all that jazz?

I decided to start a new entry [from the “exactly relative sizes” one], since the last one went longer than I expected. (Why do I always do that?!)

Next up … I can’t remember the order. ._. I’ll just go with Burt’s Bees Beeswax lip balm.

I saw this ad in a Vanity Fair issue (I bought it for a class, but I can’t recall which one) decrying lip balms for using petroleum-based ingredients, and to make sure what you put on your lips is all-natural and not refined rotted dinosaur remains. I don’t remember what product the ad was for. But it definitely hit a mark.

I decided, since I needed more lip balm, to try a natural one, i.e. Burt’s Bees Beeswax. I saw it at Target, right next to Chapstick. The Burt’s was about a quarter more than the Chapstick, so I was questioning the au naturale ideas in my head, especially since there were three Chapsticks in one package, and only one of the Burt’s — pay less for triple the product? Very tempting. But I decided to not be cheap and try the Burt’s at least once.

I have to say I’m disappointed. The Burt’s gives my lips this cold tingly feeling , which I do not want. (Apparently other customers like it though…)

Hmm … it appears that it was a good thing I waited to write this up, because the info on the Skin Deep: Cosmetics Safety Database changed since I last looked at it. Chapstick lip balm now looks more harmful than Burt’s Bees Beeswax lip balm. Huh. (And oh hay look, white petrolatum in the Chapstick!!1)

Well, natural lip balms at places like Lush cost too much for me (and I never like having to touch lip balm to apply it — don’t they advise not touching your face because of the bacteria on your hands?), and Chapstick seems out (unless I can find this Chapstick all natural version), so I don’t know what to go for next. But that won’t be for a while. I can count all the lip balms I’ve had in my life on one hand; most of them were freebies.

Next item, 3Musketeers Mint. I saw commercials for this starting Christmas of last year? 3Musketeers is probably my favorite candy bar. It doesn’t mean I absolutely love it, but most of the time I’d accept eating one, which is better than what I can say about other bars. So when I saw the mint, I wanted to try it.

I found it in the checkout line at Albertson’s here, so of course I grabbed it. When I got home, I realized it’s smaller than the normal 3Musketeers bar, and it’s packaged with two bars, half the size of a regular one. Slight disappointment there, but maybe mint costs more or something, I’d forgive them for that.

When I bit into it though, it wasn’t that great. Maybe my expectations were too high. I think I expected something like a York Peppermint Patty. But the 3Musketeers Mint isn’t as sweet. It’s okay. I probably won’t buy it again. But I’d accept it if someone offered it to me. *grin*

The really rad thing about it though, the main reason why I’m talking about it at all, is the packaging. XD First, 3Musketeers Mint wrapping in normal lighting. It’s got that normal metallic look that the 3Musketeers bar has, right? Then, 3Musketeers Mint wrapping while backlit. Whoa! Transparent wrapper! XD It’s not a good quality photo, because in real life the nutrition facts can be read while backlit. mreh.

Now, I read Wil Wheaton’s post about Scarlett Johansson’s album a while ago … whenever it was first posted. I had no idea what type of music she’d done, but I know generally I don’t share Wil’s taste in music. (I’m more pop and mainstream, although I enjoy rock and a bit of indie music.)

Her album really surprised me though. I thought she’d be doing the normal pop album. I never expected the music that I heard. (I’m no music guru, so I have no idea what style or genre it is or anything.) There are a few songs on there I don’t enjoy, but for the most part, I would buy the album if it cost me $10 or so. (Hm, maybe I should buy the mp3s on Amazon.)

It’s got a nice atmosphere to the music. Not something I’d want to listen to every day like The Cardigans, but in the right mood it would be the best music. Like Lily Chou-Chou! *grins*

So I finished reading Garth Nix’s Across the Wall … a long while ago. I loved it! I read someone’s comment that it’s not as good as the Old Kingdom Trilogy. Well of course. The Old Kingdom spans over three books, you really get to get into the world and into the characters and into the stories.

Across the Wall is a collection of short stories. Short stories are, well short. There’s no time for development and evolution. It’s just a quick event that introduces a new idea and makes you (well, me at least) think about the world differently. I thought Garth Nix was incredibly imaginative with these stories. (I love short stories, by the way. Got introduced to them properly by Neil Gaiman. Read some of Roald Dahl’s adult short stories. I need to own them!)

Garth Nix was so good that I want to read The Once and Future King. I never thought I’d pick that up. Daddy owns a copy (an ooold copy). I never was interested in King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. But Garth Nix has piqued my interest … as any good author should do.

Those are my reviews. The first two were written June 6th; I’m finishing this June 17th.

The remark I made earlier about gas … well the Monday before I saw gas was $4.33. I thought of filling up, but meh I was lazy and as I always do when I’m lazy, I thought I’d wait to see if the price would go down. The next day, Tuesday, I drove by the station again and the price was $4.44. I was so gobsmacked that I didn’t even consider buying gas.

I guess I should have though. I ended up buying four gallons on the 13th to make it home to L.A. where gas is guaranteed to be at least five cents cheaper (oh big whoop, five cents…) and had to pay $4.69 per gallon. Augh.

That ends my collection of little reviews and thoughts.

my own home

Ahaha yeah don’t ask what I’m doing up so late again. D’oh.

Umm … I packed up my stuff last night, so this morning C and I loaded the car from about 9:30 to 10. *blink* Yeah. We had so much stuff. Barely fit in the car. Shocking. Gas was $2.69! Grr. Traffic was good. Normal, I mean. It backed up on the 405 around Sunset. And for some reason, there were quite a few cars on Sunset. Maybe ’cause it was lunchtime. I dunno.

I unpacked most of my stuff. ^^;; Still need to set up my desktop, if I do. I probably will; I’ve got the scanlations of Gokinjo Monogatari sitting on there. (I’ve still got the .rar files on my laptop, but then I’d have to unzip them and save them somewhere and there’d just be duplicate files sitting taking up space when I have perfectly good files on my desktop.)

It’s cold here. ;.; Well, I mean, it’s moderate yah (L.A. weather…) but there’s gonna be rain over the weekend (the channel 2 weather anchor said thunderstorms! *bounces*) and it was overcast today so no sun. And, most of all, this house is just plain cold. But Mum said she and Daddy laid down three sections of insulation over … some area … in the old part of the house. I wasn’t wearing a sweatshirt during the day! (No, I was just wearing a tank top, shirt, thermal top, socks, leggings, and sweat pants. *grin*)

…I think I just smashed a spider unknowingly. *shudder* I was lying down on the floor, but sat up to type this entry, and I just looked at my knee where I noticed this daddy long-legs was. eeeee. Creepy. >_> (Note: I like spiders. Just as long as they’re not running toward me or located somewhere on my person.) But … at least it was dead. ^^;; I killed it! *sniffle*

I need to get to bed. O_o

don’t give up, the storm is passing

Gah! I can’t think! I even forgot to turn on the rice cooker 45 minutes ago. O_o I’m huuuungry now.

I have lots of little things to say that would make nice posts all on their own, but since I’m not obsessively updating the blog (not now anyway *grin*), I’m just gonna pile them all up into one post.

Went with Hidek to the gas station ($2.57), Best Buy (bought The Submarines, am listening to it now; thumbs up so far!), Borders (more later), and Staples. (On second thought, I’m going to make the Borders subject an entirely separate entry.)

I saved bunches of pics of Amy Lee and some live performances and also the latest music video, Lithium. (I wish Americans could buy Kerrang! Er, buy it easily.) I now have 1315 images of Amy Lee on my harddrive. XD; So lame.

Knott’s

Wheee!! I looooove Knott’s Berry Farm! ^u^ This year we got tickets cheap from Ralph’s. That’s because we spent too much money on something and couldn’t afford it. Maybe the Expedition. Maybe gasoline. I don’t know.

So, for the first time we started out on the left side of the park, and went clockwise, instead of our usual Camp Snoopy-counterclockwise path. I was so disoriented! I couldn’t tell where we were half the time … ^.^;;

Hmm, I went on Bigfoot Rapids, Sky Cabin, Mine Ride, Log Ride, Calico train, Dragon Swing, Gran Slammer, Jaguar, Camp Bus, the roller coaster in Camp Snoopy, and the Camp Snoopy train. I think that’s it. We also watched Hammerhead, Boomerang, Supreme Scream, that swing ride, bumper cars (which the boys went on), and Montezuma’s Revenge (which Auntie and Noelle went on). We didn’t get to try Ghostrider, we didn’t even watch it. We forgot all about it!!

For lunch, we went to Hollywood Wok. I got Chicken Sweet and Sour bowl. Chinese chicken salad: Mommy, Daddy, Auntie; pizza: Noelle, SM00, Hidek; Mickey got chili cheese fries; don’t know what Tadash had. For dinner we went to this sit-down restaurant in Ghost Town. SM00 had chicken nuggets, and the rest of us had cheeseburgers. I got sarsaparilla! ^u^ Auntie: chicken fried steak; Mommy and Daddy had humongous ribs. I ate and ate and ate and didn’t feel really full until I stood up. Hehe. But I still didn’t finish the fries.

I bought a Snoopy beanie, and two new Snoopy rings. Snoopy’s mouth is scrunched up, so he looks like he has a bitterbeer face … err, snaggletooth. ^.^ One ring was Snoopy standing, it was an older design; the other was him in a camp outfit. I got the one facing right. It just looked more natural.

We watched the water show … ElectroBlast? It was very … bright, and … interesting … SCE sure puts a lot of money into things. >.< No wonder our bills are so high. First Edison Park, now this. Hehe, there was this part where they showed Charlie Brown and Franklin bobbing their heads to the beat of the music. It was so cute and funny!