So as you can see I changed my Blog Title from 'Nuff Said to Bunny on the Moon ... I'm not sure whether or not this will stick, but I'm hoping it is more original, at least. I can explain it.
When I was in high school I had lots of nicknames - lots. I have a long name so it makes sense, but I had a friend decide I was a lot like Sailor Moon my freshman year because I can be a really big airhead. I hate to admit it but it's true, although, most likely, very few people I know now realize this about me. I like to think I hide it pretty well, but the people who really know me know the truth. I went to a small high school and the name caught on.
I know many out there probably know this, but in the manga and in the original Japanese anime Sailor Moon's nickname is Bunny. I had a friend who knew this and started calling me Bunny, particularly online, so even though I had new nicknames by sophomore year that one still hung around.
Besides, I really do think sometimes I must be living on the moon. I definitely am inside my head enough to be somewhere else.
I've been pretty busy lately for a change and it's been nice, but that's all I have time for, for now
'Nuff Said,
Crysania
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Double Bummer with a Small Silver Lining
I read the full article today about Dodger catcher Russell Martin's "little" strain.
Honestly, I'd avoided reading it on Facebook because I didn't want to see how bad it was but I read it in the paper while on my break at work.
It's a bummer, because I really do like Martin. He's a really hard working catcher and seems like a very likable person. Last year, he didn't have as much success at the plate and his defense suffered, but I think they are connected and the problem was mental. In the off-season, he put on some muscle and now he's injured. Sad day. I hope he waits it out so it doesn't get worse but it'll be sad if he has to miss the first game.
Also, I was trying to Google this blog and I discovered ... there are quite a few blogs entitled "Nuff Said".
I knew about the Marvel comic with the title only because of my super comic book nerd ex, but I didn't think there'd be that much. Double Bummer.
Thing is, I suck at titles. Writing headlines is one thing, but titles for my own stuff ... I suck at that. I only picked this title because that's how I sign letters and such (have done so since I was 14).
I also suck at screen names. I really have to think about another title.
On the bright side, I started my new job today! I was nostalgic driving on the 57 freeway. I miss going to CSUF sometimes. The job seems like it'll be cool beans. It's better than making smoothies and sandwiches at least and will help me learn more to progress and get back to writing and editing!
That's all I have to say.
'Nuff Said,
Crysania
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Appreciating the Blessings
After at least 6 months of stress and frustration things look like they are starting to turn around ... and I can't help but thank God for this.
After graduating college I was mentally and physically exhausted. As fun as my last 2 years were, they were also lots of hard work. So I took a break. 6 weeks into my break I was itching to do more and had no luck finding anything. By the end of the summer, I was miserable.
I didn't have a job, I wasn't returning to school, I hadn't planned out life after college and I was just going through the motions at church. I attended nearly every Sunday but I didn't feel involved or that I mattered, and I didn't care to try. Apathy is something I often struggle with ... I become frustrated then apathetic and never actually fix the problem.
I tried turning things around, nothing worked. I was ready to give up and finally prayed. I prayed that I'd find something, anything to help. It took a little while but God answered. My sister got me a job at the smoothie shop next to the salon where she works.
It helped, but it wasn't enough - I needed more. Around that time, the college/young adult age began pushing for something in the church. I think the younger college students may have begun to feel as Kristin and I did - that Encounter wasn't for our age group - and felt out of place. I felt this was something I could get involved in; somewhere I could be of use to Christ ... but it wasn't coming together like we'd hoped.
Actually, one of the problems my family has been facing so far this year turned out to be my blessing in disguise. Because of it we attended a service where my brother's girlfriend's parents were giving their testimony. I liked the atmosphere so I went with Erik and Keri to the church service the next Sunday evening and enjoyed it. While there, I got a card for their college group.
I also hung out with a friend from church I hadn't hung out out with in a while and told him how much I wanted a college group to start. He passed that along to another friend, who approached me the Sunday after I'd gone to the CCV college group. I invited both of them to the CCV college service and it excited us. We decided to start the group ourselves. I talked to Kristin and she agreed. The four of us felt the same need in the church - the same need for ourselves.
After making the decision we met up and came up with specifics before meeting with our pastor and youth pastor. They approved and encouraged us.
I also got a better job which I start Monday!
I've come to realize one thing I'm not good at is keeping my daily relationship with Christ. I get easily caught up in my own head and think I need to do everything myself, but once I gave that up to Christ and was willing to listen to His will things started working out.
No, it's not perfect, and yes, I am still struggling with many other things but God used my recent stress and hard times to bring me closer to Him. And things are looking up.
I know I'm always talking about how music speaks to me but I believe my turning point was when I was in that small service before Keri's parents spoke and heard "The Desert Song".
This is my prayer in the desert
When all that's within me feels dry
This is my prayer in my hunger and need
My God is a God Who provides
And this is my prayer in the fire
In weakness and trial and pain
There is a faith proved of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flames
And I will bring praise, I will bring praise
No weapon formed against me shall remain
I will rejoice, I will declare
God is my victory and he is here
I was blown away by these lyrics at a time I felt lost and dry and helpless. I think God uses things that we relate too most to bring us to Him.
So things aren't set in stone and they're far from perfect, but I'm feeling better and more fulfilled than I have in quite a while.
I really need to work on shortening these posts.
'Nuff Said,
Crysania
Friday, February 26, 2010
Writer's Block? Apolo Can Cure It!
I've been having trouble trying to update this blog because I haven't been able to think of anything worth writing about. I've been pretty stressed lately with lots of things going on in my family so that's defintely part of it. These first 2 months have been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster so I've been putting a lot of things off.
But the Winter Olympics have brought some surprising joy and much needed distraction to my life.
I love Apolo Anton Ohno. Not only does he have a super kickass name and is a pretty good-looking dude, he's also a kickass skater! Every race he's been in since I first watched him in the Salt Lake City games I've loved. He's awesome. If he were about 2 inches taller I'd love him even more though.
I seriously only watch on nights when he skates ... the men's half-pipe was the only exception (Apolo skated the night of the women's half-pipe). He's just so exciting!
So thanks Apolo, you've given me some good races and cured my writer's block!
It's enough that I can forget that you were ever on Dancing with the Stars (the only thing I couldn't bring myself to watch Apolo Anton Ohno do).
'Nuff Said,
Crysania
But the Winter Olympics have brought some surprising joy and much needed distraction to my life.
I love Apolo Anton Ohno. Not only does he have a super kickass name and is a pretty good-looking dude, he's also a kickass skater! Every race he's been in since I first watched him in the Salt Lake City games I've loved. He's awesome. If he were about 2 inches taller I'd love him even more though.
I seriously only watch on nights when he skates ... the men's half-pipe was the only exception (Apolo skated the night of the women's half-pipe). He's just so exciting!
So thanks Apolo, you've given me some good races and cured my writer's block!
It's enough that I can forget that you were ever on Dancing with the Stars (the only thing I couldn't bring myself to watch Apolo Anton Ohno do).
'Nuff Said,
Crysania
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Gamer Nerd
So I'm kind of a nerd for video games.
More or less I'm just a bit more than a casual gamer - meaning I mostly play shooters and prefer to play online rather than go through campaign modes. But sometimes I get a little hardocre and play different types of games.
I've played a couple MMOs, love fighting games (I have played every Dead or Alive game that's been released) and some hack and slash campaign games (also played nearly every Dynasty Warriors) but the genre I struggle with is the single player RPG. I just get bored.
I've played part of a few Final Fantasy games (never finished one) and tried some others, but most of the time I just can't finish - I just watch my brother to get the endings. Really, the list of RPGs I've completed is so small I can mention it here: Chrono Cross (PS), Jade Empire (X-box), Kingdom Hearts 1 (PS 2 ... I did not fight the final boss in KH 2), my favorites were Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 (x-box and x-box 360) and a game that I think was called Deamland (x-box 360) that was really short ... I also finished Ninja Gaiden 2 but I don't think that really counts in the RPG genre.
That makes ... 7 RPGs, if Ninja Gaiden 2 counts ... and many half/quarter/and nearly finished casualties on the way. Trust me, we don't want to list the games I haven't finished.
So when my brother suggested I play Dragon Age: Origins I was skeptical. The last 2 he suggested (Fable and Mass Effect) were popular, but, once again, couldn't hold my attention.
His tactic for getting me to play was to tell that the game play and story options were more like the Knights of the Old Republic games. So I tried it.
And I loved it.
The game is good. Each little decision affected something I did. One time I said one thing and had to fight, like, 20 people and died but the next time I said one thing differently and only had to fight one guy. The character design was the best out of nearly any RPG I've ever tried. I mean usually they all tell you your character is pretty but in this game, my character actually was pretty! Customization was easy too, and there was so much left to do (or mini quests that I failed) I feel like I have need to go ahead and play the game again.
I was determined to finish this game and it was totally worth it. There were a couple times (like the length and tedious tasks in Orzammar) that I had to push myself to not get bored but the story line was good enough that it didn't take as much effort as I thought it would. Although, the game play itself and the interaction with your party is definitely the strongest point of the game
The game is entertaining and your party members have good personalities. It's well written with very few holes and just a good game. It's long ... really long, like most good RPGs but the experience is generally a good one. My only frustration was how to fight the arch demon (the boring way is sooo much easier!).
So if you are looking for a good RPG, I recommend Dragon Age: Origins ... especially with the expansion coming out soon!
There we go, my first video game review blog. I know RPGs aren't my strong suit but as an RPG noob I hope I got it right.
'Nuff Said,
Crysania
More or less I'm just a bit more than a casual gamer - meaning I mostly play shooters and prefer to play online rather than go through campaign modes. But sometimes I get a little hardocre and play different types of games.
I've played a couple MMOs, love fighting games (I have played every Dead or Alive game that's been released) and some hack and slash campaign games (also played nearly every Dynasty Warriors) but the genre I struggle with is the single player RPG. I just get bored.
I've played part of a few Final Fantasy games (never finished one) and tried some others, but most of the time I just can't finish - I just watch my brother to get the endings. Really, the list of RPGs I've completed is so small I can mention it here: Chrono Cross (PS), Jade Empire (X-box), Kingdom Hearts 1 (PS 2 ... I did not fight the final boss in KH 2), my favorites were Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 (x-box and x-box 360) and a game that I think was called Deamland (x-box 360) that was really short ... I also finished Ninja Gaiden 2 but I don't think that really counts in the RPG genre.
That makes ... 7 RPGs, if Ninja Gaiden 2 counts ... and many half/quarter/and nearly finished casualties on the way. Trust me, we don't want to list the games I haven't finished.
So when my brother suggested I play Dragon Age: Origins I was skeptical. The last 2 he suggested (Fable and Mass Effect) were popular, but, once again, couldn't hold my attention.
His tactic for getting me to play was to tell that the game play and story options were more like the Knights of the Old Republic games. So I tried it.
And I loved it.
The game is good. Each little decision affected something I did. One time I said one thing and had to fight, like, 20 people and died but the next time I said one thing differently and only had to fight one guy. The character design was the best out of nearly any RPG I've ever tried. I mean usually they all tell you your character is pretty but in this game, my character actually was pretty! Customization was easy too, and there was so much left to do (or mini quests that I failed) I feel like I have need to go ahead and play the game again.
I was determined to finish this game and it was totally worth it. There were a couple times (like the length and tedious tasks in Orzammar) that I had to push myself to not get bored but the story line was good enough that it didn't take as much effort as I thought it would. Although, the game play itself and the interaction with your party is definitely the strongest point of the game
The game is entertaining and your party members have good personalities. It's well written with very few holes and just a good game. It's long ... really long, like most good RPGs but the experience is generally a good one. My only frustration was how to fight the arch demon (the boring way is sooo much easier!).
So if you are looking for a good RPG, I recommend Dragon Age: Origins ... especially with the expansion coming out soon!
There we go, my first video game review blog. I know RPGs aren't my strong suit but as an RPG noob I hope I got it right.
'Nuff Said,
Crysania
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Off to a Rocky Start
2010 is shaping up not to be very kind. I really hope this does not continue.
It's probably been the most stresssful month in quite a while actually ... and I'm glad tomorrow is the last day.
I dislike my job more and more each day. They said they needed help with housekeeping in the salon so I said I'd do it for a couple weeks but it's becoming increasingly clear that they want me to stay over there. There are more hours than at the smoothie shop but it's crappy work. And my bosses ... well, they're annoying. They're sneaky and come with way too much drama. I hate drama. Plus they make a lot of promises they can't keep and just do things that don't make much sense ... I just don't want to be there. It takes a lot of effort to go in to work ... I've only worked one other job where it got to be this tough to go in, and I was lucky enough to only start experiencing that right before I had to quit for school. I guess after being in a job I loved it's just gotten harder to accept a job I don't like ... but at least it's a job.
My family is going through a lot right now ... and my other niece is just making things worse. She's 17 ... she's still very much a child and she's trying to get involved in things that are none of her business or that she doesn't have the facts about and be an adult. She's not an adult, she's a spoiled child who says hurtful things without regaurd for the people she hurts. It's annoying. What it comes down to is my older brother's mom hates my dad. She's hated him since he left her in the 70s and she's never let him, or consequently sometimes my mother and us, forget it. She kept a lot of things from us and often says things to my nieces that aren't entirely true to make him look bad. I really didn't believe this at first, but I've seen and heard things that reinforce the theory. The fact that my niece can be so mean also adds to it; she won't even give my parents the benefit of the doubt and lumps me and my brother in just because she can. It hurts. A lot.
There are other things too but January has been quite annoying.
However, there are always silver linings!
I FINALLY bought a ticket to see Muse. Kristin was online, saw they were playing in Vegas for a decent price and jumped on it! We're going April 10!!
Also I just finished a really good book! Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller is really good. It's about this trip from Texas to Oregon that he and a friend took when they were 21 in a VW hippie van. It's beautifully written and has some awesome points about what he learned about himself, God, spirituality and life in general. After I read Blue Like Jazz a friend recommended this book. Miller is really the only Christian author I can really get behind. His style of writing isn't so pretentious. You feel like you're having a conversation with a person, not being talked at or preached to. Plus, a lot of the ways he looks at things or thinks about spirituality I can relate to. I really like him. I also bought Searching for God Knows What from him but I let someone borrow it since I was starting Through Painted Deserts but I haven't gotten it back yet.
Anyways, I just wrote a whole lot about not very much. I think I should stop now.
'Nuff Said,
Crysania
It's probably been the most stresssful month in quite a while actually ... and I'm glad tomorrow is the last day.
I dislike my job more and more each day. They said they needed help with housekeeping in the salon so I said I'd do it for a couple weeks but it's becoming increasingly clear that they want me to stay over there. There are more hours than at the smoothie shop but it's crappy work. And my bosses ... well, they're annoying. They're sneaky and come with way too much drama. I hate drama. Plus they make a lot of promises they can't keep and just do things that don't make much sense ... I just don't want to be there. It takes a lot of effort to go in to work ... I've only worked one other job where it got to be this tough to go in, and I was lucky enough to only start experiencing that right before I had to quit for school. I guess after being in a job I loved it's just gotten harder to accept a job I don't like ... but at least it's a job.
My family is going through a lot right now ... and my other niece is just making things worse. She's 17 ... she's still very much a child and she's trying to get involved in things that are none of her business or that she doesn't have the facts about and be an adult. She's not an adult, she's a spoiled child who says hurtful things without regaurd for the people she hurts. It's annoying. What it comes down to is my older brother's mom hates my dad. She's hated him since he left her in the 70s and she's never let him, or consequently sometimes my mother and us, forget it. She kept a lot of things from us and often says things to my nieces that aren't entirely true to make him look bad. I really didn't believe this at first, but I've seen and heard things that reinforce the theory. The fact that my niece can be so mean also adds to it; she won't even give my parents the benefit of the doubt and lumps me and my brother in just because she can. It hurts. A lot.
There are other things too but January has been quite annoying.
However, there are always silver linings!
I FINALLY bought a ticket to see Muse. Kristin was online, saw they were playing in Vegas for a decent price and jumped on it! We're going April 10!!
Also I just finished a really good book! Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller is really good. It's about this trip from Texas to Oregon that he and a friend took when they were 21 in a VW hippie van. It's beautifully written and has some awesome points about what he learned about himself, God, spirituality and life in general. After I read Blue Like Jazz a friend recommended this book. Miller is really the only Christian author I can really get behind. His style of writing isn't so pretentious. You feel like you're having a conversation with a person, not being talked at or preached to. Plus, a lot of the ways he looks at things or thinks about spirituality I can relate to. I really like him. I also bought Searching for God Knows What from him but I let someone borrow it since I was starting Through Painted Deserts but I haven't gotten it back yet.
Anyways, I just wrote a whole lot about not very much. I think I should stop now.
'Nuff Said,
Crysania
Monday, January 25, 2010
Playing Just to Play
I didn't have internet for a while. That sucked. I had to go to Barnes and Noble to get online and between my niece and myself I never had time to update, though I have thought about it. It's the thought the counts, right?
Anyways, I thought of something during this weekend. On Saturdays I am sometimes a gym manager for CSL (Christian Sports League) Basketball at my church. I basically run the scoreboard, make sure spectators follow our gym rules, pay refs, collect money from teams and do the official book if a team doesn't have someone. I first learned how to do basketball stats when I was in 8th grade. Since my friend Sara and I were had been playing a while the high school guys coach decided we knew the rules well enough to learn how to run the table and got our moms (who were running the table at the time) to teach us. It was exciting for us. We were at all the games anyways so it gave us something more to do. I can run a scoreboard, keep a book and run a shot clock. Since I've been doing it so long I like doing it on the side to make a little extra cash.
Back to the original subject, though.
CSL is basically teams of mostly older men (mostly 30s-40s or older, with a few my age to late 20s) who really love to play basketball. Alot of them are out of shape, sweaty and hairy and, for the most part, pretty gross ... and they all think they are Kobe - just like they were in there prime. Don't get me wrong, some of the guys are pretty good and at least one or two played some college ball, but in general ... let's just say it can be fun to watch. But there's this one older man I really enjoy watching.
He's the kind of old man who is really difficult to ever picture being young. Alot of players you I can picture younger, - shave a few pounds here, get rid of some gray hairs or wrinkles there and see the "baller" they once were, but not this guy. He's at least mid-50s or older and kind of reminds me of the Monopoly man with more of a gut. He's sweet and has a pretty nice shot when he manages to get open, but what I love about watching him is how absorbed he is in the game. He comes to the games not in shorter "old man" shorts but in sort of baggy gym shorts and nice Nikes like most younger guys and runs up and down the court with surprising vigor - he evens gets in a foul or two sometimes. He runs the team and cheers or coaches from the bench, making sure everyone gets good playing time - this man just loves basketball.
I'd seen him play many times before, but it just hit me as I sat there watching him - this is why I love sports so much.
I've never been huge into following professional cricuits closely but I love to watch most sports. I love to see grown men and women turn into 10-year-olds again when they win a big game or make a great play. Whether it's watching a 40-year-old man's eyes light up when he hits a shot or seeing a team of professional athletes rush a kicker who just got them in to the Superbowl (yes, I watched the Saints game today. Still going to be cheering on the Colts though) there's just something fascinating to me about sports.
I don't play basketball much anymore -to be honest, I was a pretty average player in my opinion but I got a lot of playing time and had fun - but that's how I feel when I play volleyball. I love it when a hitter smashes a good set or I make a tough save. Sometimes my competitive nature gets in the way and I lose sight of why I still play, but one play can put things into perspective.
With sports media, pros dating pop stars and actresses, trade deadlines, steroids and salary hassles it's sometimes difficult to remember why we even watch in the first place. It's easy to get frustrated with the pro sports world and to even want to stop watching. But then those magic moments happen and all the other stuff goes away. You see these professional athletes become that old man who is happy making one basket or the 10-year-old who wanted to do their favorite thing for the rest of his/her life.
Watching that man reminded me of that. I don't know if there was a real point to all of this other than sometimes I get inspiration from unexpected places. I'd been sitting on the bench for almost 3-hours when I saw him play and it just made me smile. It made me smile and I wanted to write it down.
'Nuff Said,
Crysania
Anyways, I thought of something during this weekend. On Saturdays I am sometimes a gym manager for CSL (Christian Sports League) Basketball at my church. I basically run the scoreboard, make sure spectators follow our gym rules, pay refs, collect money from teams and do the official book if a team doesn't have someone. I first learned how to do basketball stats when I was in 8th grade. Since my friend Sara and I were had been playing a while the high school guys coach decided we knew the rules well enough to learn how to run the table and got our moms (who were running the table at the time) to teach us. It was exciting for us. We were at all the games anyways so it gave us something more to do. I can run a scoreboard, keep a book and run a shot clock. Since I've been doing it so long I like doing it on the side to make a little extra cash.
Back to the original subject, though.
CSL is basically teams of mostly older men (mostly 30s-40s or older, with a few my age to late 20s) who really love to play basketball. Alot of them are out of shape, sweaty and hairy and, for the most part, pretty gross ... and they all think they are Kobe - just like they were in there prime. Don't get me wrong, some of the guys are pretty good and at least one or two played some college ball, but in general ... let's just say it can be fun to watch. But there's this one older man I really enjoy watching.
He's the kind of old man who is really difficult to ever picture being young. Alot of players you I can picture younger, - shave a few pounds here, get rid of some gray hairs or wrinkles there and see the "baller" they once were, but not this guy. He's at least mid-50s or older and kind of reminds me of the Monopoly man with more of a gut. He's sweet and has a pretty nice shot when he manages to get open, but what I love about watching him is how absorbed he is in the game. He comes to the games not in shorter "old man" shorts but in sort of baggy gym shorts and nice Nikes like most younger guys and runs up and down the court with surprising vigor - he evens gets in a foul or two sometimes. He runs the team and cheers or coaches from the bench, making sure everyone gets good playing time - this man just loves basketball.
I'd seen him play many times before, but it just hit me as I sat there watching him - this is why I love sports so much.
I've never been huge into following professional cricuits closely but I love to watch most sports. I love to see grown men and women turn into 10-year-olds again when they win a big game or make a great play. Whether it's watching a 40-year-old man's eyes light up when he hits a shot or seeing a team of professional athletes rush a kicker who just got them in to the Superbowl (yes, I watched the Saints game today. Still going to be cheering on the Colts though) there's just something fascinating to me about sports.
I don't play basketball much anymore -to be honest, I was a pretty average player in my opinion but I got a lot of playing time and had fun - but that's how I feel when I play volleyball. I love it when a hitter smashes a good set or I make a tough save. Sometimes my competitive nature gets in the way and I lose sight of why I still play, but one play can put things into perspective.
With sports media, pros dating pop stars and actresses, trade deadlines, steroids and salary hassles it's sometimes difficult to remember why we even watch in the first place. It's easy to get frustrated with the pro sports world and to even want to stop watching. But then those magic moments happen and all the other stuff goes away. You see these professional athletes become that old man who is happy making one basket or the 10-year-old who wanted to do their favorite thing for the rest of his/her life.
Watching that man reminded me of that. I don't know if there was a real point to all of this other than sometimes I get inspiration from unexpected places. I'd been sitting on the bench for almost 3-hours when I saw him play and it just made me smile. It made me smile and I wanted to write it down.
'Nuff Said,
Crysania
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