well, today's a big day--

US House sets Iraq troop pullout goal for end-2009

+

California Overturns Gay Marriage Ban

*twilight zone music*

this song was seriously playing when i learned the former news. love.

i'm making ceasar salad tonite.

stuff + things.

marty is the cutest. when he wants to play he claws at my hands while i type on the laptop and he'll try to make it harder for me to concentrate by sitting upright in my lap.

god, i had one of the best meals of my life saturday nite. i can't stop thinking about it. so satisfying and non-frivolous.

matt invented the most delicious salad-- mixed greens tossed in balsamic vinaigrette topped with tuna and avocado.

urban decay has the best liquid eyeliner.

gossip girl is my new favorite tv show. not joking. and i'm not ashamed.

grindhouse is playing at the nuart tonite. i kinda wanna go.

right now i'm going to watch serenity with commentary, finally.

chkchkchk.

as i was driving to work, No Doubt's song "Simple Kind of Life" came on, and i realized how much i hate it. the music is okay, but the lyrics incite literal nausea:

And all I needed was a simple man / So I could be a wife / I always thought I'd be a mom / You seem like you'd be a good dad

*dry heave* i was thinking to myself that this is the song where boners go to die.

guyssssssssssssss.

i use soulseek and everytime someone attempts to download from me it automatically "fails" and that pisses me off. i don't want people to ban me.

what the hell am i doing wrong?! goodness gracious.

today is a tori day. the live versions on 'to venus and back' are straight from god.

i did something really fun on last.fm today: here.

k so some creepy was sitting in his car outside my house all day according to my mom. ALL DAY.

creepy mccreeperson.

who says west la is a "gross area"?! dumb twats, that's who.

1. marty rules. i think we're changing his name from marty jones, to marty bat. cause his ears are like a bat's! and that's razzie's middle name, too. it seems fitting all around, really.
2. exile in guyville rules. yeah, i know, i'm 15yrs late on that one, really. i always loved "fuck and run" and "canary" but never committed myself to getting the rest. i'm glad i did.
3. toro rules. i'll never look at a tuna fish the same.
4. tapas rules. it's nice not having to commit to one item at foodtime.
5. ordering new clothes for my birthday and liking every single item rules.
6. it being 77 degrees really fucking rules.
7. my new icon *points* rules.
8. ~*~celebreality~~*~ rules. [as does: "i wanna be wif breht" *flails arms* and this of course, hahahaha.]
9. ryan adams baring his soul is pretty rulealicious, downtown rulie brown.
10. the last ruler of liazonia: my mom fixing my cocktail sword necklace for my birthday.

1. marty jones bianco


2. lavender infused creme brulee


3. escargot


4. tulips from nicole

matt is getting a dog!!! his name is marty and he's half chihuahua, half fox terrier. he's from a rescue and it has been such a roller coaster getting to this point. matt found him on petfinder.com randomly, because he loves the idea of having a dog. he e-mailed the rescue and they told him that marty would be at a park in west hollywood with a bunch of other dogs. we went to see him and we fell absolutely in love with him! he responded really well to matt and he's just so freaking adorable. well, there's a problem. matt's apartment complex doesn't allow pets, even though at least three separate tenants have dogs and cats! matt tried reasoning with his landlord, but he wouldn't budge. matt visited marty two more times and finally decided he'd meet his landlord face-to-face and try to really reason with him. the rescue was really wanting to work with matt because they thought he was a perfect fit for marty. i talked to james and it turns out that what the landlord is doing is illegal! it's totally discrimination. you can't let one tenant do something and another not. well, it didn't matter anyways, because the landlord caved! we're so excited. especially because matt was thinking of moving.. again [he's moved 8 times since 2003!] if he couldn't swing it. but that turned nearly impossible due to rent prices being ridiculous in west la. i'm just so relieved. he's getting him on friday, right before he comes down here for the weekend. yay, happy birthday to me.

nicole is [hopefully] taking me out for moroccan food tonite. she is sick! :/ :\ :/ :\

i just finished My Sister's Keeper. i cried when i finished. not just because it was sad, but because it was over. it's so hard for me to find books that i am so enthralled by, that i can't put it down. the night before i was up til like 3am reading and i had to force myself to stop, just to save the very end for the next morning. i need a new book to read. i like vagina fiction. you know, books by women, for women, about women. though, the "by women" is looser than the other two requirements, as 3 of my favorite books [Middlesex, The Virgin Suicides and She's Come Undone] are all by men. i need to voraciously devour another book. please and thank you.

for christmas, i bought my cooler-than-me cousin my favorite book from when i was her age [Dangerous Angels] and it turns out she LOVED it. she said "that is like the best book ever!...i cried!" she is the freaking best. when i asked her how she was, she said-- "amazing, actually!!" and she sounded totally serious. hahaha. dang. and then there's my sister.... one thing i can say about k. is that she really is on her own... path. she won't take crap from anyone and does the exact opposite of whatever anyone wants her to do. it's absolutely not shocking we don't come from the same DNA.

i just transferred some AA miles for my grandparents... they have nearly 100,000 miles saved up. what the fuck...!

Matt and I watched 'Into The Wild' this weekend. I knew it was going to be great, but it really struck a chord with me. I thought it was wonderful for so many reasons. Christopher McCandless was so human, flaws and all, and so brave. I absolutely believe that with no posessions and no ties to anyone, you're as free as possible. I think he had the right idea, but he was so very naive. It was really sad to watch his undoing. I want to go on a tamer kind of treck. I also would love to live in a commune like Pam and Rainey did. I wish things were different.

This summer, I think Matt and I will go camping. For real. On the river.

I wish I remembered how to write.

I wish I could stop playing this song.

VoicePost 199K 1:00

“bad auto transcription is bad.” Transcribed by: leelah

Stuff White People Like

Officially wins the internet. Every other blog should give up.

jillian's & rami's.

altogether i thought this was the best finale yet, as far as my taste goes. but once again, the least favorite of mine, won. christian's was really monotonous for me. felt a little... forced.

that's all. :p

ps. if you watch PR, which were your faves?

pps. AndyRicktr (2:40:30 PM): You don't wear Lee's Press-On Nails?

so, jury duty. yeah. wow. not what i expected at all. i suppose i let everyone else's feelings rub off on me: hassle, boring, waiting, the exact opposite of fun. but really, it was extremely fascinating. but i have a feeling i got lucky. what happens is you show up and hang out in this gigantic room that looks like an airport terminal honestly, but better, because there's wireless internet and tables and comfy chairs everywhere; tv's, cafeteria and a smoke porch, too. after about an hour of waiting and a short orientation, someone starts calling out 60 random names in alphabetical order for jury pools. this group of people is sent to a specific floor and courtroom. i was sent to the 11th floor c43. the bailiff and the court clerk come outside and call out your names, assign you numbers and then they call out 18 random numbers to sit in the jury box. the rest sit in the courtroom waiting their turn [maybe]. at this point, the judge summarizes the case. mine was a criminal case involving trespassing, burglary and criminal threats. at this point the judge asks each potential juror in the box if they can sit through a 3 day trial or possibly check if they can hear well, understand english, etc. depending on these answers, the judge dismisses some and then fills in their seats with jurors from outside the box. this continues until the box is filled with jurors able to sit through the trial. at this point, the bailiff takes out a big board of questions which include:

1.) what do you do?
2.) are you married?
3.) do you have children?
4.) have you ever been the victim of a crime?
5.) have you ever served on a jury before?
6.) do you have any friends or family in law enforcement?
6.) have you ever been convicted of a crime?
7.) has any of your family been convicted of a crime?

each juror must answer these questions, and depending on how they answered any given one, the judge may ask them to elucidate on some points. then he would ask if each juror could give a fair trial or if they had any biases towards african americans. once all 18 have answered, the defender, prosecuter and judge leave the room for a bit, then return. the defender and prosecuter seemingly are allowed to dismiss 3 jurors each, but are given turns. basically, this process goes on until 18 people are left in the jury box who answered "no" to the majority of the questions. then the attorneys dismiss 4 of 6 possible alternates and the jury is left with 14 [2 alternates]. we take a break and come back and the proceedings begin.

specifics of the case as per the prosecution: a young african american man [i'll call him J] is charged with trespassing, burglarizing and threatening a residence occupied by a family visitor [we'll call her M] who is laying/nearly asleep on the couch. J seemingly pushes the door open [because it was slightly ajar already] and runs into the house yelling "where's mark?!" while banging on walls. J runs into a bedroom and starts opening drawers, moving beds and then the bathroom, while still yelling for Mark. M on the couch speaks no english [though understands it, supposedely] is trembling and cannot move. according to M, J stayed there for 30-45 minutes threatening her life, her family's life, and this mark's [M's nephew] life if he was not paid $2,000. M saw someone downstairs and assumed he was an accomplice of J, so she did not run. J told her he would be back that night for the money, and if he was not paid, he would kill her and her family. throughout J's time there, M said he kept reaching under his shirt as if he had a gun. M says J was wearing jean shorts and a loose normal t-shirt, but in the police report she said he had been wearing a gray sweatshirt. J left and M did not call the police, though the permanent resident of the apartment [her niece] called and M told her to call the police and send a spanish speaking officer to the apartment. while M waited, J called back twice [his number recorded on caller ID]. the first time he called he left his number with M for mark to call him back. all of this was explained to us on the witness stand by M through an interpreter. she could not understand the english of the attorneys and her answers sometimes were very confusing. she was extremely upset and times and cried quite a bit. J was in the courtroom throughout the entire trial, by the way.

at this point, the spanish speaking officer took the stand and it turns out in his original report on the day of the incident, it said nothing about J threatening M. but his report after a phone interview with her a week or so later, the threats were included. on the day of the incident, M picked out J in a photo line-up.

next, M's niece took the stand and recounted the phone call she made to her aunt and we got to hear the niece's call to the police. threats were mentioned in this call. the niece sounded very calm. the defender asked her if she had ever been convicted of a crime and she had been convicted of drug running or something 10 years prior. [so law and order! :P]

before the start of the trial we were informed that basically J would not take the stand because it was his 5th amendmant right and it's the burden of the prosecution to prove he was guilty, blah blah blah. so when the jury came in from lunch break only to see J on the stand, it was very exciting to be honest, because the case at that point really only seemed to me to be going one way [guilty].

specifics of the case as per the defense: J is a mortgage officer [or whatever those hustlers who do cold calling are called] and is well spoken, very tall and very thin. he met Mark and hung out with him [and even paid him to do some spanish cold calling for work] half a dozen times before Mark informed J of an "unbelievable deal" involving the purchase of marijuana. J gave Mark $250 to buy some and he drove him to the place of purchase. J claims he waited nearly 4 hours in the parking lot of this apartment complex for Mark. he never returned. after a week, Mark had not returned J's calls and had seemingly disappeared with J's money. on the day of the incident, a mutual friend of Mark and J called Mark and J took the phone, Mark immediately hung up on him when he heard J's voice. the number he called was at the residence of the incident, so J drove there with the mutual friend to catch Mark. Mark most likely left so fast he didn't close the door and J knocked on the door, which made the door open. J, assuming Mark was there, entered the residence asking where Mark was to M. he went to the bedroom that Mark kept his things and searched for him under the bed, in the closet and in the bathroom. upon not finding Mark, J informed M that if he did not hear from Mark by midnight, he would know "what the business is" [clarified by him as meaning he'll know whether Mark had stolen from him]. he was there for no more than a minute and left. J called the residence a few minutes later to check if Mark had returned and left his number with M so Mark would know where to reach him. J says he was wearing a wife beater shirt that day [because he was dressed for work and had a dress shirt on, which he took off and had an undershirt on], which clings, so there was no way he could have had a gun [according to him, of course].

the next day the spanish speaking officer went to J's residence [found by cross referencing the man chosen in the photo lineup and the caller ID] and J denied being at the residence or ever knowing Mark. the prosecuter kept asking J why he didn't call the police when Mark stole his money, which, to me, is ridiculous. the money was for drugs, the cops wouldn't do shit. but she's the prosecuter and her case was honestly very weak, so this was an important point for her.

while sitting through the closing arguments, i was thinking to myself: "god, i hope i'm not the only one who thinks he is only guilty of the trespassing charge. i don't want to be the one who makes this a hung jury!" but once we got into the deliberation room [exciting because we can finally talk about the case!] it was very clear that every single juror was on the same page as me. the key points that brought it home being: the first police report not including the threats, M claiming J had been in the apartment for 30-45 minutes [which really just couldn't be possible], J calling the residence after the incident and leaving his number [which shows J's clear intent] and M seemingly not understanding english at all. we deliberated for no more than 45 minutes and that was that. not guilty of anything aside from trespassing. thank god. i didn't want to punish anyone, really. :/

but yeah, it was a great experience and i'm glad i got onto a case that wasn't boring and was quite cut and dry. one of the most fascinating things to me was how young the attorneys were. i mean, i know most attorneys start working was public defenders and such, but wow, they were babies! less than 30 for sure, at LEAST.

it's fascinating being in this insulated environment with your fellow jurors, you form a very interesting [albeit weak] bond with them. we all got along very well and none of us disagreed on any particular point. i'd say i definitely got lucky.

juror number seven signing out,
xoxo,
lia. :P

honestly the funniest thing i've seen in a long time. it looks funnier than knocked up and superbad combined, and i thought those were hilarious. <3james franco. makes me wanna watch freaks and geeks.

ps. that m.i.a. song is hot.

pps. i'm on jury duty. sitting on a criminal case. my third and final day will be friday. it's really extremely fascinating. and i'm actually enjoying it. i'll divulge every little detail and post pictures when the case is closed.

a few weeks ago, the woman who was renting a house my dad built/owns in newport beach, which i'm set to inherit, killed herself. i didn't really think about "oh hey someone killed themself in my future home" cause it's still kind of surreal that i even have a "future home." she OD'd on pills. it's really sad. she had a pre-teen son. i don't know. it's very strange to me. everyone seems to think it was a "cry for help," but jesus christ, i don't know. that seems like such a ridiculous thing to do when you have a young child. whatever. i really can't judge.

oscars this sunday! i know, it's lame. it's all a popularity contest. but it's the motherfucking oscars! who i want to win: no country for old men, coen bros., diablo cody, daniel day-lewis, marion cotillard, javier bardem and amy ryan. i know all of those will win except for marion cotillard and amy ryan. they are still wild cards. as for amy ryan, i think that if everyone saw Gone Baby Gone, she'd take all the votes, i swear. she is amazing, same with marion actually. that's why i hate the oscars. whoever is hyped, wins. but this year there has only really been hype with DDL, diablo cody and javier. but i agree with those hypes so, whatever. hahaha. i hate this paragraph.

i finished reading Little Children finally. such an easy read, but so so good. the film stayed extremely true to the book, save for a few details which i completely agreed with. i'm so into reading books after i see the film. then i never get let down by the film and i can appreciate them both in different ways. i also hate the stupid pretentious and elitist arguments people have over books vs. movies. like.. just let it go. no movie is ever going to be the book on film. we have producers and the masses to please. plus 75% of a book's entertainment is usually what you imagine anyways, so no one can ever win. simmer down, babies.

1-800-got-kush. seriously.

who doesn't vote? seriously. the excuses such as "i registered late" or "i didn't get my sample ballot and voting location" are only slightly disappointing, but what about the other people? are there better excuses? doubt it. if you're someone who feigns political passion and care, please register as a permanent absentee. come the fuck on, people! edit: to clarify, i'm more bashing the people who complain about the country going to shit not voting.

and to create a total dichotomy: i hate when ONTD hasn't been updated in like an hour.

teehee. you love it.

Unknown quotients, you must be using potions.
How else could you tie my head to the sky?
This new confection has left me wondering why.
I can't concern myself with ordinary trite.

i'm wearing striped knee socks under my jeans today. i feel like an undercover elf.

i was pretty much floored about heath ledger passing. i thought it was a joke at first, because last year winona ryder "died" according to some weird random website. i was always really drawn to him. even in his earlier roles, i knew he had "it." with the impending the dark knight release, he had been on my mind quite a bit [i watch the trailer often, shut up.] the feeling you get when you learn something so completely unexpected is really jarring; i don't know how i'd cope if someone i personally know or was close to died. someone's existence in this world being no longer is a really strange and indescribable thought/feeling.

one good thing came from the news though-- elise [see icon] called me because she said she didn't know anyone else who would care as much as she did. it sounds terrible to say that i have not talked to her on the phone once since she moved away [summer 2005], though i have seen her, but it's true. it's no one's fault, it's just the state of things. she is honestly one of my most trusted and closest friends. anytime we talk, it's like we never had a moment apart. sounds corny. i'm just so grateful that for a blink of an eye in early summer 2003 i was involved with some douchebag, because without that wreck of a "relationship," i would have never met elise. such a strange and weird path we were on to become friends. i hope i see her soon. i miss her more than words can express.

this weekend james is coming up to LA to see a movie at the arclight [which he called "funlight" after seeing my photos]. i'm excited. i think we're getting some really good cuban food, too.. ooh lala.

ps. did you know that the Library of Congress has a flickr? amazing.

annoying day.

i had a dream that me, nicole and chelsea (wtf? weird.) were going out but there was all this commotion at my house and it kind of resembled my work, but my makeup, camera and clothes went missing aka stolen and i was freaking out and nicole said that it was probably lost in this mess that is my room (life) and i freaked out and couldn't go. it felt SO real. when i woke up i was so fucking relieved it wasn't real. wow. srsly, i have about 3,000$ worth of makeup. hahaha.

i was awoken by my ALARM. it was so strange. i was mid-dream. in the dream i was watching a marble lobby and a monster flew into the frame and made a scary noise and BAM! alarm went off. ugh, it was traumatizing. i usually wake up about 5 minutes before my alarm, which i prefer.

the office is FREEZING. sales people keep calling. i'm ultra-sensitive (pms). i spilled tahini on my jeans and peacoat. and i'm missing 'the diving bell & butterfly' tonite with matt and NYE people.

but i am using some of the pesto i made yesterday for dinner tonite. so that's fun. oh and project runway is on tonite. oh and the day is half over. and i had delicious sushi with coler last nite.

PMA. (:p)