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I was 14 when it opened, checking for an actual date, it opened Feb 8 2001, which makes sense because I was there in Fall of 2000 and it wasn't done yet, but it was when I was there the following Fall. Granted I did not go. It was really new and we (the band) had to choose only one park to go to. I hadn't been to CA but because it was only just opened up it didn't have as many rides and things yet. So my friends selected Disney Land as it just had more things to do at the time. Disney World pretty much has Disney Land inside it (Magic Kingdom) as one of the 4 main parks. The only major thing it lacks is the Matterhorn, which is probably my all time favorite Disney ride, however half the time when I've gone to Disney Land the Matterhorn has been closed. Disney World also has Animal Kingdom, MGM Studios (think it's now called Hollywood Studios though) and Epcot. MGM has the tower of terror that I think CA Adventure also has, as well as this really fast, high power roller coaster. It also has studio things you can do which is fun. Epcot is split between a technology themed land and a countries themed land. I actually didn't go to Animal Kingdom. The group I went with did, but me and one friend decided we just were too tired, and not all that into it. If I ever go again I'll try to invest effort in checking it out. It also has other attractions in attachment to it, including two water parks. A few of us went to one of them.

Well as I recently went on a horror movie binge and ended up really disturbed, I'm going to say boring is worse. I mean disturbing is, well, disturbing, but it's an involvement and an interest. Boring results in either apathy or annoyance, neither of which I find very pleasant as a result of "entertainment."

Yea, I read that one as well. And several things on there I was like, uhh, no that still isn't taught in school. The only time I heard half of those theories was in clearly mistaken movies featuring school. Like the tongue map, and the brain hemisphere thing. I mean people do say right-brained/left-brained. But there is also a full awareness (and teaching) of the fact that the brain is not just parceled in halves, that one side can pick up slacking functions on another side after injury, and that while someone may have a stronger skill set they aren't only ever using one side of their brain. Likewise the tongue map I've only heard in a joke (a dirty joke where a girl basically is talking about how if there is sugar in semen why doesn't it taste sweet, and the teacher ends up saying that there aren't taste buds in the back of your throat), not in actual science. I've also NEVER heard de-oxygenated blood is blue. The sense thing is debatable, because most people refer to the 5 senses as the 5 tactical senses, and the examples of other senses given in the article are not arguably tactile. They are elements of perception. And yea, the metabolism thing I agree with you, and there are definitely many studies to the contrary. Because metabolism is about burning energy, and if you have a higher metabolism you are burning more off than someone with a lower metabolism. I mean calorie counts make a difference, and some people who eat very un-healthy, they are killing their hearts and are receiving minimal nutritional value, but they actually aren't taking in a high amount of calories, etc. Many snack foods are just pretty much empty. They have neither nutritional value, nor massive amounts of anything else. Many foods that you can bulk up on, that give you a lot of calories and fats and everything else, also give you a lot of nutritional things you need, a lot of vitamins, proteins, etc. You need to eat these in moderation and proportion, but they are what you should be eating. Back to metabolism, the thing the article doesn't touch upon (if I recall) is that metabolism is not a fixed thing. Some people are more likely to have a high or low metabolism, but several internal and external factors can change your metabolism. I believe the article says something along the lines of people who eat more have a faster metabolism because they need to break down more food. That I would find unlikely. The things that generally change your metabolism externally are things like exercise and an active lifestyle. So yea you could be a marathon runner and eat half a cow, it's not your bodies familiarity with cow-eating that increases your metabolism. Having a higher metabolism will make you likely to eat more, to need to eat more. It's not the result of eating more. The articles are funny but yea, certain ones like this make me realize I need to read them as comedy and not fact. I mean even reputable information sources are prone to error, and Cracked definitely doesn't qualify as reputable. Half of their source material links back to Wikipedia, and there is a reason most institutions of education to not consider Wikipedia a reliable source of information (even though it does have tons and tons of solid info).

Avoid blood and guts in my movie recommendations, got it. Haha, ok don't watch Final Destination 3, 4 or Cabin Fever 2 (ESPECIALLY Cabin Fever 2). My recent watches that are chock full of gut ripping. Yea I'm rarely offended. One of the recent examples of offense I can come up with actually is Sex and the City 2, I really liked the first but I was really bothered by the second. I mean the show is all about sexual empowerment, and that's great. But that second movie did that kind of in challenge to culture (specifically Muslim culture). I may not agree with certain attitudes of Muslim culture, but I do respect that people are personally entitled to their culturally beliefs. And that we should respect these beliefs, particularly when in their country. The way we'd like them to not run around insulting our beliefs if they came to our country, as guests especially. I feel the movie went against that. Sent the message that their beliefs were wrong, and woo it's female empowerment to pretty much point out how they are wrong. That it's ok to offend their culture because they are wrong. So I found that a pretty offensive message to convey.

Hahaha, I am indeed now only a state away! And no I totally know what you mean. Of course only for a few weeks, I go back to England August 7th, I'm there until December. I've been back since Wed night actually I was just so jet-lagged, in about the 72 hours up to getting home I was running off maybe 4-5 hours of sleep between packing and moving. It was insanity. I'm still a bit out of it but starting to feel better in this time zone. But yea I definitely would love to see you guys, I can't say I have any idea where I'll be in life at that point, but if I'm around the want is definitely on issue. The money/living situation would be the wild cards at the moment, haha. But yea we'll see where I am closer too and figure it out. ^_^

Yea I think the only other thing CA had by that fall was the flying over CA thing (though I thought they had that from the beginning? Maybe not), so didn't think it'd be worth it. I don't know if Disney Land has further expansion plans, unlike Florida, California already has a ton of theme parks, including in that area. Magic Mountain isn't that far north, and Sea World is also down there. Plus there isn't as much free space, CA Adventure was built over extra parking. They did want multi-park appeal, but it probably won't ever be as big. Though apparently they had originally wanted something more like Epcot. The focus just became a centralized location rather than many mini-locations. My friend in HS thought it was a dumb idea to build a CA park in CA, she thought it should either be elsewhere or we should have another state theme. Personally though I thought that sounded silly. Who'd come to Wyoming Adventure in CA? xd

In a sick way I find fear an interesting process, so I'd probably still take the disturbed process. Just to feel something. stressed

Haha, I wouldn't say my school was all that great. I mean Choir (or Band, one of those) got me out of Science half the time. So maybe the tongue map wasn't taught because Science was unnecessary apparently, haha, although this was when I was 11, and I think that's something you're taught when you're younger (if you're taught it). But yea I think it's been debunked for awhile, so the school is pretty behind if it still has that. The brain thing I know still gets some support, although at the same time we are also taught about which functions are in which hemisphere. So as the article addresses, you can clearly see that there are verbal functions and logical functions in both half of the brains, and thus understand it's probably unlikely that talents (such as artistic/logical) are determined in such a way. I think the primary thing is coordination, but yea, the brain can learn.

Yea exactly, metabolism does have a genetic factor. So some people don't have to workout as much and can still eat their weight in tacos. However it's not constant, yes there is a range you can hit, but it's pretty wide. Metabolism does slow as you age. However metabolism is not the only genetic factor in relation to weight. So sizes of family members, depending on similar diet and lifestyle, can probably reveal genetic weight factors, but metabolism is just one of many things. Hormones, would be one example of something with a genetic influence that controls weight. So while I agree about genetic factors, that observational test wouldn't actually tell you whether it was a metabolism issue or a hormone issue or something else.

Yea, I mean the thrill of Final Destination is will they make it, will they get skipped, will they die later, were they never supposed to die at all, etc etc. And then the relationships formed as people work together to try not to die. Some of the deaths are more conceptually disturbing than visually disturbing, but yea primarily it's a barrage of freaky accidents. And yea the series isn't like that, I mean it stars a writer. By the first movie (which is after the show ends) she's finally published books and stuff, but for much of the series it's her struggling to break out in that industry, writing an advice column along the way. They get successful, but they aren't always rich, and they aren't really bitchy. One of them is slutty (or is 'comfortable with her sexual appetite') but that's about it. Plus they aren't young girls, most of the series they are thirties-forties. The oldest turns 50 in the first movie. What the series is primarily about is relationships. But yea, there are definitely precepts I disagree with. But yea, just like I wouldn't want others to force me to change my beliefs because they think they are wrong, I wouldn't do the same to others. And if I knew that certain behaviors would be clearly disrespectful, I wouldn't flaunt them. Because this wasn't an expression thing, it was a decorum thing. Honestly something that would be kind of lewd in the States as well (just not illegal). And they made it seem like the problem was this culture not her actions.

Yea, today is the first day I've felt relatively normal. Although I haven't been going to bed early and getting up early. The latest I've stayed up is about 1am. The first couple of nights I was in bed by 10-11pm. The first morning I was in bed until noon, but after that I've been up around 9am. Today around 8am. Going to try to keep the early rise thing up because tomorrow I start working on my dissertation.

Yea I know it's been built up a lot more, but unsure if it in anyway reflects tourist CA, actual CA or no CA at all. I do agree that country makes a better theme than state, particularly within the USA.

Yea I don't recall anatomy in elementary school going beyond just basic body parts and functions, not specifications like what the tongue map would imply. Other than sexual anatomy (had to understand THOSE differences of course xd ) we didn't delve deep into the mysteries of the body in school. Elementary was geology, ecology, basic planetary and astronomy knowledge, dinosaurs...there was some basic chemistry (volcano project) and other various things as well. Middle school science was Bill Nye the Science Guy, haha, seriously that's all I remember. That and Sex Ed take two (to be fair I switched to a school district that hadn't done Sex Ed in 6th grade, however I was in the same district for 9th as 7th, so why we needed to do it again in HS I do not know). HS was Biology, Chemistry and Physics. However you only were required to take Bio and either Chemistry or Physics (however they pretty much put everyone into Chem 2nd year, so most people didn't do "or Physics" they did "and Physics"). There were other alternative science options as well, that in most cases could replace Bio/Chem/Physics if those were too difficult to pass out of. I also took AP Bio senior year. I had friends that took Ecology or Geology (I assume they got more out of it than in elementary) or Physiology. I was intrigued by Physio but I refused to cut up a cat. Anyhow I think brain hemispheres came up in 7th grade science, guess I'll have to consult Bill on that. xd

Oh yea I know, the article was definitely off for many reasons when pretty much claiming (whether it meant to or not) that weight = food intake. And it's all a perception of quantity issue. That's the very minority of circumstances.

In the second movie they go to Dubai, and basically Sam whose hyper-sexual kept doing inappropriate things. Like there was one scene where she basically was simulating fellatio on an item to this guy she wanted to sleep with - this was outside by a pool, not alone in a hotel room. It finally climaxes with her purse being dropped and condoms and such spilling into the street. People are muttering about them and she just starts screaming, I HAVE SEX and similar things over and over again. The girls later run off to get sheltered by woman who then lift their robes and stuff and reveal stylish shoes and fashion accessories and whatnot, and discuss the Western things they ready and like. But they make it all seem so closeted and that these women are a resistance movement. Primarily I just think the whole Sam flaunting thing when she's been told over and over again about cultural norms is rude. It's great she's comfortable with her sexuality, but it's not something she should be sharing with a country (who doesn't want to hear it) anyhow. Secondly I have friends from Dubai, and the women are not all covered up there (some choose to wear different forms of covering garment). My friend never wears a headdress when she's back home. No she doesn't run around with her boobs popping out and giving head to bottles or whatever. I just think they present the culture in a very biased, one-sided image, and make female empowerment equal to resisting of said biased culture. It just seemed to be very distastefully done, and again I think primarily they were going for laughs. Not to send that message. I just still felt they poked at that message anyhow.

We had to dissect a lambs heart in 6th grade with my brother's 3rd grade class (rather than with the other 6th grade class...or a 5th grade class). It was also lead by the PE teacher. So weird. I think Bio was the only thing really required in HS. It's just you had to have a life science and a physical science, both to graduate and to apply to 4 year universities in CA. So unsure what AIMS is, but if it's all Chemistry you probably couldn't apply to colleges in CA because that might not give you a life science.

Heh, today a friend linked a Cracked article to me on FB in relation to an oral hygiene issue (my British friends are so sensitive, I make one joke, lol). However I actually went through the source material. It specifically says the study is on children, the graph is specifically 12 year olds, and even mentions that the situation and rank are not the same for adults. Yet Cracked referenced it to make a general statement, rather than a statement about the oral health of 12 year olds. Man, I now feel so obligated to verify whether my laughs are merited with the science-ish articles. xd The though recent HP one made me lol, even if the whole time I wanted to protest that NO THAT ISN'T A MUGGLE YOU FOOL! Also he left the 6th movie out of that article...sooooo...unsure how that happened.

Yea...especially as a lot of women choose to wear the robes, and actually feel empowered in doing so. Because regardless of whether or not it is an ideal of raising, their is some validity to the notion of covering oneself to not feel sexualized. I mean yes there are gender equality issues, and it is something more prevalent in the Middle East. But yea the film went the wrong way about pointing out Western freedoms.

Yea it seems disturbed. I mean more of the 6th graders were grossed out than the 3rd graders, but still. My group consisted of my brother, his best friend Drew and my friend Stephanie. Bobby and Drew spent most of the procedure trying to gross Stephanie out and make her sick, and eventually succeed. Anyhow onto HS, we did not have more requirements than universities in anything. So 2 years and you were done if you so choose to be done.

No this article is around two years old (not sure why he just happened to have it on hand), it was specifically about which countries had the worst oral hygiene. But it made the arguments for ranking based on a study that only ranked findings to a specific age demographic, and acknowledging these were not fixed results across all demographics. Though that teeth brushing one I'd recently read medical studies about that before that article came out, so yes there is some merit to that one. Although I'd also advise rinsing with water (rather than brushing) after drinking sugary or carbonated things like soda. That's something I've gotten from hygienists.

Yea I tend to not like the fictive stories as much either, though this was more personal silly opinions rather than just clearly off rantings. Like I can't really read Gladstone generally, it's too far off the charts and just ends up dull. It bothered me more that he left the 6th off, it just felt like he lumped 7.1 + 7.2, which to be fair if you are doing trailers, the whole thing has been in one trailer until after 7.1 when they made new trailers focusing on remaining material. So it makes sense to lump them as one as the trailers did, but dropping the 6th was confusing. And yea I saw 7.2 on Sunday, have you seen it yet? If you haven't for now I'll just say it's my favorite movie. To be fair I have issues with the ending of the 7th book so it was in a good position to go up. I just felt it was able to treat things more poignantly than JK managed to do in her final book, it was too chaotic rush. But yea I'll save details until after I know whether you've seen it or not.

Well it's not about covering themselves from society but about their beauty being personal. So it's not for just anybody to see. I think it is an interesting ideology to see beauty as personal, although I won't lie, I like to be looked at. xd

I just think it's pointless, I gleaned nothing out of dissection at that age. I just wasn't old enough to really learn from it. So it was a bit pointless. I probably woulda been more squeamish at 14-17 than I was at 11, however if I'd done it then I'd have been more likely to learn something. We had a Fine Arts and Phys Ed requirement as well. Both were two years, however Marching Band covered Phys Ed and Fine Arts. I think the math requirement said you had to take up through trig (Algebra II), though you had to take up through Pre-Calculus for universities I believe, though don't quote me on that last one, it might still have been Trig. You also needed two years of foreign language to graduate, three years for college. History required a year of World, a year of American, a semester of Economics and a semester of Political Systems (these were the exact college requirements as well). English required 4 years, English 1, 2, American Lit and World Lit (again, this was the university requirement). Everything else just came down to number of units and passing the High School Exit Exam (which was invented my freshmen year, before that didn't exist).

I hadn't either, I can't say I've read every single article, I didn't even start reading it semi-regularly until end of 2009 into 2010, because I got into reading them at work.

Yea Seanbaby I do rather like, I especially love his guides and reviews of books. Nothing makes me happier than his angry vendetta against Godek. I want Godek to keep writing more books so Seanbaby will keep reading and ranting about them. razz

Yea I got a midnight showing invite, but I was severely jet-lagged and doubted I'd be able to stay awake then. I also wanted to avoid crowds, and it was fairly crowded when I went but my mom and I still got good seats without showing up mega early. However I also really wanted to avoid spoilers, which is why I decided to go then. I think the main things I noticed that were different and silly were Harry running into Ron and Hermione rather than Neville when heading off to the forest. First it takes away Neville's mission status in hunting the snake, secondly there is NO way Ron and Hermione would ever have let him go. They'd have followed his butt out there. I also wish Snape's memory would have been more drawn out, but it was pretty good. There were changes in it that I didn't initially catch that my friend did, but that didn't bother me. I did like the change to him finding Lily's body later. I also liked the film more heavily shipping Luna and Neville, it's the one pairing the book semi hinted at that I really would have liked to see.

I took religious studies courses on Islam (I'd have minored in religious studies but the history minor fit better, hell I'd have majored in it but there wasn't a full blown major at the time, so I just took the classes on Islam and the courses on New Testament translation), and as doctrine goes and the way most cultures interpret that belief today it's more about the personal thing than that actually. The whole covering of interest in many aspects is a western interpretation of what is happening that's not actually what the religion teaches. In more extremist countries it's more about control than doctrine. Just like with Christianity and even Judaism, a lot of Islamic doctrine is twisted and interpreted in extreme ways as well. Jesus, Muhammad, they were both about love and tolerance. It's a perversion of interpretation that creates a religion that forgets that. That justifies wars and crusades.

Heh, it's alright, I figured you were busy...well I hoped you were busy. Just spent the past month in CA and got glared at, ignored yet simultaneously screamed/ranted about enough to maybe be a bit insecure about what people think of me. stressed Stressed with the dissertation and the hassle of finding a place to live (I'm set up in an empty room in a friends house right now, which is great but I hate feeling like a mooch so want to get the house hunt thing done asap), yet still glad to be back in England just because that bullshit was really starting to wear me thin. I did still come to the conclusion though that CA is home, and so I am decided that unless the amazing dream job that one would have to be a fool to turn down is thrusted into my lap, I am moving back in December. And it'd seriously have to be thursted, because I'm not going to look for it. Anyhow hope you are getting some rest now, at least for a few days before fall term starts (which I expect is soon for you).

Band was PE and Fine Arts - it makes more sense that it'd be Fine Arts than PE. Just because Marching Band was less than half of the year, but you still got a full years worth of PE out of it. I mean I could see getting the semester, it is rigorous, but for half the year you are just sitting in a chair 2 hours a day playing, no muscle/movement required. Yea I think Universities called it Government as well. Weirdly was talking about this with a friend here (in England) who is also from CA, she's from Palo Alto (which is on the peninsula but Bay Area still, just other side of myself). Her school had a year of Econ and as far as I can tell nothing that covered Government, but maybe it was just incorporated in and she didn't think about it in depth.

Haha, exactly. He's usually the most readable even when you get to those crap themes that nobody wants to read an article about. I was giving Gladstone another shot yesterday and while I do like something about his tone and sense of humor, his writing just bores me to tears. It's just not well applied subject wise.

Haha, derpy baby. The friend I'm staying with atm hated the Snape Memory, I thought it was fine. Yea the book version of it was just epic win, but I think it did a good job with the justifiable space you could give it. She didn't go into great detail about what she disliked about it, so I'm assuming it's just the brevity and whirl through. Her girlfriend hasn't watched beyond the first movie because she hates them so. I guess if she thought even the first one was atrocious she definitely shouldn't check out the rest of the series, as the books get longer and thus the movie versions have more to screw up. xd

And the only other thing I have to say about Islam, the friend I'm staying with her roommates shall be an Atheist, A devout Muslim and A devout Catholic. rofl I told her she needed a Jew...and maybe a pagan. She's now on a quest. It could be reality show status there, haha. However she's been living with the Muslim and Catholic in the dorms, and the Atheist is a good friend, so as long as none of them are the preachy type (and b/c the Muslim and Catholic are friends I assume they are not) they should be fine. I assume if they were crazy Bible/Quran thumpers they would have issues with my friend being a lesbian too.

I'm going to have to re-read the last bit of the roleplay to try and remember where I was going with that, which probably won't happen until I at least get through the apartment search hell. So sorry shall probably be a bit before I update that. Must channel all creativity into the evil dissertation. sweatdrop

Anyhow glad you are alive. ^_^