You know, I’m grateful for all of you. Your friendship. Your support. Your everything.

This might seem completely out of the blue but it’s really not. I’ve spent the days preceding my birthdays in silent (and, in some cases, very vocal) dread. I think about my accomplishments. My failures. My latest habit of typing incomplete sentences. It is usually concluded with the resignation that this next upcoming year will finally be when I am seized with a militant drive for productivity and do what I’ve dreamed of doing. Obviously hasn’t happened yet.

But.

I can’t help but take a more optimistic tone. I’ve realized that as I reach for grandiose goals, I ignore what I’ve accomplished so far and ignore that, yes, I could become a productive hermit… but at what cost? Motivation without support from friends is meaningless and a life of accomplishment with no one to share it with is equally as empty. And I’m an idiot for bitching about the discontent of my life whilst being ignorance of this one major concept.

So, yes, I’m grateful. To all of you.

Thank you to all the people who encouraged me to do what I want to do, regardless of its feasibility or unnecessity..

Thank you to all the people who had enough concern to reel in my sometimes excessive academic apathy. No, seriously, thank you.

Thank you to my uncle, who is no longer here, but I remember every fucking day. It’s important ot value life and the time you have with people, it’s important to listen to people and never make them feel like they’re alone. Thank you for making me realize that the risk of putting yourself out there to show you are there for people and to get to know them is far outweighed by the potential you have to make that person feel needed and special.

Thank you to all the people who let me humor them with my spontaneous ideas and projects.

Thank you to all the people who cared enough to give me their constructive criticism on my artistic endeavors whether it be drawings, music, or writing. And thank you for being gentle with it.

Thank you to all the people who celebrated my birthday despite my apathy for it. When it came down to it, I really appreciate all of you and there was nothing better than seeing my friends remember and making me feel special. <3

Thank you to my parents, for always supporting me in what I do… even though they never really understood it. Thank you for dedicating and sacrificing so much for me. Even though we had our disagreements and, despite who may have been right, I wish I could take back every hurtful thing I said and wished I wasn’t so emotionally retarded at the time to say I loved them then and can only say it now that I’m 3,000 miles away.

Thank you to everyone who looked past the sarcasm and cynicism and was there for me when I felt like the world was ending and cared enough to be there to listen and talk to me. I wouldn’t be here without you.

Thank you to everyone who called me on my emotional retardation and helped me change that. At least to some extent. Baby steps, people, baby steps.

Thank you to anyone who has just been a FRIEND and gave me that privilege with them. Thank you to everyone for accepting my weirdness.

Thank you to my sister for being probably the one person I have known my entire life who has always been there for me, regardless of what ridiculous fight we may have been in.

Thank you to my friends for not judging my actions, regardless of how immoral or illegal they may have been.

I’m perfectly happy with my life… This is gonna be the year.

Love <3 ,

Michelle

The updates are coming! The updates are coming!

Doing anything Saturday night? Yeah? Well, nix it cause I have more exciting plans for you.

The Lonely H and The Lashes are playing an all ages show at the Vera Project. I first caught these two bands over a year ago at the Lashes release party at Neumo’s. I walked out loving the Lashes and in love with The Lonely H (yeah yeah, I just lifted that line from Tila Tequila’s Shot At Love season finale, you’re sooo cool for recognizing it. if you didn’t recognize it then you’re just too classy for this blog and should stop reading. now.).

If you like The Beatles or Led Zeppelin or Queen then you’d definitely like these guys. Their guitar riffs will take your virginity, I swear. And if those don’t do it, then the vocals will clean up anything that’s left. And if that doesn’t do it, just concede that they have better hair than you (it’s a fact) and give them the benefit of the doubt by hopping over to their myspace page and giving their tunes a listen.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thelonelyh

Date of show: Saturday January 5th
Doors Open: 7:30 PM
Venue: The Vera Project (near Seattle Center!)
Price: $10
Buy Tickets here!

I’ve included my two favorite tracks below.. These are only streamable, no download, sorry. Buy their music off their myspace!

These last few weeks have been absolute hell. The semester concluded and I had to deal with finals and the flight back to Seattle. My last final concluded about 5 hours before my last final so it was quite the rush rush to get everything packed in the necessary two hour time frame that would give me enough time to get to the airport on time.

As it turns out, I could have been hours late and still been fine since my flight ended up being 5 hours late. I was really pissed off and emo at the time but I’ve calmed down since.

You know, I’ve realized I don’t have anything of substance to say. But do I ever? Nope. Therefore, this blog post will continue accordingly.

My three days in Washington have thus far been divine. Spent it sleeping, shopping, holiday partying it up, and just generally spending time with long lost friends. I love you all. And I mean that in the creepy lesbian way of course. Ho ho ho. Which reminds me. I hate those kids who wait in line to get a picture with Santa Clause. I want a picture with Santa but your frightening diligence and patience far exceeds my desire (and dignity) to stand in line and wait.

I’ve got a game to catch now so perhaps I should go make myself look presentable.. And all that jazz. Was that a musical theater reference? Hell no. Don’t insult me. It’s a movie reference. Get it right.

I’ve made it a point to go to Strawberry Fields in Central Park every year on December 8th to celebrate John Lennon’s life and music… I’m not the only one. This:

Turns into this:

The picture makes it look more somber than it really is.

It’s actually a massive gathering of all kinds of people who are all here to celebrate John Lennon’s music. It results in us (totaling a couple hundred people) all gathering around the instruments and singing John Lennon (and Beatles) songs throughout the night. Yes, it sounds like a hippie-fest but who cares. It’s amazing. Imagine standing there amidst a crowd, singing Give Peace a Chance, hearing it resonate throughout Central Park and, if anything, you realize that John’s dream of peace is perhaps even more alive today than ever in the shit world we live in.

I had the pleasure of looking at my stats the other day and noticed the following:

What is this, you may ask?

Well, it’s what a recent visitor typed into google and found my site through. Yes, I have people coming to my site looking for “bikini clad asian” now. I feel so corrupt that my site is one of the top 3 Google results.

Anyways, for an update, the calendar was given away to a very happy recipient. Sorry folks.

I don’t know what I’ve done for the past 3 hours but, after looking at the clock and realizing that 3 hours have in fact passed, I’ve realized I have done nothing really of substance. So I’m posting in this blog to somehow rectify that.

I figured out that I didn’t get murdered by my chem test. Actually, that’s misrepresenting it. I did get murdered by my chem test. But so did everyone else… And what does this mean? Michelle gets saved by the curve, that’s what it means. aka Michelle is a happy person for tonight.

And for those wondering what the list is… Here it is:

1. Ride the world’s biggest rollercoaster.
2. Bungee jump!
3. Score the winning goal/basket.
4. Win an award, trophy, or prize.
5. Learn an instrument.
6. Go backstage at a gig.
7. Meet your idol.
8. Play a part in your favorite tv show.
9. Meet someone with your own name.
10. Make a discovery.
11. Get away with the perfect practical joke.
12. Own a pointless collection.
13. Invent a word that makes it into the dictionary.
14. Conquer your biggest fear.
15. Raise money for charity.
16. Pass your driving test the first time.
17. Complete a road trip coast to coast.
18. Reach 18 years of age.

I have to share this awesome moment with you before I realize it’s actually not awesome at all.

This is the calendar that came with my Wai-Lee take out chinese food:

Oh, Wai-Lee, how did you know I was secretly a 40 year old straight asian man?

I discovered this band on MySpace a few months back and practically fell in love upon first listen. Since that truly wonderful moment in my life, their Sing Song EP has been molesting my itunes… and I still can’t get enough. It’s rare to find catchy pop rock songs that have a unique sound since, let’s face it, ‘catchy pop’ is only so pleasant to the ears cause you’ve heard it a million times (give or take a few) in generic songs by musicians who lack any sort of originality.

And, yet, The Little Ones have managed to steer way clear of the generic and create some crazy evolved version of indie pop rock that will leave you tapping your foot, nodding your head, or moving whatever part of your body is rhythmically inclined.

Right now, unfortunately for those of us in the states, The Little Ones are off touring with We Are Scientists and the Kaiser Chiefs in Europe so your chances of seeing them live are probably not so great.. But a quick look at their Wikipedia entry does mention an upcoming international full length album release in the Spring of 2008 so, if this is indeed true (update 10:30 PM: The Little Ones have confirmed the Spring 2008 album! Thanks!), a tour in support of the album is sure to not be so far behind.

I’ve included two songs off the Sing Song EP, specifically Oh MJ! and Lovers Who Uncover for your listening pleasure at the bottom of this post.. These are only teasers since the Sing Song EP has so much more to offer you. Plus, the tracks aren’t downloadable so, to get these lovely tracks into your eager itunes, buy. their. music. off their MySpace page! Go do it!

Now all this band needs is some licensing deals to get them the exposure they deserve and it’ll be a happy little world.