There she goes again with fishnets on and dreadlocks in her hair

Hi, all! I'm working on the second installment of my blog on my identity. I'll try to have it up next week but I'm rather busy! School's getting hectic once again, I'm preparing for finals and my remaining papers and projects. I'm very excited about next semester though. I'm taking ZUMBA, ONLINE BIO, HISTORY, SPEECH, FRENCH! Yes, I'm very pumped. :D Wheee!

Also, today in my Mexican-American Studies class, we were talking about illegal Mexican immigrants coming into the United States. Our final paper is over the subject and it's a subject I think I'll do well in writing about. It's an issue I see on a day-to-day basis. Hell, a lot of my friends and family have LIVED it. So, in other words I'm also excited about writing this paper. Fail?

Oh goodness I'm so tired! I haven't been able to sleep well.. Anyone have any tips for me to fall asleep faster/more soundly?

Also, you might notice that my blog looks different and I go by a "different" name now. I didn't want to commit to a new alias as much as I liked MelonXXXCupcake. But... I'm Pepper Fishnetz. That's not my legal name, of course but it's a nickname that a lot of people know me by and I really love it. I was christened with this name about five years ago. I used to have a t-shirt that said "I'm a Pepper" referring to the drink, Dr. Pepper, so my friend started calling me Pepper. I also used to wear fishnets all the time. And when I mean all the time, I think I wore them 3/5 school days. I loved fishnets! I still do, but I haven't worn any in ages because they tear so easy and I don't have enough money to buy a new pair every week. Anyway, my friend noticed this and said, "I should call you Fishnets instead." Then I said, "That should be my last name.. I should be Pepper Fishnets... No, Fishnets with a Z!" And that is how I became Pepper. What's funny is that a lot of people refer to me as Pepper. Even my boyfriend has done it! XD Anyway... I switched my Twitter feed (over on the right of the home page of this blog) to my Pepper Fishnetz account. :)

My to-do list is ridiculous! I need to gather all the Black Friday ads I need and pick out what I'm buying for who (no running around like a chicken with my head cut off this year!) and what I'm making for everyone. I need to get this done like... tomorrow. I won't have time on any other day. Friday, I'm going to see New Moon, hopefully. Saturday I might be going out with my boyfriend and attending an event where Etsy sellers will be.. selling. XD Sunday I might be doing a podcast. And next week I'll be getting ready for spending Thanksgiving with my family that's out of town. I'm sooooo excited for that too! Our family has grown a lot in the last year and the thought of being in a house with tens of cool, friendly, loving friends and family is very warming to a girl who grew up as an only child.

Speaking of podcast... My friend Dalila and I are starting one! Our show is called Less Than Three because it's this "<3", a heart and since it's just two of us, we're less than three! Get it? Cute, right? You can find us on our Podbean Blog, LessThanThree.podbean.com or download/subscribe to us via iTunes here. I'm really excited about this too. I'm just high on life right now! Anyway, our podcast is just us ranting about things we like or don't like, usually in a comedic fashion. We only have one done and we'll do our first official episode this weekend so look out for it!

Alright, I think we're all caught up. Have a lovely rest of the week, cupcakes.

:)

-Pepper Fishnetz!

My identity

I really should update more often, but I often get inspired late at night and next thing I know I'm crawling into bed. Nyeh. Well, anywho, time for the blog.

As far as my life, not too much has happened. I'm trying to keep positive and I'm really excited about my future. I'm hoping to get an apartment by next fall, but we will see how that goes. I still have quite a bit of research to do before any of my ideas will be finalized. I will say this though, I applied for a job yesterday at a local cupcake bakery! I won't tell you which one it is yet, but I was told to expect a call today.. It's 3pm... Still no call. :( Keep your fingers crossed for me?

Lately in my Mexican-American studies class (which is kicking my ass), we've been talking about Chicanos and how they identify themselves. They are both Mexican and American, yet they are neither one... It got me thinking. What is my identity? On paper, I'm American but I don't really think I'm a traditional American. Racially, I identify as Mexican, but I'm not a traditional Mexican either. In fact, I sometimes feel ostrasized by my own race, and these things that make me different from other Mexicans make me different from other people as well. I'm just so... not conventional? How should I explain... A "traditional" Mexican-American girl of my age enjoys going to parties, she drinks, she likes designer clothes, her favorite movie is Scarface and she tYpeS LiKe DiS!!!1111

I'm not like that at all. I'm straight-edge, I like staying in and watching movies, while I like some designer clothes I'd rather buy something out of Nylon than Vogue, my favorite movie is Constantine and I type mostly correctly. How did I turn out so different? I'm not trying to "bash" girls that act the way I described earlier, I'm just trying to understand how I'm so uncool. I find it really hard to relate to people my age a lot of times. They either think I'm too immature or that I act too grown up. It makes it hard to make new friends. It was easier in middle and high school because I went to a magnet school and everyone there was at least a little nerdy even if they didn't show it.

What makes me different? My mother is the breadwinner of my family, for one. I'm an only child. I like to read and listen to rock music. I like cupcakes and I love baking. My favorite things include vampires, rainbows, skulls, hearts, stars and stand-up comedy. I'm not really punk or emo anymore. I'm not a hipster either... At least I don't think I am. I'm not a complete anime freak... I don't watch it enough. 

So what am I?

Remember, remember

Happy afternoon everyone. :) It's Guy Fawkes Day! How am I celebrating? Ideally, I'd watch V for Vendetta along with a bottle of Welch's sparkling grape juice (I party hardcore, you see) but I have neither and am broke and carless so I will most likely just bum around for the day.

In other news, I have a new pet! His name is Freddie (after Freddie Mercury, of course) and he's a chihuahua. :D Here he is:

Don't tell him but he has a cat's collar. Even that's too big for him! He also likes to wear things such as sweaters. How did I manage to get a a chihuahua? A friend of the family inherited him some how but they travel/aren't home enough and just couldn't take care of him. They were going to take him to the pound. :( Couldn't let that happen, so now he lives with us. :) He used to fancy me a bit more than my parents but seeing as how I'm on campus more than I'm at home he's cozied up to my dad a lot.

Remember I said I was making stencils? Well, I have a picture of one I made the other night.

It's Gloomy Bear!

It was relatively easy to make. I found a picture of Gloomy and opened it in a photo editor (I use Microsoft Digital Image), converted it to black & white, then set it to high contrast. I didn't want to fuss with having "loose" pieces like the inside of his ears or his "snout", so I placed some white rectangles to avoid it and this is how the stencil came out looking on the cardstock before I cut it out with my (new!) Exacto knife:

Feel free to save it and use it yourself. I might be making more of my own soon and I'll show you what I stencil up with Gloomy Bear. :)

Speaking of Gloomy Bear... guess what my boyfriend sent to my house as a Halloween present?

Two Gloomy Bears! I had sent him a link a few days before over IM about these Gloomys being on sale on the Gloomy Bear Store. It's one of the best gifts I've gotten in awhile. I really really love them. :)

In other news I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do as far as my education. Right now the plan is to take MWF classes next semester and commute from home, but after talking with my parents I might end up renting a home or apartment near by, but we will see how things turn out.

Anyway, have a happy rest of your Thursday and Guy Fawkes day, cupcakes!

-melonXXXcupcake

My undeclaration

Hello all! I hope you all had a FANtabulous Halloween and had a bunch of candy. My Halloween was rather uneventful but still rather pleasant. :) I had a chance to go to my local The Cupcakery, so expect a review soon.

Well, aside from eating cupcakes and attending a play on Halloween I finally got a chance to meet an adviser from a culinary school which shall remain unnamed for now. I haven't had the chance to blog about this just yet BUT after thinking long and hard, I came up with my plan. My current plan is to go to culinary school and still work towards a BA in English through an online degree. The best of both worlds in my opinion. Anyway, I met with an adviser and I will let you know that he doesn't know jack shit about cooking. The admissions team is made up of people with management and communications degrees. Their job is to sell the school. So, we run into the director of admissions while on the tour. He asks what I'm currently doing. I tell him which school I go to and that I'm undeclared. His eyebrows raised. He then continued to almost scold me, saying that I need to really know what I want to do and not waste my parents money. As if I was some trust-fund brat that got everything she ever wanted. PLEASE. I hate how he put me in a box after only speaking to me for a few seconds. I am PASSIONATE about baking. I love cupcakes and I love having the idea of having my own business/bakery. I am not a dumb little girl. I realize that reaching my ultimate goal of owning and running my own cupcake bakery will be hard and it will take a lot of time and discipline. This idea of going to culinary school is not something I decided on a whim. Also, I'm not WASTING my parents' money. I have private and federal loans in MY name and any (minimal) money they have paid I plan to pay back once my final loan application clears. I really wanted to just punch this man in the nuts. Of course, I played the pleasant, complacent doormat I always am, kept my mouth and my hands/fists by my side. I seriously felt very insulted.

ANYWAY! On another note, I have been working on some stencils (I'm a little obsessed), so look out for that blog also. It's very late and I'm sure that I have like two quizzes in the morning. :/

Goodnight, cupcakes!

-melonXXXcupcake