Aloha Friday

This is my first time posting an Aloha Friday question. Seems like fun, though, so why not?

In my last post, I wrote about a scary experience I had. So, the question for you is: What is the scariest experience you’ve ever had?

It doesn’t have to be the scariest thing ever, just tell me something scary that happened to you.

Tales From Da Hood

It’s almost Halloween, so I’d thought I’d tell a s-s-scary s-s-story about something that actually happened to me:

It was getting late and my brothers and sisters were getting ready to go to bed. As the oldest (I was 13 at the time), it was partly my responsibility to help the 5 younger ones with getting their pajamas on, teeth brushed and so forth. As I helped my sister find some clean pj’s, I heard a loud knock at the door. My sister and I hurried towards the front door as my Mother came to answer it. She shooed us back, as she had told us many times not to come near the front door when she answered it until we knew who was knocking. As she answered the door, I peaked around the corner.

”Please let me in! There is a group of people after me! Please let me in!” The young man at our door pleaded.

”I can’t let you in here, but you can wait in our backyard and I’ll call the police for you.” My mother offered. I remember momentarily thinking it was rude that my Mom didn’t invite him in.

The young man put his hand on the front door, trying to push it open wider. “NO! Don’t call the police! Just let me in!”

At this point she became alarmed, and with all her might she slammed the door shut. She had to wedge her foot in the bottom of the door to keep it closed enough so she could hurry and lock the dead bolt.

The guy outside started to yell. “LET ME IN! LET ME IN, OR I’LL BREAK DOWN YOUR DOOR!!”

I came out from the corner. Eyes wide, she gestured towards the bedrooms where the rest of my siblings were. Without any words spoken, I knew what to do. I quickly gathered all of my siblings and we huddled behind our couch in the living room.

My Dad came in at the same time to see what all the yelling was about. My Mom quickly told him what was going on, and then she went in the kitchen and called the police.

My Dad went over to the front door, and could see through the peephole that more people had arrived. He ran to get our shotgun. The group that had gathered outside our front door were now all yelling “OPEN THE DOOR!” and were pushing and kicking the door.

As my Dad came back with the shotgun, the group had started to kick the door in unison. boom. Boom. BOOM. My Dad pushed back on the door as hard as he could.

I sat in the dark, behind the couch with my arms around my huddled siblings. Through their quiet whimperings I could hear my Mom pleading with the police to hurry. I wondered if they would get in. All sorts of horrible scenarios went through my head.

Luckily, our door withheld the pounding, and the group of thugs outside gave up after terrorizing us for 20 minutes or so. The police didn’t arrive for another 45 minutes after they were gone.

This incident, was the last straw for my parents. The bullets that flew through a friend’s mattress from a drive by, narrowly missing them as they slept, the shooting at my school during lunch, the riots and looting, the break ins on our street… they had had enough. It was time to move. Unfortunately, Southern California has the most expensive real estate in the country, and while there were plenty of nice, safe areas, they weren’t anything that they could afford.

Finally, a year later, my parents sold the house, and my Dad had found a new job. For me, however, although the crime was a problem, at 14 years old, the last thing I wanted to do was move away from all of my friends. At the very least, I hoped that my Dad would find a job somewhere I thought was interesting, like San Diego, or Lake Tahoe. However, I was devastated when my Dad came home and announced: (this is the scariest part!)

”Guess what kids? We’re moving to Orem, Utah!”

to be continued…

You Named Me What?!

The other day I happened past a sale at an outlet store. They had a bunch of assorted stuff in bins that had various embroidered names on them (from special orders that didn’t go through for whatever reason). I decided to rummage through the bins to see if they happened to have anything with my son’s name embroidered on it. As I went through it, I came across a little pink backpack with name “Aryan” embroidered on it.  What were her parents thinking? (Hopefully that little Aryan had a more fortunate last name than this little Aryan.)

What are some of the worst baby names you’ve come across?

Fonts that Burn My Eyeballs

Somewhat recently, I saw that a friend was insulted by random commenter for using a particular font in their blog. They don’t know it, but their little exchange of words is my fault. You see, I’m an design major and aspiring graphic artist. I took a semester long typography class in college, and I loved it (I KNOW I’m a dork), and I even worked as a full time typesetter for a sign company for awhile. In other words, I know an embarrassing amount about fonts. Anyway, the point is, is that I want to be the friend who will tell you that you have toilet paper stuck to your shoe, before everyone else sees it. So in that spirit:

Meisha’s Guide to Fonts that Make Me Vomit

1. PAPYRUS

Papyrus is WAY overused. While it’s more acceptable if it’s used ONLY in titles or headers, it is a bonafide sin to use it in text. The problem with the font is that it is really hard to read, even if it’s big. Also, it looks like it’s anorexic.

If you need to use a decorative font that looks chipped or antique opt for something more like these.

2. COMIC SANS

Comic Sans may be the most hated font by designers in the world. In fact, there is a whole website devoted to banning comic sans. The problem with it is that it is severely over used and misused. Often people will use it for something that is supposed to be taken seriously when it’s meant to look like something that would be used in a comic strip. Even for use in a comic strip, it’s still one of the uglier choices.
If you need a font for a comic strip, or just something that looks “friendly”, try one of these.

3. HOBO

Hobo isn’t as widely used as Papyrus or Comic Sans, but it’s on the list because it’s so ugly. I think it was based off fonts from either the sixties or the twenties, but to me, it looks like helvetica in a clown suit.

If you feel the urge to use Hobo in something that needs a retro font, try one of these instead.

4. BRUSHSCRIPT

Brushscript became popular back when it was one of the more unique looking fonts that came with your PC. It looks like something that belongs across a sports jersey, and therefore has very few practical uses. Also, people tend to use it when they really need a fancy looking font. However, the worst offense by far, is when people type it in an all caps, thus rendering it almost impossible to read.

Here is a site that shows examples of nice “brush scripts”.

5. CURLZ

I’ll admit it, when I first saw Curlz, I thought it was cute. However after awhile, looking at too many words typed in Curlz is like eating pink cotton candy for every meal. It’s sickeningly sweet and hard on the eyes. Try to keep Curlz to a minimum. Maybe only in headers that say things like “It’s A Girl” or “I Love Cotton Candy”. (The same goes for fonts like these, too.)

While there are many brilliant designers out there that know more about typography than me, I understand that most people don’t know anything about it. That’s OK, everyone has their own interests and hobbies, and I don’t mean for this post to offend or embarrass (really! Please don’t be offended!). My wardrobe is a fashionista’s nightmare, and anyone who is a dance major might die on the spot if they saw me dance. (This list could go on longer, but you get the idea.)
What fonts do you like and dislike? (Go ahead and share, even if one of your favorites is one of the ones listed above.)

In your area of expertise, what are some pet peeves you have that the rest of us do?

I Gave Birth to a Monkey?

I have one child, an adorable son who is 2. Like most moms, I love that little boy more than I have words to express, and I also think he is the cutest kid I’ve ever seen. Everyone else seems to think he’s pretty cute, too, and I’ve been told on numerous occasions that my little sweetheart resembles one of the cutest cartoon characters out there, Curious George. It started around the time that the animated movie came out. A friend pointed it out, and then a cousin. The comparisons multiplied weekly. While I thought Curious George was cute, it was a little odd for me to think that he looked so much like a cartoon monkey.

One particular afternoon I was waiting in a line somewhere. A mother was in front of me with a little boy who was probably 3 or 4. The little boy looked back at me and my son and got a big smile on his face.

“Mom!” he said, while pointing at my son. “Look! Curious George is behind us!”



Do you see a resemblance?

After that, I finally decided to embrace my son’s monkey-ness. Oh well, at least Curious George is cute.

Here’s a picture of him on Halloween last year…