.
You remember what the old saying was.
Your password is 'helloandy'.
You get nostalgic for the old school front page.
You are part of the Woohu Peeps Facebook group.
You paid the two dollars.
You have private, friends only, and public entries.
You think about what you are going to post when you aren't at home.
You remember emo Andy.
You've gotten drunk and posted something embarressing.
You've ever posted a entry that simply said "No posts here anymore" or "This site is dead" or "Wow, it's been a long time".
You have a t-shirt and even the old magnets and stickers.
You have a homemade woohu t-shirt.
You've been banned by Andy.
You are from Cedar, Boca, or Spokane.
You've ever started a flame war.
You ever wondered where those invitation codes were hidden.
Your user number on Bzoink is in the double digits.
You have a This Crush and a Fake Pop.
Jessa paid your two dollars for you.
You were part of Woohu Day.
You are friends with both members of 'the show'.
You have a 'secret journal' you think nobody knows about.
You know everyone else's 'secret journal'.


A large number of these are embarrassingly true. Er, I mean awesomeingly.

5 thoughts | Comment

:: 2008 26 March :: 1.08 pm

2 thoughts | Comment

:: 2008 25 March :: 12.00 pm

I had the craziest dream about Bill Murray last night. And his brother. And my leg.

Then when I woke up my leg was aching. Not even lying.


It wasn't sexual, you jerks.

1 thought | Comment

:: 2008 23 March :: 1.41 pm

Happy Easter
Enjoy a peep show.




We have Jason's brother-in-law to thank for this one.

2 thoughts | Comment

:: 2008 19 March :: 11.12 pm
:: Music: Spoon

the mostly everything entry
This entry shall be a mishmash of information. Hooha.


First order of business: birthdayage.

I came home from work last Friday before Jason returned and was met by an amorphous lump on the kitchen table covered with our blue futon blanket. And the apartment smelled like sugar and chocolate. But a message of foreboding doom cautioned me not to peek.




Oh bother.

So I busied myself elsewhere until my phone rang and Jason said "Come down to the basement door and let me in. Um, quickly."

Oh bother.

So I go down and let him in. He covertly bungles along with a large black garbage bag containing more amorphousness. We go back up to our apartment and I learn of the birthday surprise that neither of us expected. Jason's experiment rat at school finally achieved its destiny of a series of lever pulls, turning on red lights, turning off white lights, and pulling a metal chain--all in the correct sequence--in order to be rewarded with sugar water. Oh, water and your reinforcing qualities.

After Jason's professor confirmed that his rat was in fact totally awesome, Jason's project was over and the rat was going to be killed. But Jason rescued it and was coincidentally able to bring it home on my birthday.



At the beginning of the semester, Jason named it Remy after the chef rat in Ratatouille and we were under the impression that it was of the testosterone variety. But upon the discovery of a vag, we were compelled to change our thinking. That'll be Miss Remy from now on, thank you.


She also likes to bury her head under the bedding, ostrich-style.

Okay, backslash digression.

I soon discovered what lay beneath that message of foreboding doom on the kitchen table. A homemade fudge brownie cake with 23 written on top in M&Ms made special order by Jason dear. I then opened the cadeaux from Jason, my parents, and his parents.

Roses from mom:


From Jason:

• a Queens College t-shirt
• a NY Giants jersey
• the Juno soundtrack
• and 2 tickets to A Fine Frenzy concert tomorrow!

A Fine Frenzy has been my favorite artist for months now ever since we got her debut CD this past summer.

I'm totally gay for her.


Everyone was so wonderful to me. Sigh. I feel awkward being the brunt of everyone's generosity.

The rest of the pictures are in my 23rd Birthday set on Flickr.

Later that night we hung out with the Queens College gang at a Thai restaurant then gorged on some Coldstone. ::drool:: Erich gave me the book The Lobotomist, which is a perfect gift because it's both morbid and a biography, which satisfies the dark documentary whore in me.




Michelle's Unapologetically Sappy Moment of the Day
Jason: Know what I love more than you?
Me: Remy?
Jason: No.
Me: Super Smash Bros Brawl?
Jason: No.
Me: ...
Jason: Us.
Me: ::faint::

I don't care if the sappiness is disgusting. I just don't.

1 thought | Comment

:: 2008 14 March :: 10.33 am
:: Mood: vibrant

l'anniversaire
My senses are in a dynamic equilibrium with everything today. Leaving the WTC station I smelled the most delicious breakfast sausages sizzling, while walking to school the bell tower at the top of City Hall chimed and I transported to a time perhaps a hundred years ago when there was no honking traffic or bustling business men, only the clear ringing of a isolated bell tower through the morning fog and cobblestone streets. The little deli across from St. Paul's Cathedral steamed from their browning meats and a hazy morning cloud hung over the Woolworth building making everything shimmer and warm. I'm sleepy without my coffee or tea this morning but it's a soft unprecarious state.

I'm 23 today. Spring Break shall commence in an hour.
I have an interview with the NYPD crime lab on Monday for a Criminalist I position. (I'm scared shitless.)
And Jason is cooking up some surprises for me which required him to request I stay away from home until he's ready.
I should have brought my camera.
It's a perfect day for an indulgent Manhattan stroll to please my senses.

5 thoughts | Comment

:: 2008 10 March :: 10.11 pm
:: Music: absurdity

1 thought | Comment

:: 2008 8 March :: 4.49 pm

layout
Made a new woohu layout. It has a singular meaning for me, sometimes I pour my heart into these things. :)

I'm not sure if anyone noticed because he doesn't advertise, but Jason made a new layout awhile ago. I wanna take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant. Inspired by Lost, for those poor souls who aren't following the saga.

I put a few of my past layouts behind the cut because I enjoy looking back and remembering. Nostalgia whore that I am. Read more..

2 thoughts | Comment

:: 2008 6 March :: 10.38 am
:: Mood: uneasy

A bomb went off in Times Square this morning. Sigh. >_<
At least nobody was hurt.

I had a dream last night that my grandma, uncle, and aunt all died within one week of each other. I was weeping uncontrollably in the dream but everyone else around me was calm. My dead aunt reached out of her coffin and held my mom's hand and I sobbed and screamed at my mom to not go too. I cried so hard my chest hurt. Then I woke up to my phone ringing at 8:30 this morning from a number I didn't recognize but I didn't answer it because I was so uneasy. Then my mom called me two hours later to tell me that a bomb went off in Times Square. I called the number back that was on my phone but no one answered. ...sigh.


In other news, pretty colors!



Jason and I are going to the Plug Awards tonight. It's some indie music awards thingy. I don't know. The only reason we're going is because Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds are headlining. But I'm very upset. These things always run late and the subways suck at night and since it's in Manhattan we're not getting home fooooreverrr and thus,

I can't watch LOST tonight. I have to work in the morning, so we won't be able to watch it until later Friday. I am not okay with this people.


I have to do a presentation in my Forensic Seminar class today on the 5 marker changes of teeth used for postmortem identification and age estimation. Doody.

2 thoughts | Comment

:: 2008 4 March :: 7.31 pm

My view as I'm getting out of class at night. I took this on the steps of my school. See that tall rectangular building in the foreground? That's where I work.

The sky is so pretty...

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:: 2008 3 March :: 1.10 pm

creativity aplenty
Creativity streak continues, albeit staggered. I actually do still do homework, as evidenced by this past weekend. ::whine:: I have several projects under construction right now, nothing too huge, but since I'm doing them all at once I get all a-flustered. Going to set up a pro-Flickr account soon. After a graphic designer in Chicago randomly contacted me about using one of my Flickr photos in his work, I figured it's time to get some of my stuff out there. Maybe nothing will come of anything else, but if it does then a little extra pocket change every now-and-then would be welcome.

I'm also submitting a business proposal to Google. I'm nervous about the whole thing because I don't know what the hell I'm doing. But I have an idea and I want to share it with them. Maybe something will happen. Maybe it's bullshit. I don't want to share the idea right now because it's in its early stages I don't want it to be stolen, plus I don't know if anything will come of it. In that case you can totally just disregard this entry. ::sheepish::

...So on top of my little photoshop wonders, I have to somehow figure out how to submit a decent looking business proposal to one of the biggest conglomerates on the Internet. I think I'm going to draw up a rough draft on my Tablet, showing how I think it should look.

I definitely should not have worn my winter coat today. It's 50 degrees and I'm drinking hot tea. D'oh.

Um, I should do teh homeworks now.


edit 1:39
Egad! I forgot to mention that I actually thought of an idea for my master thesis. AN IDEA! IN MY BRAIN! pleaseworkpleaseworkpleasework. I must find an important-looking forensic scientist to discuss this with.

2 thoughts | Comment

:: 2008 1 March :: 2.31 am

eeee!




All new hilarity. Material consisted of squirrels, hashish, assassination, hashishination, giraffe language, computers, the moon, Mars, opera, Russians, neanderthals, sexy neanderthals, grunting, dyslexia, and Yemen. He also brought out his iPhone to look up sausages on Wikipedia. I'm not sure why.

I laughed until I cried.

For the first 15 minutes I needed subtitles like whoa. Then I realized he probably wasn't making full sentences anyway.

Oh Eddie, je veux votre saucisson. You may be in your mid-forties but ... I'd hit it.

1 thought | Comment

:: 2008 27 February :: 11.32 pm

I've been creating.
Change is aboot.

I evaluated the next several weeks in my head and decided it's lovely.
Eddie Izzard on Friday
Nick Cave thingy next Wednesday
Detroit Pistons vs NY Knicks next Friday
My birthday in two weeks ...
Which also kicks off the start of Spring Break.


I sent in my resume to the criminalist section of the NYPD. And then the Manhattan branch of the DEA. One more resume to send out to OCME--the DNA lab. They're the guys who did (and still are) identifying remains from the World Trade Center.

Now, I wait.
::twiddles thumbs::

Back to creating...
For no matter how busy my life gets, I will never forget to capture the world.

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