This Is Our Moment

Senior Year. Who would have thought we'd make it this far? The semester is off to a good start and I don't really have to many complaints. I'm already freaking out about my thesis, but I'm pretty sure I've decided on a topic, I've gotten my Library of Congress card and have requested 14 books from the consorsium. Plus I'm meeting woith my advisor tomorrow.

For the most part, I'm enjoying my classes. Washington: Symbol and City is pretty much amazing. I'm so excited about that class. It's freaking awesome. My Nazism class isn't too bad, but hella note taking and outside reading. And its being taught by the new chair of the department, so I want to do well in the class. I'm sure it will be fine though. Media is gonna be a bitch, simply because it is a class conprised of 42 freshman, John Lynsky, Alyssa LaCorte and myself. Tons of bitchwork. But I've had the prof before and she really likes me so I don't forsee getting anything less that a straight A in that class.

I'm pretty sure I'll have a mental breakdown at some point this semester. My roommates will come back to find me passed out on the foof chair with a cold washcloth over my eyes and a pile of ww2 propoganda books surrounding me. Possibly some redbull cans scattered around. in any event, it wont be a pretty site.

I think I'm dying of the swine flu. not really, but I am losing my voice. For no real reason, because I feel fine other than this terrible cough and the fact that I cant talk. Shit. I hope its not like this all weekend. I've got shit to do. And I need to have a voice.

Knife Fight

I'm at work right now. I'm doing nothing. Just sitting. And I have been for a while. So, I said to myself "self, wouldn't this be a good time to blog about last night". And now that is exactly what I am doing.
Yesterday was Chris' birthday. The big two one. He said he was going to Brickskellers in Dupont with Karl, Kenny and Nick. After that, they were going to go to Irish Times and Erin and I were going to meet them there. That was the plan.
Well, they ended up drinking themselves into half a stupor at Brickskellers, so we went there to meet them. Erin, me, our roommate Ashley and Erin's friend David drove out there in Ashley's car. We got there at midnight. When we walked in Kenny and Nick were standing next to one another and they were the first two people we walked up to. I go to give Kenny a hug and then Nick. But Nick (being completely trashed) throws his arm out in front of Kenny, half knocks him over and throws his arms around me in this huge bear hug that nearly knocked me down. I tried to push him back onto his feet and Kenny had to grab him by the arm and pull him off me. A minute later Chris came over and gave me one of those "I'm drunk so I'm going to hug you and we'll sway back and forth for a minute" kind of hugs. He was trashed but in a great mood and drinking energy shots. Erin, David and I got a shot at the bar and the boys decided to go to Times because the bar was pretty quiet and they had been there for hours. Chris went outside for a cigarette while Karl, Nick and Kenny paid the bill. We told them that we were going to walk back to Ashley's car and we would meet them there, because they were going to get a cab.
When we went outside, I stood at the top of the steps to tell Chris we were going to meet him at Times, while everyone else walked down to the street level. Randomly, as I'm telling him this, some Asian guy standing next to Chris asks me if he can give me an obnoxiously big hug because he saw how I hugged Chris when we walked in. Apparently he'd been drinking with the boys all night. I just looked at him and was like "well, I've known Chris longer than anyone else here. That's why I hugged him." And I walked away.
Thirty or forty minutes later, the four of us are sitting at Times and Chris & co. still havent shown up. I text him and he responds wiht "complications. we'll be there soon." O...k... They got there a few minutes later and Chris and Kenny were all rialed up and hollering about a fight and the bill. Then Nick walked in. He had blood splattered on his shirt, his lip was busted open and he has a cut under his eye that was starting to swell. Apparently their waitress' boyfriend nad his friend got mad that they didn't leave a bigger tip so they came out and were yelling. Chris went back inside to leave the girl another $20 and these two guys start getting into a fight with Nick. Next thing you know, the boyfriend's friend pulls out a knife and tries to stab Nick. Kenny grabbed his arm from behind him, but they the boyfriend grabbed Kenny and pulled him back. For some reason Nick and Kenny were being held back, but hte guy with the knife wasn't restrained. Kenny said he was convinced at one point that Nick had been stabbed and started freaking out. Chris came back outside (after giving the girl a bigger tip) and was so pissed off. He wanted to go back inside and scream at the manager but Kenny and Nick just put him in a cab and they all came to Times looking a little worse for the wear, but just in time for last call.
After the bar closed we went back to campus and hung out outside and in the boy's room for a little while. Then I realized it was about 3:30 in the morning and I had to get up for work in 4 hours, so I went to bed.
In my opinion though, the best part of the night was the fact that I went out and had a shot of Absolut and three screwdrivers but didn't spend any money. Erin's friend David bought a round of shots at Brickskellers and then insisted on buying our drinks at Times too. I felt kinda bad, but hey, I didn't want to be rude and demand to pay for my own drink.

9 - 5

I think I may have found the perfect job for this summer. It's pretty low stress and easy going. Yesterday I had a lot going on because I was figuring out how to do different things and where everything was. It was sort of exciting, sort of boring. But hey, I don't know of many people who say they like work, whatever it is that they may be doing.
Today, Gail (the person I'm working for) called at 10:00 to say she wouldn't be coming in because she had to take her really, really old mother to the hospital. She then went into detail about her symptoms and the tests they were planning to run. Waaay more info than I needed. She gave me a list of about 4 or 5 things to do over the course of the day.... I was done with more than half of it by 11 and the last two things (handle the mail and pick up the checks from payroll) couldn't be done. So I hung out until I went to lunch, came back and took care of the mail, picked up the checks, and spent the next three hours reading my book. Occasionally the phone would ring and I'd take a message. That was the extent of it. I have a feeling this is what most of my days will be like since Gail won't be coming in to work on Mondays and Fridays starting next week. I could finish a book a week if this keeps up.
My hair dyer kind of exploded yesterday morning. It started shooting sparks and crackling. So today I had to go buy a new one. I knew it had been breaking for a while because it would work, and then other times it wouldn't. The fact that it semi-exploded was a little much though. I mean, was that really necessary? It could have just refused to turn on and it all would have been fine.
Tomorrow is Chris' birthday. I'm kind of excited for all of us to finally go out together. I'm sure we'll have a good time. Although, knowing the boys, it could be slightly scary what we end up doing. I could imagine us ending up in some strange bar in Adam's Morgan with no money for a cab, and no real idea how we ended up there. Hopefully, that's not what actually takes place.
This whole being at school with no school work thing it pretty nice. I could get used to it. I get back to my room and don't have to worry about doing anything other than relax or straighten up a bit. I did that today. This whole place was messy. I know I'm OCD, but it was legitimately messy. A dirty blender cup, dirty dishes, empty food boxes. It wasn't just me. It needed to be cleaned. Plus my g-rents are stopping by this weekend on their cross-country trip. And you know it needs to be clean for them because they really are insane. So I cleaned up. And I'll swiffer/vacuum later this week.
Time to go read. Less than 300 pages to go!! (the book is 973 pages long)

The District

I realize that I stopped writing and updating my blog. This is not due to me forgetting about it. Quite the contrary. I thought about posting several times. But when I tried to come up with something to talk about, I would come to the realization that nothing interesting and blog worthy had happened. But now I'm back in DC to start working and I'm sure my life will be slightly more interesting. So, I will now give a general update of the last two weeks. Lets see...
I worked at Harry's for most of the time I was home. It's never dull in that place. Every time I come home, there is a new bum to meet, or an update on the downwardly spiraling lives of our regular bums. We've got this new guy... I don't know his name, but he's a small skinny guy with no hair, most likely in his fifties. He comes in a couple of times a day, talking to himself. I don't mean mumbling. I mean a full conversation. And he's always carrying a small American flag. I think someone gave it to him at the Memorial Day parade last week. Damn people trying to be nice. Aside from that, Gary the Puppet and his band of misfits who live in an apartment across the street are getting more insane. This guy Gary has some kind of disease (I think MS) and he's all messed up. He's got a white trash wife. I mean waaaay white trash. She's got a daughter a couple months younger than me and a son about two years older than me. The son is the only slightly normal one. The daughter just had a baby last year and the poor kid has a trech in his throat cause his lungs didn't ully develop because the daughter was smoking weed while she was pregnant. These guys are pretty much at the bottom of our list of bums.
I got my hair cut on Thursday and colored on Friday. It's ver different and I really like it. It's shorter (only to my shoulder) and I've got a side bang . Plus it is layered with a face frame. The new cut, with the color.... its good summer hair. Hahaha.
Overall, home was pretty uneventful. My sister got into the National Honor Society. She's an overachiever and, while I was the vice president, she'll probably become the president. That's just the type of person that she is. My mom basically told me that Leigh Ann was too good to go to a school like Catholic. Thanks mom! My grandparents are coming home next week for my cousin Matt's wedding. They're driving again. And they said they might stop here over the weekend to take me to lunch and see me. That could be good or it could be bad. I'm not sure yet.
Yesterday the four of us took a trip into the city. My dad thought it would be a fun thing to do. And something different. I swear, for living so close to New York City, I don't go there very often and I probably know less about the city than some tourists. In certain regards. In other was, I definitely know more. Butwe dont go to the city that often. Why would we? It's such a hastle to sit in traffic and then pay $25 to park. There are crowds and its noisy and I don't really have much desire to do touristy things in New York. That just seems rediculous to me and everyone else I know. Well, we went to the city yesterday. We took a double decker tour, which was kind of cool. The guy told us a couple things we didn't know and we got to the see the city from a different perspective. That was nice. We got off in Chinatown and walked to Little Italy, where they just happened to be having a street festival for the Feast of St. Anthony. My sister and I convinced our parents to go to Ferrara's, which is (by far) the greatest bakery in the world. It's amazing. I got a lobster tail and an iced coffee. It was heaven. I always get the lobster tail when I'm there. They're just so damn good. It's something to be experienced. Just off the corner of Grand and Mulberry, if anyone is interested. So after the bakery, we took a cab to the western end of SoHo and went to the Tenenment Museum, which was really cool. There was an obnoxious lady, who thought she knew everything, on our tour though. I hate peopel like that. Why come on the tour if you know everythign already? Wht spend the money? Well, after we were done at the museum, we walked back to Little Italy to get dinnerbecause there were just so many good restaurants. While we were eating, they had a parade where a statue was carried up and down Mulberry Street and people gave donations and prayed to the saint. My dad (being the ass that he is) decided to go stand by the statue so I could take his picture and send it to his friend. They thought it was funny. So that was our day. We had a good time.
And now I'm back in DC and I have work in the morning. I'm sure it will be good and I'll have a fine time. I'm looking forward to just being able to settle into a routine and get used to things. It's like when you start the semester... you're still trying to remember where your classes are and figure out how the semester is going to work out in terms of work. By the end of the week, I'm sure I'll have it all figured out.
Ok, I am completely exhausted from getting up, packing my car, driving down here, unpacking my car, going to Giant, unpacking my room and setting everything up. So I'm going to read my book and go to bed early.

The Pillars of the Earth

So I started reading this book. It's called "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. I got it for Christmas last year, because I asked for it. It seems like everyone I know got this book last year for Christmas. At least, everyone from home who I know, who reads regularly. It was the hot gift book of the season.
The book is set in England (I swear, its fate) in the 1500s and its about this mason worker named Tom, who has this dream of builing a great Cathedral. I think somehow he does eventually get commissioned to build a Cathedral and then the reast of the book is about what happens during that whole time. It takes place over a ten year period.
Well, I started reading the book last Christmas when I got it and just never really got into it. It's a very long book (973 pages) and its a slow read. In no way is it any kind of light, beach read. Plus, its one of those books where you have to plow through the first 60 or 100 pages before it gets interesting. Like in "HP and the Sorcerer's Stone" when the first chapter or two are spent talking about Uncle Vernon and his job selling drills. That really draws you in. Or "The DaVinci Code", where you spend the first 50 pages reading about an albino monk and you're sitting there thinking, "what the fuck am I reading? I didn't know Tom Hanks was going to play an albino monk when they make the movie." This is kind of like that. Instead of just laying some background info and getting into the story, the first 65 pages are spent reading about Tom and his family and how they are trying to catch the theif who stole their pig. What does a pig have to do with building a Cathedral??? Basically, the point I'm trying to make is that this is not an easy book to get into.
The thing is, if it was just a hard book to get into and didn't seem that interesting, I would just put it on my shelf and not read it. Maybe my dad would pick it up one day and find it worth while. But there is a flip side to this. Everyone (and I mean everyone) who has read this book has said it is one of, if not the, greatest book they've ever read. Everyone from Oprah, to my aunt, to the manager at Harry's, to one of my friends from high school. People all over have been talking about his book. It's not that new either. The book was first published in 2002. But it has become extremtely popular in the past two years. Probably because Oprah named it one of her "book club" books and then gave away autographed copies at her "Oprah's Favorite Things" special last fall. Then miraculously, it was the hot book last Christmas. So Oprah and everyone else I've talked to has said it is the greatest book they ever read and I absoultely have to read it.
Now I'm starting it again. I've decided to make it my first book of the summer. That way, I'll have to finish it before I can read anything else and I can't push it off to the end because I'm reading other things and run out of time. Even if I dont like it, I'll still finish it.
It's actually starting to get kind of interesting. I'll let you know how I like it and if it is, in fact, the greatest book I've ever read.

It's a Sip of Wine, It's Summertime

I'M DONE!!!!! With papers, with the semester, with junior year. I'm done with all of it. It's amazing. I was convinced it would never end. But now its over and I'm home for the next three weeks. It's nice to be home and have nothing to do. It will be a relaxing three weeks. Then its back to DC for the summer!!! So excited!!!
So I'm watching The Sound o Music on ABC Family right now (god, I love having nothing to do). Last night I watched Notting Hill. Then it was on again this afternoon and I was compelled to sit and watch it again. Really, having nothing to do is fantastic.
Ahhh, so many season finales this week. I'm going to go nuts. Brothers & Sisters tonight. Twenty-four next week. Bones and Grey's Anatomy on Thursday. And I'm not working this week during any of them, which is sweeeeet. I'm only workng three days. I'm pretty sure my manager realized that I'd go crazy if I had to start working tomorrow morning.
Ok, I've still got a ton of unpacking to do. My mom is making me unpack everythign even though I'm going to school in three weeks. Very annoying!

Collegebox My Life

It's almost over! The end is in sight! There is a light at the end of the tunnel! ::insert other triumphant metaphors:: There is just one final that stands between me and summer. Unfortunately, that exam is philosophy and it may very well kick my ass. It is not going to be easy. I almost wish I'd had t on Tuesday and I had politics tomorrow. Then I could get away with not studying, because I'm mentally spent. I have no more energy to focus on anything.
On top of that, I had to get all of my shit packed for collegeboxes. They 're coming to pick everything up early tomorrow so I needed to get the bulk of my packing done today. I've got three boxes worth of stuff that I'm storing for the summer. Plus I'm leaving one box of stuff (mostly kitchen things), our beer pong table and the traffic cone with Erin Kilroy while I got home for three weeks. She's staying here and I think she'll be living with Liz and me this summer, so she said I could leave it with her till I get back. That's good because I've most likely got a car full of stuff to bring home. Some of it wont come back in June (like the tv) and I need to make sure I'll have room for the mini fridge to come back down. That will be my biggest challenge. I'm sure it will be fine though.
Ok, so I just got off the phone with my Dad. I told him I'm coming home Saturdya so that I can sleep Sunday, since I'm very sleep deprived. He followed that up with "did you call Eddie to get yourself on the schedule to work these next few weeks while you're home?" Is he kidding? I mean, yea I planned on working a bit while I'm home for three weeks so that I can make some cash to get me through the first two weeks down here, but my dad is like a slave driver. I just want to go to sleep! So now I have to call Harry's tomorrow to make sure that I can work for the next three weeks. God forbid I have a day off.
Well, I must go summon the will to study Aristotle and Rousseau. Not that it will be difficult, I mean who wouldnt want to study Aristotle and Rousseau all night? It's so much fun. Just... gag me now. Get it over with.

Have You Massacred the Indians?

Why yes. Yes, I have massacred the Indians. While sitting in Leahy early last night, Steve Anderson came over to talk because he was procrastinating doing his take home final for Krum. He asked me how my paper on he "massacred indians" was going. Sunday night I wrote a paper about Indians. Last night I was writing a paper about the Boston Massacre. The two of us have spent so much time writign papers in Leahy that we're starting to confuse our own work and each others. I could have sworn he was working on the Krum final last week. haha.
Regardless, last night, at 5:45 a.m., I finished my 10-15 page paper on "the Boston Massacre and It's Implications". It was twelve pages of real historical research and thought. Riviting stuff, I'm telling ya. Hell, whom I kidding? It was complete bullshit worth 50% of my final grade. Hopefully the prof likes it. I think he will. He's not a very hard grader.
At quarter to six this morning, when I left Leahy, I seriously contemplated sitting up and just watchign the sun rise, because it was already kind of light out. That's sad. I slept until about 12:30 then got up and started packing--collegeboxes comes on Friday. Because I'm staying for the summer I have some stuff that I'm not going to pack up. Hopefully I'll have one less box to leave with them.
I got an email from my fave person this afternoon. Of course I'm talking about Linwood Dailey. So I go to the package room, all confused because I'm not expecting anything. Do you know what it was?!?!?! It was my Kenny Chesney tickets!! I had listed teh school as my address because I figured they would get here in June and I wouldn't want them shipped home if I would be here. But they came early. It's so awesome, they say "floor seats" acrosss the top. I'm uber-excited. Plus Erin and her brother got tickets and are going to come tailgate with us all day. It will be wonderful. I just need to figure out a way to bring the blender. Kenny conerts are definitely pina colada events.
Ok, I'm back in Leahy. I really should just sleep here. I've got a media paper to write tonight that is due in Marist by 5 pm tomorrow. Why can't this prof be simple and just let us email the papers to her. Oh, thats right. I forgot. She "cant accept or greade anythign that is emailed to her". Why? god only knows. But I should get writing. I'm hoping to be out of here by 3 tonight.

Physics

I've got a job for the summer!!!!! I'm going to make $13/hour to sit in the Physics Department, answer phones and fax papers. It will be glorious. I walked in today to meet with the student who works there now, and she was sitting there with her boyfriend, watching Family guy. I think I'm made of gold. Although, I will have to get a second job of some sorts, waitressing or hostessing. Maybe I'll work at the movie theater. Haha.
I think I'm looking at an all-nighter in Leahy. I've got about 3 pages written on a 10-15 page paper that is due tomorrow at 5. I'm not concerned though. I'm about to start quoting the shit out of primary documents and I think there is potential to insert a picture into the paper. Besides, I don't do my best writing until after midnight anyway. Hence why I have two rebdbulls, my Ipod and no exams tomorrow. I'm good to go ::hand motion from taco bell commercials::
Well, I guess I can check another thing off of that list I made at the beginning of the semester. Get a job/have an awesome summer. I think that I will definitely b successful at the second.

Finals

Hell week has begun... finals week! It shouldn't be that bad because, theoretically, I only have two finals. Politics tomorrow and philosophy on Friday. But I also have a paper due tomorrow, another due Wednesday and another due Thursday. So that makes the week pretty hellish. But it's almost over.
Last night I was up until 5 in the morning writing my paper that is due tomorrow. It's done though. At about 2:45 I had 3 pages and could have gone to sleep and gotten up to write this morning, or just toughed it out and finished it. I decided to finish it. So now I just have to proof read it. I'm glad I got it done because I got to relax a little bit today before starting on my next paper.
With each passing day, I'm becoming more and more concerned about the state of my summer affairs. I've got this pain in my stomach that gets continually worse as we creep closer to the weekend and my departure date. I'm going to be so, inconsolably miserable if I have to spend my summer in Bayonne. Not that I dont love my hometown, but there is nothing there for me. My dad tried to tell me today that a "good second option" would be me working 4 days a week at my g-ma's liberal, union-representing law firm in the city. I wanted to scream at him. How is that a good second option???? It not at all, anywhere close to what I wanted to do this summer. In fact, its the polar opposite of what I wanted. Does he not get how depressed I'll be? Well, at this point there is nothing I can do. If something works out in the next few days great, but its slowly sinking in that I'm going to have to go home this summer. I just have to accept it.
I have a paper on the Boston Massacre I really need to start writing.

Luaupalooza 2009

Yesterday was everyone's favorite day of the CUA year. And no, I'm not talking about Administrative Mondays. I'm talking about Luaupalooza. It's the one thing our school does right every year, and everyone shows up to. It is the all afternoon, all night, Luau themed party that we use to celebrate the end of classes and the end of the year. There is free food, music, rides, games, free t-shirts (which you must line up for an hour beforehand). People basically just hang out all afternoon and play on giant blow-up carinval rides while listening to different bands. Its my favorite day of the school year.
Unfortunately, yesterday they were calling for rain so the Luau got moved inside, which isn't really that big of a deal It was more well organized than when it got moved inside freshman year and everyone hung out until around 9/9:30. We then made Pina Coladas and sat outside listening to summer music because it was so niice out. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The night didn't end so well, but I'm not getting into it. I'm just done with this year and ready for it to be over. I'm done bending over backwards and dealing with shit that isn't my problem. I'm handling my own things and thats it. I don't have the time or any more energy for everything else. That's all I'm saying.

p.s. that is this year's t-shirt

Swine Flu

I'm sick. I've caught the swine flu. I'm achy, my throat hurts, I'm freezing cold in Leahy (even though its been hotter than hell in here) and I'm just all around sick. Clearly, it is swine flu. It has nothing to do with the end of the semester and the fact that I haven't gotten a really good night's sleep in two weeks. With my luck, I will now be the first confirmed case of swine flu in the DC Metro area. Great. I always wanted to be in the news. Not!
Despite feeling like crap, I'm in Leahy and have been here for over three hours. I'm working on my annotated bibliography for my research presentation for tomorrow. Although Walt O'Donnel and another guy from my class are both sitting by me and they dont really have any idea what we're supposed to do for this presentation. Walt is making his paper outline, the other kid already wrote his paper (overachiever!) and I'm doing the bibliography. But I'm not too concerned about whether or not I get all of my sources written about. I'n fact, I think tomorrow before class I may work on an outline so that I'm not sitting there for five minutes talking about the different depositions of people who argue about where the Captain was standing and who he was talking to when the order to fire was given. Its really not that interesting.
On a side note, Brian Neimic just walked into Leahy and started giving cookies to everyone! That's friggin awesome!
Ok, I'm getting back to work because I need a decent night's sleep to fight off this deadly virus.

ps: for those who dont appreciate my sarcasm and exageration, I don't have swinne flu. I've probably just got a bad cold

SARs part deux

We're in day four of the heat wave and I'm beginning to get used to/enjoy it. Warm weather is always better than cold. I sat outside today and read through my history documents for my research presentation that I have to give on Wednesday. I think I'm looking at a long night tomorrow and all afternoon on Wednesday. Fun! Well, 2.5 hours sitting in the sun both paid off and had its consequences. The good news is I've got my first flip-clop tan of the summer. The bad news is that I'm now sunburned on my legs and arms. Really. Not cool.
Top this off with the Swine Flu pandemic. There have now been confirmed cases in New Jersey and the largest outbreak in the country (about half the cases) have been at one high school in Queens. Fantastic. I've got the immune system of an AIDs patient!!! Don't you people get this!! I just had a terrible coughing fit. Clearly i'm infected. The first confirmed case in DC. My coughing has nothing to do with the soda I was drinking moments before.
Ok, I need to get back to making my annotated bibliography. I actually hate making these things but somehow I got it in my head that it would help me be able to give my presentation on my research. So I'm making one. And I've got a looooong way to go.

Heat Wave

Right now (and for the past two days) the DC-Philly coridore is the hottest place in the country. Hotter than Miami, Las Vegas, California, Texas, everywhere. The average temperature has been between 87 and 92. It's hot. And it is definitely a welcome change from the rain and misery that had taken up residence in the district since the day before my birthday.
Friday we went to Loriol Plaza to get dinner and drinks. Unfortunately we went at an ungodly early hour and caught the happy hour, postt-work crew. It also meant we were done eating by like 9:30 and that we were home by midnight. In all, while the margaritas were good, the night was a bit of a bust.
Yesterday we lounged around and did nothing. I helped set up for the APO banquet in the afternoon and then showered so that pre-gaming could be done before the event started. We got there a little after 7 and immediately bought our tickets for the cash bar. I'm pretty sure Fr. Andy thinks I'm an alcoholic because he knew we had some drinks before hand, saw Andy and me walk over to the bar as soon as the bartender showed up and then (when he was deciding whether or not to have a drink) I tried to convince him that he should. Maybe not the best idea. Oh well. After the banquet, Marian and I went to Times and met up with John, who was there for his friend's 21st birthday. We closed the bar down at 3:00. It was good times (no pun intended).
Today was, quite possibly, hotter than yesterday. It was ungodly. Erin Kilroy and I went and got smoothies at PG Plaza and they were fantastic. then I came back and procrastinated before goign to the APO meeting at 5:30, where we had nominations for next year's exec board. It was interesting and pretty predictable, which led to no drama (no fun!). Although, I think the drama that unfolded at the banquet with certain alums was more than enough.
So I may have a new opening on the job front. I'm still not giving up on hte departments and agencies (they'll be getting phone calls tomorrow) but there could be another opportunity. I was checking the CUA Career Services' website today and they had some jobs listed for the summer. One was as an office assistant in the Physics Department. I hate physics but I can suck it up for a summer, because it pays $13/hour and is 9-5 everyday. That's pretty sweet money. I emailed the contact person today and attached my resume. Basically it was like "hi, i'm not a physics major, but i can file and type. will you hire me?" Maybe it will work out. Fingers crossed on something presenting itself soon because I know if I go home in two weeks and dont have any potential things, then I'm not getting back down here. I'll be commuting into NYC everyday and that is not something I want to do, at all.
Ok, I'm in Leahy procrastinating working on my media paper and then beginning my history research that is due on Wednesday. I need to get to work.

Midnight McFlurries

Another late night. I didn't get to bed until 3:30 last night and was actually in Leahy for a good amount of time because Megan and Stacie were there working on the philosophy papers. I was about ready to have a nervous breakdown about it because I had no clue what I was even supposed to be writing about.
Around midnight I had an epiphany as to what the paper was supposed to be about and, suddenly it all made sense. The three of us then decided that we were hungry and we really wanted McDonalds. So we took a drive to the McDonalds, which is like 15 minutes from campus. It was a project because the first intercom didnt work but it didn''t say it wasn't working and it was lit up like it was fine. The working intercom was around the corner. So the three of us, like fucking idiots, sat there for like 7 minutes waiting for someone to come take our order. We finally realized what dumb asses we are and got our orders before heading back to school and buckling down for another 2 hours of writing.
Tonight I think I'm heading back to Leahy to finish up my philosophy paper. Its due tomorrow morning. After that class, I can relax, call all the places I've applies to for jobs, give a tour and shower to go out. Because tomorrow night we're going to Loriol Plaza for margaritas and then I think we will be going out to other places.
Ok, I'm giving myself until 9 to relax and rest because I'm exhausted and freezing cold (I think I'm getting sick). Then it's off to Leahy. To write a philosophy paper. On Aristotle and Rousseau.
Fantastic. I've got 2 giant redbull to get me through it all.

The Berlin Wall

If anyone ever needs to know anything about the Berlin Wall or Ronald Reagan's famous "tear down this wall" speech, I'm your person. After the past 2 and a half days, I'm pretty sure I could tell you anything there is to know about that topic. I thought it would be interesting and whatnot, especially since I'm a Reagan fan (really, who isnt?) but I was sorely mistaken. If I never write/type the guy's name again, I'd die happy. The same goes for the Brandenburg Gate. Really, I think the US should have just nuked the shit out of Moscow in the 50's and just been done with it. I mean, they didn't even have toilet paper. There is no way they would have been able to detect a nuclear weapon. Damn communists.
At least the paper is done. I just have to proof it, which will only take me a few minutes. Right now, I'm moving on to my philosophy essay which is due on Friday. Prove why Rousseau disagrees with Aristotle's claim that all men have a natural desire for knowledge. Joy. I think tonight is going to be mainly the research end of it and tomorrow will be the bulk of the writing. I'm just kind of burnt out tonight from writing all day. God I hate the end of the semester. On top of the paper I finished today and the philosophy paper due Friday, I have the following:
-3 pages on the film "Capturing the Friedmans"
-10-15 pages on how the Boston Massacre was the cause of the American Revolution
-8 pages of analysis on documents pertaining to a 17th century murder trial in New England
-3 pages on the film "this film is not yet rated"
-and a media paper of undetermined length on an undetermined topic
FML

On top of all this, on Friday afternoon I have to call all the different agencies that I applied to and folow up with them. Find out when or if I will be hearing from them. Hopefully that will help to give me a better perspective on where things stand. If it doesn't sound to promising after that, then Saturday and Sunday are going to be spent looking up temp agencies to register with and maybe checking out some places in Georgetown or Dupont to get a job.
Perhaps a good note though, I've decided I'm going to do Jumpstart in the fall. I have 2 days off and need to do something with my time, other than try and get a part time on-campus gig and write my thesis. Plus, if you do Jumpstart and apply for Teach for America, you are automatically pushed through to the second round of interviews. And there are only two rounds. So it definitely can't hurt my chances if I'm participating in that program while applying to T4A. Its areally good reume builder too. And, I mean, lets not forget that it actually does help young, disadvantaged kids who don't necessarily have the strongest role models in their lives. Its a win-win all around.

Sleep Deprivation

The final weeks of the semester are hell. I hate them. Really, I do. I have 7 papers to write in the next 2 weeks. Approximately 60 pages (and that's a conservative estimate). I haven't gotten to bed before 2:30 in the past few days and I have a feeling that this pattern is going to continue until classes are over and the finals have been taken. I'm going to start living on Redbull pretty soon. I've already started resorting to it. But I'll elaborate more on that later. Right now, its 2:55 and I'm going to go to bed so that I can catch 5 hours of sleep, get up and go to philosophy and then come back and continue writing. ALL. DAY.

It really will be a miracle if I survive the next 2 weeks.

It Got a Little Crazy Last Night

It has been an interesting weekend. Thursday I went to the baseball game with Erin. The Nationals won, which was nice considering they hadn't won a game yet this year. The terrible downside of the night though? I tripped on the steps at the stadium and fell (I'm such a fucking klutz). At the time, I had a beer in one hand and a hot dog in the other, so I couldn't even brace myself for the fall. I just completely wiped out. My blackberry, which was in my pocket, was totally cracked. I now have a huge series of cracks on the screen. But at least the beer and hot dog were saved. I have insurance on my phone. I didn't have insurance on the $12.50 I had just spent on my beer and hot dog. I would have just been shit out of luck. So I look at it as an acceptable loss. I'll get a new phone and all will be good. After the game, Erin and I went to Brooks' for a drink. We ran into Alec, who was there with two of his friends from the Basilica choir. We ended up drinking with them for a while and one of Alec's friends bought us all a round of rum and coke's.
Friday was Odyssey Day. And it was very hot. I gave tours for three straight hours and got a little sunburned. Which was nice. I need to get some kind of tan going. I'm way too pale. I've decided that I'm spending the month of May laying in the sun in my backyard. I refuse to come back here in June and be pale. That is, if I do come back here. Although, I don't really have a job at home. Other than the liquor store. So I'd be no worse off hanging out here than hanging out at home. Minus the money it would cost to live here. But we'll ignore that fact for now. That's my new philosophy.
On Friday night, Erin, Erin and I went to Irish Times. It was good. Erin's bf showed up after the baseball game, slightly trashed. So he was kind of funny. And we met this guy from CUA Law who looked exactly like Green Bean. It was really weird. He was nice, but just the fact that he looked like Green Bean was kind of creepy and strange. Overall, it was a good night though. Not too epic, but still pretty fun.
Yesterday I helped Erin move some of her bulky stuff since she's moving into our trailer for the final 3 weeks of school. It's crazy. Then I had to go to the APO Girl Scouts on Campus Day event. But none of the kids showed up. So it was just the brothers all sitting around doing arts and crafts and talking. It wasn't terrible because we turned it into a de-facto fellowship event but it was kind of a bust as a service project. The afternoon was spent relaxing and doing absolutely nothing. It was glorious.
Last night, Erin and I went back to Irish Times. It was all Catholic people. I mean, you could barely move the place was so crowded. The rugby team was having their formal in the downstairs area from 8-11, with an open bar. That meant that by the time we got there at 10:45, they were all trashed. I mean, there was a freshman sitting outside waiting for an ambulance to show up so that he could have his stomach pumped. After that, all the underage kids fled because they were afraid they would get re-carded. There was a girl from the formal sitting on her bf's lap outside, passed out. When he got her up to move her, she started projectile vomiting all over the place. Half hour later, we're standing outside talking to 2 kids from school who we know, and two Times workers start dragging this guy outside (and he was putting up a hell of a fight). Next second, half the rugby team is outside trying to calm this guy down. Well, I guess they didnt do a very good job, because the next thing you know, he's been wrestled to the ground by 4 workers and another junior is up against a car with his hands behind his back. I don't get why the junior was arrested though. I had seen him and he was calm and fine. When the cops showed up, they handcuffed him and then stood there and talked to him for like 5 minutes. He never seemed to freak out of anything. So I don't get it. Well, the drunk guy ended up getting carried into a squad car by four cops. So that was the rugby team. I don't think they'll be invited back.
About fifteen minutes after we got there, I ran into my friend Kevin, who is on the rugby team. He's from Bayonne, I went to high school with his sister, I graduated with his girfriend Alyssa and he's bff's with my cousin Nick, who lives down the block from me. He tell me that Alyssa is actually there because she came down for the dance. So I spent the next half hour catching up with her and talking about everything that's been going on with the people we went to school with. After talking with Alyssa, Erin went home because she was tired and not drinking. I ended up going downstairs where rugby had been having their party, but at that point it was open to everyone and there were tons of people. I ran into Kenny and this kid Connor, who is in my history class. We hung out at the downstairs bar and talked for a while. Then we ended up going upstairs to the regular bar and getting some more drinks. The next thing I know, Kenny said he had to go to the bathroom or something. But then he's by the front door, with a bloody nose, trying to get a towel. And in the next instant, he was gone. Like, he'd left. Very weird. So it was like 1:30 at that point and I went home not long after that. T'was an epic night.
So that was my crazy weekend. Now this afternoon I have to help Erin move the rest of her stuff and then write two small papers for history and media. That way I can spend the rest of my week working on my politics and philosophy papers, which will not be fun.

Sam Adams

My boring junior seminar class finally payed off today. When I got into politics, our prof asked us which historical figure was the most important leading up to the signing to the Declaration. I raised my hand and asked if he meant in the political or public opinion arena. He said either one and I told him I thought Sam Adams was the most important. The prof looked at me for a second with a surprised look on his face and then said "well I thought I was going to get to play cat and mouse for a while but you hit it right on the head. Sam Adams. And why is he the most important?" Then I got to go into a whole thing about the Sons of Liberty and the Committee of Correspondence. He ended up relating it to the Boston Tea Party and the Tea protests yesterday. But ohh yea, I had some major brownie points by the end of that tangent. Then later on in the class I got into a debate with Brendan about the representative democracy that the United States is founded on and I'm pretty sure the prof supported my argument. It was one of those times when the prof looks at you and is like "Go back at him. I think you're completely right."
In history, I'm pretty sure I frazzled my professor. After he left Caldwell to sprint back to Cardinal Hall to get papers that he thought he left there (but still couldn't find) I asked him how the weight of our graded prjoects would change since our second paper is now optional extra credit. He said everythign would still count for the same percentage but then I asked him what would happen to the 15% that was supposed to be for the second paper. He like a deer in the headlights and was like "well, I'll try and figure that out and let you know." Then I asked him if we were going to get back our first papers at some point and he was like "yea, at some point. eventually the t.a. will give them back." Ok. Great. But hey, I filled my class participation credit for the semester in that class today. Instead of a lecture we had a discussion on these douments about a rebellion that we were supposed to have read. Well, I didn't read them and I don't even have them. Although, I did comment on all of them and raise valid concerns about their credibility. Basically I kicked ass in class today.
It's beautiful out today and Erin and I are going to go see the Nats-Phillies game tonight. Tomorrow is Odyssey Day. Hell on campus. I hate Odyesy Day. I would really like to appologize to all the poor college students my parents and I tortured while looking at schools. But its ok, bceause Erin and I are spending the weekend at Irish Times!! And Saturday night, the rugby team is having some kind of end of the year thing there. Three guesses as to who is on the rugby team. Haha. It's going to be a good weekend.

Hell

My media screenings are supposed to run from 5:10 to 7:00 on Tuesday nights. That's two hours for us to watch our social change documentary. More than enough time to watch tons of movies. Today, the screening ran from 5:10 to 7:40. We got out 40 minutes late!!! What. The. Fuck. Why couldn't the prof pick any one of the countless movies that are under 2 hours in length. The best part is, she told us it would run a little bit over 2 hours, but only a few minutes. That's fine. I'm thinking like 10 minutes. It was probably exactly two hours and it wouldn't be a problem. But 40 minutes? That's redic.
The next two weeks are going to be complete hell. Tonight I have to write a 5 page history paper on a book that I'm reading as I go. Tomorrow, I have class from 10-11, a tour at 12:30, class from 3-5, an ambassador meeting at 5 and I'm working the blood drive from 6-7. Then I have to come back to the room, eat dinner and write a 6 page media paper. Apparently on Thursday, APO is holding game night in our trailer. I was never informed of this. Carolyn just assumed she could use our place and that really pisses me off. Why doesn't she hold game night in her Mill apartment? So I need to clean for everyone to come over. Friday is Odyssey day. I'm working for about 4 hours after my morning class gets out. I will be going out that night. Without a doubt. Then Saturday, I have Kids on Campus Day for APO, all day. Great! That will be fun. Sunday will be spent wither in the Library or Leahy, doing copious amounts of work.
Next week, I have a media paper due on Tuesday, a politics paper due Thursday and a philosophy paper due on Friday. I also have an optional history paper to replace a grade that I nee to do. Then the APO banquet on Saturday night. That brings us to the final week of classes an then finals week.
God, for as long as the semester has dragged on (and believe me, it has dragged) it also went by kind of fast. Although, with finals week approaching, it brings up the summer and I'm still kind of anxious about that. I don't have any plans set in stone yet and it's making me kind of nervous. But I'm trying to remain relaxed and not obsess about it too much. Though, I'm not entirely sure I'm doing a good job of not-obsessing. I really am trying though.
On a complete side note, Liz has finally realized the need for us to move to Britain and meet British guys. Yay! But I'm still completely jealous that she went to Serbia and has now met a British guy that may or may not be crashing on her couch for the next month. I'm the one who loves all things Britain! Oh the injustices of the world! Haha.
Ok, time to get back to work on this paper. I have over a page, which is good. Only 2-3 more to go.

p.s. my cousin just announced via facebook that she's having another baby. those 2 move fast considering they had a just baby in may.

p.p.s. the Giants 2009 season schedule has been announced. looks like we'll have to be the road warriors again.

Woke Up This Morning, Got Myself a Gun

I'm sitting in my room and, quite suddenly, I just heard the first notes of "Paper Planes" start playing. After looking around confused for a minute (since I don't have anything on in my room) I realized my sister is listening to music across the hall in the computer room. Great song!
Well yesterday, while drinking and gambling like a degenerate, I won $30! Wooo! I consider that a success. I started the day with $20 and ended with $50. All of it was won while playing "Sopranos" themed slot machines. They were the new video slots with the screens on top and a big display on top of the group of machines. About every ten minutes they opening credits of the show would play. It would scroll across the top display and the screen on each machine. I heard that opening song about a hundred times yesterday. Hence the title of the post.
This morning we got up at the ass crack of dawn to drive home so that we could shower and go to afternoon lunch with my sister and grandmother. It was facinating. My grandmother told me that I was just like my Uncle Richie. Greeeeeat. That's what I've always aspired to in life and now I can die happy. My work here is done. If you couldn't tell by the blatent sarcasm, my uncle is pretty much retarded and my g-ma just thinks he is the greatest thing to ever grace the planet. He's slightly moronic and married to this crazy lady who is like 20 years older than him and just completely dumb. I mean, really dumb. You look at her, and you can just tell there is not a whole lot going on up there in that mind. She recently and Whinnie the Pooh Bear and Gang tattooed on her leg. She's like 50 something. That should be explination enough. So, my g-ma telling me I'm just like my uncle... it just mad my day.
Tomorrow I have to head back to school. Hopefully my car has been all checked out and fixed. We dropped it off at the garage on Thurday and told the guys to look at it and take care of whatever was wrong. My dad hasn't talked to them since then, but he's going to go pick it up in the morning. I'm hoping they gave me a new battery. It may have run ok on Wednesday when I drove home, but I'm concerned it will keep dying if I bring it back to school. I'm sure the guys at Harrington's took care of it though. That's the garage that was used as the model for the one that is owned by Tom Cruise's friend and gets blown up at the beginning of "War of the Worlds". It's about a half a block away from my house and my dad went to grammar school with one of the owners.
Most likely, it would be a good idea to unpack the suitcase full of winter clothes that I brought home so that I could pack up the few things I need to bring back to school with me. Eh ::shrugs:: I'll do that in the morning before leaving.

p.s. last night I had this really random dream that my dad got called up out of inactive duty in the army and that he was being deployed to Iraq. It was a really upsetting dream. And completely random because he's been out of the army since May 2001 (convenient timing considering what happened three months later)

B-I-N-G-O

It's pouring rain out. And we're in, practically, the middle of nowhere. Foxwoods is really nice and it reminds me a lot of the hotels in Vegas, but it's on an Indian reservation in the middle of the woods. It's a little strange.
Yesterday my mom got up at around 6 in the morning so she could shower, eat breakfast and go play bingo. The game starts at 10:30, but you need to be there at 8:30 when the doors open so that you can get your boards, find a seat and get set up. The game itself runs from 10:30 until 3 in the afternoon. Four and a half hours!!!!! It's insane. My dad and I took our time getting ready and went to the casino around 2 to walk around, play some slots and wait for her to finish. We walked around for a while, went to eat and then had to get on line because my mom wanted us to play bingo with her that afternoon/night. So we went.
Well, bingo may be a cheap way to gamble (it costs about $50 to play all the games for about 5 hours) but it is like a marathon and way too much for me. The chairs are uncomfortable, the people are waaaay too crazy and into it and, on top of everything else, I felt like I was at an AARP convention. Not everyone was old, but the majority of the people were. Plus, I didn't wi anything. Everytime I got close to winning something, some obnoxious person in the back would holler "bingo" and the entire room would groan and move on to the next board.
After bingo got out at around 11 (we'd been there since about 5:30) we played some slots and had a couple drinks. I found British themed slot machines!!!! I mean, it must be fate. All the signs are pointing accross the Atlantic. Haha.
So this morning my mom got up again at 6 so that she could get ready for bingo. She asked if my dad or I wanted to go with her. Hell no! It was fun, but 6 hours is a bit too long for me. We're going to meet up with her later and then I think she wants to take a drive to Mohegan Sun, which is like 15 minutes away. Apparently, some old lady in bingo yesterday told her that it is a nicer casino and much bigger. So we're going to go check it out and probably eat there. Sounds like a better plan than another marathon bingo night. It would round out the vacation at 16 hours of bingo for my mom and 12 for my dad and me. Thats about 10 hours too much for me.
I should probably go take a shower so that I can get ready. Then I can spend the day drinking and gambling like a degenerate.

Jumper Cables

To say it has been an interesting couple of days is a bit of an understatement. It's been frustrating, annoying, exhausting and... normal.
Monday night, after writing a media paper and watching 24, Erin came over so we could study for our history quiz. After our pathetic performances on the last one, we figured it would be a good idea to really study and make sure we had everything worked out. After studying for a bit, I wanted to take a trip to the C-store and, since it was bitter cold out, I suggested driving down to the Pryz. Plus, we were both lazy and it was like 11 and we were tired. So we go out to my car and it won't turn on. The battery is dead and, after checking, I knew I hadn't left the lights on when I drove it on Saturday. Not a big deal, I'll go get Kenny and Chris and I'm sure they can jump my car for me, right?
Well, we get the boys and they push my car out of its spot so Kenny can get his car close enough. We try jumping it a couple times and it wont work. Just my luck. So they push my car back into its spot and Kenny suggests that I call DPS and have them come jump it because it may have just been that my jumper cables were bad. Erin and I decided to go back inside and study for a little while longer and then she went back to her room, I went to the C-store, came back and called public safety. Thirty cold minutes later, during which I had to sit out at my car because God knows they can't come knock on my trailer door, they show up and start my car. All is well.
Tuesday, on my way to my first class, I walk past where my car is parked and decided I would try and start it just to make sure it was still ok. It wasn't. Completely dead once again. Now I know there is something wrong with it. I called my dad when I got out of class and he said he'd bring it to get a new battery when I was home for Easter. Class comes and goes. My history quiz was waaaay easier than we thought. "Define and give the significance of indentured servitude and Bacon's rebellion". "Identify on a map: Jamestown, East New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania". Really? Whatever, I'm not going to complain. After my very boring media screening, I packed up all of my stuff that I didn't need and was going to bring home nad called DPS to come re-jump my car. They did and I decided to drive it around for 15 or 20 minutes so that it could get a charge in it. When I got back to Curley, I let it run while I put my stuff in and called the Chris and Kenny to carry out my mini-fridge for me. They really are very helpful guys.
This morning, I was expeecting hte car to be dead again but it wasn't, which was nice. I got on the road around 11:30 and was home between 3 and 3:30. Some asshole from PA completely cut me off when we were getting stopped in traffic just after the Gothels Bridge in Staten Island. I was about two sseconds away from slamming into him. My sister had a softball game so I went and watched that. They won, she struck out three times, but apparently she hit a double before I got there. Came home and let her drive to play practice (because she has her permit now)... it was terrifying. I mean, not really terrifying but really kinda scary because she just got her permit a few weeks ago and she drove about 20 mph hour on a road where you're supposed to do 40.
We went and got pizza at the Starting Point tonight. See my previous post to learn about my feelings on good, Jersey style pizza. And I love the Starting Point. It's the Cheers bar of Bayonne. My parents and I met two friends of theirs and we all got pizza and wings and had some drinks. I was relaxing and pretty quiet because its a Wednesday night.
Tomorrow, my parents and I are going away to Foxwoods for the weekend. Its their birthday present to me. We're going to go up there, relax and gamble. I think it will be a good time. My mom wants me to play bingo with her. I don't get her obsession with playing bingo but its her favorite thing to do when we go to Vegas. Maybe its really fun, I don't know. I'm sure I'll write some kind of post over the next few days and update about how the Foxwoods thing is going. I'm sure it will be a couple of days that are full of stories.

Sectionals: Declassified

It has been one hell of a whirlwind weekend. I was up for two days with about 3 collective hours of sleep. Finally got to bed late last night and have awoken sick. Hopefully I've got what Molly had and not what Marian has. That would just suck so completely. I'm going to try and do justice to a recap of the whole weekend because Friday was good and yesterday was very, very interesting (but not for the reasons we thought). Let me begin...
Friday it poured all morning and there wasn't a chance in hell I was getting up to trek through that to go to philosophy class. So I stayed in bed. It cleared up by the afternoon and I had to give a tour, which was fine. I got to relax and do nothing while Molly ran around getting ready for the fellowship because I had an excused absence. That night I met my cousin Brian and his wife Holly for dinner in Chinatown. We went to this brickoven pizza place called Matchbox and it was surprisingly good. Very good, in fact. I haven't really found a good pizza place down here (I'm very much a purist when it comes to my pizza) but this was good. We waited over an hour for a table, which just meant that we sat at the bar and drank. That long of a wait is reassuring though. All those people wouldn't be there if it sucked. So dinner was fun. They're moving to North Carolina and Brian thinks he can get me a summer job. That would be fantastic. I have to send him my resume this afternoon.
I get back to campus around 10:30/11 and Chris had texted me to say they were having a party in Steve's trailer and I should stop by. So I did. It was a very strange party. Steve, Chris, Nick, Ed and his whole crew, and then a bunch of random people who don't go to school here. I stayed for a little over an hour to be fashionable and not rude. Then I peaced. It was getting late anyway and I had to be in the Pryz by 7 the next morning. I was ready to just go to bed. But! I get back to my trailer and Erin texted me to stay that her and Erin Kilroy were on their way back from Adam's Morgan and going to Brooks, did I want to joing them? Well, I ended up going to Brooks. Which would have been fine, but Chrissy was there. I have nothing against her. I never did. But the second we walked in she gives me a nasty look and you can tell she wants to start talking about me to anyone who will listen. In the end, I got home around 2:30 and didn't get to bed until 3. Just over three hours later, I was rudely awoken by Molly throwing my door open because we needed to get up and get ready to be at the Pryz by 7. Grrrrr!

This brings me into the story of Espionage: Sectionals Declassified. What a day! We get there at 6:56 and the info desk worker won't let us in until exactly 7. Really? Whatever. So we get in, everyone else starts showing up and David and I are assigned to go sit at the metro and give directions to anyone who looked lost. A very exciting assignment, let me tell you. After that I had some time off before I was scheduled to work at the info desk. I ended up sitting on the third floor of the Pryz with Afifeh, talking about random stuff. Mark and Patrick came over and we ended up on a conversation about the post-conference party at last year's sectionals. It was awesome because, at first, Patrick was like "no I don't think I was there. I don't rememb-- oooooooo". It all just kind of dawned on him, which was hysterical. I worked the info desk and ended up getting into politics discussions with a bunch of the pledges. For the most part, they all seem pretty normal and cool. The day proceeded on with me running around doing minor things and just trying to make sure Molly wasn't freaking the hell out. This was done by staying out of her way and just helping her out whenever she stressed.
Now we get to the business meeting. I could write a whole post just on the drama that unfolded in the Hannan 108 auditorium. And believe me, there will be a long email that goes into great detail about what went down and why we think it did. Basically, the abridged version (for the sake of time) is that we have this business meeting with everyone from our section who is at the conference. Every school elects 2 voting delegates and the rest of the people just sit in the back and watch and, at times, may be invited to ask questions or offer opinions. At the meeting we vote on where the next year's sectionals will be (its at UMBC, who are a newly chartered chapter and have no idea what they're getting into) and we choose our new section chair for the year. Traditionally, people serve two terms as section chair. So this year we were going to nominate and elect Mark to his second year. Everyone knows this is what is going to happen and we're expecting this part to last about 5 minutes. Then all the non-voting delegates can leave and I needed to shower before the banquet. Well, for reasons that I won't get into, Zeta Phi (aka Howard U) decided to throw a metaphorical hissy fit and nominate some random person from section staff, who went to their school, to run against Mark for section chair! Are you kidding me!?!?! Then G-town thought it was open hunting season and decided to nominate Patrick, who is their section rep. He declined because he's Mark's best friend and he's not going to run against him. So then the two nominees had to answer questions from the voting delegates (and non-voting people can't say anything). Howard goes on to ask questions about embracing ethnicity and all this other shit. Now Zeta Mu (cua) is sitting there silently freaking out and plotting ways to kill Zeta Phi. Poor Molly had to leave the room before the vote because she would have been inconsolable if Mark didn't get reelceted. I mean, he's like family to her and that may have been the thing that drove her away from the organization. Well, Mark won, which was good. But it set the tone for the banquet.
All things considered, the banquet went very well. We gave Molly the Chapter DSK, which she was very surprised about. Mark gave Molly, Marian and Beth gift certificates to a spa as a thank you for the work they put into planning the conference and because they are "three girls who have no idea how to relax". Then we did Roll Call. No one in our chapter had time to plan a roll call so we put Alyssa and the pledges in charge of it. They got up to do their thing and the rest of the chapter was a little concerned because none of them had ever even seen a roll call before. Well, can I just say, they gave the greatest roll call I think I have ever seen. They may have beaten the boys from Alaska, Fairbanks at Nationals. It was absolutely hysterical. Luckily, I had decided to record it, simply because it was our chapter and the pledges. You can all go watch it on facebook. It's great.
Once everything wound down around 11:30 (and it was insinuated by section staff that we drink excessively, which we do) Molly and I had a few people back to our trailer to hang out. And by a few I mean Andee, Chris and Steve. It was just the whole "its over we can sit and do nothing" mentality. Molly went to bed around 12:45 because she had to get up this morning to go up to NYC. But I was still up and they all stayed until 3. We were just up talking and laughing about the conference, random people and a whole bunch of stuff. For the second night in a row, I didn't get to bed until 3 in the morning. That ok, I had a good time. This morning I woke up sick though.

So that was my epic weekend. It was pretty intense and very interesting. Overall, I think everything went very well and almost flawlessly, minus the business meeting. I just realized this is an insanely long post and it has taken me over an hour to write (although I was also uploading videos and checking my mail). I gotta go take Sudafed

Can I Take Your Order?

My dad just called me in this high strung, worked up panic about how I haven't heard from any of the jobs I applied to. So clearly, I need to go on monster.com, check the newspaper classifieds and apply for every waitress job in the district. Otherwise I will have to come home for the summer and look for a job there. I was like "Whoa, bud. Calm down. I think I have until the middle of April before I need to start worrying." He thinks I need to be panic stricken this very instant. Even though two of the jobs I applied to only had their deadlines last week. Give them time to file all of the applications before you start thinking no one is willing to hire me. Honestly, the confidence he has in me is amazing.
Well, that's my story. Conference starts tomorrow night and Molly has threatened to send me hourly, countdown text messages. Please dont!!! I may be forced to file a restraining order at that point. We have a meeting tonight to stuff envelopes and folders. Should be tons of fun. Really, I cant hardly contain my excitement. Who cares that the series finale of ER is tonight at 9? I'd much rather stuff folders in the Pryz. It doesn't matter that the show has been on for fifteen years and tonight is the last episode EVER! My dedication and love for APO are much more important. Especially when we are in such a state of crisis. The conference is only 24 hours away!!!! People, we are at def-com 10!!! It is time to start panicing!!!!!
::the entire preceding paragraph was dripping with sarcasm::

April Showers

The rain sucks! I mean, I really hate it. Not cool at all. With the exception of yesterday and Sunday, the weather has really been pretty miserable for about a week now. And it's going to stay like this until Saturday. It's so miserable and depressing after a while. I mean, after prolonged exposure to shitty weather, you begin to just have no desire to do stuff. Wow. Ok, that's really morbid and suicidal-sounding. I just meant that it becomes like a rainy weekend day when you lay around and watch movies. Except its like that everyday. Not to mention that the warmer, damper weather is really screwing with my shoulder. It's been killing me for days now. I keep feeling like I'm about to dislocate it or something. That'll be great when it eventually does happen.
I think I'm suffering from early onset senioritis. I have absolutely no desire to do any work. Although, I guess it could be the weather. It seems a little early still to be that ready for the semester to be over. We still have over a month left. On the other hand, I did see a poster in the Pryz today advertising Luaupoluza. That is scary. It means the semester really is almost over and, while it has seemed to drag on forever, it;s actually another year that's gone by pretty fast. This time next year, we really will be suffering from senioritis. A little over a month left to go and, hopefully, some definite plans for the future. Or at least an idea of where we want to try and end up. I'd be happy with an idea.

Cheeri-O

I've decided I'm moving to Britain. I came to that conclusion today, while sitting in my torturous Colonial American history class. Really, I think I'm destined to live there at some point, so why not go while I'm still young and care free (hahaha!). Teach American history or government to a bunch of obnoxious British high-schoolers. It's my dream, really. Hey, that psychic told me I was going to end up with a foreigner, and by foreigner she meant some English or Irish guy. So in reality, it's my destiny as well as my dream. Isn't it wonderful when those two colide? I think so. And I'm making Liz come with me, because I'll need someone to share my flat with. She can go dig up ancient English monarchs or teach obnoxious British high schoolers about American Indians or something.
Well, there you have it. My life plan. Maybe not as thorough and thought out as some people's plans (ah-hem, you know who) but it will work fine. And if it doesn't work? Then, fuck. I'll move back home and make my parents finish off the attic. Or live on my friend's couch while I work for minimum wage at a local liquor store. I mean, why mess with something you're good at? I'm sure the Koreans up the street from school would hire me.
Bloody hell (see, I'm practicing my British) I still have a paper to write. At this point, I actually have to work on it because it is due tomorrow.

Procrastination

Really, I'm beginning to think that procrastination is a disease. I've now spent two days doing absolutely no work. Well, that's not completely true. I did go to the library today and dig out books on revolutionary America. That must count for something. But that's the extent of what I've done. And now I need to read a book and write a paper on it by Wednesday. Fantastic. Oh well. Whatever. I know it'll get done in the end, so what's the point of stressing out?
I can't believe that the semester is flying by so fast. We've only got about 4 weeks of class left before finals. And then its home for summer. Or really, down here for the summer. Can't wait! It is going to be amazing. A couple of plans are in the works and I think its all going to be pretty awesome.
On a similar note (the one about time flying), we registered for classes today. As of 7 a.m. this morning I am a registered senior at Catholic University. Holy shit!!!! That's completely terrifying!!!! It's really astonishing how fast the time has gone by. To me, it seems like only yesterday that it was freshman move in day. About 900 degrees in that quad room in Spellman with Kara, her parents, Chrissy and her mom. Megan was nowhere to be found, but her stuff was there. I wasn't entirely sure she existed for the first couple of hours. Erin and I had a whole conversation the other day about how we wish we could go back to freshman year. If only so that we could really understand how carefree and wide-eyed we were. I think we'd have savored it more, because once you're not a freshman, you begin to look at things differently. I mean, I can't imagine us deciding one night at midnight or one (while completely drunk) to blindly follow our friend's roommate to a diner in Adam's Morgan that we've never been to. When we all have flights and trains to catch in the morning. With complete diregard for the time or whether or not we'll make the last metro train. Today, we'd bring up the idea, then realize it's late, we're tired, we don't want to walk, we won't have enough time and eventually decide to just order pizza instead. We're more mature and rational now. I guess that's a good thing. I mean, I know it is. But I wish I could go back and be aware of how much I would miss being a freshman. I'd remember and savor it more. We simply threw it away in our mad desire to be upperclassmen. And now we're registered seniors. I'm writing my thesis in the fall and everyone else is taking comps. It's all almost over. And, try as we might, we can't get it back. It really is scary how fast it has all gone by.
It's now late and I hae a book to read and a paper to write. Not enough time to dwell on the past.

Three Guys and a Machine Gun

I had a good night. The weather kind of sucked but the night, itself, was fun. We started out at Loriol Plaza in Adam's Morgan. It was me, Molly, Marian, Erin and Erin. We got some food and some margaritas. Soooooo amazing! Oh my god! I love their drinks!! They are the absolute best in the district.
While we were there, my dad called me. It was like 11:30 and I'm thinking, why the hell are you calling me now!?!?! Well, it turns out he was watching the local news (because he was in the district for work) and they had a report about increased crime in Adam's Morgan, highlighted by coverage of a convenience store robbery that took place that night. Three guys with machine guns robbed a store and everyone who was in the store. Machine guns??? Really? Is that necessary? You could rob a store with a sharpie that you put in your pocket!! Using machine guns to rob a convenience store is like using a surface to air missile to go quail hunting. It's ridiculous and unnecessary. At that point, they were showboating.
So when we finally left Adam's Morgan, Molly and Erin Kilroy went back to school because they were sick/tired. Erin, Marian and me went to Irish Times. That is my bar!!!! I've decided that must be our cheers bar because it is just that wonderful. All CUA people, great music, reasonably priced drinks (we got 2 long island iced teas for $14, which is what one margarita cost us at Loriol Plaza). We walked in and I was stunned how many Catholic students were there. I mean, I knew it was a CUA bar, but the entire place was students. I could turn around in a circle and find 10 or 15 people I had class with. We ran into Ray, who was there with a group of people, and we all hung out for a while.
I dont know how it came up, but at one point I found out that Erin knows some of the details of the night we don't speak of. Actually, I think it was because Paper Planes came on and I naturally freaked out and said this song reminds me of a night I don't speak of. Then Erin told me she quasi-knew what went on. So I then had to explain it enough that she had the story straight. But, there are still parts that would only get discussed with Liz. Or the boys, but we've never spoken about any of it with them. Either way, there is a reason it's called the night we don't speak of. We don't speak of it.
I guess we got back to school around 2:30 and passed out. Slept till noon, woke up and made some pancakes. And now the rest of the day has been spent procrastinating and doing nothing. It has been a very productive.
Now I'm going to get ready and go to my wonderful APO meeting. The conference is in less than a week and I think Molly is reaching panic mode. Still haven't decided if this is going to be a funny thing to see or if it's going to be terrible. Doesn't matter, because the banquet on Saturday will make it all worth it. The entire section is going to go to hell in the Pryz Great Room and I can't wait.

Happy Birthday, Rachel

The big Two Four. Man, it's an important birthday. And it's been pretty good so far. The party last night was a success. We all had a good time. Although, Kenny tried to get us to play some new game called Shotgun or something like that. It was not a good idea. It involved chugging a whole beer in about 9 seconds. I played one round and was like "um... no". Not for me. But, otherwise, it was a good night and I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. Chris showed up. And he wasn't high. That was a big plus.
Today, my dad called me at 11:30 and told me that I needed to go to the Barnes and Noble in Rockville at 2 because my mom took the ride down with him and she didn't want to sit for hours while he was working. Wtf!?!? Sneak attack!!!! So I drove all the way out to Rockville and then back to CUA. And then my dad came and met us at school and we went out to eat. But now I'm back at my room and a group of us is gonna go out to Adam's Morgan nad then maybe back to a bar closer to school. I think it should be a good night.
Tomorrow.... yuck. I have work to do. Not cool. I have a book to read and write a paper on for history. That will be fun. Its a book thats all about the stamp act crisis. Very compelling stuff, let me tell you.
Ok, I'm gonna go get dressed and drink some more before we got out. Yay!

Friday

The countdown now stands at under 6 hours. That's not really a lot of time. Erin and I are gonna go to the store in about an hour and grab some chinco. And I think we'll start partying not long after that. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it isn't a total bust. But I don't think it will be.
I gave a tour this afternoon and at the begining of all of my tours I tell the people to feel free to jump in and ask questions because the tour usually ends up being more fun that way. They should also feel free to ask me anything because I gaurantee that I've had a stranger question and my dad used to ask really weird stuff about alumni donation records. Usually, that means someone will raise their hand while I'm giving a part of my schpeile and ask something. But today I had this one weird guy and his son. They were strange from the get-go. The kid was asking me how the buildings are heated. With, heaters? He wanted to know if it was compressed air or steam. How should I know? Then he asked me what time the street lights around campus go on. Um, when it gets dark out? And his dad was literally interupting me. I mean, I'd be mid-sentence and he'd start talking. Wtf? Seriously, who does that?
I got into my first choice for the history senior seminar!!! Yay!! Britain and the Second World War. I'm so excited! I'm just not sure who else is in my section. I know a couple of other people who put it down as their first choice, but I don't know if they got it or not. Well, now I know my general topic and I can start narrowing it down to something specific. I've already got a few ideas and I talked them over with my advisor, who is, incidentally, the prof for this class.
I'm gonna go get ready now...

p.s. I was just on hte phone with my sister and she suggested I do a shot at 11:59 because it will be the last illegal drink I ever have. Haha. She's such a corrupt little 16 year old!

You Look Like A Smurf

Twenty four hours and thirty three minutes. Not that I'm counting or anything. You know, just in case you are. I think it's going to be a good weekend. At least, I'm hoping it is. Party tomorrow, bars on Saturday and out again on Sunday. I wonder when I'm going to get any of my homework done. Considering I do have a paper due on Wednesday. Eh, whatever. I wouldn't have started it until Monday anyway.
The weather sucked today. It was cold, damp, raining, windy, foggy and all around gross. Not cool. And on top of that, I was beyond bored with absolutely nothing to do. I've taken to re-watching all of my movies. And watching new ones online, illegally. Hey, its not my fault they're up there. I didn't invent the internet, youtube or tv-links.eu. I simply use them.
Molly is still sick. She has been for a week and I'm becoming more and more convinced that she actually has some kind of respiratory, bronchitis chest infection. She's been coughing up a lung for a week now and it doesn't sound like its getting any better. I know I'm going to get it at some point because she's coughing and sneezing all over the living room and I've got the worst immune system EVER. But, at this point, I'm beginning to think I won't get sick until after my birthday. Then I don't care. It just means I'll be too sick to help out at the conference. Oh. Damn. I'll be so upset.
Wow, ok so they just emailed us the tour schedule for April. I have six tours so far. And I usually pick up one or two from people who have some kind of conflict. Plus we're got Odyssey Day on the 17th where we all work about a hundred hours. I better be making some serious cash this month so I won't be completely flat broke by the end of the semester. With this many tours and Odyssey Day though, I think I should be ok.
I think I have some philosophy reading to do and I should get that done. God knows I didn't do it before Grey's came on. By the way!!!! Best Grey's episode in a looooong time! I thoroughly enjoyed it!! I did not see that whole thing at the end coming. It was definitely not even hinted at in the promos last week. It was very good and very surprising.

p.s. Happy Kenny Chesney's Birthday! his b-day is 2 days before mine. clearly ::slight shoulder shrug:: it's fate

Birthday Hazing

Having your morning class canceled is really, in my opinion, one of the greatest things that can happen in college. Therefore, not having media today was splendid. Absolutely glooorious (to quote Kara). I got to sleep for an extra hour and take my time getting ready for the rest of my classes. It was very nice.
I'm convinced my politics in the media class has turned into a history class. All we do is discuss different types of failed governments in the past half century. Perhaps, in passing, we may briefly discuss how the ruling group did or did not effectively use the media. Today, we talked about the establishment of the People's Republic of China for the first hour of class. Then in the last 15 minutes we discussed the media coverage of Tienanmen Square in 1989. Honestly, this is not the class I signed up for.
After politics I went to my actual history class. There we discussed the movement patterns of North American Indians in the 1600s. If the topic wasn't boring enough, it was about 80 degrees and dry as an August desert in the classroom. I'm amazed I didn't fall asleep. Although, I did consider trying to get in touch with Ben Stine to ask if I could borrow some Clear Eyes. I'm not sure I comprehended or took notes on anything that was said in the last 20 minutes of class. Other than when the prof described some French guy as a bad ass who disobeyed authority and had his initials tattooed on his chest. That I wrote down.
Towards the end of history class I got an email and jumped at the chance for a distraction (I really do love my blackberry). My cousin Brian emailed me about getting together for drinks sometime this weekend for my birthday. That's nice of him. He always takes me out for my birthday. But the subject of the email was "birthday hazing". Hence the title of this post. I'm slightly frightened by that. I mean, he's been talking about my 21st birthday since freshman move in day. I think I should be both concerned and prepared. It should be interesting. Haha.
Right. Well. Yay laundry time!

Hmmmm...

I've had a very interesting night. I'm not quite sure how else to describe it and I can't get into it. But just know that it was very interesting. I learned a lot and gained some valuable insight into a couple of different things.
In other news, because of a civic responsibility to report for jury duty, my media professor has had to cancel both class and our night screening for tomorrow. Oh darn. Instead, we have to watch trailers for all the different movies that we're going to vote on as our last documentary. Seriously? That's our assignment? What a bunch of youtube clips? Sweet.
Also, Operation DR may in fact be a success. It is not official yet, but things are looking promising and we have made some progress. Hopefully we we learn the outcome very soon. In which case, some (if not all) will be revealed. Probably only some. For my own well being.
Ok, off to bed because media is canceled and I can sleep in, which I intend to do. So I need to go to sleep to gain the extra time. Otherwise the staying up later and sleeping later cancel each other out. Very pointless.

Post Party

So Molly has been planning this APO conference that is going to take place here at Catholic. It's in just under two weeks and she's been working on it, probably for a year. Honestly, I've tried to stay as far away from it as possible because I just don't want to get involved in the insanity that will be her life in the next two weeks. And it takes place the week after my birthday. I plan on being drunk. But anyway, I've just been informed that on Saturday night of this conference, after it is essentially over, there will a post-conference party. To be held, most likely, in our trailer. Sweet, I could go for a party. And if there is one thing Zeta Mu knows how to do right, its drink. Maybe the conference won't be so terrible after all.
You know, I'm becoming slightly concerned about something. It's pretty trivial when you look at the grand scale of things, but still. My 21st birthday is on Saturday and I'm becoming worried that (like the rest of my semester) its going to be a let down of a weekend. I mean, I've just got a feeling that it's become so hyped up that it's just inevitable that I be disappointed. And I don't want to be, ya know? I mean, I think that, other than turning 16 and 18, this is the last major birthday you have until you turn 30. And the fact that that is less than 10 years away is slightly frightening. But I digress. I guess I'm just worried that I'm gonna try and have my friends over and half of them will be too high to show up or be any fun and everyone else will have something going on. And then on Saturday, it will turn out that no one wants to go out or do anything and I spend my 21st birthday like I've spent the majority of my weekends this semester. Doing absolutely nothing. Sober as a reformer at an AA meeting. If that happens, that might be it for me. I may actually lose it at that point. Maybe its the pessimist in me, but in any event, I've begun mentally preparing myself for a not-so-spectacular birthday.
Well, I'm going to attempt to get some work done while I contemplate ways to justify a less-than-stellar birthday.

The Snow is on the Mountain

I've always imagined that those words would be used as some kind of single for the green light of some covert operation. Like the sleeper cell terrorists I have living directly across the street from me. Well, actually they live across the street from the side of my house (I'm on a corner) but I can see their house from my kitchen window. They're very creepy. Some kind of Middle Eastern. There are about 15 of them living in this house, which wouldn't be so strange cause it looks like its just one giant family with the parents and grandparents and kids and aunts and uncles. Not so strange. In fact, during the day they look pretty normal. But every so often, in the middle of the night, they act really weird. An NYC taxi will show up and double park in front of the house. Or one of the guys will be outside on the phone yelling in some strange language. In the summer, when people show up late (and I'm in my backyard hanging out so I can see this) the garage doors will come up and all of a sudden the women are all outside with the children, who are only between 2 and 5. And this is at like midnight. I'm telling you, there is something not right about them. Our neighbor who is a DEA agent checked them out and allegedly they run a check cashing business out of their house, which is bullshit. I don't believe it. And when they do something and they interview me on the news about whether or not I suspected anything, I'll tell them absolutely and they should look at my neighbor who investigated them.
Wow, ok. That was waaaaaay off topic. Victim of the stream of consciousness, I guess. Anyway. In my case "the snow is on the mountain" is codeword for the launch of Operation DR. And, while I doubt many people know what Operation DR is, it was put into effect about 5 hours ago. We're just awaiting the result and we're hopeful that it will be positive. If it is, then I will post and let everyone know.
But for now, I think I'll keep the details to what I've already said. Which is virtually nothing. And that's how it will stay.
Cherie-o!

p.s. I've been having a Hugh Grant marathon today since I'm completely bored and love Hugh Grant movies. Although, I've come to realize that a Hugh Grant marathon is also a Colin Firth marathon because they're in several movies together. It's all good, I like Colin Firth too!

I've Got a Plan!

To win back the fresh clean smell in my new Opus room. If you don't already know, one of our roommates next year has a slight odor problem. But I've got a plan. And I think it has a good chance of working.
This weekend, Erin and I will draft up an email, gain Liz's approval, and send it off to this person. In it, we are going to simply tell the truth. That we drink copious amounts of alcohol, that we party excessively. That we have several slightly obnoxious, womanizing guy friends who may or may not use drugs (joking!). That these guys may crash at our place one or more nights a week due to alcohol or a sheer lack of desire to travel. That our room is going to be the party room and we will probably blast loud music all afternoon and night. That we felt it important to tell her about this early on so that if she wanted to maybe request a quieter room, she'd have time while there is still space. Honestly, we'd understand. No hard feelings. You think it will work? God, I hope so.
If it doesn't, then Liz and I created a backup plan... the house rules. Ahem! I will now read you a short preview of the house rules:

Rule One: everyone living in Opus 713 will be required to shower daily, using both soap and hot water.
Rule Two: any visiting friends must also shower that day with soap and hot water, but showers will not be provided for them.
Rule Three: in order for friends to come over, they must first be able to successfully hunt and kill an "iso".
Rule Four: if they don't know what rule three refers to, then there is no hope of them being invited over.

I think that is a pretty good start. We're just laying down the law, especially concerning numbers one and three. It's my senior year and I'm not letting a roommate's potential hygiene issues ruin my good time. Especially since we've decided that we're going to get some stuff to decorate and match the new modernish furniture that Opus has. As opposed to just posters. Those can go in mine and Liz's room. (ahhh!) I will not have my stuff infested with the smell of B.O. There will be glade plug ins up and down the hallway and I will make our apartment smell like a tropical oasis!! hahaha.
Ok, bed time. I'm exhausted from the history quiz I had today that the prof then followed with a 45 minute lecture about Bacon's Rebellion. Seriously? Seriously?

Oper-, Opus: Housing

We officially have housing for next year. Opus 713. Top floor. Where there is cell phone service and a view of.... something. After a mad dash to get into a room, we finally made it and quickly discovered that a ton of other people will be living in Opus as well next year. I think it's going to end up being almost all seniors, which will be cool. If we just had kitchens, it would be great.
Earlier today I had a meeting with my adviser to talk about my schedule for next semester. As usual, the classes I want to take are fine and fit into my schedule. After we went over my classes we talked about my senior thesis and how it was almost time to graduate. It was kind of terrifying because she asked me what I was planning on doing next May and it realized I've only got a year to figure something out. But I've been seriously looking at Teach for America and I think I'm going to apply for it in the fall. It's extremely competitive though. They only take about 20-25% of the people who apply, so I'm going to need to come up with some kind of back up plan. But right now I need to focus on making sure all my academic and extracurricular activities are in order and ready for the fall. I'm going to need to start organizing this stuff over the summer. Basically I want to kick ass in my classes this semester to give my GPA one final boost before I apply to TforA and start looking at other jobs in the fall. God, that's terrifying. Especially in this economy.
Oh well, right now I've got a history quiz to study for.

The High Holy Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!!

It's that time of year again. That time when everything becomes a just little greener, bagpipes can be heard in the distance and it is suddenly acceptable to drink Bailey's and Jameson in your morning coffee. That's right ladies and gentlemen, The High Holy Day is upon us. It is St. Patrick's Day once again.
As I'm sure you all know, today is one of (if not my absolute) my favorite holidays of the year. It's always back and forth between today and Christmas (with 4th of July close behind), but as I get older I think today is starting to win out. I look forward to March 17th all year and usually have a countdown going by early January. The days leading up are spent blasting the Boondocks Saint's theme and all my other Irish music. You can feel the excitement in the air.
On any given day, there are a million reasons why I love being Irish. But today, I love it even more. What other nationality has a holiday (a religious one, no less) dedicated to drinking? It's amazing. I don't think it is possible for anything to ruin my day today. I may get annoyed at things, like the fact that Molly washed exactly half the dishes today and left the other half in the sink. But on a whole, I cannot be brought down.
Next year, our Spring Break ends on the weekend of the Washington DC St. Patrick's Day parade. Therefore, when planning our vacation, I will find it imperitive that we come back Saturday night so that we can go to the parade and get really drunk afterward. And the entire day of St. Patrick's Day will be spent at the Dubliner next year. Liz. Erin. You are on notice!
Now, if you will all excuse me, I'm going to go back to drinking my Miller Lite and listening to my Irish music while I celebrate this final hour of St. Patty's Day.

Deep Breath/My Housing

So after several near sleepless nights, hours of stressing and talking to just about every person I have ever known on this campus, we finally have a good fourth to live with. And on top of everything else, she has number 148! We can get our nice, quiet trailer and not have to worry about anything. Liz told me not to stress because it would all work out at the last minute but (me being me) I've stressed out about it compulsively for the past two weeks. I swear, I think I'm going gray or something. But it all seems to be working out. Maybe I won't be homeless next year. The only hurdle left to clear now, is My Housing...
I know it's a lot to ask for, but just once, just one time, I would like something at this school to run the way it is supposed to. No problems. No rescheduling. No massive emails to address the issues. But, like I said, it's a lot to ask for. So I'm not very optimistic about that ever happening. Today's problem is the CUA Housing program known as "My Housing". The idea behind the program is great. It lets people log on, check their lottery number, select their roommates and chose their rooms. All in one place. The execution however, in typical CUA fashion, sucks. The program is now three years old and the school still cant get it to work properly. This year, the problem is that people cant select their friends as their roommates. Also, we had to agree to some Resident and Dining Services form and if we didn't then we couldn't participate in selections. Well, we all signed it and it still says we're "ineligible". It is so bad, and Housing was so incapable of addressing the problem sometime in the past three week, that they had to delay the start of room selections. The lottery was scheduled to begin today at 4 and at 4:30 we got an email from the Housing director saying they were pushing up back at least a day to try and deal with the problem. So now, on top of not being able to select our roommates, we all have to scramble to try and reschedule who is going to pick the room, because God knows the person with the number is in class during their time. Great! Thank you CUA. To quote Daniel Craig in Road to Perdition (it is St. Patty's Day week after all), "It's all so fucking hysterical". I think that sums it up pretty acurately.

Application Submitted

I officially applied to two more summer jobs today. One at the International Trade Commision. The other at the Department of Education. I still have to fax a copy of my transcripts to the DoE, but thats it. Maybe one of them will work out and I can get a summer job. I'll have to keep scanning the goverment jobs websites to see if anything else pops up. Also, Liz gave me this website that lists jobs and internships with non-profits so maybe there will be something on that site that I can apply to. I think if I haven't heard anything from anybody in the next few weeks then I'm going to start becoming concerned. I cant go back home this summer! I'll go crazy! Besides, Liz and I have our summer 2009 bucket list that we need to complete. We can't do that if I'm in New Jersey.
I've decided that I'm done with certain people. I realized yesterday that I'm friends with a person or two who are just not worth being friends with, for any number of reasons. I finally realized that it's not worth putting up with the bi-polar, hypocondriac, high drama, ultimatum type of friendship. It's too much hastle and I have more important things to worry about. You're friends shouldn't make you that stressed. You shouldn't feel like you have to walk on eggshells around them and watch every little thing you say or do beause it may upset them and send them into a tailspin. That's not a friend. That's a project. So I'm done with people like that. And you know what? I'm ok with that. I'm better off without them.
So I've been in Leahy for the past three hours applying to differnet jobs and now writing a wonderful 3 page paper for my media class. Clearly, I'm being productive because here I am, posing on my blog. Whatever. As long as I get it done by tonight then I'm good. Molly and I were supposed to go out to BWI to pick up Hersh this morning but he missed his flight (car broke down). now he's on a flight that gets in at 8 so we're going out there after her Mission Jamaica meeting. Even better, I get to leave the APO meeting early!!!! Shaaa-weeeeet!!!!!!
I should probably finish my paper so that I can go back to my trailer and clean/relax before APO and BWI. My paper is supposed to be about 3 pages and right now I've got 2 lines. Time to work!!

p.s. there is a girl sitting next to me for the past fifteen minutes printing stuff and talking on her cell phone. I can hear her over my headphones. Can you get any more annoying?!?!?! Does she not see the hundred signs that say you are not allowed to be on your cell phone in Leahy???? At this point, I think she ranks up there with the obnoxiously loud girl who used to be in the pryz during breakfast last year. you know the one I'm talking about. don't pretend you don't!