I've been busy.

That's normally a great thing, because I feel alive. But time flies when you're feeling alive, and oh look. It's already Thursday. I've had a lot of work to do, and the excessive heat wasn't helping at all. Before school started, I was sleeping a good nine hours a night (I know, a little too much) and then mid-February, I had to jump to surviving on just six hours. At this point my body is feeling a bit sluggish, and I think even with 35 hours of work and 15 units of school, I'll make it if I prioritize things a bit better.

Yesterday at work, it hit me, that I am going to have to get more sleep in somehow. If you know me, you know that I need sleep. Of course everyone needs sleep, but once in a while y'all can go a day or two with less sleep. Not me. Anything less than eight hours, there'll be hell to pay. Even at the greatest get-together with friends or a party, if I know I can't sleep in the next day, I'm going home. If I know that one more drink will push me over and make me stay up all night puking, believe me, no amount of alcohol can tempt me. I need my sleep.

The way I found out yesterday was the first time ever that this happened. I went to the bathroom, and while I was there, my nose felt a bit itchy, like I'd sneeze or something, so I rubbed my nose with the back of my hand. Then I found my hand, covered in dark red blood. Gory, I tell you. I washed it off and thankfully none of it got on my clothes, but the blood would not stop flowing! I soaked tissue after tissue with blood, and although it probably wasn't enough to call 9-1-1, I've never really bled so freely, especially from my nose! After what seemed like hours, it finally paused, and I went on with my day. I guess that was my body telling me to give it a rest!

You know, it really feels good to get up in the morning, real early. And I'm not a morning person. When I open my eyes around 6:30 -7AM (I do this naturally, without the alarm going off -- then I go back to sleep and have my alarm wake me up again) the world seem so serene. Especially now that summer is here. The birds are chirping, and just the right amount of sunlight brightens my room, and a cool breeze caress my toes. It's beautiful -- my window gives me the most incredible view of mornings.

Since I am taking today's blog to blab on about random nothings, I'll write about a gripe. A pet-peeve, if you will. Yes, another one. I was reading Glamour magazine, one of the magazines that a journalism instructor once called "smut." (In that class, I always felt like I was sinning by indulging in guilty pleasures like Glamour, Cosmopolitan and etc.) There was one little section, titled: "Gizmo of the month." It featured various gadgets and briefly named a pro and con for each. This month was by-lined: "Finally! Affordable digital cameras that take crisp, print-worthy shots."

My first complaint would be regarding the first one, which is the HP Photosmart 735. The "only gripe" it says, "Its 16MB of storage space is relatively stingy." Now, you can't write that as a con for this item, if basically all the other items have 16MB of storage. You gotta find something unique that is bothersome! The second one was the Canon PowerShot SD10 DIgital ELPH. The only gripe, it says, "Looking at a screent (not a lense) is awkward at first." Of course there are other (namely cheaper) digital cameras that do not have the little screen, all the ones named on this page were of that caliber. All had little LCD monitors that showed what the photo would look like. Again, this cannot be the "con" of this item, if it is a characteristic shared by all the others on that list.

For this one, the pro, or as it says, "Why we love it," states "It's the cutest camera we've seen and prints directly from some printers." Ok. The word "cutest" just discredits the source. It could have said that its red color makes it stand out from the sea of silver-colored cameras, or whatever. Also, many other cameras do print directly off a printer (some of the new photoprinters anyways).

I can't believe that this was titled "Affordable digital cameras." For a magazine that is not geared toward the upper class, I can't believe this! There are plenty of other digicams that are under $200 that are very stylish, functional, and worth the acclaim! There is absolutely no need to splurge on a $399 camera, unless it is something you specifically desire. Or you had a gift certificate of $400, like I did, then a Canon S400 isn't too bad.

This magazine is geared toward working moms who juggle a career and kids, and have to scrounge for cheap shoes and at-home, DIY hair dying kits. I was really appalled, because I really like this magazine. And although it costs so little for me to enjoy this spectacular magazine, if I see something that I could have written and done a better job standing on my head while eating a oreo-cookie pie, I am outraged.

A person named Rebecca Freed wrote this, or compiled this info. I am ashamed of you! I am sure she had written brilliant stuff before, but something like this really sticks out. Come on. Do the research. I know it's small -- fills up only a third of a page, but on a monthly magazine, a magazine sold world-wide, you need to try harder. Perfection is not required, but have the decency to recognize that the reader would know some of these things are ... well... stupid. Come on, "The memory card is about $20 more than others?" All of these come with one included in the manufacturer's box! And what size memory are you talking about? I know space is limited, but I have to expect better. If I am paying to read something, it better be good. Or it'll be "smut" like that instructor said. 'Nuff said.