Willo O'Brien

– flickr tags: glimse

– my friend elana who i got to see, who has 2 kids now and is 12 years older than me and I’m almost 30, but we’ve known eachother for almost 9 years! She’s a good friend and it was great to catch up. :)

– music. I’m so in love with my music collection!! hahaa.. Actually.. if some of you recall when I had a bunch of stuff stolen at the beginning of the year, one of the things was my 40GB iPod. And my car stereo. And for 3 months now, I haven’t had a stereo in my car. But my iPod thankfully got replaced rather quickly up to a 60GB iPod Photo! aww yaaa. I only have yet to buy my new camera (SD500) and I’ll be fully recovered from that painful memory. Anyway – I *finally* got a stereo installed! And it’s sweet because it has a AUX IN right on the front to hook up my iPod directly. woohoo! It sounds great… and I have tunes again!

– special k cereal w/ vanilla soymilk. mmmmm.

– having worked out an awesome 3 whole times. hahhaa :) gotta start somewhere! I feel better all ready and am sailing through my book!

– future possibilities!

musical obsessions of the week: The 6ths, Low, Fiona Apple & Death From Above 1979. Oh & I heard Loquat playing in the LAC on Friday night & was so happy. :) And recently a Weakerthans song came on & sounded really good to me, but I don’t have any of their stuff. Do any of you?

So, I’m trying really hard this week to not be totally depressed that I’m not at SXSW. For any of you that don’t know, it’s like Spring Break for music nuts like me. How could I not be there!? AAAG! The photos on flickr are slaying me. Those could be mine! Drinking a nice, cold Shiner Bock!? Oh how I miss you, Austin!!!!

Deal is, it just wouldn’t have been the same this year. I (somehow) didn’t have a crew of ppl to go with.. I mean, I knew some peeps going, but last year having my main squeeze, and best show buddy along for a week of ridiculous fun… there was just no way I could go there mostly solo. Even though something tells me I very well may could have met my future husband there. :p But hey! Obviously it wasn’t meant to be. So lover, if you’re out there resting up after your week of day in & day out drinking & seeing live music, and wondering where art thou your match is… I’M RIGHT HERE! Sorry I missed ya this year.

Right, so.. I think that this leads me to how I’m SINGLE right now. Yup. Who knew, after my months of brownie-eating-movie-watchin’ hermitsville healing my little broken heart that I’d actually be ready to scream that from the rafters, eh? Well, we all did, I guess. It’s hard to keep me down… and the silver lining of any dumb ol break up is that (thankfully) time heals. Eventually. And, slowly but surely, I’m getting there. Well, at least I’m getting out & having fun! These last few weekends I’ve been having the time of my life, really. Besides the fact that for the most part I think dating is dorky and painful, it’s kinda fun having all those first date jitters, and meeting someone new and figuring out what they’re all about. People are fascinating, really.

So speaking of… Guess what!? I went on a date lastnight! Well… “Drinks!” Which is like a date, but with that great unofficial caveat we could be like, “umm, ya – gotta go!” hahaa… Suffice to say it all turned out better than I expected. I wasn’t that sure going into it, but instead of turning it down – I thought “aww what the hell, I’ll just go have some drinks, I’m sure it’ll be fun”… and the good news is, it was. So fun and good that we’re now going to the next step and *dun du dun dun!* having DINNER. hahaa…

Alright – so back to my writhing in pain over not being at SXSW this year. I was even, if I had actually gone, going to hit the Interactive part, too. A ton of my geektabulous blogger pals were there. And the 4-eyed dorko within me is actually totally jealous seeing the sea of laptops and instantaneous relay of information between participants. I wanted to be a part of that!

BUT.. you know why it’s all OK? It’s all ok because of 2 wonderful trips coming up!

#1. Coachella baby!! My show ho pals ARE pulling through for this one, of course, and we’ve got a house booked and everything!!! Again, it will be different from last year‘s love induced high, but I’m open to the new and amazing experience – both from music and meeting kick ass people. It’s going to be great! And I’m working out so I can be all ready to wear very little clothing. VLC baby! I look forward to wearing VLC any chance I can get.. so give me 100 degree weather, and let’s peel it off! hahhaaa… I feel like I’m a VJ on MTV’s Spring Break or something right now so I’ll stop.

#2. In May I’m going to Toronto and NYC!!! And if there was any way to make my “woohoo” about a million times bigger and stronger and louder to express myself here, I WOULD! Picture that, and a *gazillion* exclamation points! :) I’m f*ing STOKED to say the least!

I have a ton of places I want to travel to, but NYC was at the top of my list of places I need to visit in the U.S., let alone all the jaunts I want to take overseas, so I am so thrilled to be finally getting there again! I have only been there ONCE. Can you believe it? And it wasn’t even as fun as I KNOW NYC can go off… so I’m really looking forward to being there & checking out the music scene FOR REALS.

So, itinerary is: I’m hitting Toronto first for about 5 days, where I will be put up and exposed to the glory that is The Big Smoke by the *ZAZZERIFIC* one & only Kat the CRIPPLER!! Which of course will include: shows, drinks and bellyaches from laughing our asses off! aawww yaaaa, zazz sistaaahs.

Kat & I have never met in person. She’s what I call a “internet friend”. And I have a few of you out there, you know who you are! But Kat & I are convinced – as she said – we’re cut from the same cloth. The girl is into the same music, we both love to party our asses off and just from her writing, our emails & IM’s… she cracks me up. She came to visit SF once but we missed eachother… and when I wrote about wanting to get outta dodge, she suggested I visit her and I said “I’m so THERE”! And, believe it or not, it will be my virgin experience in the fine country of Canada!! SWEET! Yes, I’m making my friendly relations now for when I need to flee our god forsaken (republican laden, bushf*ck’d) country. :)

Alright, so after 5 site-seeing, show-goin, drink-drunken (and therin, hopefully not too hungover) days in the fine city of Toronto, I will be flying my arse down to NYC for another 5 days of fun in New York City!! And CHECK THIS OUT: My girls Jem & Tania are going to be there the same week!!!! waaahooooo!!! I get to experience the NYC music scene with my favorite show ho’s?! Maaan, someone is looking out for me. That is just TOO COOL! Plus, Kat has a wedding there that weekend, so she’ll be there… and I get to see my friend Sarah (and meet all her hott girlfriends :p) and my friend Karrie… hit the museums, I’m so excited!

The coolest part is that I am so mobile with my business, so I can work from there most of my trip! So while I’m staying with Kat & Sarah & Karrie, and they go off to work – I can work, too… and then at night: WE PLAY! However, I’m thinkin there’ll be a good 4 or 5 days in NYC that I just allow myself a full force VK. Depending on how my workload is at the time – we’ll see! :)

So yes… I’m not at SXSW this year.. but I’ve got some sweet trips completely dedicated to having fun and seeing music in other cities. And to that I say: aaaww. yaaaaa.

Anniversary Edition! It’s officially been 1 year that I’ve been a mac user! woohoo!

A lot of you were reading when I first started making the decision to switch from the pc. And then when I made the decision, and then got it, had some serious troubles, a slight learning curve, but overall was very happy.

Well, recently a friend of mine, and print designer, was telling me about how badly she needed to upgrade off her old mac (OS 9 still! *gasp!* :p), and was saying she was going to get a G5. And I was like “wha!?”, as I feel like it’s just so damn sweet to have the portability of the Powerbook G4! And truly, unless you’re doing massive video or 3D rendering, it’s just as powerful as the desktops we’ve been using the last couple years, which was why I was finally ready to go laptop. Not to mention powerbook – because they’re awesome! So she went for it & is now the proud owner of a 15 inch like me! woohoo!

Anyway – she’s getting all her programs set up & stuff, and that’s always fun (albeit, time consuming!) – but for her, it’s ESPECIALLY fun because she’s finally upgraded to OSX and there’s SO MANY cool programs for it! So I started compiling a list of my favorite apps for her.. and realized, in the spirit of TGIF, I should just post them here. :)

Over the past year, I’ve posted about mac apps with more detailed descriptions – but for a quick list, here’s my favorites (as of right now) that I would recommend to any mac user:

• Quicksilver – Simply a must have. Your entire computer is at your fingertips! See Merlin’s QS tips to get even more out of it!
• Adium – great chat app for all 3: Y!, AIM & MSN. Plus, you know a chat app is cool when your dock icon can be a Domo-kun and you can use sound effects from Napoleon Dynamite. :)
• Default Folder – comes in handy, as the fact that open & save windows don’t let you rename and move files inherently on the mac is just STUPID! As you can see, it’s one of my biggest gripes about the mac. It just makes NO SENSE! Default folder makes this a bit more bearable for me, but still not as good as the PC.
• Cyberduck (FTP program) Cyberducky, you’re the one!
• iBiz (formerly iWork) – I’ve been using this for my business pretty much from day 1… I love it!
• iScrobbler – reports what I’m listening to in iTunes (works with other apps too!)
• MacJanitor – good to have to keep things clean & orderly!
• MacStumbler – if you’re a laptop user, this will come in handy *someday*
• ToDo X – this is my favorite application! :) You can even download this little widget to get your to do list on your iPod!
• SpamSieve – great for sorting out the spam!
• wClock – I almost forgot this one because it runs so seamlessly.. but I wouldn’t want to live w/o it!
• Synergy – Controls iTunes from the menu bar
• LittleSnitch – don’t let your apps report to the big guys without you knowing it!

These, below, I have tried and really like, but haven’t pulled the trigger on buying them and/or I am trying something different now. But I do like them & recommend you check em out:

• PathFinder – this is very cool. The “drop stack” is great, but I really liked the built in image viewer (that tiger promises to have, apparently), and the way it shows where you’re at like cookie crumb navigation. I just couldn’t plunk down the money just yet…
• A Better Finder Rename – this comes in REALLY handy if you need to do some random batch rename on files. I downloaded the trial and it works like a charm!
• AutoHide – this is very cool, as it keeps things clean and tidy for you. However, it’s a tad buggy when it comes to certain password pop up windows & such.. although there are work-arounds… but you have to know about them otherwise you’ll go nuts because the only way to shut it off is to open the activity monitor! Spirited Away is a similar little app that hides programs that aren’t being used after a certain amount of time… and you can set apps you never want it to hide… so I might try that now.
• Carbon Copy Cloner – a great way to easily make backups. I just got Retrospect Backup 6.0 though, and am going to try that out (after I call tech support because I’m afraid it’s going to wipe out everything on my external drive, so I’m playin it safe!)

Are you a mac power-user and don’t see a certain app on this list you think I *must* use? Tell me about it!

My friend, Jeff stopped by yesterday and, as always, was toting some INCREDIBLE cameras along with him. So we went out & took some shots in my (overgrown) garden. Check out the ones I took: Canon Digital Rebel XT Album. A few even made Jeff’s gallery! (he’s working on the review now)

UPDATE: ooh! I just found out this is a succulent! NEAT! I love finding out what plants are called. And “succulent” is just a cool word! I discovered this by seeing this Succulents! Pool on flickr that Judith had added to, so I added mine! :)

p.s. Not to scare my Mom or anything, but right before Jeff got here, he got robbed! Really crazy, and when he arrived and told me that, it totally freaked me out! I mostly drive past this location, but it’s literally only 4 blocks away from me. And this is my neighborhood! My quiet, and rather sweet little neighborhood. There are families and kids everywhere… and it’s just so crazy to think this shit can happen in broad daylight! Even odder, is the place Jeff was robbed is on this REALLY busy intersection (Cesar Chavez & Folsom). There’s immigrant workers standing everywhere (not like they would testify!), and tons of cars streaming by. Suffice to say, however, on one corner there’s a Catholic Elementary School, and on the other there’s low income housing. (the side he was walking past where it happened) :/

Anyway, I was totally shook up for Jeff, but sooo thankful they didn’t take his other stuff he had with him. That would have been HORRIBLE! I’m glad you’re ok, Jeff!!

hey you IM’ers… read Trina’s warning on IM virus’!

cool, check it out: the ghetto blaster of 2005 :p

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I went & worked out this morning, and it felt so good. My neighbor, Emma, goes to the same gym – so while my regular gym buddy is in Singapore, me and Emma are gym’n it. I’m stoked to have someone to make a time with and make it happen. See you later brownie-laden-lovehandles!

Plus, I get to read my book.. and today I have to say my iPod knew I was sweatin, and played a kick ass string of songs that are perfect to workout to.

I’m in love with Kissing Tigers.

in case you didn’t know yet.. you can finally hear the long awaited album by fiona apple! I love her & hole heartedly agree with with jem’s capital letter emotions to sony in this post. (and also click there if you want to go download fiona’s new album for FREE! :) weeeeee!!!!

I am delighted to report that I had a delightfully wild and crazy weekend! wahoo!! I hope to get around to posting aaall the photos later tonite, but I am way too overdue to at least give you a sneak peak:

Out of my raucous bandmates (Hez, Jem, and Misty), I obviously went as the more “innocent and sweet” 80’s girl… maybe the oh so innocent one who ends up getting drunk, skipping curfew and passing out in the backseat of a car with her boyfriend in the HS parking lot? Well now, that may have been last Friday night or it may have been 12 years ago, I’ll let you figure that one out. :) BUT the most hilarious thing is that my prom dress from my freshman year (1989/90 – it counts!) is strikingly similar to this one! I’ve emailed Dan (my hot senior boyfriend who showed me the night of my life and what prom is *really* all about) to see if he’ll send me the pic again. Pretty funny!!

Anyway – wait till you see the rest. There are some real classics. Oh & yes, that is a side pony-tail I’m sportin’ there. It was a big hit. ;)

UPDATE: Photos posted!!

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In other news, my trees & plants are growing like gangbusters in lieu of Spring! woohoo!

The one on the left here is actually a iris beautiful orchid that Jee gave me for my birthday last June! It was beautiful for 3 months after I got it, and then went dormant and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see it come back.. but LOOK! It’s about to sprout! yay!!!

And my big huge tree has 4 baby sprouts up top! They’re growing like crazy – I literally can see them getting bigger every single day, which is just cool. But, I’m concerned because I added new soil recently, but it looks all ashy (see pic). Anyone know why that is? I think I need to re-pot this huge tree!

I’ve launched 2 sites this week (!), and am on another deadline for this afternoon.

I’m excited though, because I have 2 projects starting next week that are really fun! One is custom illustration/packaging design & the other is a homepage revamp w/ a fun Flash element. Two jobs I’m totally stoked on creatively, which is so great!

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Today’s another beautiful day out and I’d love to go up for another hike before Jeff comes to take the SD500 back (for a week or so, so he can finish the review).. and then I think I’m going to buy it! Lastnight at the Futureheads show (which was FANTASTIC!!!!), I realized it can zoom while taking videos! And the videos are so quality! It automatically adjusted to the light when I moved it around to focus on different members on the stage… the image is really clear… all this in a club! Great low light video + zooming while you record + no limit on the movie time (just as much space as you have left on your memory card) = KICK ASS CAMERA! So ya, I’m sold.

I’ll post those photos at some point this weekend, I have a ton (back through 2 weeks ago – the Walkmen show) that I need to sort & post. This weekend for sure!

UPDATE! Photos Posted!

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SO STOKED! Hez had extra prom dresses, and I went over & tried em on lastnight & am happy to say I have a prom dress to wear to tonite’s party!! Wooohoooo!! I can’t wait to see everyone’s 80’s get up… photos from tonite are going to be good!! And I might even meet my friend Sarah at her Zeitgeist Happy Hour gathering in my full 80’s prom getup. aawww yaaaa :)

Are you listening to Bagel Radio’s Live Show today? If not you should :)

Happy Friday all!