video game*

oh my gosh...getting this video to upload was SO complicated. i'm exasperated...right there, yes, there, that is my face*

follow this link por favor: http://nicole8236.neptune.com?selectedalbum=nicole8236384108

baby sounds*

kids are cute. babies are even cuter. all the gurgly sounds, the coos and squeals...i can't help but try and get them to make noise because frankly, it's funny. i wondered what i should do for the audio prompt, and then realized that recording 30 seconds of sounds the baby i watch makes would be perfect. it wasn't as easy as i thought it would be, mainly because every time i pressed record, he was quiet, then when the recording was off, he would start the baby-talk; it was bad timing, we just weren't on the same page! frustrating, yes, but i knew if i kept at it, i was bound to catch something on my recorder. finally i got it, a little clip of him playing his xylophone...a classic toy eliciting classic sounds. i should have video taped him, it was pretty cute to watch. he hits that thing so dang hard, it's like he can hardly contain the excitement of holding a little wooden wand and slamming it down on the pretty and colorful keys. sometimes, when he's really excited, he shakes. silly baby :)
here is the link to my audio clip:
http://www.supload.com/sound_confirm.php?get=91761043.wav

just three days after i took this sound clip, my girlfriend sent me a sound clip of her daughter laughing, which is probably the cutest thing i've ever heard: kai is cracking up over the grinch's butt and big belly...she's watching the jim carey version, which is pretty funny if you haven't seen it. enjoy*
http://www.supload.com/sound_confirm.php?get=94047906.wav

Sugar and Spice

…And everything nice, that’s what little girls are made of. On November 7, 2008, the gender of my baby was revealed and yes, it’s a girl! My boyfriend and I are so happy. I have to say that I was a bit shocked because I was absolutely certain that I was carrying a little boy. It was just this feeling, something I couldn’t really put my finger on, but whatever, I was wrong. Maybe others influenced my opinion; roughly 48 out of 50 people were convinced I was having a boy. I guess I was "carrying low" and since my morning sickness (which should really be called all-day sickness) was extremely mild, supposedly that also meant I was incubating a boy.

When I first found out I was pregnant at 7 ½ weeks, I was considerably stunned, but didn’t feel "pregnant." A week later, things were noticeably different. Nausea, among an assortment of other pregnancy symptoms, settled in. I started eating crackers to curb the nausea and it worked like a charm. Then another thing happened: I began to crave fruit. I hate to use the word crave, but I just desperately, and rather urgently, wanted fruit. Watermelon, nectarines, peaches, plums, and grapes, that was it. It varied day-to-day, and once, I made a trip to the grocery store around 11pm because I downright HAD to have a nectarine. The very next night, I was back at the grocery store and required the ingestion of red grapes. I walked past the nectarines, stopped for one moment to observe them, and shuddered; they looked positively disgusting to me. Blah. The thought of a nectarine was sickening, but it was only the night before that I absolutely, positively had to have one. What the hell?! It was during these two weeks of seeking out fruit that I thought I might be carrying a girl; apparently, girls stimulate fruit cravings, whereas boys induce strong meat and/or protein desires.

My 20-week ultrasound clearly reveals that I’m having a baby girl. Well, it was clear to the ultrasound technician, not to me. My boyfriend Greg is over the moon; he got his little girl. I know it is going to be exhausting and require endless days and sleepless nights of patience, dedication, and hard work. Although I have no idea what it’s like to bear and raise a child, I have worked as a nanny for 12 years and believe I have a very good indication of the commitment and energy it takes to nurture one. The work will be worth the outcome. This baby girl will be loved and loved and loved for all her life.

I cannot wait to meet her.

Impossible Project

Go outside on a clear winter night and look up at the sky. Find a star, a bright one, and make a wish. Don't tell anyone what you wish for.

Wait until your wishing star falls from the sky. Catch it and hold it close. Then take it and put it in your pocket. Keep it safe.

The following winter, pass your star on to a loved one.
Forget about what you wished for.

Fundamentals of Sheet Music

Music plays a great role in my life and to be able to create some of that music is a sensation I cannot wholly explain. Playing the piano is soothing, peaceful, satisfying, and so many other things. It is beautiful to listen to and even better to compose. I have been blessed with the skill to play and will carry that with me for all my life. Below I’ve compiled some fun and easy directions that might help equip a piano novice to read sheet music. For starters, the standard piano is made up of 88 black and white keys and the first thing to teach someone is where middle C is located on the piano. Your piano should have a row of white piano keys interrupted by alternate sets of three and two black keys. The white key to the left of the first black two-set is known as C. On the standard piano, count the C keys from left to right. The fourth C to the right is Middle C. The next important thing to learn is knowing the names of the notes and where they are located on the piano. You cannot read sheet music without knowing the names of the keys. On the white set of keys the names are A,B,C,D,E,F, and G. After learning where those keys are, you need to be able to know the names of the black keys and where they are located. The black keys are are either going to be read as a flat key or a sharp key. The sharps are C#, D#, F#, G#, A#, and the flats are D-flat, E-flat, G-flat, A-flat, and B-flat. After learning the names of the notes and where they are located you will have to identify where they are loacted on a staff. A staff is bascically the bar which one reads when learning a piece of music. It lets you know if the piece is going to have any sharps or flats. And of course it has all the notes themselves listed. Next is learning rhythms. You need to count how many beats you hold down a key. A whole note is 4 beats, a dotted half note is 3 beats, a half note is 2 beats, and a quarter note is 1 beat. A beat can also be known as a count. Another thing to learn is the fact that on a piano you use both hands. This means you need to know the notes on the treble clef and the notes on the bass clef. The treble clef is attached to the right hand and the bass clef is designated for the use of your left hand. There is a little trick to remembering which note is what on the staff. For the treble clef, any notes that fall on the lines of the staff remember the phrase "Every Good Boy Does Fine." The first letter of every word is the name of the note. For the notes that fall in the spaces, you spell the word F.A.C.E. For the bass clef you can say "Great Big Dogs Fight Animals" for the lines and "All Cows Eat Grass" for the open spaces. In general, once you get all the notes down, it’s all about practice. You need to train your mind and your fingers to be able to work at the same time. That involves reading the music and memorizing where your fingers go on the piano in unison. Practice is an extremely crucial element to feeling comfortable enough to have your fingers dance freely along the keys. Once you get that down, it should be easy as 1-2-3. You’ll be a pro before you know it!

Warhol/Goldsmith

*Warhol*
Diamonds
Diamonds are overrated. There is nothing that could stand in the way between a woman and her jewelry. How a rock, a stone, could wind up costing more money than anything has a right to cost is beyond me. Engagement rings, wedding rings, anniversary bands…marriage is overrated. Although I am a promoter of love (whatever that may be, it is by any measure undefined) marriage is a trap. The way I see it, love should not be caged, or possessed, or confirmed by a vow, ring, and a license. A partnership should be confirmed by proximity and longevity, how long a couple can stand to be next to one another, that is all.

Technology
Technology is a curse. A blessing to most, but a curse if understood correctly. When applied, it can save lives, connect people together that are living extreme distances apart, it can make all forms of communication more simple, more accessible. But conventionally, it is unconventional. Efficient? Perhaps, but it consumes our thoughts as well as our actions. Creativity is restricted in one way, like entertainment for starters. Our minds are limited, our focus is shifted. Bigger and better, more frequent and faster. A factory is born. We have turned into machines. The simple life as we knew it is fading. Men on the moon? It is nearly terrifying of what will they think of next.

*Kenny Goldsmith*
Good Morning
The alarm sounds at 7:30am. Wake up. Turn over to the right. Open eyes. Grab the telephone and with blurry vision hit "Disable." Turn over and lie on my back. Turn over to the left and touch Greg. "Babe, it’s 7:30am, time to get up." Groggy and quietly, he replies, "Okay, 15 more minutes." "Okay." The alarm is off, so I am only half asleep, anticipating 15 minutes to go by. It goes by quickly. "Babe, it’s 7:45am…" "Okay, 3 more minutes…will you get the ironing board from your sister’s room for me?" "Okay…" I sit up halfway, the blanket still covering most of my body. "Where are my pants?" I feel around with my feet for my pants, which I’m certain are somewhere near the foot of the bed…I can’t find them. I sit up, shift the covers, lift them off my legs…there are my pants. I grab them, put the covers over me, and put on my pants while lying on my back, and with the covers up to my neck. I’m cold. I sit up and move from out under the covers. It’s cold. I find a hooded sweatshirt and put that on over my tank top. Open the door, open my sister’s door, and take the ironing board that’s lying against the wall behind her bedroom door. I shut her door behind me, walk into the kitchen, and unfold the ironing board. I walk back into my bedroom, Greg sits up, sighs heavily. "I don’t want to get up…can I have that sweatshirt?" I take off the sweatshirt, hand it to Greg, he gets up out of bed, I crawl into his spot. It’s warm, but I’m still cold. I lay under the covers until 8am, watching the hands tick on my new clock.

Novels In Three Lines*

USA Today
The Associated Press
Nov 7 2008
Snake oil is being sold to tourists in Chesterfield, Idaho; the product is said to make old men young and young women frisky.

USA Today
The Associated Press
Nov 7 2008
A deer rammed its way through glass doors at the Deery Bros. Collision Center in Burlington, Iowa; the animal died from its injuries.

USA Today
The Associated Press
Nov 7 2008
Eliot Spitzer, former Democratic New York governor who admitted to hiring call girls, will not face criminal charges; he resigned in March and has since been spending time with his wife and three daughters.

USA Today
By John Bacon with staff and wire reporters
Nov 7 2008
O.J. Simpson, who was convicted of kidnapping and robbery, could face life in prison; he is seeking a new trial.

USA Today
By Alexandra Olson
Nov 7 2008
“Black boxes” found on the plane that crashed and killed two of Mexico’s highest government officials have been sent to the U.S. for investigation; drug cartels are under speculation for having caused the crash.

Redmond Reporter
By Bill Christianson
Nov 06 2008
A 24-year-old software engineer was found murdered in her apartment. The cause of death was listed as strangulation and asphyxia; there are no suspects in the case.

Redmond Reporter
By Bill Christianson
Oct 30 2008
Former Microsoft employee impersonated a police officer, forcing a woman to have sex with him. He has been charged with rape and faces 20-26 years in prison if convicted.

Kirkland Reporter
By Kendall Watson
Oct 18 2008
Employees of the Red Dragon Spa and Red Rose Hot Stone Spa, who were not state-licensed massage practitioners, offered massages and other sexual favors in exchange for $100. The owner has been charged with felony prostitution.

Journal of the San Juans
www.sanjuanjournal.com
Oct 29 2008
A man who was vacationing with his wife suffered a heart attack on a ferry en route to the San Juan Islands. He later died at the hospital.