Stephanie Michelle, I barely know you as a person, but over the past few months the highlight of my day has consistently been talking to you. I can trust you with my thoughts and feelings more than anyone and I appreciate your company more than you’ll ever know. At first I did like you as more than a friend, but the age difference and your friendship with my step-sister quickly drove those thoughts out of my head. No matter how awkward I may act I see you as a friend, and nothing more, and I would’t trade your friendship for anything in the world. I really hope that some day soon you’ll be ready to tell me everything, but until then, I’ll be waiting. I love you as much as a friend can, and I honestly think I’d be crushed if anything bad were to ever happen to you.

Trisha, we tried the dating thing once before, but even after all of our 6 hour midnight conversations, and our constant flirting, things never quite worked out the way I expected. A few months apart have brought us closer than ever and I’d love nothing more than to see you as more than a friend. I know we’ve been talking about it, but I can’t wait until it’s something official. I hope nothing but the best for you, and hope you care about me as much as you say you do.

Amanda, you’re just my stepsister, but you’ve taken to me quicker than any family member ever has, and I appreciate that so much. Though we’ve gotten into some trouble, I don’t care what anyone says, I’m keeping in touch with you as long as possible. I can only hope that you do great in high school, and as soon as I’m home from the Peace Corps you’ll be one of the first people I visit. I love you like a sister Amanda, don’t change.

Mother, the past few months have been crazy. Being arrested left me with a sort of emptiness inside. I felt like my family wasn’t there to support me, and your recent actions have done nothing to prove my thoughts wrong. I hate the person you’ve become, the people you associate yourself with, and even more, your flagrant disregard for the safety and well being of myself and your daughter. Seeing how your relationship is with your parents I can’t understand, for the life of me, why you’d want that for your own kids. If you ever want to talk, I’m here, but just know my ears are and will be, fromt his point on, closed to your lies.

Roger, you’ve raised me from birth, stepping in for a father I never met. I thank you more than anyone for the way I turned out. As you know a few years back my resent towards you grew strong and after you and mom separated that resentment reached an all time high. But now that I’m with you once again I realize that you only wanted the best for me, and I’m happier than ever where I am. No matter what anyone says, you are, and always will be my father.

Dave, you’re my biological father, and even though I only met you a year ago, it seems like I was never too far away. I enjoyed the time we spent together, and meeting my brother, and an entirely new side of the family for that matter, was quite the eye opener, and I loved every second of it. While I hate the fact that you were never around during my childhood, I’d like to keep in touch, and I hope these words find your screen some day. You always know how to find me.

Sarah, you’ve been my true sister, through thick and thin, for 14 years now, and though my older sibling complex might have made you think I hate you, it’s exactly the opposite. I love you with all of my heart and only want to see you lead a rich life away from our mother. She’s been corrupting you for years now, and you have no clue how happy I am to see you move in with Roger and I.

Billy. Where do I start? At school we hated each other, but over the summer you’ve become one of my closest friends, and that’s something I honestly can’t say I’ve had in a long time. Many have come and gone, but you’ve stuck around for the entire rickety roller coaster of a ride. Let’s hope things never change. Stay croosh bro.

Lakeland, you’ve been my home, but I think Stephanie’s been right all along, referring to you as Fakeland. A good majority of the people here are fake, and that can never change. Luckily I’ve met a few rare people who make my life that much better. And for that, I thank you.

Dana, one of the few amazing people I’ve yet to meet, I enjoy our random conversations an inside jokes. And I hope one day I can finally say I’ve met you in person. You’re an amazing girl, and no matter what you say, you are pretty.

I’m sure I’ve left some people out, and so I’ll be adding to this list over time. If you want to know how I feel about you, simply leave a comment.

Taco Bell captures this concept well, as their colorful brochure style application is both easy on the eyes and a breeze to fill out. But one application I came across stood far above the rest. Color filled the entire pamphlet, and a consistent design and color scheme brought the entire process together into one stylish package.

Sweetbay Supermarket, a relatively new chain formerly known as Kash N’ Karry, employs every aspect of good design for their hiring application. Each section of the application is noted by a unique number marking each step, subtly faded into the background. Not onlyis this a subtle reminder of step by step procedures, it’s also a visually appealing navigational style used by many popular published magazines, but by many popular websites as well.

On the reverse side a completely green page adds contrast to the booklet, with the important material printed in  beautifully kerned white text. Unfrotunately my cameraphone shots could not capture the full detail, but the picture above gives a general idea of the final page. My favorite feature though has to be the enlarged signature boxes, leaving plenty of room for those who like to get creative with their John Hancock. Can anyone say user oriented design?

Finally, a clean header design ties the entire form together, with a solid repeating pattern covering the entire top portion of the application, and then the Sweetbay logo embedded on every page. My pictures can’t accurately display the aesthetic appeal of this design, but if there’s a Sweetbay Supermarket iny our area I highly suggest picking up an application, if not for the job, then at least for the  elegant design.

I have a lot of photos, and I’ll try to post them all soon.

I sat down with my guidance counselor this past week, and found out even though I’m failing half my classes, I only need six more credits to graduate. So assuming I can pass my classes this year, I’l only have two full classes my senior year, leaving me with a lot more time to dedicate to my true passion, design.

I’ve been shopping around different colleges, trying to find one with an art program I can fall in love with. While I’ve stuck strictly to digital work in the past I now want to broaden my horizons, and so In the near future I’ll be diving deeper and deeper into other forms of media, especially illustrated art and photography. As for my regular work, I’ll still be continuing designing, and I still hope to get a new design pushed out sometime soon, but like pregnancy it’s a long process. And don’t worry, nobody in my immediate connection is pregnant, so no need to sound any alarms.

But it’s about that time I turn off my screen, strip to my nighties, and fall asleep to a good movie, so I bid adieu to you wonderful world, and hope to see you again sometime soon.

Strep throat (or “Streptococcal pharyngitis“, or “Streptococcal Sore Throat”) is a form of Group A streptococcal infection that affects the pharynx. Symptoms include Reddening of the tonsils, fever, problems swallowing and eating.

I’ve had an extreme case of strep throat since Thursday the 11th, which even included a late afternoon emergency room visit the following Sunday. Fortunately the illness has been kicked out of my system, save for a slight soreness, and Is hould be resuming my regular online activities soon.

There’s not much to say about this, except it’s purely amazing, a visual masterpiece devoid of any visual navigation whatsoever. The entire phone, save for the backside, is touch sensitive, with sensors to cancel out unwanted touches. The iPhone, which starts at a pricy $499 with a two year Cingular Contract, ships to the US this June. Along with the ability to play music for up to 16 hours the iPhone has two memory options, 4 and 8 gigabytes, like two of the prepackaged Nano options.

In music mode it has an excellent 16 hour battery life, and in calling mode it lasts for up to 6 hours. What’s even more amazing though is the ability for the iPhone to run OSx, including Safari, iTunes with Coverflow right out of the box, and even Widgets. For more information and a slew of photos from MacWorld head on over to Engadget.

The day began normal, I woke up, showered, and headed on over to the bus stop. Nothing unusual there, I repeated my same daily routine, saying hi to all of my friends before the bell and trying to work up the courage to ask out Kayla. Still no success. The beel rang at 7:00 AM as it does repetetively every single day, and so I slowly but surely made my way to first period, where it had been previously noted we’d have a substitue Wednesday, Thursday, and then again today.

Wednesday and Thursday they pwaned a hipster of on us and so instead of working on vehicles we watched them drift in Fast and The Furious. We finished the movie yesterday and so today was a general slack today. Our drunk teacher stumbled in late, and with no keys in plain sight, forced us to sit outside an extra ten minutes in the cold while he waited for a passing security guard to unlock the door.

Amidst numerous boos and hissing noises the drunk fellow managed to pass around a series of papers asking for our initials, and after asking who Bryan Baker was 23 times in a row, and getting the correct answer each time, he still hadn’t figured out who was who. He set us to work on the computers, but alas, no work was actually completed. Instead we found a working proxy and spent the majority of our time goofing off on MySpace. An hour into the class I was given a short lecture about how the Babe vs. Babe poll on ForgetFoo.com (I was actually looking for a different post, and had I found it I would’nt have been in any trouble at all) qualifies as porn and I should be ashamed of myself. He made it a point to shout “Shame on You!” at the top of his lungs while waving his sausage finger in my face for at least five minutes.

So now that my computer privelidges had been revoked I set out to play a gamae of human bowling; 1 rolling chair, three stationary chairs, one Kevin. As the seats flew across the room the pidgeon-toed old geezer decided he had had enough and wrote out a referral for both myself and Bryan, not like it would matter though, there is no school for a week ya know? To move on, the rest of the class ended uneventfully and I made my way to second, and then third, and then lunch and finally fourth period. Here’s where the fun starts.

There’s a long running joke in our fourth period about skate park bonfires, roasting marshmallows, and gay oral sex that you wouldn’t understand even if I recorded the original audio. To make matters worse Bryan trotted into class (where he didn’t belong) along side me sporting the tightest girl pants on the face of the planet, spurring all kinds of gay jokes. It was revealed that we’d also have a substitue in this class and so I took this opportunity to cut out after I was finished with my test.

Making my way to B-Lunch I spotted Kayla and she dragged me over to her usual table, plopping down right beside me, Bryan across from us, and a rather muscular homophobe next to him. As we all began talking it was revealed that I was whipped by Kayla even though we weren’t even going out, so using this opportunity to discuss our relationship I asked her out, and now, thank god, I have a wonderful new girlfriend. Could things get any better?

Well yes, they could. After walking Kayla to class I made my way over to Mr. Simon’s class room to join him and his students in a round of Guitar Hero 2. Yes, today truly was a great day.