Yeah I was born and raised in Hawaii. And my name actually is Liberty. I know, it sounds so patriotic and American . I was born on the July 4th, that's why. My parents were funny like that. Nice to meet you Audrey!

You're so lucky you're going snowboarding over spring break! I guess you're grounding would be over by then, hehe.

Yeah both my parents are Filipino. My dad was born here but he grew up in Ilocos Norte. My mom's from Visayas but she grew up in Manila. Tagalog is the only dialect they have in common. (Not counting English of course!)

Haha, I'm not as fluent as I used to be. I'm very fluent in understanding Tagalog though!

Cool, I'll see you here on the boards!

Yeah, it's repetitive. And I guess that's why I have a hard time getting into Radiohead, they do seem pretty boring, hehe.

My weekend was okay. Worked at Apple yesterday then went to the new Costco in Kapolei today. Didn't go to Target though because there were so many other people that were going there, plus we bought milk and food from Costco so we pretty much had to go straight home anyways. Chilled the rest of the day.

How about yours?

Hmmm... I don't feel like I listen to enough of their stuff to legitimize having a favorite, though I like "Everything In Its Right Place."

I only have a few Radiohead songs in my library. Do you?

Yes! I live in Hawaii and I'm Filipino. How about you, where do you live? I see you like Muse and Franz Ferdinand... me too! I added you as a friend, I hope you don't mind.

Yay! Freedom! I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't said anything. Strangely enough, the sentence that said you were drunk had more typos in it than the rest of your message

Did your friend like Muse because of Twilight? Or vice versa? Or was it random coincidence she likes both? And does she only like SMBH? Yes, that was a lot of questions, sorry.

Yeah that's what makes the whole thing so tragic... unfortunately she just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Yeah, you're right about the Phoenix/Franz thing. More work than it's worth. But I found myself looking up the venue on Google Maps earlier today. I didn't realize how close to the airport it was.

That "Twatlight" outburst made me chuckle.

I know this is totally random, but I just noticed your birthday is on June 13. Rivers Cuomo (from Weezer), his birthday is on June 13 too.

I just came from visiting Mrs. Yamashita's memorial again to take some snapshots. I was walking along the sidewalk when I crossed paths with this girl who saw my Muse shirt and asked, "Muse... are you a Twilight fan?" It took a moment for me to register, then I mumbled, "Twilight sucks," and I kept walking, I don't think she heard me though.

Ugh seriously. The only time I had a math class that I actually enjoyed was the one class I had to take my freshman year at HPU. Not only was he super nice (and kinda cute lol), he actually made it... fun. (Yup, that's right, fun.) It was Survey of Mathematics so it was as fun as math could get anyway: probability, number patterns, that sort of thing. It was better than taking pre-cal, that's for sure!

I was looking at the Arizona thread in the gig forum, which started as a topic on a Muse gig in Arizona thread and has evolved into a meet-up thread for the Franz show in Phoenix. My friends want to go there Memorial Day weekend and they said they would make it up to me for missing Franz. Awww. I've still kinda been thinking about going for the show though.

Yes, she's in a better place now. RIP Mrs. Yamashita!

I totally believe you. I had a math teacher that would do both: pile on the homework AND fail most of the class. I ended up passing that class (it was trig) with a C but only because she gave me and another classmate (who I work with now) an extra credit writing assignment because she knew we both could write (we wrote for the paper). That trig class is my least favorite class of all time. Big surprise right?

An extended "Lucid Dreams"? Nice! It's finished downloading for me so I'm starting to listen to it now. "Propane Nightmares" is playing and just launched into the synthy, dance-sounding riff, woo!

Yeah, she was a great teacher and a good person who didn't deserve to leave the way she did. After work today, I left a lei at the makeshift memorial that's been growing at the front of the school and I could feel myself tear up. I wish I had visited her one last time... but I guess there's no use for that kind of thinking now. I'm gonna miss her, we all will.

Yeah I know, the person who wrote that tutorial really goes into detail... which is good if you have some time on your hands, hehe. Are you busy with school stuff? Like midterms and such?

Hullabaloo, yay! Yeah, you're right, there's quite a bit of mellow stuff on there. "Recess" and "Map of Your Head" are my favorites off the b-side portion. I'm a recent believer in "Hyper Chondriac Music" too... something about me with slow songs, being half asleep, and being on the bus (like what happened to me with "Words So Leisured")... something just clicks. Though I prefer "Hyper Music"...

Hmm, I shall check out Pendulum. I listened to some samples and they sound like a mix of dance and rock music. Sounds like good stuff!

And yes, the thing with my former teacher (I realized yesterday she was also our senior class advisor) was very sad. I went to the candlelight memorial at my old high school yesterday. Very moving. I kind of lost it when her husband and two little girls arrived outside the cafeteria. Just the thought they won't be seeing their mommy...

Her husband is so strong; he told everyone not to be angry about it because anger wouldn't bring her back. And he said that this was like a part of us was dying and being reborn, and to use this as an opportunity to better ourselves so her death wouldn't be in vain. Then he made us laugh when he told a funny story about how they went to Sam's Club and she snuck a whole bunch of Twilight books for the silent reading library into the cart he was pushing. He said he looked back and there were no books left on display. (I didn't know she liked Twilight until yesterday, but it sounds like she recommended reading the books and not see the movie. Phew.)

Quite a few alumni (including some of my old classmates and coworkers) got up in front of everyone to share their memories about her. I would've spoken if I knew exactly what to say. Instead, when I got home, I wrote a short blog about her. If you'd like to read it, it's here.

Hmm... I would think the brown colored layer in saturation mode wouldn't work in all cases. It really depends on the picture you're working with. I haven't figured out a formula for determining what color works or doesn't work, but playing around with different colors and trying each blend mode (and opacity) helps!

I have a couple of LiveJournal icon tutorials saved that I'll point you to:

http://community.livejournal.com/__belfrycons/4439.html (this one was done in Paint Shop Pro but should also translate to Photoshop, GIMP, etc.)

http://community.livejournal.com/color_freakshow/1692.html

They really break down each step and help set a foundation for giving photos that "look." But again it really depends on the photo you have, as you might not need to do all the steps for certain photos.

I think the guy's okay. The news story said they released him out of the hospital shortly afterward, so I'm thinking his injuries weren't too serious.

I'm gonna go to a candlelight memorial tonight to honor my high school freshman English teacher. Apparently she was murdered at random and in broad daylight on Friday... we're all deeply saddened that it had to happen to such a wonderful teacher and person... makes you wonder what this world is coming to these days...

Man I really hope they come here next tour! Those BAMP guys better get on it and beg on their knees for Muse! Speaking of which BAMP haven't gotten back to me yet about Franz...

I was gonna make the heart pink but I'm not a pink kinda gal. Purple's a nice color, though right when you said "purple heart" I thought, "oh crap like the military medal!"

Yay, the after photo looks sex-ay! That NME photo cracks me up! Good job on finding the same steps on GIMP! Was that difficult at all to find the tools since they're in different places?

Gah, I know! Muse, bring it on already!

Two of my favorite gentlemen in one av... and it's a real pic! (as opposed to a Photoshopped, combine-two-pics-in-one pic!)

Did you see the video of Muse recording in the bathroom? First thing I did at work today. Yay for Twitter and Musewire/Muselive.

Yeah doesn't happen very often at all. It was a relatively small one but someone got hurt. Here's a short news story on it if you're interested: http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20090212_Tornado_tears_through_golf_course.html

OMG are you serious! That's awesome! I just hope they aren't just saying that! *crosses fingers in hopes that it will someday come true*

I went to Hot Topic today and looked and looked for the Muse shirt you told me about. I finally found and extra-small one on top of a stack of Underoath shirts. I thought it wouldn't fit but I tried it on and it's just right! I guess because it's a men's shirt and all, but with an extra-small it fits like a girl's t-shirt. Anyway, I asked the guy at the register if they had any more Muse shirts and he said that was all they have and that he knew that because someone else came in earlier asking the same thing. (Then I wondered if it was you and if there was a Hot Topic at Kahala Mall. I hope you were able to buy a shirt!) That's crazy to think that they actually sold out of Muse shirts and I happened to buy the last one. I didn't think they were that popular here... then I thought "those damn Twilight poser kids."

In light of this happy Muse news, I have some devastating news too. I learned this morning that the woman who was randomly stabbed at the Ewa Beach Shopping Center yesterday was my freshman English teacher in high school. Here's a link to a news story if you're interested: http://kgmb9.com/main/content/view/14534/40/. You know when certain information doesn't hit you until you're by yourself and able to think? That's what happened to me. Didn't hit me until I was making my way home on the bus. I cried to myself silently for part of the bus ride. Then I was mad at whoever took her life away; I'm almost certain the guy was on drugs. Now it's a combo of those feelings + regret, since I hadn't visited her at all since I graduated, though I saw her somewhere once not too long ago. I know this news is completely unrelated but I just need someone else to share this with. Mrs. Yamashita was one of the nicest people I've ever had the chance of knowing and one of the best teachers I've ever had.

Yeah exactly! It's great that they have consistently been recognized for being an awesome live band, at least in their home country. I would absolutely LOVE to catch Muse live!

The whole Franz/Phoenix thing isn't a guarantee but the prospect of going there to see them is very tempting and exciting! Just checked out the Franz thread and saw the messages about Phoenix. I guess that makes sense for a lot of Cali fans who aren't in the Bay Area or able to attend Coachella. I'm not sure if I would fly out there by myself if my friends aren't able to go. Maybe I could meet up with the Musers there, but it's kind of awkward for me because I still feel like a n00b here!

Haha, yeah I know, I'm sorry. I think I also just ran out of things to talk about! But yeah, you have a point. They did only play a few shows last year. But they were high profile shows, so probably another example of "quality over quantity."

That's cool! I wish I had friends that liked Muse. I have a few Apple coworkers who dig Muse but it's hard making friends with people you only work with once a week.

I'm trying to put together a trip, possibly to Phoenix, with a few of my friends from high school. I'm trying to make it so that it's the same weekend in April that Franz Ferdinand will be performing there but it's tough because of the different schedules we have. We're trying to do a weekend trip so we don't have to worry about taking leave. My one good friend is a teacher and my other two friends are bank tellers, so you can imagine the challenge. But it would be so cool, especially if we got to see Franz! Oh and Arizona stuff too. I've only been there one other time so it'd be nice to go back.

Hey Kylee! I've been okay, just busy with meetings and cranking out website designs. I know, I'm so proud of the guys! Someone sent me a link to that interview through Twitter this afternoon so I was watching it at work . Thanks for sending me that link though because I couldn't hear some of what was being said. (Didn't want to turn it up too loud because there was a client meeting going on in the other room.) Plus I left my earbuds and phone at home which was a bummer. But yeah, I'm glad they won best live band, though I wasn't that surprised! =D Best album art and Matt as sexiest male too! (I love the look on Matt's face when the interviewer said he won - he looked so shocked! "I'm too short to be sexy!" )

How've you been doing?

Oh btw, I was going through AFI's website the other day and I caught your friend's shoutout to you and your dad on his blog. I noticed he spelled your name wrong though! I bet that must be common for you. It's right here: http://begintransmission.afireinside.net/raine. Lucky he got to meet and record with them! =)