Home Again

Ahhh, its good to be back in Bayonne. I actually looked forward to coming home (other than the dreaded housing convo, but more on that later). But I like it because it seems like nothing ever really changes here. Not drastically at least. Maybe one or two stores will change (popeye's closed and the new lightrail station is almost done) but it's like my town is unfazed by time or any outside factors. Without a doubt, I know I can come home and go to Pompeii to get pizza or drive through Magic Fountain in the summer and get an Orea Hurricane. When I come home for Easter, Mr. Softee will be out selling ice cream with his music playing and kids chasing him down. Growing up across the street from a park, there was rarely a two or three day streak where we didn't have Mr. Softee on summer night. I guess everyone feels the same way when they think about coming back to the town they grew up in. As bored and restless as I get when I'm home for too long, its great when I first get here.
Ok, I just got completely sidetracked for like a half hour looking at noteable CUA alums. I'm not sure why or how I was looking this stuff up, but its all right there on Wikipedia. I was stunned how many people actually went to Catholic (other than John Voight, Ed McMahon, Susan Sarandon, Terry McCauliffe and Ed Gillespie). We mention them on our tours. I mean, did you know that John Slattery of Mad Men went to Catholic? How about Jim McGreevy (the former gay governor of NJ)? Brian Williams of NBC (I did know about him). Rosanna Scotto of Fox 5 NY news. Brian Cashman, the senior VP and GM for the Yankees. Wally Pipp, the Yankees first basemen famous for losing his spot to Lou Gehrig. John Douglas, the current shortstop for the Blue Jays. Richard Nixon's daughter Julie. The actress who voiced Ursula in The Little Mermaid. The co-writer of the Spiderman 2 screenplay. The current presidents of La Salle and Villanova and the former president of Notre Dame. Timothy Shriver. The guy's a Kennedy! His mother is JFK and RFK's sister and his sister, Maria, is maried to Ah-nold. It's Uncle John and Uncle Bobby! His Uncle Ted is dying! And our best alum (in my opinion)... the guy who discovered synthetic rubber! :::i'm being overly dramatic:::
Ok, I have obviously gotten waaay sidetracked. I've suddenly become very interested in Wikipedia-ing the entire Kennedy family. Not that I'm going to become a democrat or anything. I just don't know too much about the whole family. Other than the fact that I know there are about a hundred of them and they're cursed. So I think I'm gonna spend some time researching them tomorrow. God, I must be bored. There must be some homework I could do. But we're goingto get 6-9 inches of snow tomorrow into Monday so I'll need to keep myself entertained and what's better than reading up on one of the most doomed, cursed families of the democratic party? Haha, excuse me while I go be sinical.

Spring Break

I'm pretty sure I just got bit by a mosquito. Isn't it a little early for them? Or I'm breaking out in hives. I'd rather it be the mosquitoes. Spring Break begins today..... and I'm still at school. I'm going home in the morning though so it won't be too bad. Spring Break was ushered in this afternoon with beautiful 60 degree weather. Granted, it was overcast and drizzled for a hot second but still. It was more of a spring type drizzle as opposed to a winter freezing rain thing, so it didn't really bother me. Maybe the weather will stay like this from now on. I could get used to it.
Well, we've got a few things going on the housing front. I'm gonna wait and see if something works out before I get into details. Maybe there could be a breakthrough in the next few hours and I can go home with a possible solution to present to my mom. I'm really dreading going home. I've actually got a pain in my stomach thinking about it because I know that somehow, my mom will find a way to completely blame me for this entire situation. Which isn't fair because I have no control over it. I'm considering getting home, telling my parents I need to go to Rite Aid for something and just driving right back to school. I think that might help alleviate the problem. Complete and utter avoidance of the issue.
I have to clean the whole trailer tonight. It can't be left messy while we are gone for a week. And I still have to pack. Great. I'm so excited. Its a great way to start break. A drink, leaning, packing and dinner. That's just a hoppin' party. Next year Spring Break will be great. At this point I'll be boarding a flight to Las Vegas and getting in when its dark and the strip is all lit up.It'll be so nice. But that's not until next year.... Only 364 days to go.

C is for Commuter

Does anyone know of any nice, reasonably priced apartments in and around the DC area that some college kids could afford to live in? I guess its pointless to say, but Erin did not get the RA in the trailer. So now the three of us are stuck with lottery numbers 382 and 383. We're not getting housing. Not if they built another dorm between now and September. I guess this summer is going to be spent looking at apartments and eventually signing a lease.
I just got off the phone with my dad and I told him how we're going to try and figure everything out but that I might end up having to move off campus and his response was "I don't even want to talk about it". That's great. And he's the more rational one of my parents. I can't wait to hear what my mom is going to say.
I'm starting to get that pain in my stomach that I get when I'm anxious or nervous. This whole situation kind of sucks. I can just tell that my whole spring break is going to be consumed with fighting with my parents about what is going to happen next year. I really hate this school sometimes. Seriously, I despise them.
Ok, I'm going to go obsess about my living situation for next year

Housing Lottery

We got our lottery numbers today. The infamous end all and be all of things that will dictate what kind of social life we have senior year. As usual, housing services hates me. I got number 383. Fantastic, I know. The best part (and this is really good) is that Liz got number 382. We actually got two numbers in a row. What are the odds of that happening? I mean, who would have ever thought that was even possible. So, basically, the housing gods hate us.
I guess everything hinges on Erin's RA letter tomorrow. Hopefully she gets something where she could pull us in with her. Otherwise, Liz and I are spending the summer looking for apartments. I hear Crystal City is nice. Last year the whole housing thing was so stressful. I mean, at one point my parents threatened to make me transfer back home. This year I'm not as freaked out by the whole thing. For one, I'm fairly confident we'll find a way to be on campus next year. Worst case scenerio, we have to move off campus. I jokingly told Matt that he could live with Liz and me if he cant find any other housing. Haha, wouldn't that be fun.
In all honesty, living off campus would not be the most terrible thing ever. I mean, dont get me wrong. It woudl be inconvenient. But it wouldn't be the end of the world. We all freaked out about it last year because we would have to live off for two years, but we're going to be seniors. If we want to live down here after graduation, then getting an apartment senior year that we could keep would probably be a somewhat decent idea. But I don't think it will come to that. I think we'll get on campus.... somewhere.
It would probably be a good idea to go study for my politics midterm that I have tomorrow. I don't think its going to be that bad and I'm only going to review my notes a couple times. It won't be anywhere near as bad as studying for philosophy. Just kill me now with that whole thing.

Titicut Follies

Not only in my media prof a Nazi, she's also very demented. For the past week she's been telling us about how she didn't think we were going to have a movie screening tonight because the film we were supposed to watch was very disturbing. This is all she's told us for a week, but low and behold, we had the screening tonight.
I wasn't so much disturbed by the film, as it was that I just don't know how I feel about what I just watched. I'm also not sure what the point the film was trying to was. Its a film about a mental institution in Massachusetts in the late 1960s. The state actually got it banned for about 25 years before it was finally screened in 1992. I really just didn't get it though. Here are some of the highlights of the movie: (1) a large room of naked men rambling to themselves, (2) a naked man being force fed with a tube down his nose, (3) a man drinking bath water for three minutes, (4) a guy talking to his psychiatrist about violating his daughter, (5) a mental guy preaching for communism, (6) the wardens strip searching inmates and (7) random naked people walking around mumbling. Don't you wish you could have watched this too?
We get it. The mental institutions in the 1960s sucked, but I'm pretty sure that they've improved over the past 40 years. Sucks for those guys, but people are better off now. I just really don't get the whole naked thing. I mean, did the state not have enough funding to buy them all uniforms? They only had five outfits to go around or something? It was really weird and I'm just having a little trouble processing it. I mean, I know what I watched but I really just don't get the point of it. I'm not entirely sure their was a point.
Ok, time to go to the Pryz for my philosophy study group session. Then back here to keep studying and maybe catch the president's "state of the nation" address.

Tour Shadowing

I had to give a tour this afternoon and the Admissions Office recently hired a ton of new people who are shadowing the tours. Basically, all they have to do is go on the tour and pay attention to what we say and how we answer questions. They could answer questions if a parent or student directs one towards them, but for the most part they are just supposed to watch.
Well, we all know my luck. I got the obnoxious girl who cut me off and preemptively answered questions that were directed at me. It was some sophomore girl who is an MT. That right there should probably explain it. God knows they cant keep their mouths shut if their lives depend on it. They have a feeling or a thought and they just start spewing it everywhere. So I spent my time trying to give this tour and go through everything and this girl would cut me off, veer off-topic and tell them things you really shouldn't tell prospective families (like that Southside is kinda not so great). Even if it's true, it's not the best image for the school so you keep your mouth shut. Not this girl though.
I just finished writing my third paper of the week. It's only Monday! I mean, I'm gonna have to go back and proof read/edit them, but they're pretty much written. I have a philosophy study guide that I have to start working on like, 10 minutes ago. That exam is on Wednesday and its probably going to be hell. I've decided that I'm shooting for a B in that class. Anything over will be icing on the cake. I'll get A minuses in the rest of my classes so one B is ok. Then I've got a politics midterm on Thursday. I just feel like I don't learn anything in that class. He spends half the time talking about the Washington Post. What does that have to do with class? Absolutely nothing.
I should probably stop procrastinating and go work on my philosophy study guide. Yuck

Humane Society Training

This morning, in the damp, cold rain, a group of us from APO went out to the Humane Society shelter on Georgia Avenue for a volunteer orientation. We got lost on the way there. John had used hopspot but he still couldn't figure it out and Dave thought he knew where he was going, but he got confused too. So we were about 20 minutes late, which wasn't a big deal but it was kind of cold and wet out. Once we got there it was really cool though. I think we're going to have a lot of fun volunteering there this semester. We'll get to take the dogs for walks, help people with the adoption process and maybe work at some special events around dc. Plus they're going to teach us how to properly train dogs, which is just a good skill to have.
So I'm watching the opening skit for the Oscars right now while writing my second paper of the day. Hugh Jackman is dancing and singing about all the nominated films. Its pretty hysterical so I would suggest finding it on youtube tomorrow.
Um, I just went on the Registrar's website to look up the academic calendar and check something... they've got the academic calendars up all the way until 2018-2019. WTF?!?! My seven year old cousin will be in college by then!
Ok, Penelope Cruz is rambling in Spanish. This is not Spain! This is America! Speak English!! Sorry, that's my Republican streak. Shit, Sean Penn showed up. He never shows up.

On that note, I'm going to go finish my second paper so that I can get through this week without completely fraeking out.

Midterm Week

Well, the second most dreaded week of the semester is upon us. That's right, midterms week is here. And its as bad as ever. I have a media paper due on Tuesday, a philosophy midterm on Wednesday, a politics midterm on Thursday and politics and history papers due on Thursday. Not cool. But I get to go home on Saturday, which will be nice.
So Liz and I spent the afternoon talking online and planning out which bars we will become regulars at this summer. I gotta say, I've got a feeling the summer is going to kick junior year's ass. Between the bar schedule, the pool, the beach and everything else we've got planned I don't see how it could be anything less than amazing. I was on the phone with my grandfather today and I had to tell him I'm staying down here this summer because he was asking how I'd get to and from the Kenny Chesney concert in Philly. But also told him he cant tell my grandmother because we haven't mentioned anything yet. He swore he wouldn't touch that subject with a 10 foot pole because he doesn't want to be the one to tell her that anymore than my mom or I wants to tell her. Her head will spin when she finds out on top of everything that I'm going to have my car here this summer too. Whatever, its gonna be a great summer and there is nothing my g-ma can do about it so she'll just have to deal.
I should probably start writing one of my three papers that are due this week. Or maybe study for one of my two midterms. Yea, I probably should but I most likely will just procrastinate for the reason of the afternoon and night and start everything tomorrow. Then I'll be slightly overwhelmed. But hey, I work better under pressure so I'm probably better off waiting till tomorrow to start everything. Right? Or is that faulty logic? Oh well, I'm sticking to it.

Boooooring

This may be the most boring semester I've ever spent in college. In fact, its not "may be", it is. It seems like nobody is really doing anything. It's like we're here and we're going through the motions, but we're not really here at all. God, I could do this at home. I come to school to get away from it.
I'm just beginning to think this whole year is a complete let down. It had potential when it first started. Oh, it had such potential. Labor Day anyone? Then a series of events I wont get into took place. They weren't anyone's fault and there isn't anything we could have done to stop them. But they changed everything. After that there was a different atmosphere and approach to everything. There were a few bright moments when we had some fun, but the majority of the semester was spent trying to keep myself distracted and counting down the days until Christmas Break. When break finally got here, we were all just happy to go home and relax for a while. It seemed that if we could just get a few quiet weeks at home, then when we came back in January things would be different.
I know that when I got back to school for the start of the second semester I was convinced that it had to turn out better than the fall. I mean, we'd all had some time to relax, we had new classes and hopefully everyone would all have calmed down a bit. Unfortunately, I'm starting to think I had more fun in the fall. Matt and Liz both went abroad this semester. They're two of the main people we hang out with all the time (e.g. team shameless and team jersey). But if everyone else was still up for hanging out then the semester would have been fine. Molly never wants to go out. Not that I expect much from her because she's never really been one to come hang out or anything, but that's not the point. Chris has....... changed. For lack of a better word. I know what's causing it, but it doesn't mean I have any control over it. It's really sad because we had a great group of friends and we always had such a good time. That's why I wasn't worried about Matt and Liz going abroad. Because Chris would still be here and we've hung out practically every weekend since freshman year. Of course we'll still have a good time. But that isn't how things have panned out, which is frustrating.
I've taken to drinking by myself. That was always my self imposed limit because once you start drinking by yourself then you've got a problem but I think I've reached that point. If I only drank when everyone was hanging out then I'd be more sober this semester than fall of freshman year. Even then I was drinking with Chris and Mike regularly by early November. So, its drink alone or dont drink at all and I don't think I could handle being that sober.
There are times when I wish I could rewind back to sophomore year, or even the very beginning of this year. Maybe if I'd known that school was going to start to suck then I would have savored it more. Been more aware of how lucky we all were to live in this vaccum bubble where life was good and we all had each other to hang out with. Back when I used to look forward to the weekends. I don't think we really understood what we all had a year ago. We used to have a love of the game. Or maybe it was just a love of hanging out together. ::sigh:: You know what I miss? I miss the judges booth. You know what I'm talking about! Don't pretend you dont. To me, that judges booth represents the amazing time we had last year and the potential we still have to salvage this semester and our final two. I'm banking on our senior year being somewhat close to the time we spent in McDonald. As long as it ends up being better than junior year, which won't be hard, then I'll be happy.
Wow, I know I sound like this morbid, depressed person who is going to go jump off the roof of the trailer or something, but I'm not. The last thing I want is to start being like Suicide Nancy. I'm just bored out of my mind. Therefore, I feel sorry for myself for no real reason.

On a completely separate note that isn't all self-reflexive and depressing: two or three weekends ago, whenever it was that Nick tried to convince me to buy a gun, we were all sitting around talking and I said something about how I'm going to see Kenny Chesney this summer and how I love him. Nick turned to look at me and said (in all seriousness) "Kaitlyn, do you think his tractor's sexy?" "Absolutely," I responded, in an equally serious tone, without a moments hesitation. HAHA! Is he kidding? Anyway that thought just came into my mind because I'm listening to the song right now.

I'm gonna go drink now...

All Quiet on the Western Front

All is quiet in the trailer and will be for the next three days. Molly has gone to Texas so I get the trailer to myself. Which is kinda weird because its just me, but its quiet and... quiet. I have work to get done this weekend and I can actually sit in the living room if I want to and not worry about webcams or tv or anything like that. It's a welcome change.
So apparently CUA did some giant campus wide test of the emergency alert and response system this morning. The speakers are supposed to broadcast throughout campus what the emergency is and tell us to either evacuate or shelter in place. Well, this system was supposed to go off this morning at 10:30 and we'd be told to either evacuate or shelter. I don't know about anyone else, but I didn't hear any public address system going off. Which is just oh so comforting. What if there was a real emergency? Not that I know where I'm supposed to evacutate to from the trailers, but thats not the point! God damn, I wouldn't even know if there was a reason to evacuate. Way to go CUA. As usual, you exceded my every expectation.
Fall class schedule is up! AHHH!! Thats so scary because we're the first group to register since we're the rising seniors. SENIORS!!! I can't believe it. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was moving my stuff into Spellman on the absolute hottest day in August and now we're registering for senior fall classes. The time goes by pretty fast. I took a look at all the classes. I know I have to take my senior seminar on Monday afternoons. I have to take a Media intro class for my minor that meets on MWF. They're offering "Washington: Symbol and City" next semester, which is apparently the greatest class that you can ever take as a student at Catholic. Seriously, I've never heard a bad word about this class. Everyone loves it. So I'm definitely taking that and it only meets Mon. and Wed. I've found a Religion class on teenagers in the church that meets on Wednesday afternoons and another Media class on Hitchcock that is MWF. Basically, I've figured out my schedule.
It looks like I'm going to have Tuesdays and Thursdays off next semester. Maybe if I have a somewhat decent job over the summer I can keep it for the fall and work part-time, two days a week. That would be awesome. Or try and get some other kind of job/internship. Although, I could spend that time writing my 40 page senior thesis on a topic I have yet to choose. I should really get on that at some point this semester. I was telling Liz that I'd really like to have my topic before the end of the year so I can talk to my adviser about it and spend the summer getting most of my research done. I mean, I'll be here in DC with the Library of Congress and the Archives. I should use them. Right? I should probably worry about getting through midterms week first though.
Well, I'm going to go enjoy the quiet while I organize for midterm week and begin to panic about senior year and my thesis. Nevermind the thought of what I'm going to do when I graduate next May. I can't even handle that idea right now.

Snooze Button

I overslept this morning and completely missed my 10:00 class. I must have shut my alarm off instead of snoozing it and I was rudely awakened by my phone ringing at the exact moment I should have been walking into class.
Apparently my neighbor Frank is friends with the Senate Parliamentarian. Who knew? He decided last night that I needed to call her right away about possibly getting a job this summer. So I did and she called me back this morning and sent me flying out of bed trying not to sound like I had just woken up. We talked about where I was looking to work and how Congress isn't exactly hiring many people in this economy. Shock. You would think after they found $780 billion to spend on a stimulus package that they could find a couple thousand for some jobs. But that's democrats for you.
She thinks it would be good for us to meet and talk and go over my resume. So now we're going to go get coffee next week. Great! I can't wait. I mean, its great that she could maybe help me get a job but I don't know.... I guess its all just a little strange. Oh well, its coffee next week or I spend the summer sipping Dunkin Donuts coffee by the Boatworks pool with Thomas. I'll take the coffee next week.
I think I accidentally roped myself into having to pick up and drop off Hersh at BWI when he comes up to DC in March. I made a comment about having my car and Molly jumped all over it because the marc doesn't run on the weekends. Wonderful. Just how I want to spend two weekend afternoons. Plus I'm pretty sure Molly has OA group processing on Sunday the 22, which is the day he leaves so it may just be Hersh and me driving back out to BWI. Tons of fun ::smiles while gaging self with a wooden spoon::
Final note, anyone know of an interesting topic for an 8-12 page paper in World Politics in the Media. We have a final paper for the class and the prof wants our topics before spring break. I'm at a loss.

Creepy Facebook Stalkers

I love my blackberry. It may be one of the most addicting things I've ever come in possession of. What is great about it, is it gives me constant access to the second most addicting thing in my life, Facebook. If I get a wall post, friend request, photo tag, comment, anything, my phone buzzes and I get to check it out and respond if necessary. Usually its great. Not last night though.
My phone buzzed around 2:30 in the morning. Normally it doesn't even wake me up, but it did last night. Normally I would have simply ignored it, like I do if it vibrates for an email, but I didn't. I rolled over and checked my blackberry. I click on facebook and it tells me that I have a friend request. Awesome! I love friend requests and I can approve the person and go right back to sleep without even really opening my eyes. When it comes up who friended me, though, I got so creeped out. It was my dad's brother, my uncle! Right there, complete with a default pic of him and my aunt So weird!! There is something really wrong with your parent's siblings having facebooks and friending you and all your cousins. It's just not normal.
Now what do I do, because I can't not accept his friend request. That will inevitably cause some kind of family issue with my grandma, cause he'sthe golden boy. God. I'm pretty sure I took the term "limited profile" to new extremes this afternoon. And I've already threatened my sister that I'll recommend he friend her if she's not nice to me. haha. At least I get some fun out of this.

Procrastination is Bliss

It is also the bane of my existence. It's coming up on midterms, which means the exams and papers and all that other good stuff starts to take place. I have a politics and philosophy midterm next week and I need to come up with topics for my politics, history and history seminar papers. Preferably I would get those topics selected soon. Maybe I'll do that over Spring Break.
I have a book to read by tomorrow night so that I can write a 3-5 page paper on it by Wednesday. Great. But whatever. If their is one thing being a history major teaches you, its how to write a great paper about a book you haven't actually read. Read the introduction, the conclusion and the first paragraph of every chapter. Read the front and back covers, along with the online summary. If you have any time, or feel inspired, you can skim the beginnings of the rest of the paragraphs. If you can pay attention and take good notes on those areas you will have enough information to bullshit a pretty decent paper and a class discussion
Well, we are officially in Spring Break countdown mode. 12 days and counting. I plan on sleeping in, researching my paper topics, and enjoying a nice quiet house. I also have to go to the dentist and have a crown put on. That will be fun.
Right. I guess I should start reading the introduction to my book so I can finish it by tomorrow and write my paper for Wednesday. Wish me luck!

Weekend Update

Ok, so not much has really gone on in the past few days. Hence, no postings. The week came to an uneventful end, which is always nice.
Thursday I had class all day. God I hate Tuesdays and Thursdays. Apparently my grandmother was trying to send me some package and was beyond stressed that it wasn't being delivered. I tried explaining, ten times, that spending $11 to send it two day priority is a waste of money because then it just sits in the mailroom waiting to be sorted for five days. She doesn't get it tough. I finally got back to my room after class checking the mailroom (just in case!) and was able to relax for a bit. Then did homework all night and watched the Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice two hour crossover episode. It was intense.
Friday was pretty relaxing. I went to class, watched Brothers & Sisters online, trying to catch up. I'm now on to season three. I dropped off my housing deposit. Later on I learned that Chris, Kenny, Steve, Matt and Alec are planning to live off campus senior year. That, in my opinion is the dumbest thing ever. Steve is a bad influence on the rest of them and I cant see them all in an off campus house being a good thing. So none of them turned in housing deposits and it was probably a really dumb idea. Whatever, not my problem. Its frustrating, because we always had a really good time. Then Steve showed up and it all went to hell.
Last night we had a "party" for Erin's 21st birthday. I put party in quotations because when I say party I mean Erin, me, Fid and Laura playing beer pong. Matt and Paul came by for a bit and Gina (Erin's friend) came over for a few. It was a hoppin' time, let me tell you. Then Laura had an astma attack and Fid couldn't bring her back to her room cause she couldn't get up. I went to bed at 3:30 and told him to lock the door whenever it was that they left.
This morning I had to give a tour. I'm never signing up for these Saturday morning tours again. Its too early in the morning. I cant handle getting up on the weekends. Other than that I've just been relazing and enjoying the quiet that is my trailer. Molly is away in Philly for the weekend at an APO Serves event and it is dead silent in this place. Very relaxing.
All right, thats about it. I'm going to go make some dinner and go over to Mill South to hang out with Matt and Jen.

It's Always Sunny In Washington (or is it Philadelphia?)

Sunny and 70 degrees with a light wind.... i absolutely love global warming. Time to break out the capris and flip flops. God, I wish it would just stay like this. Unfortunately, this weekend it's supposed to drop down to about 42 and rain (the downside of global warming). Maybe it won't get too cold out again and we can stay at some moderate temperature until the middle of March, when it will finally start to warm up for good.
So I'm now completely obsessed with the tv show "Brothers & Sisters". It's great because all it's about is this giant dysfunctional family. There aren't any crazy, hard to follow story lines. I mean, its all kind of intertwined and not totally normal, but is any family really normal? I'm pretty sure anyone could watch this show and find something to relate to. Plus, Rob Lowe just showed up. He plays some Conservative Republican senator from California. It just makes the show |___| (<--that much) better. haha.
Ok, media homework for the Nazi is finished. Back to watching tv online! I love technology sometimes. It's the ultimate procrastination. Finally, in case anyone is interested...

Kenny Chesney Addresses Gay Rumors (you can all rest easy now)

And One Particularly Gross Scene In A Canoe

We started watching this movie in history class today. Its called "The Black Robes" and its about the missionaries in Quebec in 1634. Thrilling subject, I know. When telling us about the movie though, my prof says (and I quote) "Just a disclaimer. This movie is very violent. It has some pretty graphic fights, a couple not so graphic sex scenes, and one particularly gross scene in a canoe." What a great way to introduce a movie.
My sister wants to make plans to see Taylor Swift on August 27th. Apparently, she's playing in NYC but the website doesn't say where or how much. I'd like to see Taylor Swift but I don't know what I'll be doing then. Its a day or two before I go back to school (depending on where and who I'm living with). Maybe I'll go back Friday. Maybe Saturday. Somehow I think we'll be able to get Taylor tixs, so I'm not too worried about that yet.
I cleaned out the refrigerator a little while ago. It was gross. Half the stuff was expired and/or moldy. Let me just say, when we asked Molly to clean out the fridge before Christmas, she did a great job. If she threw out anything other than some leftovers in tupperware I'd be amazed. Oh, lets not forget today when, after nearly falling over from hearing the sounds of her washing dishes, I came out into the kitchen to discover she'd washed exactly one plate, one bowl and one fork. What the fuck? There were like 6 other things in the sink! Half were hers! Would it be too much to wash them too? Probably.

Oh well, homework time.

Jesus Camp

Normally, I wouldn't post twice in one day. This isn't normally though. So I wrote about the terrible media documentary project I have to do for this week. After searching netflix, I found the movie I'm going to do...
It's called "Jesus Camp" and it came out in 2006. It's about how Evangelicals are teaching their kids to grow up to be "warriors for God". They are told that they should all be wiling to join and die for "the army of God". These kids are taught by their parents that science is a lie and they are sent to bible camps that force them to find God and be saved by him. There is something wrong with the way the adults condone and encourage this kind of behavior. Its really kinda scary. I'm actually terrified of Middle America right now. Seriously, drowning and terrorism used to top the list of things I was most afraid of. Now, its Evangelicals. These people are so crazy I actually agree with the film's liberal radio host! Worst of all, they drag poor Georgie into it. There is no reason to associate him with these nuts. But it helps to push the subtle liberal agenda of the movie. Whatever happened to that rumor he was going to become a Catholic?
I think everyone should watch this. My views of the Christian Right are definitely changed. Not that I'm going to go re-register as a Democrat or anything. Mike already has permission to break into my house and get the AK47 from under my couch if that were to ever happen. But I realized that I'm more middle of the road than I thought. I could lean so much more to the right than I already do.

Jesus Camp (just click the link to watch the movie)

Just Another Manic Monday

God I hate Mondays. For as easy as my schedule is that day, with only one class, its terrible to have to get back into the week. The idea of having to go to class for 4 more days is just depressing.
I have this terrible project for my media class. We have to pick a documentary about some kind of social change and present it to the class. Afterward we're all going to vote and which ever one wins is what we'll watch during our last week of class. What if you don't know of any documentaries on social change? How are we supposed to find any? That's a terrible project to assign with absolutely no guidance and less than a week to finish. We have to present on Thursday. Anyone have any ideas?
The friggin Student Accounts Office is the baine of my existence this week! My refund check was supposed to be processed on January 28th and it should have arrived at my house by late last week. I called today to check on it because (shock!) it hasn't gotten there and my Dad wanted to deposit that money for me to pay my housing deposit, which is due on Friday. The lady I spoke to told me it hadn't been processed yet because there is only one person, in this entire school, who does the refund checks. And she was out sick all of last week. So no, it wasn't ready and no, she couldn't tell me when it would be ready. Also, because the check is made out to my Mom, they wouldn't be able to give me any information. My Mom has to call and find out. Like she has time to call the Student Accounts Office. Maybe inbetween bringing her 35 first graders to the bathroom and teaching them to read she could find a few minutes to call them. There's a reason we're one of the top 20 red-tape schools in America. Its damn near impossible to get anything done here.
I was supposed to have a tour this afternoon but it got canceled so I went to Starbucks and ran into Afifeh. We sat outside and talked for a while about a lot of different things. Apparently Molly wants to live in a single next year, but she still hasn't told me this so I've been operating under the assumption that we were going to live together again next year. I guess that's my fault- you know what they say happens when you assume. Really, I just wish she would say something. I actually think a single would probably be good for her. Especially if Hersh is going to move up here. Just tell us either way so that I can change the plans I'm trying to make.
Chris Brown's first album really was a great cd. I'm listening to it right now. Its too bad he beat up his girlfriend and got arrested last night. Oh well.
This was a pretty random group of topics. They don't reall flow too well. Whatever. My mind is pretty random. Right, well I'm going to go google documentaries on social change. Wish me luck!

Kaitlyn, We've Been Inviting It For Three Years

Chris' words to me as we discussed the inevitability of last night being the first night we ever got caught drinking. Of course it would be last night because Chris and Steve got a keg for Nick's birthday party. Getting caught with a keg is an immediate suspension hearing and a minimum $300 fine. Well, we didn't get caught but we were pretty stressed all night. Personally, I think the keg was a waste because when I went over trailer 15 today and knocked on the door Chris responded with "come on in... want a beer?" That's probably not a good sign.
So they had this party for Nick last night and it was the most random group of people ever. It was me, Chris, Alec, Steve, Steve's brother, Kenny, Chris's friend Alex, Nick, Nick's two friends Joe and Dom, Ed, Ed's girlfriend and her 4 friends, Ed's brother, KGB, his friend, Billy Doyle and his friend Justin (i think). Such a strange group. Chris' friend Alex was pretty cool, but he kept asking me if I thought he looked gay. Apparently Ed's girlfriend's friend told him he looked gay so he was kinda worried. Overall, it was a pretty decent night. The "arena" was assembled and the challengers all put up a good fight. We didn't get caught and we had a good time.
I had to get up this morning and go to APO's mission day. That was just not fun at all. Mission day is a city wide scavenger hunt that the pledges have to participate in. The brothers are all assigned to sit at different places around the city and give them tasks to complete and the clue to the next stop. John and I had Union Station, which was their first stop. We were told to get there by 1:30 and the pledges would be there by 2. They were over an hour late!!! The two of us got Starbucks, sat a Au Bon Pain, and looked through the entire B. Dalton store before they showed up. Plus, because there were so many pledges they were split into two groups and we had to wait for the other group to show up. I didn't get back to the trailer until almost 4:30. Then I had to finish cleaning because the brothers and pledges were all coming over afterwards for smores. I don't know how they expected to fit 50 people inside my trailer, but whatever. They also showed up and we discovered no one had a grill for us to roast the marshmellows on so I had to go borrow Chris'. The whole thing was a goat screw and lasted longer than it should have.
So now I have finally got a minute to sit down and reflect on the past two days. This was a pretty decent weekend and with every passing day we get closer to Spring Break when I can bring my car to school. Yay! I think I'm going to go try and start my homework now.

Oh! PS, before I forget. I'm on the phone with my mom today and first she talked about how when I come home for Easter her, me and my dad will go to either Atlantic City or Foxwoods for my birthday so that I can gamble. That will be fun because going to AC when you turn 21 is like a right of passage in New Jersey. Then she starts talking about places that she's thinking about having my graduation party next spring/summer. I was like, woah we can cross that bridge when we get there next April. I don't have time to think about that type of stuff now. I don't know how she can be thinking about it.

He's Just Not That Into You...

I think at fifteen I must have been an annoying, squealing little girl. I assume this must be true, but I don't ever remember being like that. Then again, all girls are like that at that age, so it must be true. I bring this up because Erin and I went to see "He's Just Not That Into You" last night and the theater was full of squealing litle high schoolers who the two of us (and the 20-something guy sitting next to me w/ his g.f.) found very annoying. And funny at the same time. It was almost as if they had never seen a romantic comedy before. Let me rewind to the beginning of the night.
So we weren't sure if last night was Nick's birthday party (even though his birthday was a month ago... whatever). I had no desire to go to his party because I didn't want to be manhandled again. So Erin and I decided we would go to the movies. Chinatown was sold out and that should have been our first clue, but we just decided to go to Union Station. I've never seen more that 10 people in that theater so we figured it would be empty. Boy, were we wrong.
Well, before we left for the movies at 9, Matt took us to the store and Hunan. I got some dinner and another bottle of Malibu. Erin got a 6 pack and Matt got a 30. We ran into Kenny and his friend while we were there and he informed us that Nick's party would be on Saturday night, so we should stop by trailer 15. I love how he invites us over Chris' trailer, as if I would need an invitation to go over there. Still, a nice gesture none-the-less. So we went back to my trailer, ate, had a drink and left for the movies. Molly chose not to come because she's got some kind of bad head cold with a slight fever. She's been sick for two or three days and she keeps coughing and not covering her mouth. That means I'll be sick by the middle of next week because God knows I've got the immune system of an AIDS patient (as Liz put it). Great.
Anyway, we left for the movie and got there a little early, which turned out to be good thing. We got our tickets, soda and grabbed some seats. Slowly, over the next 15 minutes, the theater filled to capacity. I didn't know that many people knew the Union Station movie theater existed. We were stunned. Well, as the movie started we began to realize that the vast majority of people in the theater were high schoolers between the ages of 14 and 17. They squealed (in unison) whenever something remotely cute happened and laughed ridiculously hard at jokes they probably considered to be really risque, but that anyone over 18 would find somewhat normal. Basically it was hysterical and annoying at the same time. Whenever they squealed the guy sitting next to me would just start laughing to himself. I can't say I blame him because I wanted to laugh too. The movie itself was pretty good. I wasn't sure how they were going to go about making that book into a movie but I thought they did a pretty decent job. It was funny and the different story lines came together at the end, which I always enjoy in a movie. We came back here, drank more and I went to bed. We were going to go over to the boys but I was exhausted because I didn't sleep to well on Thursday.
Right, well, time for me to go clean the trailer. Its soooo nice out today and we've got the windows open so I'm in one of those spring cleaning moods. I got up this morning and did the dishes. Now I've got to swiffer and maybe borrow the boy's vacuum. We're having the APO brothers and pledges over tomorrow after Mission Day and the place needs to be straightened up. That means I need to do it because there's no way in hell Molly will clean, especially if she's feeling sick. So I'm going to go swiffer now.

I Don't Need to Go Around Singing "Colors of the Wind"

Actual quote from my history class today where we discussed John Smith and Pocahontas. It was thrilling. The t.a. practically had to pull teeth to get us to answer questions about the readings. When he asked us what our previous knowledge of John Smith was before this reading, however, then we wouldn't shut up. We all wanted to talk about the Disney movie. Somewhere along the lines a guy in the back of the room could be heard saying that. Which I just find hysterical. Politics was interesting... we talked about the Bosnian War in the 1990s. I sat there quietly laughing to myself because I already knew everything the prof was saying since Liz talked about it all last semester.
So I'm not really sure why, but for some reason I find myself watching "America: A Tribute to Heroes" on youtube. It's probably because I have the cd on my computer and one of the songs came on while on shuffle. If you don't know, "America: A Tribute to Heroes" was a telethon organized by George Clooney immediately following September 11th. I can remember watching it when it was broadcast about a week after the events. It was a Friday and my family was at our friends, Jerry and Beth's, house out of town. Jerry is a Port Authority cop and he'd spent the last ten days at ground zero. This was his first night home and they had us over to watch the telethon. We got pizza and then just sat there, frozen in front of the tv for two hours. We didn't talk at all. I'm not sure we could have come up with anything to say even if we had wanted to.
The show opened with Bruce singing "My City of Ruins", which is a song he originally wrote about Asbury Park, but after September 11th it seemed as if the song had been penned solely for this event. When I found the video online and watched the opening again tonight it was the first time I had seen it since it aired almost 8 years ago. It gave me chills and I found myself thinking about those first few days for the first time in a long time. Enough time has passed that, when I'm home and driving on the turnpike or I look across the water from outside my town's movie theatre, it's no longer unusual to see the skyline and not see the towers. We're now at a point where we see pictures of the skyline with the WTC and it looks strange. That, in and of itself, is incomprehendable to me because I can remember a time when seeing those buildings was something I didn't think twice about. I have this memory from when I was in sixth or seventh grade... my sister and I had gone to the Liberty Science Center with our mom and her friend/kids and when we left it was dark out. To get home you have to get on the Turnpike for about ten minutes and the road runs right along the Hudson River with a clear, uninterupted view of the city. I sat in the car staring out the window at the city all lit up and I don't know what made me think this at 11 or 12, but I said to my mom and her friend "you know, people come from all over the world to see that skyline and we see it everyday just driving down the street. We take it for granted that we get to see this all the time". That's kind of insightful for a kid. Pretty sure after that my thoughts turned to why they were called the twin towers, when clearly one had an antena that the other did not. I was always facinated by that fact, whenever I saw them.
Ok, wow. I did not mean to go on this huge rant about post-9/11 life. It just sort of happens with people who live around New York. You'll find that we all tend to end up talking about it more than we realized or wanted to.
Anyway, back to the present day. I talked to my Dad again today and I definitely get to bring my car back. He confirmed it. He suggested that when I come home for Easter I leave my car and then come home one weekend and pick it up so he could get the air fixed. But I only have 3 or 4 weeks between Easter and the end of the year. So I'll suck it up and deal until I get home in May. We can get it fixed then. So I do get to keep that check on my list. Yay!! Alright, the two hour Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice crossover episode starts soon. I should go so I can get the popcorn ready. So excited!!!!

In case anyone is interested... Bruce- My City of Ruins

Check One Off the List

So I can officially check one of the things of my list of goals for the semester. My Dad told me I can bring my car back to school after spring break at the end of the month. I emailed him last night with this long, well thought out argument about why I should have my car. I referenced the "danger" of the Giant down on Rhode Island Ave, the limited amount of groceries I can carry on the metro, how it would be a good segway into the summer and (most importantly) the money he would save by letting me bring my car. He got back to me surprisingly quick and was like "ok, what the heck, sounds fine to me". I nearly fell out of my chair. I was ready for a war of words and he just agreed. Somehow, I don't think he's told my Mom yet, but that's not my problem. The only issue, according to him, is that he hasn't gotten the air conditioning in my car fixed yet. We'll have to do that when I get home in May.
Now, I should probably follow up this nice little explination with another story. When I called my Dad at work today and mentioned how readily he agreed his response was "I didn't agree to anything. Oh, well I must have been drunk". Important to note, he wasn't really blackout drunk on a Tuesday. He is hardly ever drunk and if he is he probably had to go to a party with his friends. Never to that point though. So I don't know what to make of that joke because he had to hang up and go to a meeting right after that. hmmmm.
Well, I booked a train home and did not book a return ticket, so I better be bringing my car. I'm going to assume I am based on the email he sent me.

...bring my car to school- Check

She Says When She Feels Like Crying...

...She starts laughing thinking 'bout Glory Days. It's the song I'm listening to right now, and its basically amazing. I'm so glad they played it at the Super Bowl, although I'm not surprised he picked it. It's one of his most famous songs and its really upbeat and everyone loves it.
So today was pretty crazy and hectic. I had to get up early and go to Leahy so I could type up, print and then scan my application for DHS. I also had to scan in my resume and my transcripts so I could attach them all in an email and send them in. Well, I didn't get this all done before I had to go to class. Media class comes and goes and again we talked about Hitler (pretty sure my prof is a nazi facist). Politics is where my day gets slightly interesting.
I get there right before class starts and grab a seat next to Bobby, Matt's roommate. Molly and Marian sat right behind me. Before class started I heard Marian ask Molly if she'd found out about prices for a single in Opus yet. What the hell is that about? I cant imagine Molly living by herself next year and I dont know where she would find four other people to live with. hmmmm. I'm gonna bring up housing and who we could get as a 4th next year. See what she says.
I spent the last 20 minutes of class and the time between Politics and History talking to Liz on AIM via my blackberry. I love technology. When Politics was done I bolted to History class and was reminded that we have a quiz on Thursday. Great. After that I got to go back to my room for about 15 minutes to drop off most of my books before going back to Leahy. I finished scanning everything, proof read it all again and sent it in to DHS. I've offically applied for a job there. Now we just have to keep our fingers crossed. Hopefully that will work out.
I had a movie screening for Media from 5-7 and we watched "In the Year of the Pig". Its some anti-Vietnam movie from the '60s. It was just about as thrilling as the Hitler movie last week. Let me tell you, until you've watched these films, man, you don't know what your missing. The only somewhat decent part was when the interviewed Col. George S. Patton, the son of General Patton from World War II. Kind of funny that they got him on camera.
So now I'm back in my room, working on Philosophy homework and dreading having to go back to Leahy for the third time today. This whole not having a printer thing really sucks. I think tomorrow I'm going to begin the car battle with my parents. Spring Break is in three weeks and its about time I start bringing the subject up. I wonder how thats going to go... probably not too well, but I have to have hope in something, right?

Life Sucks.... Majorly

I've decided I seriously hate life. I'm not kidding, I hate it. It sucks. I believe today I've had one of the most annoying stressful days in my college career. Where do I begin?
So I get up and go to class this morning. I come back, shower and start trying to fix the iTunes application on my computer. It decided to freeze up and wig the hell out last night. So I delete it and reinstall. Doesn't work. It just continually freezes everytime it opens. It keeps getting stuck on this message that says "determining gapless playback information". I've got no idea what that means and I can't fix it. Anyone have any ideas? I've uninstalled and reinstalled everything about 5 times and rebooted my computer about 10 times. Still nothing. Never mind that I'm pretty sure my computer either has a virus or some serious spyware on it. Computer freezes when I try and run scans too. I spent a half hour on the phone with India this afternoon trying to get it sorted out. They tell me to uninstall the software and try restarting. Seriously? Like I haven't been doing that for about 7 hours now. In case you were wondering, doing that once more did not work. Basically, I'm about ready to throw this thing against a wall. Cheap piece of shit.
On top of the computer, I find out that I didn't get the job in the Finance Office. The lady emailed me and said they found someone with more filing experience. I didn't know filing required so much practice. So that put me in a worse mood because it drives home my terrible financial situation right now. My dad told me to go get a job at Starbucks or in the food court at Union Station. I think he's on crack.
I've got a paper due tomorrow and I need to write it early so I can go to Leahy and print it because, oh wait, that's right my printer broke. Just decided to stop working last week. So I can't write my paper too late because I need to go over to Leahy and print it. I also have an entire book to read by Wednesday but I haven't gotten a chance to start it so I'm going to be up all night doing that, after I write this paper for media.
On top of all that, this semester is really shaping up to suck. Liz and Matt aren't around, Molly is barely around and hardly ever talks, Chris is preoccupied with his own stuff and no one seems to want to do anything. I haven't taken one picture (other than the inauguration) since we got back to school. Erin said it the other night: that's sad because if I haven't taken any pictures it means we haven't done anything. I'm actually beginning the countdown until the end of the year because this semester doesn't seem like its going to be enjoyable at all. In case you were wondering, there are 98 days left. Junior year, in general, is going to end up sucking.
I think that a lot of what went on last semester is finally starting to get to me. I tried to take it all in stride, as best I could, and keep life as normal as possible. It worked at the time, but it also ment that I just ignored most of the emotional drain it should have taken on me. So I think a lot of that started to hit me today too. At this rate I may end up like Liz, curled up in a fetal position for 2 days on the couch in Trailer 15. I'm having a hard time dealing with it all. I'm just not having a good time anymore. And that's depressing because there has never really been a time in college when I haven't been having a good time. Not for any extended period at least.
So when Molly finally got back to the trailer today I was in a bad mood and in the process of yelling a some non-English speaking person in India. Twenty minutes later she comes by my room in her Saints jersey and tells me her and Marian got tickets to go see Cowboy Mouth in Baltimore. Gee, thanks for the invite. I'd love to go. That was just the icing on the cake. After everything else, I'm getting blown off by Molly, who hardly ever even does anything to begin with.
I dont know. I guess things will have to get better eventually but until then, I just want to go lay in bed and do nothing. Of course, that's not an option so I'll have to settle for writing a media paper and reading a history book.

Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuce

I drank a bottle of Malibu last night. A whole bottle. It was over a 4 1/2 hour period, but still. That's a lot of alcohol. Erin and I ordered pizza, then Matt and I went to the store and went to hang out in Mill South. Us, Jen and Mike watched a movie and hung out until around 3. So when my alarm went off at 9:30 this morning, I was not a happy camper.
We had the APO Pledge Induction this morning and we got 28 new members! For us, that's a huge number of pledges. And half of them were boys, which is even more impressive. Hopefully they'll all stick with it and finish the pledge process. Especially since more than half of our current group will be graduating in May. Otherwise, APO will be no more here at Catholic University. There are people who would be completely devastated by that and I would probably be a little upset, but not crushed.
Super Bowl is tonight. I'm so excited!!! I ran back from the APO thing and got changed into my jeans and Giants jersey. I know, I know. They aren't playing. But today is football's greatest day and it would feel wrong to not wear my jersey. I think I'm going with the Cardinals to win. Being a Giants fan the past 20 years have been spent rooting for the underdog, so I'm preconditioned to it. The game has the potential to be interesting, but it could also be very boring. Lets hope it doesn't suck. I've got 6 boxes in a couple of pools and about half of them are good numbers, so maybe I'll win something.
I'm not sure I can describe how excited I am for the halftime show. BRUCE!!! With the E Street Band! It's going to be amazing. Leaked reports are saying he's going to open with "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out", go into "Born to Run", then his new song "Working On a Dream" and finish with "Glory Days". I don't really get why he's playing his new song when he has so much other material he could choose from, but I guess he's gotta be a little self promoting while he's got the stage. Play the new song, maybe people will buy the new cd. Despite the new song that no one knows, it should be a good performance. I can't imagine Bruce not putting on a good show for his first halftime appearance.
So I'm applying for a job at Homeland Security this summer. I found out yesterday that the application and all my information is due to them by Wednesday. Naturally, I freaked out for about a half hour. Then I calmed down and started getting all my stuff together. I think all I have left to do is write a cover letter and proofread everything. It's some kind of desk, paper-pushing job but that's fine with me. As long as I make more than minimum wage and get to stay in DC then I'll be happy. I'm going to plan on applying for jobs in the other Departments, but they haven't posted anything yet. I'm assuming DHS posts earlier because you need to go through a background check. Hey, I've got nothing to hide. Also, I find out about a job in the Finance Office tomorrow. I applied for an office assistant job and they said I'd find out on Monday. If I could get that and make enough money to cover my beer costs every week, it would make my life so much better.
I should go write my cover letter before the game starts. God knows I won't get anything done once that begins.